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Published: March 17th 2012
As most of you already know, I've taken the plunge and jumped off the engineering ladder hoping to land in the family business pond... in June. If that doesn't spell 'sabbatical' I don't know what does!!! 4 months break sounds wonderful! Yes please!
Dubai warps your mind, and your percetion of notmality, its a wonderful bubble but I'm very aware that we have it easy. I was looking for a way to put my tax-free money to good use when I stumbled across this School Reconstruction project in Nepal. For the next 4 weeks I'm going to a small jungle village not far from the Chitwan National Park, living with a host family and helping to build a school. There is something quite refreshing in the irony that there are over half a million Nepalis living in the UAE building our buildings and I'm going there to build theirs! After a seamless entrance through customs, passport control and baggage claim I suddenly felt my heart pounding, although I've said the words 'going to Nepal to build schools' so many times over the last few months, I don't think I had actually given it a seconds thought! Suddenly I found myself
standing outside the airport bombarded by touts trying anything for your tourist dollar and I realised I'm here, alone, in Kathmandu ready to build houses. BUILDS HOUSES! I don't know anything about building! So I took a deep breath, put on my bravest most confident smile and waited for my guy to arrive. Finally he shows up and I was followed by a trail of guys asking for money but I stood strong and off we set. Turns out that the guesthouse is actually a school with a few rooms, I had expected a few volunteers, or tourists but it's just me, one light bulb and a few stray dogs. Hem (the school grounds man) cooked delicious cauliflower pea noodles and when I complimented him he looked shy and said he was not the chef and is just learning to cook! If this is any standard to go by, I'm in for a culinary treat! Up bright and early for breakfast of jam-bread and sweet tea followed by the project orientation, and some rather depressing facts about Nepal. The average ANNUAL income in Nepal is just $280 with 30% of Nepalis living on les than one dollar a day and
80% live on less than $2. Shocking! The average life expectancy is only 59 and female literacy rate is just 37% with male not much better at 54%. The school I'm based at for now (not off to my school for another day) has adopted the Montosori teaching method which is very interesting to watch. I ventured past the confines of the school into the village to buy a local sim card, luckily Adershai joined me as I would have been completely lost without him. It was quite refreshing to not see a single other foreigner, we're close but definitely off the tourist trail here. The process for getting a chip involved a rather complicated passport copy, passport photograph fathers name, grandfathers name , 4 signatures and ink thumb prints! All this for a prepaid sim card! I've been told that for the next 4 weeks I will have breakfast, lots of chiyah (tea) Dahl baht (lentil soup &rice) for lunch and baht Dahl ( rice and lentil soup) for dinner - havent worked out the difference yet. They told me this almost apologetically but it all tastes so good that for me it's a treat! Let's see how I
feel in 4 weeks time... This morning, brekkie consisted of coriander egg noodles - none of this cereal and milk malarkey, right up my street!!It was time to brave the shower, I'd told my friend that bucket showers don't scare me and that I'm hardcore like that but I felt like a little kitten scared of the water this morning, to say it was cold is an understatement. Put it this way; I wasn't cold last night, but then again I did sleep in my vest, thermal layer, jumper, track suit pants, socks, woolly hat, gardening gloves, sleep sheet, sleeping bag and yak blanket!!! Damn my Abu Dhabi thin blood! So we sat down for cultural orientation number two, I thought that I was quite familiar with the Nepalese/Indian culture but a few things still shocked me. I didn't realize quite how much women are still considered second class to men. You read about Nepal having the highest percentage of women in parliament in the whole of Asia etc but apparently its very different in the villages. The men never do their own laundry and dont enter the kitchen. Even my guide, a bachelor, doesn't do his own washing, his
