I have been volunteering in the Women Empowerment project on my second project, focusing on Microcredit. My placement was in Jitpurphedi, in the Phuyal host family. I took up some extra activities besides my Microcredit project, so I also taught English to farmer women from the community in Devistan and gave computer-literacy classes to girls and women in the Tarakeshwor Women Business Center and agricultural cooperative near Principle.
-My first English classes with the women in Devistan were complicated, as there was no local, Nepali-speaking volunteer with me, so we could barely communicate with the women, Louise, another French volunteer, and I.
Then a local volunteer named Sanju started joining me to translate for the women. From then, the English classes were much more accessible; the women were always enthusiastic about the lessons. We began with flashcards about numbers in English, but it was way too easy for them. Then we went on with the main body parts, clothes, and colors and spent more time teaching them about feelings and emotions, positions of objects compared to other things, and some everyday-use sentences and politeness broadly used in Western countries. The women sometimes brought their kids, who were curious about the classes and sometimes better than their parents! Overall, I think the women really enjoyed it and are looking forward to continuing learning English, as they have requested a whiteboard and some material to write on.
-Regarding the computer classes, some girls were already there when the previous volunteers made computer classes, so they came in with good knowledge and better skills than the newer girls, which caused some difference in computer literacy and skill level between the girls, but they ended up helping each other by themselves, so it was not an issue. They were also very invested, and I am positive that they realize what an opportunity it is to have these basic and slightly advanced computer skills when living in a village such as Jitpurphedi to find one’s way to a rewarding job. I enjoyed teaching these computer classes because I would constantly challenge myself to make them learn valuable computer skills while still making them understand it in a fun way, most likely by making it sort of a game, and I think they enjoyed it as well 😉
-As for Microcredit, my main initial project, I ended up helping the three women at the Women Business Center with accounting, especially in writing the online version of their accounting registers. At first, I had no local volunteer to help me, so I had to learn Népali numbers because they kept their accounting registers in Népali! But after about a week, Sanju also joined me for that project and translated the Népali for me, which made thinking a lot easier 🙂
I started and completed this fiscal year’s monthly and yearly reports for the Business Center in Principle. I also got to the meetings in the communities to collect savings and loan paybacks and discussions about the agricultural needs/issues of the women. For me, this was a source of deep interest, as everything is managed through these three women at the Business Center, and they have a deep bond of trust, and it is very efficient, which I found remarkable indeed!
In the end, each of these tasks made me exchange with amiable, kind, and sympathetic people, and for that, I am very grateful to them; I will never forget them and my time volunteering with them 🙂
Special mention to the Phuyal family, who welcomed me in their house for five weeks and have been fantastic, compassionate, and caring hosts; I will never forget the tremendous teas, dal baths, and Bounty’s energy 😜
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