Although I had made the claim to backpack Nepal for my 50th birthday 20 years earlier, it was only late November last year when I thought I need to turn my mind to actually doing it.
At that point though, it was really only researching the country to determine where I would like to visit.
It was during this time, that I also considered something else I had always wanted to do, and this was teaching English to school children. I thought that my time in Nepal would be a good place to consider doing this.
A bit of research and I submitted an application to International Volunteers Headquarters. I was accepted and I promptly put Nepal out of my mind because for two weeks, they would look after my accommodation and where I would be. I figured I could work out the rest when I got there.
Today, it became a reality. In Nepal, it is the beginning of the school year and due to it being Mother’s Day tomorrow (an actual holiday) and some prep work days, the school where I was due to volunteer was not starting school until Sunday.
Rather than having us miss out, we went to an after school location, where we would be assisting kids from one of the poorest areas of Pokhara.
Prior to this, Krishna our host walked us to the school where we would be located next week. We are to make our own way to and from school, so Krishna made sure we knew where we going at every turn
Samara Shikshaniketan School is also known as Bamboo school as it’s made out of bamboo. This school also holds the guiness world record for being the cheapest school in the world to attend, costing just $1 a month to attend.
After lunch, it was time to make our way to our after school program. Pramilla, Krishna’s daughter was showing us how to catch the bus to the school as it was a 40min walk away and 32 degrees.
The bus was nothing more than a tiny van that despite being full, we still were able to cram ourselves in, with me sitting on the very edge of a seat designed to sit two people and now had four.
Our departure stop is Hong Kong Bazaar, a well known location, so this should make it easy for making our way to the school tomorrow on our own.
The children were a mixture of ages and abilities. Their year level wasn’t determined on their age, but their education abilities, meaning many younger children were at a higher level than older ones.
While there were two Nepali teachers, they told us we could start teaching them something. Because this was an after school program until school started and there was no guarantee children would turn up, it was more about trying to keep them engaged.
The children would come up asking my name and where I was from, delighted to hear I was from Australia.
I sat with two sisters, helping them sound out words that had been written on the board, with the word ‘jumped’ taking some time, being pronounced initially as jump-ped.
What was more rewarding was building their confidence to go up to the board at the front and write a word that they knew, but did not want to go up, for fear of being wrong.
When eventually they took part, their smiles were so big when I cheered their return to their desk, but I was the one more delighted.
A game of hangman started, with a team of girls and a team of boys. I was assisting the boys and had to work on getting them to work as a team and agree on a letter, rather than all of them just simply yelling out letters randomly. I found the thing that worked the best was getting them into a small footy huddle.
It was fascinating to see how well the boys did with visualising what the words were playing Hangman, yet when we played Pictionary afterwards, the girls were incredibly quick on this.
There was one boy I watched who I could tell was incredibly smart, but he had an armour as hard as steel. I felt sadness at thinking of what he had experienced in such a short life to make him need this shield up.
Watching how excited these children were to show off their English skills only makes you wonder of the possibilities in the world if all children had the opportunities so many of us take for granted.
At the end of the day, we were expecting to have another volunteer show us the way home. However, our host Krishna had come to visit during the day and told Robert he would come get us.
Half an hour after he was due, I messaged one of the other volunteers and then we messaged Pramilla, Krishna’s daughter who called Krishna.
What ensued was a case of too many cooks in the communication chain, with Pramilla telling us to shop in the bazaar while we waited and she would tell us when Krishna was there, only Krishna arrived while we were in the bazaar, to be told by the teachers that we had left already, so he went back home.
Eventually, we connected and made our way home, straight to dinner. What followed though was a wonderful evening of drinking wine that you needed a chainsaw to open and cups of homemade rice wine, otherwise known as Sake and fascinating and insightful conversations about religion in Nepal and Malaysia.
There really is so much joy in learning and each day brings this opportunity for all of us.
Much love x
Karen its a wonderful thing to do for you and the kids. OMG its hot there today saturday is now sunny and cool 19c I think . Keep up the good work and having fun. love and hugs. xx
This sounds amazing. Watching the “lights come on” as they learn and succeed. What a joy! Thanks for sharing your experience.