brothers wife comes and takes his clothes when they are dirty and brings them back ironed! In his village the women get up at 4am, walk half an hour to get water, feed and milk the cows, prepare breakfast, get the kids ready for school, prepare breakfast for her husbands parents, clean the house etc. Then when the husband comes home from work, she prepares their meal and feeds them and isn't allowed to eat at the same table as her family!! Can you imagine that? If the husband dies she cannot remarry, she is considered cursed and that she is not capable of looking after him. If the wife dies the husband can remarry after 13 days. Then of course the dowry, which living in the Middle East is fairly familiar to me, but i didn't realise the extent to which the parents have to pay out for a girl. And dont get me strted on human trafficking, very sad and because of the open boarders between India and Nepal it makes it easy to do so, very sad...Really makes me appreciate the men in my life and how equally I'm treated. Another cultural tradition that shocked me
was that when a young girl has her first period she is sent to live in the cow shed for 22 days. She cannot see any men and only the mother comes twice a day to feed her! Wow! Poor girls! As if your first period isnt scary enough already. Apparently the modern day cow shed is the aunties house so things are changing for the better. For each period after that the wife is not allowed into the kitchen, not allowed to touch anyone's food or water for 4 days as she is considered impure. Though in some ways that doesn't seem too bad! 4 days off from her hectic schedule, I bet they long for it to come! In bed by 8 to read by candle light. I'm currently reading '3 cups of tea' by Greg Mortison, it's about an American who's failed attempt to climb K2 leads him to a remote village in Pakistan and he decides to build a school. He has built 55 schools to date, rather fitting and definitely motivational. I was up at 5:30 this morning to catch the 'tourist bus' to Chitwan. It sounds kind of silly but it felt really
odd seeing foreigners again, although its only been 3 days without seeing any whities it's amazing how quickly you adapt. I found myself staring at their blond hair, bare shoulders and loudness. The Nepalis are such a calm, gentle race as a whole and it's not surprising that they stare at foreigners, we are just so foreign.I was told yesterday that my 'long pointy' nose makes me look like I'm from the Brahmin caste ( the highest cast) I think this is a compliment.The scenery on the 6 hour bus ride was breath taking, a lovely mix of hills, forest mountains and villages. Today has been quite an amazing day. I arrived at my school and was swarmed by hundreds of children, all wanting to know what my name is, where im from an if I can sing the national anthem! It's a wonderful project here, there are 191 students (85 of them are girls) whose parents alll live in the jungle. The steep hills make growing difficult and they are only able to grow enough crops to support themselves for 4 months of the year. The other months they have to hunt and live on what little sustenance they
can find in the jungle. It's a hard life and there is a very high infant mortality rate. This school is a charitable project that brings the children down from the jungle into the village, feeds, boards and educates them for free! They also aim to give them a trade such as tailoring or cooking. Unfortunately I'm the only volunteer here, it's the first time it's happened and I don't think they know what to do. The project we are working on is to build 8 more classrooms. It's entirely volunteer funded so there are no skilled workers here as was initially promised! Tomorrow I will find out what exactly is planned but for now it looks a bit daunting! No tools, no materials and no labour...somehow don't think my Ikea kitchen building skills prepared me for this!! So, just finished day one of building! What an experience! So far the foundations and concrete pillars are in place for 4 of the classrooms by previous volunteers. My task today was to layer the floor with sand then big rocks then more sand and tomorrow we will start to pour concrete. I can't believe how much we have achieved in one
day! The kids are not in class right now because the older kids have exams so I had an army of little boys and girls bringing rocks, shoveling sand and making human chains. I'm in a slight moral crossroad here as I point blank disagree with child labour but without them I would have only achieved a fraction of what we did today. As Hannah put it these children are literally 'building their futures!' on a moral note, none of them were forced to help and all seemed so excited! I'd say I had the help of about 50 kids in groups of 5-10 all day. I cannot believe how strong and how disciplined they are. Some of them could only have been about 4 years old!!! Mental! I was on such a high, really feeling good about the project and didn't even mind that I had to walk 30 mins each way to get bottled water but unfortunately when I got back to my room the padlock had been broken and some money stolen. My mother alway says 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' which is a policy I have adopted whilst traveling so they only took
