What Will the Children of Nepal Teach Me?

I welcome readers of all ages, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds to join me in this journey to Nepal so we can learn together how tolerance, love, and compassion can bring healing to the world as a whole.

In October 2017, I will be leaving the comforts of my home in midwest Indiana to learn about the lives of those living in a country where they have electricity only eight hours a day and limited hot water for bathing every few days. Why would I choose this place, of all the places in the world, to give of my time and resources?  Because I was called to do so.

When I get a calling so clear and specific, I cannot ignore it. I was looking for a monastery in the states who needed volunteers a few weeks out of the year but every monastery I contacted led me to Nepal in one way or another.

So, what’s in Nepal? This is where many children are living who are in Exile from their homeland of Tibet. Most of these children have left their families in order to have the opportunity for a better life, better education, and to be able to learn and practice their religion without fear of retribution. The Dalia Lama set up a school in Katmandu for the children from Tibet to have a place to live, learn, and practice their faith. I want to practice with them! I want to live with the monks and nuns. I want to practice my faith with those who can teach me so much more than I will ever learn here in the comforts of my own hometown.

As October approaches, I will be blogging more about the upcoming trip and the needs of the Nepalese people. I am hoping my readers will be called to help support this endeavor and donate to the cause. We will be doing a fundraiser in the summertime to help raise money to help cover misc. costs of being away from work for 8-12 weeks. And during this blog, there will be opportunities for you to donate to help cover the costs of housing and food while I am away.

When I return, I will continue the blog and show pictures of how your money helped those in need in a third world country.

Hi everyone – Gary here with some news that may well surprise or even shock people who know me.
I am returning to teaching! but this time in Nepal, teaching younger kids subjects I have never taught before. Am I completely insane? Well almost! What I am is extremely lucky. Lucky to be able to volunteer my time; lucky to have friends and family who are totally behind me in this venture and lucky as an older volunteer to have had so many years working with children and consequently so much experience to draw from. I also lucky to have won the lottery by being born into a relatively wealthy and secure society and now I feel it is payback time!

I will be teaching kids caught up in the devastating earthquake of 25th April, 2015 in Nepal. The situation there is still desperate. There were over 8500 deaths, over 600,000 houses destroyed meaning that 1.7 million children have been directly affected losing parents, homes and classrooms or through malnutrition, poor hygiene and sanitation and disrupted education. Consequently, I have applied for and have been accepted as a volunteer ‘Teacher for earthquake affected children’ at a school in Thankot near Kathmandu in Nepal.
They are still in need of our urgent support and I was hoping that you might help the charity ‘Volunteers Initiative Nepal‘ by contributing any amount, big or small, to help provide resources for the school to improve the lives of the affected children. Again, I am lucky to be able to finance my own flights and board so all monies donated will go directly to the charity and not me. Simply follow the ‘Donate Now’ link below so that you can easily contribute via Paypal.

I leave the UK for Kathmandu on February 28th 2016 for two months. I don’t know what to expect but I will keep you all posted with regular updates, photos and video of my latest adventure. Can’t wait – Lucky old me!

Anupa Nardi – Australian Volunteer, 2015

So this is my third time in Nepal. The first was for one week as part of a tour with a tour group. We visited other countries but there was something about Nepal that I loved straight away. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the people. The yak wool shawls, the men selling tiger balm, the felt shops, the small dusty, bustling streets of Thamel district in Kathmandu, the wide open eagle-floating spaces of the mountains, and of course, the Himalayas. When did I first love Nepal? The first moment. And so I promised myself that I would do everything I could to come back – but the next time I did not want to come back as a tourist. I wanted to immerse myself in the culture, to really live here amongst the people. I wanted to do good, I wanted to make a difference and I wanted to repay Nepal for being so nice to me. I wanted to volunteer in Nepal.

So, back in Australia the first thing I did was hit the Internet to search for a way that I could volunteer in Nepal. To give something back to the country that would host me for my journey. This is how I found Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN). When did I first respect and love VIN? The first moment. A non-government, non-religious, non-profit organization that was set up by Nepali, and for, Nepali people. They believe passionately about women and children’s rights. They believe in human rights. They believe in equality. Bhupi, the founder and director lives and breathes VIN. He is personally invested in the communities where VIN is making change. VIN makes change slowly but surely for the better – whilst continuing to remain respectful of Nepali culture. They are not here to change people: but to change people’s level of access. There are so many volunteering opportunities in Nepal through VIN. There is no better way to really experience this kind of work and this kind of immersion in Nepali culture. I decided to come for six weeks; it was all of the holiday leave that I had saved up with my work. To say that decision was life changing would be an understatement.

