a seemingly boring but ultimately theraputic task, reflections, news to come...

The people who gave me the grant to go to Nepal wanted me to follow up my experience by answering some questions, providing a budget summary, and sending them a CD of pictures. Although initially irritated by the number of questions, which seemed so routine, I discovered they helped me sift through my experiences and more fully comprehend my experience in Nepal and my plans to return in the Spring. Thus I have decided to publish them below for any interested friends, family, (grantgivers?) or other readers.

1. What is the organization’s mission?

The Omprakash Foundation hopes to connect people around the world by becoming a bridge for separate communities and building mutually educative relationships. They do this by providing a free space for small grassroots non-profits around the world to expose their individual needs and missions. This summer I experienced their mission firsthand with two of their partners: Prisoners’ Assistance Nepal (PA-Nepal) and Raksha-Nepal. Most of my time was spent with the former organization which runs two children’s homes for children who are orphans or have incarcerated or estranged parents. Their vision is to provide security, education, and ultimately a successful future for children who would otherwise have no support or home. Their village home in Sankhu also has a primary school which educates both PA-Nepal children and children from families in the village. I also spent time helping Raksha-Nepal with office-work and English writing projects. Raksha is a women’s organization dedicated to eradicating forced prostitution of vulnerable women in Kathmandu, especially those displaced by conflict. Staffed almost entirely by former members, Raksha provides counseling, HIV/AIDs information, and, most importantly, vocational training and micro-loans so women can learn new skills and run self-sufficient businesses.

2. How did the staff and/or volunteers fulfill the mission and meet the objectives of the agency?

By connecting me with Nepali non-profits, Omprakash members like Willy Oppenheim allowed me to begin learning from and participating in another culture, and building the connections that are Omprakash’s aim. While they were not directly involved with my summer work, I acted as an Omprakash representative while I was in Nepal, establishing connections with two separate children’s homes, one of which will soon become an Omprakash partner. I also helped communicate the needs of the organizations I worked with to Omprakash as it was often difficult for the Nepali people to understand e-mails and clearly explain what they require.

I did work with purely Nepali staff members in both PA Nepal and Raksha, as well as with volunteers unaffiliated with Omprakash, consistent with Omprakash’s mission of interaction and connection with new communities. The Presidents of each organization are strong women with clear visions, so I sometimes felt as if the generation and application of ideas was one-sided, unless I was the authority in the area as with English writing projects. PA-Nepal and Raksha Nepal are very different organizations, with different missions, and my interactions with the members of each varied greatly. PA-Nepal has two children’s homes, which are directly managed by different individuals as one is in Kathmandu and the other in Sankhu, a village 25-30km away. The Kathmandu home has only 35 children, generally in primary school, and the staff tends to have much less interaction with the volunteers, likely because none of them live in the home with the children. In Sankhu, where there are 56 children from 4-18, there was more interaction and communication. I will add that language barriers made communication very difficult- in some instances I would encounter friendly staff-members who seemed interested in learning from me and teaching me, but we were unable to communicate fully.

3. What did you learn from your internship that might influence your course of study or career choice?

Nepal was challenging for me on many levels. When people ask me about my summer their initial response is “Oh that must have been awesome!” I try to be honest in my explanation: that my time in Nepal was usually fulfilling but challenging, often wonderful but also frustrating. Before this summer I was fairly certain I wanted to be a teacher, likely at the primary level, after graduating from Bowdoin. After teaching children in Junkiri, PA-Nepal’s primary school in Sankhu, I learned more about the challenges of teaching, especially with a language barrier. This does not mean that I am dissuaded from teaching, but that I am more informed about the difficulties I will encounter, especially with young students of so many different ages and abilities. Even if I don’t dedicate my life to teaching I still see the value of teachers’ certification, which can be applied in so many settings: in teaching younger children in schools or as a mother, in organizing group projects, in learning the Nepali language, in imparting my knowledge to others.

Though teaching still interests me, my Nepali summer has made me consider other work. When I first came to Bowdoin I was sure I wanted to go to law school, but I scrapped the idea after a semester, thinking law would never be a fulfilling lifestyle. However, my time in Nepal opened my eyes to the advantage of legal knowledge, especially when working with non-profits or developing countries. Even if my job isn’t a strictly “legal” one, such experience could be invaluable.

My most important lesson from this summer is the value of interdisciplinary education. Teaching the children, helping in the kitchen, designing brochures with the women in Raksha, doing manual labor- the variety of needs made me realize how valuable knowledge itself is. I seriously think about doing non-profit work, either in the US or abroad, where teaching and law degrees would both allow me to provide more help, more effectively. Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life- I plan on spending my spring semester teaching photography in Sankhu, and getting EMT certified in Alaska after returning from Nepal. I don’t know if that means I should become a paramedic or a photographer, but I have a feeling both of these experiences and the knowledge I will gain from them will undoubtedly serve my future and whatever career I choose.

4. How did you fit into the structure of the agency? What was your role?

My internship allowed me to be an Omprakash representative in Nepal, a volunteer in PA-Nepal’s children’s homes, and an office and communications worker for Raksha. I think Omprakash is the least-structured of the organizations I worked with as it stresses individual participation and motivation, and encourages everyone to become part of the network of volunteers, non-profits, and the exchange of ideas and learning. While in Alaska, before I left for Nepal, I advertised and gave a presentation about Omprakash and my summer internship, with a caveat about how to get funding for international work with non-profits. I also put up Omprakash posters around Anchorage, and currently have a pile ready to distribute at Bowdoin. While in Nepal I communicated with all of Omprakash’s Nepali partners, informed other volunteers, travelers, and non-profits about their mission and website, and was a go-to source of information for other volunteers interested in Omprakash’s Nepali partners.

