A summary (long summary!) of my past month in Nepal

'New Year, New Leader'

For the Nepali New Year on April 14th, myself and a group of volunteers went to a Children's Home in central Kathmandu and spent the day there playing games and doing fun activities with the kids along the theme of 'New Year, New Leader'. 'Leadership' training is a trend at the moment amongst development organisations in Nepal, Youth Action included. The children enjoyed showing us their dancing, singing, artwork and sweet sweet smiles - was great to share their special day with them!

My birthday

This year was one of the most memorable birthdays I've had. It was so different to previous ones. My work had organized a surprise party involving Tikas, gifts a-plenty, and a yummy cake… with my name on, mmm mmmm! Was gobsmacked at the effort they had gone to and felt a much-valued part of the team. Halfway through the celebration a man arrived on a motorbike carrying 2 tins of cookies from one Mrs Angela Rathbone - thank you Grannie - you are amazing! Have to say they didn't last long in an office full of 20 people, though we enjoyed them while they did! The rest of the afternoon was spent going from meeting to meeting but I will wipe that from my memory and skip to the next part, which involved cocktails in a jazz bar down the road from me. The managers there know me well and were keen to see that I enjoyed my birthday evening, they didn't fail in their task, it was great fun!!


Leadership Camp April 30th - 3rd May 2009

As some of you may know, last week I was away coordinating a Youth Leadership Camp in a village outside of Kathmandu. It took 10 days solid planning and was a lot of hard work, so…I am pleased I succeeded in carrying it out despite a few small hitches along the way!

We set off on Thursday morning with 20 participants from Kathmandu on a jam packed bus with half of the participants having to sit on the roof, myself excluded as I knew the windy roads that were awaiting us! On the way there 2 of the tyres punctured so we had to walk to find the nearest bus park. 2 more hours drive and a one hour walk later…we finally arrived in the village and were welcomed with purple garlands from the School Principal. Participants were divided amongst community members’ houses, all of which were in different directions on the hill. Although we’d been told 2 or 3 people would be sharing a house, 10 of the guys were told they would be sharing a room together. Something which did not go down well and was criticized at the end of the camp. ‘Ke Garne?’ (‘what to do?’) as they say over here. Couldn’t exactly send them back home and couldn’t complain either as lucky to be given a place to stay. Other such things unfolded throughout the 3 days, including the number of participants going from a planned 30 to an unplanned 55 as more local community wanted to be involved than we had expected and I felt unable to turn them away.

Lucky for us, the facilitators were able to stay in a fantastic house owned by a German woman who is pretty much famous in the village as she has provided buildings, roads and a health centre. Her house is incredible. Although a fair way from the venue where we'd be doing the activities, it was well worth the walk. The house looks out over the hills yonder and the Himalayas in the distance. It has a traditional ground floor for when Nepali people are staying there and the top floor is westernized for when she lives there. I ended up sharing a room with 4 noisy girls who were up most of night opening closing door/switching light on and off, not good when had to be up at 5.30am 4 mornings in a row. It was a brief insight into how teachers must feel when they are running school trips, so tiring!

Sessions ran from 7am - 7pm each day with a mix of fun activities and theory on topics such as leadership, communication, project planning etc. The evenings were spent prepping for the next day, constantly having to readjust plans/schedule according to the situation. A good lesson for someone like me who usually feels most comfortable when in control of situations/ organized. Nepal has really helped me just to let go and let things run their own course – probably one of my biggest changes since coming here.

I was on a high (if not a very tired high) when the last day was over, I had managed to achieve something I was very proud of. Yet that quickly changed when during our last dinner the coordinator from the charity who had linked us to the village said he was hurt that we did not include his charity enough in the event. I was so frustrated as he had plenty of opportunities to say something - we sent the schedule to him before hand and he could also have said something at the time. I asked him why he didn't speak up in the day and he said it's just not his style. Worst thing was...he chose to tell me in front of 6 other people once my counterpart/joint organiser had gone to bed. Felt so got at. After 10 days continuous planning/hard work this was how it ended. Left the house and sat on top of the hill and cried, typical me I know, but I just couldn't help it! I was emotionally drained and this was last thing I had expected. Half of my upset though was that he was right....we had swooped in to a village that their organization has been working so hard in for the last 3 years and then not involved them in the book giving presentation on the final evening – despite them also providing the books for the newly planned resource centre. It may seem something trivial when reading about it, yet he was really hurt by our actions and it is a mistake I will be sure not to make again. Lesson learnt!

After a heavy storm on Sunday morning, we missed our bus and had to walk for 4 hours with all our equipment in the hot sun. Despite feeling shattered, I have to say walking in the sunshine through open fields, past waterfalls and brightly coloured flowers whilst listening to nothing but our footsteps and the birds singing was so relaxing after what had been a hectic 3 days. During the walk someone received news that a curfew was being called that evening in Kathmandu, so we walked as fast as we could so as not to miss the last bus home. Turns out that the curfew was sparked by fears of protests and riots. Protests which materialised and resulted in the Prime Minister resigning the following day. Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks. See the news for more details!

Despite rallies, protests and strikes nearly every day - work continues as usual and things are a lot more peaceful than had been anticipated. The only change to my routine is that i've given up getting the bus to work, a bad habit I had fallen in to over the past few months. Back to walking it is!

Wishing you lots of love, hope all is well!

Helen x