New arrival, new perspectives

On March 1st, VIN has welcomed a substantial amount of 10 fresh new volunteers ! A cosmopolitan arrival, since the newcomers are from the US, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France and Lituania. They are going to work on as many programs : Teaching English at Buddhist Monastery/Nunnery, Women Empowerment, Journalism, Child Care Orphanage, Teaching Earthquake Affected Children and Volunteer Coordinator (your humble servant who wrote this article). Each one of them came on their own, and we have short term as well as long term volunteers since their engagement period varies from 3 weeks to 5 months !
Volunteers started with the classical induction program, which took 3 days in total. At first, all recruits were picked up directly from the airport by VIN’s loyal driver Akkal and dropped off at the hotel in Thamel, a famous district in the center of Kathmandu where they spent the night. In the morning, they were driven to VIN offices where they were welcomed by all the staff and given an introduction presentation by Bhupi, founder and managing director of VIN. In the afternoon, volunteers were given health and cultural tips by VIN’s assigned doctor and Dinesh, the coordinator, so they could know the basics of Nepali lifestyle before their placement. Next followed a short Nepali class by the cheerful Sushma, who taught them how to present themselves and establish contact with the locals. After an exhausting but enlightening day, all recruits went eating together in the lively Thamel. The next day, back to VIN offices, each volunteer was given a full personal presentation of his program and what was requiered of him, as well as an official VIN T-shirt. Then came the time of their placement.
All recruits were driven to the location of their program and accompanied by Dinesh, who presented them personally to their host family or community (depending on the program) from whom they were given their day-to-day tasks. In the Orphanage, which is located in the whereabouts of Kathmandu, volunteers were welcomed by 22 small smily faces and immediatly adopted by the orphans. Then the Community School, secluded in the hills near the Thankot community, and where children affected by the earthquake live, welcomed the volunteers with its peace and the religious chants of the children. In Journalism, volunteers were driven to the magazine where they have to execute some of their work and were immediatly given their assigments : for starters, reports on street children and cultural/religious monuments in Kathmandu. Finally, the English teachers-to-be were greeted by the stunning calm and peaceful quiet of their monastery, located up in the Balambu hills, far away from the noise of Kathmandu. The hard but serene life of a monk awaits them.
As we speak, each volunteer is now in the good hands of their host family/community and is eager to get to work !