There are some very exciting developments regarding my volunteer work here, which until now I have also not really talked about. I have decided to focus in on a few projects in Kathmandu. I am going in the afternoons to a very high level and well off English school in the Bodha area.It is a school that someone from the last group worked in and implemented a program called ICARE, which they wrote up as a means of empowering the future of Nepal with tools to becoming leaders and more environmentally and culturally aware. The program is broken into 14 meetings- with activities on Childrens and Womens Rights, Ecological Footprints, a trip to the Bagmati River (to see the parts that are clean and its depletion as you get into the city), Corporations and our relations to them, and more.
We are taking it in a bit of a different direction, and working with the children who went through the program a few months ago who are now in grades 9 and 10. We are finding different volunteer options to take them to near the school. The idea is that they will learn more about what is going on in their neighborhood and how to be activists, while implementing what they learned in ICARE. We are also working with them to teach the program to the grade below them.
So far we have 2 homes for children with special needs for them to go to. This contact has led me to try and implement another project--- all of the homes for special needs we have spoken to say that they do not talk to one another and do not really trust the other organizations, but do share a common dislike for the government and their lack of help. We have been told by one that the groups quickly trust the foreigner and that we may be able to use that trust to our advantage to create a seminar at our house in which we invite all the groups.
It was also great to see one place, called New Life Development Center. They have a beautiful center for a group of 40 people ranigng in ages 4-42. They dont accept cash donations, but rather only donations in the forms of goods they need. They recently got two solar cookers, they have pigeons and other birds that they do animal therapy with, and even some machines for physcial therapy. The people who run it are a couple who have fully devoted themsevles to the center and rigorously train all those who come to work with them, as there is no real special ed or physical therapy program in colleges, at least from what I understand thus far.
We discussed the concept of informal education, amazing to see in this setting that is so structured on simply listening and copying. Most of the talking was done in Nepali, a benefit to all of them but a bit of a loss for us, but from what I grasped the kids were expressing their interest in helping others and were a bit nervous how to talk to the working children. One of them asked if they should tell hem not to work and to go to school, and if they should ask what their work is like. We stressed how we must remember they are all boys of th same ae and in the end of the day we are all the same- it is not about a higher level giing to the lower level and we shouldnt feel pity. We agreed this is about sharing and reating a more equal Nepal, and one of the kids added in that it is about creating more respect.
The children are absolutely amazing, and the way they speak English is at such a high and poetic level, it is beautiful to listen to. After sitting for the hour and talking, we wanted to lighten the energy, and we all (including all the adults) played the game where you are on the floor and your arms are all wrapped with eachother and you have to pass the pat around the room. I told the children that this is a good example of an easy way to connect with others, because games are a universal language.
We are also very much hoping ( I sound like a Nepali speaking english, its awful) to create a similar program with the girls. There are many girl workers making Tongka paintings (traditional Tibetan meditation artwork) in bad condtions, and we want to connect them with girls from the school for an educational exchange- in which the girls would teach them something and the workers would teach them how to paint. We think this is very important because it will give a greater sense of self worth to both groups of the girls, but especially the workers so that they can feel more like what they are doing is a skill and something to be proud of.
Other than those projects we are starting to work with a new volunteer organization called Children for a Green New Nepal (CGNN) , run by university students here. They go around and do presentations on environmental issues such as Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Deforestation, Global Warming, and more for schools- with very well done posters and excellent explanations. They also do street theatre and garbage collections. We are arraging for the students to partake in these activities-- meaning they would learn how to do the presenatations themselves, or act in the plays, or go around and collect garbage. Many of the children are really into these projects, because they were strongly affected by the trip of the Bagmati they did, and it is something tangible they can relate to-- they all remember when they could go swimming and drink from the Bagmati just a few years ago. Many of them also love putting on plays and are really theatrical. We are trying to come up with ways to get CGNN some grants or more money to become more established since it is a volunteer run orgnization and that is pretty rare.
Lastly then, we are sitting with the older kids to go over the program and having them teach it to class 8. This is an interesting role for me to be in, as I am used to being in Young Judaea and writing the activities and implementing them myself, but I am learning to stand back and see how they interpret it all. At least I still get to go over icebreaker games.
Since most of this takes places in the afternoons. I am hoping to start doing yoga nad mediations (various forms) at different orphanages and drop in centers for street children.
Another very interesting dvevelopment is a relationship we hope to build with an organization called Love Green Nepal, check them out online. They were established in the early 90's with the help of Love Green Japan, their sister org. They have a beautiul nursery in the Panchkal region, which I was lucky enough to visit the other day (actaully, I got to do a whole day touring the area in a jeep and getting explanations of the work they do). They are the leaders in the attempts to start up organic agriculture and a demand for it as well as more sustainable methods of farming and living (one in the same really, no?) Their work is truly incredible-- they focus on training farmers on new techniques, helping low income women with farming jobs, renovating schools, planting trees, giving girls scholarships, building bio gas toilets, and female leadership training seminars.
At their nursery we got to see guavas, coffee trees, cuumbers, gingko biloba, ppaya, mango, lemongrass, sandalwood, buddha malla trees (which malla beads come from), and much more. It was like a little Garden of Eden.
They mainly work within 5 VDC (village development centers) and so far have farmers come every year during the monsoon season to get seeds to plant trees at a very discounted price do training on how to plant, have built 22 schools, and right now 157 girls getting sholarships from them. They suport the kids from grades 6-12 and are now figuring out how to support them beyond them. One project they are doing with the older ones is leadership training and public speaking, in which they have a group of the girls meet and prepare topics to present to the group and others have to prepare rebuttles and discussion points. Then in the meeting, they all go around and have to each speak for one minute, just to get them comfortable with the idea of speaking in public. They also said the girls are very interested in improving their spoken English, which is where I migh be able to come into play --- going there once a week and working with them for a few hours. I am imagining them to be a very motivated and interesting group of women, and I would love to connet with them while doing something good for such a great organization.
We also got to go around and see the biogas bathrooms they set up, around 700 of them total, and see how it works. In this case, either human or animal manure goes into a big hole with a mixer. You mix the manure with water until you break down the solids, and then pull a plug for it to go to the air tight seal, then transported and transformed into gas for cooking. It is a truly amazing process, especially the way we were able to see the transformation.
On that note, I must go look up animal yoga poses now, if anyone has any ideas let me know... so far Ive got alligator, butterfly, and elephant.
Sorry for the chaotic order of writing, I am working on it. Namaste.