Being back in Thamel, Kathmandu was wonderful: the tiny streets filled with cars, rickshaws, motorbikes all beeping their existence and the air filled with the sweet smell of incense, wandering past small temples and a mixture of local Nepali people and other travelers. I was so happy to be back. The VIN induction was three days: including health tips (do not drink the tap water and how to know when it’s okay to eat vegetables or fruit), some Nepali language classes (How are you, my name is, I have diarrhea), information about my specific choice of volunteer project (VIN have so many volunteer projects to choose from) and also some sightseeing around Kathmandu. After this I was placed in my volunteer project: Living in a Buddhist Monastery for six weeks teaching English to the children that lived there. The cliché of being prepared to be unprepared rang true: there is no way to prepare for something like this. Only people who have experienced it will know. I fell in love with each and every one of those tiny little monks. Planning lessons was challenging and rewarding. Working in a developing country is also challenging: the monastery didn’t have any school equipment – only a whiteboard and chairs in each room. I was handed lumps of chalk on my first day. Facing these challenges and was an intense and immense experience. The children were beautiful and honest, the culture was so different from where I had come from but I loved it. I loved eating dhal baht (cooked rice and lentil soup) with curry every day. I loved the children yelling “NAMASTE” as I walked into the classroom. I loved that they would all high-five me as they walked out of the classroom. I loved watching them chant their puja (Tibetan Prayers) in the morning and then again in the evening. I loved putting medicine on their sores and telling them to sleep well. I loved having to separate them when they would use their prayer beads on each other like nun chucks weaponry. I loved watching them in their red robes skittle across the courtyard and play games. When I had weekends I would make the short trip by local bus back into the Thamel district and meet up with some of the other volunteers. It was the perfect opportunity for me to be able to debrief with other volunteers and to also get ideas on what other people were doing in their projects. Meeting other like-minded people from around the globe, all sharing the same vision of giving something back to the world, who also love Nepal and love humans is a doorway into something very special and creates long-lasting friendships. I have made new friends for life. As have they. This happens with volunteers at VIN. Every time. We get inducted together and we train together and we go through it all together. I would sit around a table in Thamel, sitting on the floor on cushions, eating momos (Nepali dumplings that are pretty much one of the best foods there is) and listen to volunteers from talk about how it was to dig holes for toilets in far away villages of Nepal. VIN has brought sanitation and hygiene to hundreds upon hundreds of people in Nepal – it’s truly phenomenal. I would listen to volunteers from countries such as France, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, England and Hong Kong talk about their volunteer experiences in Nepal. Some of them work in Female empowerment. VIN has empowered women, given women in isolated and disadvantaged villages the confidence to take on work, to learn how to say no to abuse, to understand that they have rights. How could any gift in this world be more valuable that this? I am thankful every day to know my rights and I swell up thinking about the work that VIN does.

All of these magnificent thoughts and feelings and the intensity of travel accumulated in my heart and the day that I found myself once again back in Sydney Australia was a difficult day indeed. People said that I had “post holiday blues”, to leave it for a month and I’ll settle back in. Well after one month I was still missing and pining for Nepal. After two months I was still looking at my Nepal post cards and fridge magnets and missing Nepal. After three months I felt like I wasn’t doing enough good in this world and I missed VIN. After four months I still felt the need for volunteers in Nepal and the momentous amount of work still to be done and I continued to have the urge to be back in Nepal. After five months I was still the same. But after six months, I reached a point of ‘enough’ and I booked my flights back to Nepal, I borrowed some money from the bank and I asked my work to hold my job for me. Which – with the most appreciative gratitude possible – they did.

And here I am, back in Nepal. Back in Thamel. Back at VIN. Nepal is disadvantaged but VIN has made so many incredible achievements! They’ve set up over 30 early childhood centres (without funding!) and have trained village women in how to teach these young children. Creating employment, creating purpose . . . creating change, creating equality and creating opportunity. Each person on this planet has a right to learn, to have education, to be independent, to know their rights, to eat, to have clean drinking water and to have shelter when they sleep. Many of us have this, many of us don’t. And VIN is working on this, with passion and with uninterrupted determination. We are all part of the bigger picture.

