Long time no blog!

Hi All!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Sorry for the extra long delay in updating my blog. A mixture of difficult access to the internet and being so busy, but good busy that is.

One of the biggest changes to occur here in Bandipur was reinforcement into the ranks of volunteers, one became two. And that two is this wonderful woman going by the name of Angela, who's residence outside of Nepal is Adelaide, Australia. She is a mother of 3 grown up children and has challenged herself to leave her family and delve into 10 weeks of volunteering in Bandipur.

For me, I was daunted at first, because I didn't know what it would be like. Maybe she'll be this dragon who will eat me alive and leave the rest for the vultures. Anyway, I was nervous, but luckily we compliment each other and she has been a massive help to me and all the community in Bandipur and made a big difference.

She has been the instigator of getting some renovations done to the local school classroom where we teach and also in getting our computer class renovated. She has a great way of getting things done and with the help of our amazing chaperone, Ramsaran. Many things have been achieved and are planned. You can read more, and see pictures, about the school and computer class in the blogs below.

Technically, I have finished my volunteering with GVI and are now going it alone. And my plans have changed, I have decided to stay in Bandipur another month, for many reasons. One because I have made so many friends who feel like my extended family, second, because I wanted to help Angela with the computer classes and school but not take as much responsibility as before and third spend some time trying to learn the language.

But one thing has changed my plans already in the last week, that is another recruitment into the team. Her name is Yolee, a Czech girl whose been living in England for the past 12 years. We were told at the last minute that a new volunteer would be starting on Monday. Angela and I laughed as we are so used to the Nepali way, everything happens at the last minute, you never know what's round the corner.

This means that I can take a step back and let Angela and the new volunteer get on with most of the work and I'll just assist occasionally. Actually, I have many admin things relative to the volunteering to do over the next few weeks, such as creating blogs, info sheets for new volunteers and generally creating a structure that will hopefully improve the experience for future volunteers and especially create as much consistency for the children, which is the main objective.

Anyway, I've gone on for too long. Therefore, for your visual and reading delight I have posted many scandalous and headline catching blogs below of what's been going on in the past 6 weeks. So if you are sat inside a warm house with the freezing English weather outside and have some free time, then spend it reading the various blurbs below, better than watching another dull episode of Eastenders :)

Speak soon and all my love, Lee :0)

The Happenings in the Computer Class

The computer classes have been going really well and have had their changes over the past 6 weeks. The biggest thing of course is my relationship with the children which has grown considerably and the great thing is how I have such different relationships with them all. Of course, naturally you bond more with some rather than others. And the funny thing is how you relate to the different aged children too, and how I've had to adapt to get the most out of the relationships. But the most important thing of all is trying to make a positive impact in any way I can on their life, whether that be improving their level of English or just giving them the love and attention they deserve, as any child should have. And most of all, what they have given to me is something I shall never forget for life!

I also have some sad news, I am no longer teaching in the computer class because there is no need for me. I was going to continue to help Angela for the next few weeks, as she would be on her own. However, at the last minute, 2 days before her arrival we were told that a new volunteer, Yolee, was coming to take my place, which means that there is no need for me to assist Angela anymore.

The positive thing for me is that I get more time to concentrate on learning the language and doing that admin stuff. The downside is that I'll not be seeing the kids as much anymore, though I'm still keeping up with the rubbish every Wednesday and doing the exercise with the boys!

As for what we've been up to. Apart from the standard trying to teach English with the computers. The methods of teaching have been constantly evolving, especially when Angela came along and now I'm sure they will change with the new volunteer's influence too.

I think what we have learnt so far is that the children lack the confidence in reading and speaking English. Probably due to the teaching methods in the school or maybe for some, just general shyness. But we feel it has been good to introduce as many different ways of getting them to speak, listen, read and write English to improve their comprehension as much as possible. Are we making a difference? I hope so, but I think as long as we and future volunteers show the children and the community that we care and give 100% sincerity to them and do the best we can, then it's all worth the effort whatever the outcome :o)

As for what's else has been happening, if you see the pictures above we've been having some fun too, not all serious English teaching.

The kids loved the balloons, especially the long twisting, making shapes ones. Also, we had fun making various things with the craft materials such as pipe cleaners and fluffy balls. Having creative fun with the kids is so much fun and I think an important way to express themselves, which they don't get at school.

