Volunteer holiday in Nepal

Volunteer in Nepal - Amarapuri Children's Resource Center

Silvia and Esther - Italy and UK - August 2006 .

Soon after meeting in Happy Home at the end of July, Silvia (from Italy) and I (Esther from Australia) met and became good friends. After a few days rest and exploration in Kathmandu, Silvia, Liam-(a Canadian volunteer) and I began our Nepali language training. Thanks to Bicky's teaching skills, we learnt how to say namaste, dhanayabat, swagatam and all the other essential words and phrases we were likely to require once immersed in village life.

While completing our language training in Sanga village, Silvia and I organised to do our placement in the same village. Asim recommended that we travel to the village Amarapuri in the Nawalparasi district to teach English in a library. Although we were placed in separate host families, we were both located very near to the library and only ten minutes walk from each other which allowed us to bond with our families individually whilst also having the support of each other. Silvia stayed with the family of a Nepali girl (Binita) who had previously worked as a teacher at the library but was on holiday during our visit. I stayed with a really nice family who had been housing volunteers since 2002, therefore were comfortable with my requests to use a spoon to eat my dal bhat rather than my hands.

The library in Amarapuri has been operating for some time, therefore there were already a number of students familiar with the place and with volunteers. On our first day, after settling in with our families, Silvia and I familiarised ourselves with the library, were introduced to some of the local children and to Sadikshya, Samikshya, Pratikshya and Subash, a family who lived next door and whose help in translating Nepali was indispensable to us during our placement. We held our first class for junior students (aged between 4 and 8) the following morning from 7am to 8am.

After having taught kids of the same age in Japan I initially took more responsibility teaching the younger students. We soon realised that one junior class would not be enough for the amount of students that were turning up to the library in the morning so we created a second class from 8a, to 9am. In the morning class we relied predominantly on the use of ABC, colour and number flashcards, songs and games. In the afternoon we also held two classes. Between 4:30pm and 5:30pm we taught about 10 kids aged between 8 and 12. This was the medium class and probably our most challenging but also the most fun.

INFO Nepal ,
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Post Box No 19531
977 01 4700210

Email : info@infonepal.org
http://www.infonepal.org

While they would have been happy to play bingo and go for walks during the lessons, we tried to combine some fun and games with some English grammar worksheets, which after some encouragement they completed enthusiastically. Our senior class held between 5:30pm and 6:30pm, was made up of about 8 guys and girls. After having learnt English as a second language, Silvia felt confident in reviewing English grammar with the senior class while I assisted with games as well as with some creative and article writing.

In the break between lessons, Silvia and I spent our time planning lessons, making photo-copies at the local stationary shop and drinking tea. We went on walks around the village and took the kids on a few excursions to a zoo and the nearby Nareni River. When we weren't sweating from the hot weather we were clustering under umbrellas to escape the bursts of monsoonal rain, and despite the discomfort, this only added to our experience of village life.

Amarapuri is located only 45 minutes on the local bus from Narayanghar, a town with internet facilities, western food and a larger variety of supplies than was available in the village. As Saturday is a holiday in Nepal, we often traveled there to stock up on mosquito repellent and chocolate.

Besides traveling to Narayanghar we also visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and Pokhara for five days trekking through the Annapurna region. Both places were exceptionally beautiful and added even more to our amazing experience volunteering in Nepal.