I will go in the world where my skills can be used. And VIN can use them. And VIN can use yours too. Whether you are good with documents, IT, digging holes, disaster management, teaching, praying, yoga, dancing, crafts, smiling, loving. If you have any of these, then they can be used for good. There are volunteering opportunities in Nepal for everyone. Please know now that you can make a difference. And you can love the world around you. And I will continue to love it. And my dear VIN and Nepal, I will return . . . again and again.

Hello friends Elicia here,

As some of you may know, I am planning to trek to Everest base camp in April 2015. There is a reason for this. Other than it being on my bucket list, I am fundraising to assist in building an orphanage for children in Nepal.

This trek will take 16 days, taking me to an altitude of 5160m above sea level. It will be extremely arduous and taxing on my body and mind. The risk of altitude sickness and other ailments is very real and likely. But I’m putting all that aside to do something for those in need.

Many of you may not know Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia.

Here are just a few facts:

• Nepal has a population of 27.8 million people with approx. 42% living below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25USD per day.
• The average life expectancy is approx. 59yo.
• Nepal spends approx. $68 per person per year on healthcare
• There are almost 1 million orphans in Nepal or 3.6% of the population that are orphaned from violence, landslides, floods and poverty.

I couldn’t imagine earning that little and trying to survive. That’s not even the cost of a cup of coffee. In Australia we are very fortunate to have access to great health care. I know as I work to provide people with this access.

This might not mean much to you as you sleep in your warm and cozy bed and have a roof over your head, but to an orphan this is everything. This home will provide safety and comfort to those children going without the basic necessities of life that we often take for granted.

I really dislike the use of the hash tag #firstworldproblems. For example ‘I want to turn off the lights but the bed is too comfortable’. Well what you probably don’t know is that Nepal goes without electricity for about 12hours a day and many children have no beds to sleep in. This is not a problem for first world its luxury we take for granted, electricity, clean running water and a bed to sleep in.

While on my trek I will experience all these things, no electricity, no clean water. I will be reliant on iodine tablets to sanitize my water in the hope I don’t get sick. I probably will not be able to shower every day, I won’t be able to charge my phone or use a flushing toilet. All these basic things I am use to. I will definitely be going outside my comfort zone. The whole shower thing will suck, I will have to stock up on wet ones. But I am only living this for 16 days. Children in Nepal experience this for a lifetime.

So what I am asking of you is to donate money to help build a children’s home and give some of the children in Nepal a brighter future.

Whether you donate $1 or more. The amount does not matter. You can even donate for every metre I climb, especially if you think I can’t make it.

All the expenses for the trip are paid by myself. You are not donating to me. The donations go directly to the children’s home.

Also if anyone would like to join on this trek it is an open invitation. The more the merrier and the more we could fundraise for the kids. Dates are 11^th April – 26^th April 2015.

Just go to the link on this blog ‘Donate’, and help me make a difference in some kids lives.

Thank you for reading. And if you still think I am wasting my time or that your donation will not help, here is a short story that may convince you otherwise.

The Boy and the Starfish

A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water.
Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.

As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.

The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied, “I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. “But”, said the man, “You can’t possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can’t possibly make a difference.”
The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied,

“I made a huge difference to that one!”

Hi,

I am Michiel Jansen. Currently I am working as a volunteer for Volunteers Initiative Nepal ( VIN ) for 8 weeks. I am working in computer technology here. For one part I am helping VIN with constructing and maintaining their websites. For the other part I am teaching computer technology at a secondary school in Kathmandu.

During the last 2 weeks of this period (28th of September until 11th of October) VIN is organising an Everest Base Camp charity trekking to raise money for building an orphanage home. See: “Nepal Children’s Home”. Because I am involved in the development of this website, I have been getting aware why it is so important to give these children a better life. That’s why I decided to join this charity trekking with VIN. On one hand I can then enjoy the beauty and nature of the Nepalese Hymalaya and on the other hand I will do it for a good purpose.

To make “the other hand” work out, I will need your support. The idea is that for every meter I will climb the Mount Everest, VIN will receive an amount of money that will directly be added to the budget for building the Nepal Children Home. The end goal of the trekking will be the South Base Camp of Mount Everest. The altitude of this Base Camp is at an altitude of 5364 metres. The trekking will start from the Nepalese town Lukla, which lies at an altitude of 2800 metres. So, in total I will have to climb 2564 metres over a period of 2 weeks. This includes a couple of acclimatisation days to get used to the altitude.