You can even see us working with candle light, when the power cuts occur, which is happening on a regular basis, now up to 6 hours a day. It is ridiculous Ahh! I'll talk about that another time.

Outside with the Computer Class

Another important bonding time we have with the children is outside the computer class and Saturdays is a great time as it's our only day off, which we do take as rest time too, but also arrange things with the kids.

A few weeks before Christmas we went to visit a beautiful traditional village called Ramkot, famous for its round houses, actually there are only 2. Above, you can see a picture of all us guys outside one of the houses. But it's a lovely walk about 1 and a half hours both ways.

It was great to stretch our legs, especially the kids, as Bandipur is pretty much where they are all the time, so to go out for a mini trek outside their town is great for them. We take drinks and snacks for the journey. What is great though, is the local knowledge these kids have. About their plants and trees in particular, they know which fruits and berries are good to eat. You can see in another picture above, them picking for a small, stoned fruit that is very bitter, I forgot the name. It was a great day and as usual the weather excellent.

Then for the first Saturday of the western New Year, we went to Siddha Cave for the second time. You may remember, on my first weekend here I went with the previous volunteer, but Angela the new volunteer wanted to go and see it.

We could only take a few of the older boys for safety purposes, but it was still great fun. The journey their and back is similar to Ramkot. You can see in one of the pictures above all us guys sitting on the rock eating or rather sucking on a sugar cane, which one of the boys thoughtfully brought for us. All in all a great day out.

And just before Angela and I leave, we are taking 12 of the guys rafting. Which they are all very excited and can't wait, us too!

At the Local Primary School

Things at the local primary school have changed a lot since my last blog. Especially, once Angela arrived, she brought a new dynamic to the teaching. First, instead of being just me, there's now 2 of us, actually there was 2 of us. But now, like with the computer class I have left the school to concentrate on other things. You can see a picture of my last day above, the one with the kids all surrounding me. It was a great last day, we all sang together and I did some dancing too while the kids sang in Nepali.

Back in Australia, Angela is a music teacher and also is director of an amateur all female choir. So straight away, she added the musical element to the classroom which the kids lapped up. So it became normal that for the last 5-10 minutes of class we would sing songs. Most were simple and catchy ones, the most popular was an African one called 'Oh Malle', they loved it and sometimes we hear them singing it outside of school too.

Working together as team made the challenge of working with the children so much easier and has meant we have created a stronger bond with them. To help learn all their names we created name badges, which the children loved and felt very proud with their name on their chest. We also introduced doing a test at the end of each week, to see if they really were learning anything. It was a great way of testing their ability and to see how much copying they do, and many do, mainly because it is so prevalent in the local government schools, something I hope will change in the future. But we try our best to discourage it and let them know it's ok to make mistakes, it is how you learn.

Another great idea Angela came up with was to do some simple renovation to the classroom, as they were in a horrible state, holes in the floor and window sills and the walls were unpainted and full of graffiti, shows how much respect the children have for their classroom and the lack of it the teachers have too. So we enlisted the help of our amazing big brother Ramsaran, from the hotel, and he got a team together to patch up all the holes and Angela and I acquired some paint and got to work on the walls.

The most amazing part was that, some of the children from our computer classes who don't go to this school helped us paint without us even asking. That really made us feel lucky to be here in Bandipur with children and people like this, it makes us wonder who is benefiting more from our time here, the community or us, I think it's pretty "same same", as they say here.

You can see the difference in the pictures above, the one with the balloons was before and the one with the kids and me was after, but I think you could have guessed that!?

Anyway, I hope the children will continue to benefit from the good will of all the volunteers to come in the future, I will miss them and hopefully I will see them again one day.

Bandipur Festival

Well, we had a rather interesting festival occur here on the weekend of 14th December, the 'Bandipur Festival'. It was mainly set up to promote the town for tourism. There were lots of flags put up in the main street and many stalls in the big open space called Thundikel. But that was about it, the stalls didn't have much to offer some interesting Newari food and some very funny hygiene stalls demonstrating why people shouldn't poo in fields or water, you can see in the picture of the poster above, they get straight to the point.

