A quiet week in Pokhara...

It's that time of year again - It's starting to rain again! But this is actually a blessing. We've been averaging around 30 degrees recently so it's actually lovely when the rains come in and cool every thing down. It's also great for the farmers and so many great fruits (lychees, mangos, watermelon etc) are at the markets now.

We've been having new volunteers arriving every week now, and it was great to welcome Georgie back who volunteered with us last summer. She said it felt like coming home when she arrived back to Pokhara which is lovely to hear. She is already stuck in working at Annapurna Primary School, the Street Kids and Asha Foundation.

It has been a fairly quiet few weeks actually, which is sometimes nice considering how busy we usually are! The schools have been ticking over nicely, the street kids are doing great, and the Asha kids are spending most of their free time tending to the farmland (thanks PoD Charity for paying for another years rent!).

Juan, a longterm volunteer left last week, but not without shaving the kids hair one last time! They seem to like it at this time of year as it keeps them much cooler. Although Khadke did tell me when Juan walked in with his shaver 'not me this time, I not like bald!' 

We've got lots of plans for the next few weeks though as holidays start soon so most of the kids will be off for a month. Lots of activities, swimming, football, picnics and treasure hunts soon!

If you would like to join the team in Nepal, then please email Gemma on gemma@podnepal.org

Asha Foundation Update.

Well it is getting HOT in Nepal! We are averaging 30 degrees now most days and thunder storms and lightening almost every afternoon (which by the way I love!!)

Me with Ashim, the youngest of the children

Me and Phil have just completed giving out our quarterly 3 month donations by visiting the Asha Foundation yesterday and donating money towards meat so that they can enjoy chicken or buffalo twice a week. I love Asha Foundation, I know I probably shouldn't have favourites, but this is one of them. I have enjoyed seeing how they have developed in the past two years since I have been visiting them. They are now almost totally self sufficient. What with the farm land that PoD Charity rent for them (and I've just got news we have the funding to continue this for another year!!! :-) ), and their livestock (cows, buffalo, chicken and one gorgeous dog), they have to do very little shopping. They get fresh curd every day and a whole variety of veggies from the land. In fact when I left yesterday they insisted me and Phil take some corn and pumpkins with us!

It's been a few weeks since I last visited Asha and since then they have started a new project. The local government development office has started building them a huge water tank to collect water from the natural spring behind the center. They will collect so much that they will in fact be able to sell the vast majority of the water to the local village supplying them with a much needed income. I love small micro projects like this as they make a massive difference to the local communities.

We volunteer at Asha Foundation as a group every Friday where we run fun activities for the younger children. The placement is about 30 minutes away from Lakeside in a beautiful quiet valley just the other side of Sarankot. It's one of the highlights of our volunteers weeks.

If you would like to join us in Nepal, to volunteer and see the work that we are doing, please email Gemma on gemma@podvolnteer.org

May Update from Nepal

Namaste everybody!

I have just returned from my trek in the Everest Region to raise money for the PoD Charity (a full blog post coming soon), I'm still slightly sore and achy, but am back to work in Pokhara.

Before I left for the trek I visited the SOS Bahini Village which is looking absolutely incredible and the girls have finally moved in!!! I went and spent a Saturday with them, eating dal bhat, singing and dancing and it's great to see how quickly they have all settled into their new home. As you know, the Bahini Cafe shut down a few months ago, but they now have a large kitchen where they will continue their bakery training, and sell the produce in the village and also to local restaurants which means volunteers no longer need to survive without those incredible Brownies!! I was so impressed with the set up of the center, the houses are beautiful, they have a health center, a community room, tonnes of outdoor space, a basketball court, veggie patch, and everything made out of natural materials. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera up with me, but I'll make sure to get some snaps for you all next time I'm up there.

All the Schools are now back after what felt like a very long New Years Holiday (they celebrate New Year in April), but I'm pleased to say yet again, all our kids did exceptionally well and have all moved up a year. In fact the vast majority of the Street Kids came top of their class!

Speaking of the Street Kids, whilst I was away, both Pawan and Nissan have left the center and been reunited with their families. Whilst this is extremely positive news and great for their future, I was a bit sad that I didn't get to give them one last hug. This will be a huge change for Pawan who has been at the center for over three years (and he's only 6), but we all wish them the best of luck and they both know they have a home with us whenever they need.

The next bit of exciting news I have is that Bindu is up and walking again! You may remember she got knocked over by a motorcycle over six months ago, it's been a long road of recovery, which is still continuing, but this is very positive and we hope to have her running around in no time.

If you think you would like to join our team in Nepal and volunteer with PoD, please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org for more information.