VIN is organising 3 of these trekking groups and the target is to raise $15000 dollar in total. So, this means a target of totally $5000 for a single trekking. I will be doing this trekking with about 6 other volunteers, which makes a target of around $715 per person. To make it more challenging, I will increase my personal target to $1000 (which equals about €692).

Conclusion:

To reach this target I will have to receive $1000 / 2564m = $0.39 / meter (€0.27 / meter) in total. So, if for example 27 people are willing to donate 1 eurocent per meter I climb, I will already reach my target.

Or if you trust my fitness and believe I will make it or you don’t want to do all these calculations, you may also donate the full amount that you want to donate in advance. E.g. 27 people times €25,64 will also make the target.

To be clear. The money that you donate will directly be spent for building this orphanage home. The costs for the climb itself (food, sleeping, flight, etc.), I will pay for myself.

To make a donation, click the donate button at the bottom of this page.

On behalf of VIN, my appreciation for your donation!

Nederlands

Hallo,

Ik ben Michiel Jansen en ik werk op dit moment voor 8 weken als vrijwilliger voor VIN. Ik ben hoofdzakelijk bezig op het gebied van IT. Voor een deel help ik VIN met het bouwen en onderhouden van hun websites. Voor het andere deel geef ik computerles op een lagere school in Kathmandu.

Tijdens de laatste 2 weken van deze periode (28 september t/m 11 oktober) zal VIN een Everest Base Camp donatie trekking organizeren om geld binnen te halen om een weeshuis te kunnen bouwen. Zie: “Nepal Children Home”. Omdat ik betrokken ben bij het maken van deze website en inzie hoe belangrijk het is om die straatkinderen een beter leven te geven, heb ik besloten om aan deze donatie trekking mee te doen. Van een kant kan ik op deze manier genieten van de mooie omgeving van de Nepalese Hymalaya en aan de andere kant doe ik het ook nog voor een goed doel.

Voor die andere kant heb ik jullie hulp nodig. Het idee is dat VIN voor elke meter die ik de Mount Everest beklim een bepaald bedrag ontvangt dat direct toegevoegd zal worden aan het budget voor de bouw van het Nepal Children Home. Het einddoel van de trekking zal het zuidelijke basiskamp van Mount Everest zijn. Dit basiskamp ligt op een hoogte van 5364 meter. De trekking zal starten in het Nepalese dorpje Lukla, wat op een hoogte ligt van 2800 meter. Dus, in totaal zal ik 2564 meter moeten klimen in een periode van 2 weken. Dit is inclusief een aantal acclimatiesatie dagen, om aan de hoogte te wennen.

VIN organiseert 3 van deze trekkings en het doel is om hiermee $15000 (c.a. €10504) te verdienen. Dit betekent een bedrag van in totaal $5000,= per trekking. Waarschijnlijk doe ik deze trekking met nog 6 andere vrijwilligers, dus komen we uit op $715 per persoon. Om mezelf nog wat meer uitdaging te geven leg ik mijn doel op $1000,= wat uitkomt op c.a. €692. Laten we er €700 van maken, nu we toch bezig zijn.

Conclusie:

Om dit doel te halen zal ik in totaal dus €700 / 2564m = €0,27 / meter binnen moeten halen. Dus als bijvoorbeeld 27 mensen 1 eurocent per meter willen doneren, per meter dat ik klim, kunnen we dat doel al halen.

Als jullie vertouwen hebben in mijn fitheid of gewoon direct een bedrag naar eigen inzicht willen doneren, dan kan dat natuurlijk ook.

Voor de duidelijkheid. Dit geld wordt rechtstreeks besteed aan de bouw van dit weeshuis. De kosten voor de beklimming zelf (voedsel, overnachting, vlucht, etc.) betaal ik zelf.

Om een donatie te doen, klik de donate knop onderaan deze pagina.

Namens VIN alvast hartelijk dank voor de donatie!

Hi everyone,

In January, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to deliver professional development to teacher training in Nepal through Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN) Nepal Teacher Development program. In order to cover the costs of these sessions and resources, we only need to raise $300! I am hoping that I can help the program by not only covering these costs, but raising extra to also help finance the purchasing of teacher and student resources. I’d love your support in helping achieve this goal.

