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.

LAST WEEK AT CHILD HAVEN
It has been an ever changing and eye opening few months in Nepal. A roller coaster is the best way to describe it. The last few days at Child Haven were very emotional to say the least.  I completely forgot that I was at an orphanage. I always felt that I was a part of this huge family.

It is sad to say it, but the reality is that each kid in the orphanage is picked up from a different street or a different broken home. However, they all, together with the caregivers (didi's, dai’s and mummy), behave like one family. The best time to see that family is after supper when we are cleaning the dining room and watching TV (on an old black & white set). Within a few minutes, the little kids start to fall sleep on the laps of the big ones. If a little one need to be changed, one the older kids normally just does it. The kids no longer feel victimized or alone. They actually enjoy a full, complete and simple life here, unlike some Nepali kids just a few meters outside the walls of Child Haven. The kids are not spoil at all, they have a few pairs of clothes and they eat the same dal, bhaat and tarkarri twice day every day of the week. There are two rooms for the boys and two for the girls with very simple accommodations. The kids all do chores – help make Soya milk, wash clothes, cut vegetables, clean their rooms and help give the little ones baths. They are truly a remarkable bunch of kids; some of them are so gifted and talented. Having a continuous flow of volunteers here is very important; the main reason for volunteers is to provide some extra love for to all the kids. And in return you get this amazing unconditional love. Volunteers are not disciplinary figures but provide a good source of love, venting and fun that the children need. 

The last few days were the hardest, kids started to come to me give a card with a hug and say, "so you are going away this week and leaving us. You will not forget us or will you. And you will come again to us". It is somehow easy to write now but it brought tears to my eyes each time I heard it or read the cards. It became apparent that for the last few months I was their big sister. And now I had to leave them and go back to my "own" family.  

The last thing at Child Haven was the traditional goodbye ceremony where they gave me the traditional flower bouquet, fruits and put a red tikka on my forehead. I cried through the whole ceremony and during the drive to the airport.  
I have to say that it was amazing personal experience and a huge eye opener to be at Child Haven and experience the eye camp. I am very satisfied with the combination of doing something professional but very humanitarian in nature.

www.childhaven.org

SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW...
I have been home now for some time now.  Aside from the physical adjustment (jetlag, food, health recovery and weather), it has been and still is a challenging mental adjustment trying to understand the experience and how I can now incorporate all of this into my life. Many things have changed because of this experience; the need for constant companionship and material things does not really exist. I have learned to be content with myself; I have found a new inner strength and confidence.  

For me volunteering is driven by a combination of deep feeling of giving, sharing, creating value and duty. Releasing these feeling is what I have brought back with me. In return I gave away time, effort, emotions and wealth. By looking at it that way, it does not make me anymore different to them but equal to them. It moves volunteering from being a charity into being a give/take transaction except that there are no laws to enforce or to evaluate it. The same applies to foreign aid. It is the way a nation volunteer’s part of its wealth.

So, what is next…I was able to combine a nice element of traveling, adventure, living a different life and exposure to different cultures, which made in an enriching experience. There is nothing that I regret. There were difficulties that I expected and good results that I hoped for. I definitely do not want this to be my last volunteering assignment. 

I put it out to all you; we only have one life, live it to the fullest. Take chances and opportunities that come your way. You never know what those opportunities will lead too or open up to you.  You do not have to go half way around the world to help others there are many organizations right at your front door that need you just as much.