Happy Holi!!!

Holi is a Hindu religious festival held in Spring, and it's one of my personal favourites! It is known as Phagwah or the Festival of Colours and if you have a look at our photos you can see exactly why. 

Every year, for one day the whole country turns into one big party. You simply have to leave your front door and you will be greeted with people dancing, throwing waters bombs and rubbing colour on your face. It celebrates the new season and commemorates good harvest and fertile land. The significance of the colour is to say goodbye to the bleak winter and hello to colourful summer.

It is a great day where everyone comes together, no matter what age, gender, caste, wealth and play together. 

Yesterday myself and the volunteers braved the town, within 3 minutes we were covered head to toe in colour! We then made our way up to the Street children's center to play with them. Little did we know they were waiting for us and on arrival dumped buckets of water all over us! For the next few hours we chased each other around throwing colour and water bombs and having a great time! 

Wandering back through the town had a real holiday feeling, there was music blaring from every bar, partied on the street and colour filling the air! 

Great fun had by all!!

Update from Nepal

Hello from Nepal! It's been a long time since my last blog post, (sorry!) but I am back online!

At Annapurna Base Camp

I recently took a holiday from PoD and took the time to trek to Annapurna Base Camp with a few friends. You can see photos here. We did it in 8 days in the end and it was incredible! To be completely 360 degrees surrounded by the Himalayas is like nothing I have ever done before. Living in Pokhara (a Lakeside town where we have all our placements) you forget how diverse Nepal is and that within just a few days you can be in a completely different climate. We trekked through forests, single  tracks, farmland, villages, valleys and snow! and through the rain, sun, hail and storms - incredible! This was part of my training for when I trek to Everest Base Camp in December to raise money for the PoD Charity. If you would like to sponsor me then please follow this link.

In other news, PoD volunteer is once again starting to get busier after the Christmas period. We currently have 5 amazing volunteers with us working in a variety of our placements.

Giving the donation at APS

The PoD Charity has been supporting AnnapurnaPrimary School  (APS) provide lunches for the entire school. We discovered that nearly all the children in the school were coming for the day with no breakfast and no packed lunch, they would then have to wait until late in the evening for their only meal! Now thanks to the PoD Charity we have been able to provide yummy nutritious lunches for the entire school. (Many thanks to all those have donated.)

Most our afternoons have been spend at our favourite StreetChildren's Rehabilitation Center. Generally we get the around 3.30pm in time for the children getting back from school. A quick change around and wash and the kids are ready for their snacks (watch out, Ama, them mother there serves the sweetest tea and will not take no for an answer, a few of our current volunteers don't like sugary tea so they have seen me trying to drink 4 without anyone noticing!!)

Some of the cheeky chappies at Balam

Jeff, who is with us for three months is working in or rural school in Balam. He has been getting to grips with the Nepali way of life and has settled in very well. Due to lack of funding, Balam recently lost two of their teachers which means at any given time in the school at least one classroom has no teacher. So that's where we help out. Jeff has been helping with the English and Grammar lessons for Grade 1-3 and has been coming up with some new and exciting teaching methods rather than the rote learning that the children are used to. The highlight of his weeks are musical Wednesdays when the whole school participates in singing and dancing!

We are getting excited about our first Volunteer Experience group arriving in two weeks and have lots planned for their time here.

For volunteers who are coming out soon, we are out of googly eyes (it's a tragedy!) and coloured card. If you have the time/space before you come, we would love some more for our PoD supplies, I've never been able to find anywhere in Nepal we can buy them. 

If you would like to join the PoD team in Nepal please contact Gemma in the UK Head Office on gemma@podvolunteer.org

Snapshots of Kathmandu

Although all of our placements at PoD Nepal are based in Pokhara, when you first arrive and when you leave Nepal, you will have some time in Kathmandu, the crazy capital of Nepal!

Recently, Donna Murray, a photographer from Aberdeen volunteered with us and took these amazing shots from Kathmandu.

Pashupatinath, Kathmandu

Monkeys chilling at Swyambuth

Boddhanath, the biggest Stupa in Asia

Kathmandu Durbar Square

This is a Sadhu, a holy man who lives in Pashupatinath

Swyambuth

Boddhanath

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Boddhanath

New clothes for the Street Kids

The Street Children's Rehabilitation Center is one of our favourite placements in Nepal. It is home to 10 children who for a variety of reasons have found themselves without a home and the Center provides them with a warm place to sleep, food and education. 

 In the winter months in Nepal it can get very cold, not just because the temperatures drop below 0 at night, but also because there is no central heating, no hot water and very bad insulation (if any!) in houses.