Holi, DVD players and Bahini Birthdays

First off, let me apologies for the long gap between posts. I have been sick for about two weeks now, but finally on the mend and back on the computer!

 

It seems like ages ago that we celebrated Holi, the festival of colours, which basically turns the whole country into one giant colourful water fight! I spent the day celebrating with my friends, throwing colour and water on everyone I passed and the volunteers ventured into town to play for themselves. It's a great festival and you really feel like the whole country is having one big party all together!

We're still in the middle of School holidays, following their exams and we will celebrate Nepali new year on the 14th, marking the start of 2071 in the Nepali calendar and the start of the new school year. Most of the schools will re-open on the or around the 20th. In the meantime, volunteers have been working at the Street Kids Center, trying to keep them entertained during the holidays (lots of crafts, football and trips to the park) and Asha Foundation, an orphanage in the hills.

Juan, our Spanish volunteer, recently brought the Street kids Center a new DVD player so that they could watch DVD's in English to help improve their language skills. Needless to say, this has been a great hit, and when the power has been on they have had a few 'cinema' afternoons. In their collection now they have Cars, Toy Story, Avatar and Monsters Ink!

Bahini celebrated their 10th birthday last weekend. I was so upset to have missed it, but because I was sick, I didn't want to pass it on to any of the girls, but it sounds like they had a fantastic day. They have all now moved into the eco village and are settling in well. Because there are over 80 girls there, and many of them may not even know their birthdays, once a year they have a celebration for everyone's birthday, which I think is a fantastic idea. It also celebrates the opening of Bahini and the great work they are continuing to do.

I am still getting ready for my Everest Base Camp trek, which is now only 3 weeks away (esk!). I've been doing Taebo three times a week, swimming and lots of lots of dog walks, hoping to improve my fitness before the trek. I have already raised a fair amount of money for the PoD Charity but am hoping to get a little bit more in the next few weeks. If your interested in following my progress you can see my donation page here.

If you would like to join us and volunteer in Nepal, then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org

Shivaratri, Chicken Pox and the new Eco Village.

It's been another great week here in Nepal. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Marion who has been volunteering with us for the past 8 weeks but the same day we welcomed Julie so we're never sad for too long!

Before Marion left, we celebrated Shivaratri, which is the celebration of Lord Shiva's birthday. To celebrate, (and I'm not sure why, but) they heat up sugar canes in a big bonfire in the center of town and then smash them on the concrete, making the biggest sound making you thing explosions are going off all around. We joined in and brought a few sugar canes of our own before heading off to our favourite haunt, Silk Road.

Today I visited the SOS Bahini Village which is looking absolutely incredible and so close to completion. Raymond (the founder) thinks the girls should be in by the next 2 weeks which is fantastic news for everyone. As you know, the Bahini Cafe shut down a few months ago, but when they move into the Eco Village, they have a large kitchen where they will continue their bakery training, sell them at the village and also to local restaurants which means volunteers no longer need to survive without those incredible Brownies!! I was so impressed with the set up of the center, the houses are beautiful, they have a health center, a community room, tonnes of outdoor space, a basketball court, veggie patch, and everything made out of natural materials. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera up with me today, but I'll make sure to get some snaps for you all next time I'm up there.

Bahini Eco Village

The Street Kids are all still down with chicken pox - it is spreading quite quickly amongst them all. Because I am unsure whether or not I have had them before I haven't been up there for the past two weeks. I'm missing them a lot, but have been phoning regularly to check the kids are fine and to see if there's anything they need, hopefully I can start visiting again this week.

Schools are gearing up for their exams. The older kids have their SLC's (School Leavers Exams) soon and then it is a months holiday in April, I know the kids are really excited!

We are currently looking for volunteers to come in April to run extra curricular activates at SOS Bahini and the Street Kids Center. This could be any thing from English classes, sports, arts, dance, music etc. During the holidays, there isn't actually that much for the children to do, and a month of no structure or anything fun can be quite a hard time for them. Over the past few years, we have run a type of 'summer camp' at Bahini. Last year we had volunteers running conversational English classes and dance classes with the girls which they absolutely loved so we are hoping to do the same again this year! If you would like to join us in Nepal then please email Gemma on gemma@podvolunteer.org.

A short February Update

It's already mid February now - I've no idea where the time keeps going! It's been quite a quiet few weeks here in Pokhara. We've had the usual unplanned holidays (my favrouite last week was when all the schools shut for a day to worship the Goddess of Education!!! A little ironic I thought, but we had a nice day)

 

Me and Phil made all the donations from the PoD Charity last week and it's great to go to the placements now to see all the things we donated at work. Ward 6are enjoying playing outside on their new matt and the Street Kids are over the moon with their new inverter (and Ama is extremely happy with her new stove). Mark, a man I recently met who was actually volunteering in Chitwan also donated some new towels and sports equipment to the center as well so I'd like to say a huge thank you to him.