Thanks in advance.

Rachel

Dear family and friends,

who wants to follow me on my journey to a new way of thinking and likes to support the children of Okhaldhunga, Nepal, please donate via paypal,

With your money Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN) will sponsor their education so that they won’t remain stuck in the cycle of poverty, with little or no opportunities for career development.

Thanks a lot!

Julia

Aachen, Germany

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my Volunteers Initiative Nepal ( VIN ) blog! While you’re here, I hope you’ll have a little look around their website so that you can see all the wonderful things that they are doing in Nepal. As you all know, I am off to Nepal in a month to spend 10 weeks out there working on their Women’s Empowerment Project. I have always been very passionate about international development and I have also always been fascinated with South Asia and this part of the world. I wanted to volunteer with an organisation which is run by local people who truly understood the needs of the communities they wish to serve, not a US or UK run organisation.

When I found VIN I knew instantly it was exactly the kind of organisation I wanted to commit my time and energy to. You only need to look through their extensive list of ongoing projects on the left hand side of this website to see just what immense passion and commitment and energy they have for their country and its people.

The project I will be working on helping in women empowerment.  In a largely patriarchal society, the women of Nepal often don’t receive much education, they aren’t aware of all of their rights, and they aren’t supported with the skills or the confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. VIN’s project has several areas of focus, including teaching women technical skills to enable them to create a steady income. It also includes teaching them literacy and English and even life skills, such as assertiveness and stress management.

If you know me well enough you’ll know that it’s the latter areas that I will be hoping to contribute towards! I’ve already worked hard to save enough money needed to fund this trip and my time out there. This is because I feel like, although I am going out there to volunteer my time and energy to the women out there, I am almost certainly going to learn more from them and my experience living there! There is definitely a selfish element to me volunteering my time! I couldn’t possibly expect anyone to want to donate to me, but if you like what you learn about VIN here on their website and it strikes a chord in your heartstrings, then please do donate via my blog here, and rest assured that your kind donation will really make a difference to someone’s life out in Nepal. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated with pictures and stories of my time out there. In the meantime, thank you all for your time and your kindness. With much love! Helen

Dear family and friends,

My name is Andrew Kong or fondly referred to as Andy, Drew, King, Kong or King Kong by some of you. It has been one of my life goals to do something to contribute back to the community and the world. I am glad to say that I am taking the bold step now to realise the dream. For the next 2 months, I will be travelling to Nepal for 2 major tasks.

First, I will spending some time teaching English language at buddhist monastery. I will be working for 4-5 hours a day, 6 days a week, harnessing my teaching and coaching skills. What is more important is that I am reaching out to this community to learn and appreciate their monastic lifestyle and at the same time helping the younger monks and nuns to gain confidence to reach out to the greater world out there. This is a personal funded task.

Second, I will be spending the last 2 weeks of my travel trekking to the Mount Everest Base Camp to raise fund to build an orphanage for 50+ children in 2015. . This is a challenging trek testing both my physical and mental fitness to the base camp (5,545m altitute – Mount Everest is 8,848m). Those who know me well will wonder how I will survive a week of no shower during the trek.

Why I am doing this? A couple of months ago, I was watching this BS documentary called “The Day My God Died”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV5W6F4L5i8&wide=1 The documentary chronicled the prevalent child sex trade industry in Nepal and India. I was appaled by the atrocities and lack of protection of these vulnerable children. Watching the documentary, I couldn’t help to realise that education, good living conditions and stricter laws are really the recipe to combat the injustice. While I can’t do much about the laws, I am taking these small steps to ensure that the children are given an opportunity at proper education and better lifestyle.

Therefore, I am appealing for your donation to build the Nepal Children Home. Just to be clear, all your donation will proceed to the construction of the orphanage. I will be personally responsible for my own trekking expenses (e.g. flight, accommodation, meals, etc.) No matter what is the amount, be it 1 dollar, 1 ringgit, 1 peso, 1 renminbi, 1 rupee, 1 baht – you can make a difference in this initiative. As an added incentive, I will publish a photo journal blog to document my journey to Nepal. And I am throwing in a song that I will play on my piano too.

I have been told you will be given a receipt for your donation. I suspect you may actually use this receipt for tax deduction purpose.

To make a donation, click the donate button at the bottom of this page.

On behalf of VIN, thank you for your support and consideration.