We noticed that every day we went to the Kids house they were wearing the same clothes every day, so decided to buy each child a new set. Trousers, Jumper, Hat and socks!

Myself and two volunteers spend the morning shopping in Mahendra Pul to find clothes that were suitable for keeping them as warm as possible but also practical. We then went straight back to the center to give them their new clothes and their excitement was amazing! They all quickly changed into their new gear and started parading around. When we went back the next day it was great to see that the kids we wearing their new clothes, although Purnay had gone back to his old hat which is what he arrived in and even sleeps in so we weren't too upset about that.

Thanks to our amazing PoD Volunteers for helping out.

Trek to Everest Base Camp

This December I am planning a trek Everest Base Camp to raise money for the PoD Charity in Nepal.

I am planning on doing this trek later in the year and it will take me just over two weeks to complete. Currently I am working out which itinerary to use as there are many different paths that you can take. I have not spent much time at altitude in the past (the highest I have been is only 3500m) so I will need to go slow so that the altitude does not affect me too badly. The trek will take me up to a height of 5,364m.To give you an idea Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales is only 1085m!

 

I am fundraising for this trek to support the PoD Charity which works with over 500 children in the Pokhara region of Nepal. The money that you raise will be spent on clothing orphans, giving scholarships for children to attend schools, help under funded schools, provide salaries for teachers, provide educational materials for schools and orphanages, help vocational training at a women's refuge and more (our 'wishlist' of what we would like to achieve will be posted soon!) 

Planned Itinerary

Day 1 - Fly to Lukla and then trek to Phakding (2656m)

Day 2 - Trek to namche (3450m)

Day 3 - Rest day in Namche

Day 4 - Trek to Dole (4084m)

Day 5 - Trek to machermo (4410m)

Day 6 - Rest day at Machermo

Day 7 - Trek to Gokyo (4750m)

Day 8 - Ascent of Gokyo Ri (5483m) and trek to Tragnag (4690m)

Day 9 - Trek to Dzongla via the Cho La Pass (4830m)

Day 10 - Trek to Lobuche (4928m)

Day 11 - Trek to Forak Shep then Everest Base Camp (5364m)

Day 12 - Kalapatar then Dingboche (4410m)

Day 13 - Trek to Namche (3450m)

Day 14 - Trek to Lukla (2800m) and fly back to Kathmandu

Please click the link below to go to my fundraising page, even £1 will help support these children.

 

Many thanks for your generosity. I will be updating this blog as I go along, so keep an eye out for pictures.

Responsible Travel's Top 10 Volunteering and Gap Year's.

I'm very excited to announce that our Two Week Volunteer Experience program run in Nepal has been added to Responsible Travel's Top 10 Volunteering and Gap Year Holidays list! 

Responsible Travel is a well trusted agency that promotes responsible/eco travel globally so it is quite exciting for us at PoD Nepal to be listed on their 'Top 10'. 

During our Volunteer Experience you will live in Lakeside Pokhara working alongside volunteers from all over the world. Working within a team we will run activities in local orphanages, give teaching support at underfunded schools, get involved in arts and crafts at our local street kids center and help the little ones at our slums project to read English.

If you are short of time, but still want to get involved and volunteer in Nepal, then this is the ideal opportunity for you.  To join the PoD Nepal team for the two week volunteer experience and support PoD's ongoing development work in the local area, then please email Gemma in England on gemma@podvolunteer.org. The trip starts on the 29th March, there's still time to sign up!

Nepali Lessons

From January 2013, when you sign up with PoD in Nepal, we will now be giving you a complimentary two hour Nepali language course when you first arrive in Nepal.

In this lesson you will learn basic Nepali language skills that will help you at your placement. You'd be surprised how just a few simple phrases can go a long way. Local Nepali's love it when people take the time to learn their language and it can really help immerse you into their culture. Greetings, classroom commands and getting to know you phrases are some of the language you will learn.

If there is anything in particular you think would be useful to know how to say then please make a note of it and let us know at the lessons!

Here's a few snippets of Nepali language to get you started -
Nepali	English
Namaste	Hello,
Namaskar	The more respectful version of Namaste
Hajur	Yes? Pardon, Excuse me?
(Tapaiilai) Kasto Cha?	How are you?
(Malai) Thik Cha	I am fine
Khana khannu bhaiyo?	Have you eaten? (used often as informal greeting)
Dhanybhad	Thank you
Tapaiiko naam ke ho?	What is you name?
Mero naam Sally ho	My name is Sally
Maaph garnuhos	Excuse me/ pardon me/ sorry
Maile bhujhina	I don’t understand
Maile bhujhe	I understand
Pheri bhetaunla	See you again