I don't know how but they managed to get an elephant up here as the picture demonstrates above, it squeezing under the banners and flags, the kids loved it. Also, I had to post the picture of me walking with some of the boys, because it really makes me look like a giant, even though I should know that by now 

Angela & Lee's Trek

In the 3rd week of December Angela and I decided to go on the small trek included with our volunteering, the main reason because the schools were having exams for 10 days and we had less to do, so it was the right time to go.

We also went with another volunteer from Pokhara, Dale from the UK, a really friendly and nice guy. He had just finished university and took a year out before starting a course to become a primary school teacher.

The trek is called the Royal Trek named after Prince Charles who did the trek sometime in the 80's. It's 4 days, 3 nights with a maximum altitude of 1400m, not very high but stunning views of the Himalayan mountains. As you can see on our first day, the picture of Angela, Dale and me with the great backdrop.

We stayed in family houses and ate dal bhat for dinner and our guide brought bread and muesli for breakfast. You can see our first nights stay in the photo above, in the clay room and our breakfast the following morning outdoors. Sadly, Dale had to be taken back to Pokhara on the second day as he became ill with a stomach bug, but had recovered on our return.

It was a great trip never meeting any other tourists on our journey, just locals. It wasn't too difficult a trek either, the days weren't too long, we had time to relax in the afternoons and to take in the surroundings. You can see in the picture above, the 3 girls with the big cheesy grins. It was a very emotional afternoon when that photo was taken, because they demonstrated the rawness of what being a child should be. They are from a community that has very little, though were full of life and innocence. It was a very touching to experience, they improvised and played games and then they did a song and dance for us. It was a magical experience for Angela and me. It really brought the essence of why we are here in Nepal.

The sunrise on the last morning was an amazing experience, you can see the picture of our guide and me on the old wooden bench with the most beautiful backdrop. I never got tired of that view, I'm in awe every time I experience it, especially during sunrise and sunset. On sunrise, it feels like witnessing the birth of the very first day of life on Earth. If you ever get the chance to make it to Nepal, you will be rewarded for life!

Once the trek was finished we decided we had to celebrate it with a lovely juicy steak. Though, the bazaar thing was that we were in a country which deems the cow as sacred and we felt a little strange eating steak. What was even more bazaar was that are guide also ate the steak with us. But, I have to say it was the best steak I've ever had. They actually import them from India, as killing a cow in Nepal is illegal, but importing the meat isn't?!

Anyway, it was a lovely trek and mind re-energizer for our return trip to Bandipur.

Christmas in Bandipur

My first Christmas away from mum and dad, I have to say was an emotional one. Up until the day before Christmas life in Bandipur was happening as normal, and why shouldn't it, as they don't celebrate it here. Then on the Christmas Eve the hotel put up a Christmas tree and decorations and then it hit me I would be away from my family for Christmas.

Actually, Christmas Eve was lovely, Angela and I first had dinner with one of our computer class students Sanjip. Then on our return to the hotel, we found ourselves eating frois grois on walnut bread, Swiss cheese and dark chocolate finished off with a selection of French wines, red, white and dessert too! Another totally bazaar experience. The food and drink was brought in by some French guests from the hotel who live and work in Nepal and were on their Christmas break. It was a very multi-cultural affair, there were 3 French, 1 Canadian, 1 American, 2 Dutch, 3 English and 1 Australian. In the picture above you can see some of us toasting to the camera.

The 2 dutchman that were with us are on this amazing bike journey, they have cycled from Holland and are on their way to Malaysia. They said they've had the best experiences ever, and every country they passed through the people were so warm and welcoming and one of the friendliest was Iran. They were concerned about the current political climate their, but once travelling through it, they were always greeted, offered food and just invited with warm, friendly faces.

I think one of the most important things is that we should not judge a country and it's people too quickly and not believe everything the media tells us. Some times we should just experience it for ourselves, and we may be surprised of the outcome.

Angela had a great idea for our computer class, that was to find a Christmas tree. It wasn't easy, but up one of the hills near Bandipur were some fir trees, they had few branches and massive needles, but it did the job. And then just before Christmas we got the kids to make decorations for it, which was great fun and you can see a picture of the tree in some of the pictures above.