Early last week, I received a phone call from the Chairman of the Street Kids Center to inform me that Bidan, one of the children, was sick and suffering from Small Pox. A little worried, I started googling Small Pox and hoped that he had made a mistake, and actually meant Chicken Pox - which is in fact what it turned out to be. He was off school for about a week, but is doing better now, and none of the other children got infected. We asked them about chicken pox, some remembered having it but some didn't know whether or not they had it before. However, a few of our adult volunteers are now not going for a few weeks as they have never had the infection before and it is more serious in adults than children.

 

I'd also like to say a huge thank you to our current volunteer, Marion, who has very generously donated money to buy a carpet for Tika's room at Annapurna Primary School. The PoD Charity has already helped with the other two classrooms so it's great to be able to finish the school off. 

If you would like to join us and volunteer your time in Nepal, then please contact Gemma on gemma@podvounteer.org

Feb 2014 Charity Donations

This is a very happy blog post for me to be writing...!! I'm delighted to say that we in Nepal have received a rather large grant from the PoD Charity this month.

Currently the kids at Ward 6 are bringing their carpet out to sit on.

Once we heard this new, myself and Phil set about visiting all our placements to find our their current needs and wants. We then complied a list and emailed it back to the UK Head Office for them to look over and they have approved where we will spend the money.

We are going to continue to cover lunches for Annapurna Primary School and also provide stationery on an ongoing basis.

For Shree Krishna school we are giving a donation to buy sports equipment for the school. They currently don't have any equipment and therefore their P.E lessons are limited. Our volunteers take in badminton, football and cricket, but it will be great for them to have their own equipment so they can continue these lessons even when they do not have a volunteer.

At Asha, we have agreed to give a monthly donation to provide meat for all the children. They currently do not have enough money for meat (and believe me I can vouch for the fact that the cost of meat has double in the last few years!) and live soulely of the farmland that we rent for them. This way, they should get a meat dinner at least once a week!

We have also offered to run a training day for the Asha Foundation which will cover important topics such as sex education and careers guidance. The schools in Nepal do not cover sex education or women's health issues, but we think it is vital for all children to know how to properly take care of themselves, especially when we have a large group of male and female teenagers living under the same roof. We are yet to confirm a date for this but I will let you all know once it has been organise.

We will be buying a large outdoor mat for the kids at Ward 6. For those of you who have been there, will know that the center has a large outdoor area but there is no where for the kids to sit down and play (except for in the dirt or on the concrete), by providing a mat, we essentially will double the size of the center for the kids to play.

At Shree Pratbhat Primary School, we have agreed that we will give monthly donations to provide lunches and stationery and a one off cost to pay for a new carpet in the nursery. 95% of the children at Shree Prabhat are from the Dallit caste (untouchables), which means they are from the poorest families in Pokhara. The majority of the children turn up to school having not eaten anything and with no lunch, and will not eat until 8pm until the evening. I do not need to tell you how difficult it is to try and get the attention of a hungry child. This is vital for their education and development.

And finally, the Street Kids. We are currently providing 6,000 rupees a month to contribute to their food (meat, eggs, vegetables) costs, and I'm so excited to say that we are not able to double this and give them 12,000 a month!!!! There are 12 kids there, which if you've seen how much Nepali kids can eat amounts to a LOT of food!

We will also be providing them with a new stove, as the old one has pretty much had it, new kitchen utensils, new blankets (this was a last minute idea as I was there the other day when they were having a clean out and was horrified by the state of their blankets, I know I wouldn't wan to sleep with them so I don't see why they should!), new bed sheets and the thing I am most excited about an inverter (battery to power lights). Currently when the electric is off (which it is approximately 16 hours a day!), the kids have to use candles in the evenings which I personally think is extremely dangerous for a group of children to be responsible for. This inverter means that we can put a light in the bedrooms, the kitchen and the outside area where they all sit which will work even if there is no electricity. When I told Ashmita (the girl from the center) that I was brining an inverter round, she was SO excited went running to Ama (the mother) and said 'now I can read and study in the evenings, I am SO happy!'. This was music to my ears!

With the money that we currently have available it also means that for our monthly donations we can commit for the next two years which is absolutely incredible.

I would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone involved in the PoD Charity. Bring 'on the ground' here I get to witness first hand how much of a difference this money will make, and it's true that a little goes a long way and there is always more that come be done. 

If you would like to help us continue this fantastic work then please follow this link to the PoD Charity page. Once again, a big thanks from myself and all the children who we work with in Pokhara.