3000 rupees (25 quid) and didn't find my secret stash nor my money belt which is pinned to me at all times! More worringley they had stolen some of my anti-malaria tablets which meant I wouldn't have enough for my trip but these were later found on the roof! My guide had money stolen as well, so they don't just go for the tourists! Anyway, these kids don't drink/smoke or do drugs and really have no possessions so I'm sure the money will go towards feeding their families and for that I cannot be angry. It's just a shame that they can't see the long term damage it is doing. The last volunteers had money stolen too and without us there is no new building but volunteers won't want to come here if they are going to get broken into! I'm determined not to let 2 naughty kids ruin it for the other 189!! Onwards! The older kids had exams today so my little army consisted of 5-11 year olds. We managed to lay the stone layer, I did a rough count and I think it's around 3000 stones. Every single stone has to be transported down a human chain
about 15m and then jigsawed into place. I still can't get over how strong these little bungles of joy are. They dont bore easily and I've been teaching them 'row row row your boat' and 'we wish you a merry Christmas' as a lot of these kids are Christian. I also realised that I've not seen a single kid cry, complain or refuse to eat. The big ones help the little ones and it's really wonderful to watch. I'm completely exhausted, my everything hurts but somehow once you start working and see the excitement on the children's faces you forget all about the pain and just keep going. I can't tell you how eye opening this whole experience is. We all have so much and care about the smallest things. I'be had a little giggle to myself as before I left I was worried about a small paint chip on my bumper! I mean seriously! These kids are lucky if they have a toothbrush, one outfit and plastic Sandals held together with string! How lucky we all are. Though on a positive note, the fact that they wear the same clothes has made it easier for me to memories their
names. I'm really making such an effort, the way they stand a little taller and their whole face lights up as one by one I get them right and they matter to someone. In bed by 8 pm and up at 5 to catch the micro to Kathmandu. Mum and dad have returned after a 25 year hiatus , partly to see me and partly to see their dear friend Frances who has been working as a nurse in Nepal for the last 30 years. I decided to take a 'micro', a Toyota Hiace, the non-tourist mode of transport because the tourist bus doesn't leave until 9:30 and I wanted to maximize my weekend. Rambo, a science teacher who speaks the most English, took me to the by stop on his motorbike and as we were hobbling trough the rice paddies on a dirt track I realised that there really is an art to being a passenger desperately trying to cling on but equally very cautious that no part of your body touches theirs! When I got to the bus, everyone looked at me as though I was mad and gave me the front seat. this seemed great
until I realised that they have cleverly created a 4 th seat by fashioning a leather cushion in the shape of the gap that usually exists! The other downside is that whilst traveling in the back you can just fall asleep and surrender your fate to the powers that may be but in the front I can see every near death incident as it happens! This is another moment where I just take a deep breath, smile and practice my Nepali with the new guys. Wow! This scenery is stunning! I've never seen this combination before: mountains covered in green forest cuttings drastically into rock then sand , yes beach sand, and a turquoise flowing river. The glowing sun is just peaking over the top of the mountains an unfortunately due to the most a photo will not do it justice so you are just going to have to trust me or come see it or yourselves. Speaking of photos, I gave my camera to the kids do most of the photos in this blog are taken of them, by them. We really get to see it through their eyes. I'm now in the sanctuary of Dwarikas hotel with Mum
and Dad, I can't describe how stunning it is, we've spent the day shopping in Thamel and I'm going for a massage later...what a contrast... Thinking of you all, thank you for all the love and support and until next time, Namaste
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Louise
non-member comment
FANASTIC!
Hey Emma, Fantastic job you are doing there. Must be difficult being on your own, but I think the unusual situation will give you an even better experience in the end. I remember hearing something along the lines of "you have to immerse yourself into another people's lives to fully appreciate your own". Enjoy it Emma, these opportunities don't come along very often in life. Lots of love from Dubai xx L + P