As for Christmas day, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. We still had computer classes that day, we felt it unfair not too and because it was a special day, we wanted to experience it with our kids. Also, Angela and I bought all the guys Christmas presents too. For the boys we got either a hat or a pair of gloves, and for the girls, a purse with some bangles, a shampoo sachet and a lip seal. And for all the kids some toothpaste, a tooth brush, some soap and a couple of sweets. And to top it off they were wrapped in a prayer flag, tied together with string and finished with a clip on koala. The koala, a gift from Angela she had brought from Oz, luckily she had enough for all kids.

The kids loved their presents. We also decided to watch the Incredibles movie on the computer with the kids, as an treat for us as well as them. Christmas Day dinner was BBQ chicken, creamy mash potato and veg, with a mince pie to finish it off. And what made it even better was that 2 other volunteers from another location, James and Liam were up for Christmas and James had been sent for Christmas a big bar of Dairy Milk which was offered out to us after the mince pies and went down very nicely.
The best part of Christmas day was when I got to speak to my family, I was very happy and sad at the same time, but it meant a lot to speak with them so that was my best present.

New Year was another crazy night, one to remember. It was more of a family affair. The owner of the Travel company Himalayan Encounters Tony, was here with His Nepali girlfriend, ex-wife and partner, his brother, his son from England, and many of their friends from Nepal. One family their who emigrated from Scotland a few years ago to live in Kathmandu, were a lovely people. The husband Jamie was a GP in Scotland for many years and is now working in a clinic in Kathmandu and helps with projects all over Nepal. Their son was their, a young teenager and he could play the bagpipes. And how could he not play them on New Year and so he did. It was great, he played flower of Scotland and of course Auld Lang Syne. Though once midnight came we all went straight to bed, as here in Nepal bedtime is usually between 8-9pm. So we were all knackered and not used to late nights. But it was definitely a New Year to remember.

'Keep Bandipur Clean' Update

The Keep Bandipur clean campaign had a few weeks break over the Christmas period, due to exams and Angela and I being on our Trek. But now into the new year it is back into full swing.

You can see from the pictures above our incinerator where the rubbish is burnt, as there are no rubbish collections where we are and no facilities to land fill. So for the meantime they burn their rubbish. Though here in Bandipur, Himalayan encounters have upgraded their incinerator site, a smaller, compact burner for increased temperatures and better burning.

In my last blog, I mentioned the kind donation of 1000 rupees by Andrew from London. Well, that money has been spent on 16 pairs of gloves, so a BIG thank you again for your donation. You can see Angela buying the gloves in a chemist and they are actually post mortem gloves, but that's all we could find, but they are very thick rubber so should last a good time. You can also see the kids waving with their gloves.

We were worried that after the break the kids would be lacking the enthusiasm, but they actually still have enough to turn up, even if some do turn up late, they do make the effort. The one thing here in Nepal is that they don't really grasp the concept of punctuality, well actually I just think they are used to there long lasting culture of being very laid back. It can be frustrating at times, but has helped me get closer to the quote of 'Patience is a virtue'.

Anyway, it's still going well and I'm still attending while I remain in Bandipur and actually last weekend we had a rather bazaar festival, a sanitation festival, I've never heard of one of those before, but yes it did happen here. The next blog is all about it including pictures.

Bandipur Sanitation Festival

Yes a sanitation festival, and to me and the other volunteers, a rather bazaar weekend. But fun!

We had all the children lining the streets to welcome 1 lady from UNICEF and what an experience that was. She and her daughter were greeted like a royal family, with flowers, gifts and the children and people lining the streets. Just take a look at the pictures above.

There was a stage and lots of talking, of which I couldn't understand, but in the evening it was great as they had lots of Hindi and Nepali dance music being played and lots of young teenagers dancing on stage. It was a fun night, I was dancing with lots of the kids too, but not on stage. And had many hanging of my arms too!

The main purpose is to try and educate and inform the people about proper sanitation methods and disposal of dirty water and even toilets. Still in Nepal, approximately 40% of Nepali's don't have a toilet and just use the land, a crazy statistic, so things like this are very important. Though sometimes it seems like a lot of talking and not much action, my slightly pessimistic view, but I don't have enough knowledge on this subject, so I can't really make too much of a judgment. Though it was a great photo opportunity! And hopefully made a few people think.