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Namaste! Have made it to Nepal and been thrown in at the deep end for sure :) It's already all systems go here which is brilliant as I must say, I feel I have done rather too much sightseeing recently and couldn't wait to decamp in one place for a month and get to work!
My flight was..interesting! I got to Delhi airport at 11pm and breezed through security in a bit of a daze. It was funny though how the women had to all be body checked in a little box so that no one else could see..I was a little anxious entering the box that I hadn't seen any woman cone out of!!! As Delhi is a main stopover for lots of flights I was luck in that I had a gate already assigned to my flight and so set off for gate 9A for a good kip as it was 2am Chinese time. When I got there half an hour later (the gates are miles away!) I was very pleased to see deck chairs set up by the gates for passengers to sleep on...how thoughtful!...if only they'd provided one extra deck chair. Every single one was taken, typical :) I tried sleeping on the chairs but in the end decided to squeeze myself in the gap between two rows of chairs to lie in the floor. This started great as I didn't feel particularly obtrusive and at least could lie flat! It was pretty darn freezing though and after 7 hours of lying there I had pretty bad cramp :) did feel like a hard core traveller though..or as hard core as one can feel 'slumming it' in an airport..! I got next to no sleep and was therefore not in the best of moods for my next flight but managed to get through half of Life of Pi before dozing off.
My flight was delayed because of a storm in Kathmandu but I got there in the end. The airport is teeny weeny and it took yonks to get the entire flight through visa control! My bag emerged absolutely soaked when it came out so thank the lord for dry bags and plastic bags too :) I was picked up from the airport by raj, one of the project's leaders and we bundled into a very rickety taxi to drive through a chaotic and dusty Kathmandu. Kathmandu is not like anywhere else I've been so far. I've never been to India but a friend told me all about her experience there and it sounds very similar. It's very exciting to be surrounded by noise, traffic and dust but I must say it felt a million miles away from the china I'd just left and that was dirty and noisy too..this is a whole new crazy board game! There are animals and people lining the streets and a cow was just asleep (or passing away) in the middle of the road at one point. The poverty is quite hard to take in but the people are really friendly and it was so lovely to have people smile back at you which never happened in china!!
As soon as I arrived at the volunteer house and was introduced to everyone I was whisked away on a walk around the projects available to me. The way it works is that you choose one project to volunteer with I the morning and one for the afternoon. We started at the Lily Flower school where classes are held to teach women English as part of the women's empowerment programme. It was so interesting sitting in on a lesson given by a volunteer and see how attentive the women were. They were so so keen to learn and understand and it made me really want to try teaching women as I could see the difference it made. We then went to the elderly home which I must say was pretty shocking. The school and orphanage was next where the children are mostly from families where one or both parents are in prison. The options here are either teaching them English in the morning or playing and caring for them in the afternoon. School begins again on Sunday for the next term to at the moment the volunteers are painting the classrooms.
We popped back to the house for lunch and a brief rest before going out in the afternoon to visit the carpet factory project. This carpet factory is where many women and children work incredibly hard in very poor sweat-shop style conditions but they have been allowed a bit of time off every afternoon to be taught English. I really really enjoyed sitting in on this project as the women were so desperate to learn and we had fun helping them and it was interesting to see their vast range of ages. After teaching them the volunteers teach the children some English and give them some recreational time. The children join their mothers working and so have very little time for education. There is a lot of competition for some of the projects but I'm really looking forward to teaching in the orphanage school in the mornings and teaching at the carpet factory in the afternoons. I was astounded after my mini glimpse yesterday that I could see just how much of an impact these projects have on these communities of women and children so can't wait to get stuck in! It's gonna be interesting covering my arms and legs the entire time in this rather hot climate but I'm sure ill survive :)
Today I did a bit if sightseeing with a few others as my volunteering starts tomorrow. We went to see the Bouda which is a huge beautiful temple covered in flags and the garden of dreams and then we had a mooch around the Thamel area where lots of trinkety bits are sold. I'm just really really looking forward to tomorrow now so I can throw myself into the project and get teaching!
Sorry if this blog seems a bit if a mishmash but my brain is rather foggy right now bogged down with a cold and headache :) no excuse but still..I blame Delhi airport!
Lots of love,
Flo x x x
- comments
Caroline Baldwin It does sound like India but its great that you feel you will make a difference to these womens lives. Enjoy the teaching. x
YKW Floey this sounds amazing! So good that you can see the difference it makes, and know that you're going to contribute to that! Keep having fun (and buy me a trinckety pressie he he!) xxx
D So great that you can make a little difference to these people. Suspect you will find it the most rewarding & perhaps memorable part of your trip. Good, courageous girl. 67!
WR Fascinating trip.hope to hear more