Volunteer Stories  |  Jan

Volunteering in Nepal – 7th Feb 2008 to 5th March 2008.

Having always moved responsibly from one job to the next during my career, my brother suggested I take a couple months off when I had resigned from my corporate job in Human Resources here in Dubai. I had no idea what I was going to do with my time until I was fiddling around on the internet and found myself googling Volunteering with Children. My story starts here I guess and led me on a journey and an experience which will remain with me forever and has changed subtly the person who I knew as me.

My only 2 criteria when dealing with Travel to Teach were that I was surrounded by natural beauty (coming from Dubai I didn’t want to see a single sky scraper or highway), and that I work with children. Both wishes were granted when I found myself placed in Nimral Pokhari, a village high in the Annapurna’s, higher than the eagles flew, an hour from Pokhara in Nepal.

The greatest gift I received during my 4 weeks was that I remembered how to live for now. This very minute. Not the end of the day, the end of the week, the next holiday. But right now. That is what I was given by the unique children I worked with and the amazing family I lived with.

Our days started early and involved fun, busy, energetic library sessions with the young village children as well as more intense English classes at the Secondary school with older kids until lunch time. The afternoons were spent walking in the hills, writing in my journal, helping with some chores in the house or just relaxing with a book. Another library session was held in the late afternoon and then the evening meal was followed by chatting round the cooking fire, playing football in the old vegetable patch, dancing to the latest Nepali-remix on the radio or helping with homework.

My day to day life in the village was so radically different to anything I knew in Dubai and was exactly what I wanted. Showers were possible but became unimportant (it was winter!), meals were simple and more delicious than anything I’d had in any gourmet restaurant, conversations were long, interesting, unhurried. My watch was removed on arrival and I never looked at it until I got to the airport to leave.

The people I interacted with were gentle, interesting and curious. The children were bright, intelligent, eager and full of dreams and ambitions. They laughed a lot, they loved attention, they could never give enough of themselves – their time, their energy, their love, their kindness. I was taken back to inventing games with sticks, playing hopscotch, skimming stones, climbing trees because TV’s and computers were not available. I was outside all day, busy, up and down mountains or in the school yard. I returned home tanned, toned and full of energy.

I would recommend this experience for anyone. I am 39, I met other volunteers of 19, 22, 25 and 54. All nationalities, all different backgrounds, some single some couples and I can’t believe that they haven’t all come back like me, with a cup which is overflowing with precious memories and moments which somehow become part of your soul.

Travel to Teach were the most organized and certainly one of the most reasonably priced options. I was volunteering with people from other operations which charged a good deal more and where there was far less communication and back up before departure. I’m happy to answer questions on my experience if you are thinking about it. It changed my life.