Anu Kashyap Volunteering in Nepal

For the last four months, I have been living in Nepal and volunteering with an organization called Child Haven International (www.childhaven.ca). I would like to share my story and pictures about this amazing life changing experience.

TASHI DELEK
My visit to Tibet was amazing - the sights, the sounds, and the experience. I traveled with our international director Bonnie, the Nepali home coordinator, Arjun and Ineke (a volunteer from Holland). I finally got to see Everest, this time from up above. I was able to see the most spectacular view of Mount Everest during the flight to Lhasa from Kathmandu. Lhasa airport was approximately 1.5 hours away from Lhasa. It’s the drive to Lhasa that was amazing. The concrete roads divide mountains much like the Rocky Mountains of Western Canada.
 
The week was marked by visiting friends of Bonnie's, shopping for Tibet artifacts, which will be auctioned off at various fund-raising dinners across Canada, being mauled by begging children who just walk up to you asking for money. I realized quickly that you never give anything to the kids because the next thing you know there will be a million kids around. Even the monks beg for money, which was really a sad sight. The street market was the same type of adventure, with merchants begging us to buy from their stalls. 
 
I was able to do some sight seeing in Lhasa – the Potala Place (winter home of the Dalai Lama), Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Square and Gaden Monastery. Gaden Monastery is situated on the only mountain in Tibet with grass on it; this Monastery was destroyed in the 60's by the Chinese and recently was rebuilt. It is know as the home of the future Buddha. We were able to walk the Lower Kora (ritual circumambulation circuit), which took about 1 hour around the top of the mountain at approximately 4500 m above the sea. I could really say at that point that I was on top of the world. I could reach out and feel the clouds. The Kora gave us a superb view of the Kyi Chu Valley and an opportunity to observe a large number of pilgrims and monks offering prayers, rubbing holy rocks and prostrating themselves along the path. All-important aspects of the Buddhist religion.
 
Child Haven supports a small orphanage in a small village outside of Lhasa as well sponsors school children that cannot afford to pay fee etc. They do not have volunteers at this home but volunteers helping at other location and are welcome to visit Tibet when Bonnie goes for there.  It was absolutely beautiful, peaceful and probably one of the few places in Tibet that has not lost its culture or been changed. A river runs though the village, which has unpaved roads and small Tibet style homes with lots of Yak's wandering around. The main source of money for the village is the barley flour production – the mill is powered by the river (the river acts as the force used to grind the seeds into flour). Tsampa or barley flower is one of the main sources of food for Tibetans.
 
By the end of our trip to Lhasa, it finally became clear to me the impact the children in Kathmandu had already had on me after such a short time. I was not missing home (Toronto), but I was really missing the kids in Nepal and new life that I had become accustomed to in such a short time. My arrival back at Child Haven in Nepal was great; the kids came running to the gate wanting to know everything that happened on my trip.

HALFWAY THROUGH THE TRIP
It has now been about 6 weeks that I have been in Nepal. When I wake up each morning to a mooing cow and screaming children I don’t find it distracting anymore. When we head off for morning walks the puddles, mud and heat don’t bother me anymore. I don’t miss the morning rush on the roads instead I enjoy the company of 50 kids on a great walk through the hills and morning mediation. I have even started to enjoy eating dal bhat tarkarri every day twice a day, but there are days that I crave some of my mom’s or my own specialties.  
 
I have gradually tried to live like the locals, except on my days off. I use local transportation (foot, tempo (a little powered bus), bus, rickshaws but no taxi's).  When it doesn’t rain for a few days, I realize that the water well is low and there will be no water for the kids to drink, for washing clothes or taking bucket baths. Loosing electricity for a few hours every day has become a normal situation but brings alarm, as the water filter runs on electricity. However, long the electricity is off the water is not safe.

For the last few weeks, due to some changes in teaching staff, I became a substitute teacher for Grades 2-5 math and science class.  My role changed from Anu didi to Anu Ms., I needed to discipline the kids too (not just have fun with them). At first, it was great. After a while, I really did not like it. The kids see volunteers as someone they can play with and have fun with not as a teacher. Some of the kids have no desire to learn, they give up so fast without even trying. But the hardest part was realizing that their English was not as good as they portrayed in the schoolyard. Comprehension is a big problem, using words I would use to teach math at home was not helping me in Nepal. I had to find creative ways to teach them so that they would learn what they needed to learn. I even gave them tests on a regular basis to make sure they were learning.

The first set of classes at the Child Haven IT Centre began while I was in Tibet. The classes are running very well. We were able to hire a great teacher and with a little help from us (the volunteers) we were able to ensure that everything was set up before the classes began. The computers were bought in Nepal through donations from aboard however, we quickly found that the computers were poorly built and constantly need repair.  However, the biggest value of setting up this Child Haven IT center at the home was that we have a captive audience of 90+ kids and staff.  Many students finish high school in Nepal not having touched a keyboard before.  They take an optional computer theory course but have very little hands on knowledge.  The IT Centre has helped let them know that the computer is a tool and not a monster.  
 
The younger kids are great to play with they are just a bundle of energy. After a day with all of them I am completely exhausted but their high level of curiosity amazes me. The children are very loving, caring and protective of their Anu didi

Monsoon has started but it mostly rains at night, making it wet for our morning walk. The days are very hot and sticky image 35 degrees without air conditioning. There are lots of mosquitoes and they really seem to love me. But worst of all is the leaches that crawl or jump on your lower leg and being to suck the blood out of you.  To take the big ones off your body, you have to burn them while they are holding onto your leg. Though I have been lucky and not been bitten by one yet!!!!

There is no shortage of good things to do here.  I may sound crazy but I have to admit that I am having an amazing time and part of me does not want to leave to go to India in a few weeks. I am the only volunteer here now, and that means I get all the love give to volunteers.