However, my greatest role in Nepal was working with Omprakash’s partners: PA-Nepal and Raksha, where I contributed in very different ways. With PA-Nepal my work was entirely focused on children, though occasionally I was asked to help with a computer issue. In the Kathmandu children’s home I showed up in the morning to help the children get ready and walk them to school. In the late afternoon I picked them up from school, walked them home, and immediately began helping them (and keeping them on task) with their homework. After homework was done we would play games or do activities until dinner time which was our signal to leave. Due to changes in the number of children in the home there was no longer the option of living there, making the experience very different from working in Sankhu where volunteers sleep in a separate room and share all their time with the children.

In Sankhu I woke up at 6:00 am to help in the kitchen or with homework before breakfast (at 8:30), and then walked the older children to school at 10:00. After that I would teach in Junkiri if needed (this was only about half the time given the number of other volunteers and Nepali teachers). I used free-time in the afternoon to organize activities, reflect on my experiences, work out, and do personal work. After the kids got home from school there was an hour of free play time, during which I taught them frisbee (I brought 10 from home), taught (and learned) songs on the guitar, attempted to learn how to crochet, dance and sing to Nepali music, and tried to add to my basic Nepali language skills. In the evenings I helped prepare dinner and/or helped with homework until bedtime. On weekends there was more play time, but also more chores such as washing clothes in the stream, helping build the new building for the growing number of children in PA Nepal, and pulling grass or otherwise keeping the building and grounds nice. With PA-Nepal my role was definitely that of a teacher and a role-model. When I wasn’t formally teaching I tutored one-on-one, constantly helped with English even if only as a conversational partner, and exposed them to new ideas and perspectives, which I find more valuable than math help or perfect grammar.

My role with Raksha was mostly in the office where I put my computer and language skills to work. I helped Menuka Thapa, the President, understand and respond to e-mails, edited the text on their website, helped communicate changes to their Omprakash partner page, and designed a brochure (which is still in its final stages). I met many of the different women who help Raksha function, many of whom were once part of Raksha’s target group and went through their programs personally. Menuka also took me to a children’s home, Navakiran, with deep connections to Raksha, and I am currently helping them finish the paperwork to become an Omprakash partner and seek some volunteers of their own.

5. What was the most meaningful aspect of your internship? Explain how and why this was meaningful to you and your future career plans.

The significance of my summer falls into two areas: the effects I had on others and the effects they had on me, though the latter is far easier to gauge. When I arrived in Nepal it was my first time traveling alone, visiting a developing country, living somewhere where I don’t speak the language, even my first summer outside of Alaska. I knew I would be challenged, but could not imagine how any of those feelings would affect me. Therefore a very meaningful aspect of my internship was learning how to live independently and how to communicate through a language barrier. I now have a much greater perspective on the world and the many differences and inequalities it contains, as well as the massive amount of diversity in culture. These differences also betray our similarities and mutual humanity, I dislike being cat-called by Nepali men as much as American men, for example, and I also found a smile is the easiest way to engage a stranger.

I find if far more difficult to gauge the meaning I imparted to the lives of others. The children in the homes can certainly live without me: they have teachers, food, clothing, and a small community. These homes provide more stability than I imagine most children would find in a Foster care program in America. However, I do not think my time there was insignificant, in fact I think it provided them with new perspectives, new thoughts and new experiences. Even little experiences like Frisbee or how to sing “You are my Sunshine” provide them with educational variety. I suppose I think that all learning has value, and that our decisions and futures are combinations of all that we’ve learned. My relationships with the children were mutual exposures to something unknown, a shared learning and teaching experience. These exchanges and the relationships I built through them were by far the most significant products of my summer.

6. Were your expectations met for this internship?

I didn’t really know what to expect out of this internship- my greatest expectation was that I would face the unknown. I also expected to come out of the summer different from when I arrived in Nepal, though I was worried about whom exactly I would be. My sister likes to call me “frighteningly idealistic” and I was worried some of my optimism would be lost after working in an impoverished place, with children who have unknowable emotional baggage and limited opportunities. Interestingly, I think my experience actually strengthened my optimism because I learned to recognize many different kinds of strength and some positive sides of living in a developing country. For example, many Nepali people may lack electricity or television sets, but these disadvantages are countered by the strength of familial relationships and a strong cultural identity. In many ways I came out of Nepal more hopeful after seeing so much strength where I didn’t expect it, especially in the children who I lived and worked with.

7. What changes would you recommend for this experience in the future?

I think the types of personal challenges I took on in Nepal were very good for me but also very frustrating. Culturally Nepal is an extremely different place from the US, and the delays, massive communication breakdowns, and language barriers consistently bothered me. I was surprised to find so many volunteers already working with PA Nepal, it sometimes seemed as if it would be better to work with an orphanage that did not have so much support. I also had a lot of trouble finding the organization when I arrived, finally stumbling upon another volunteer by chance who showed me the way. After that I was told I wouldn’t be allowed to stay in Sankhu, as previously discussed and planned, for periods longer than three days, an issue which wasn’t resolved for the three-four weeks after I’d arrived. Situations like that were commonplace and frustrating, though hard to avoid when arriving in a developing country where prior communication is hindered by poor language and computer skills. I would suggest that people either prepare themselves for these kinds of setbacks or find an organization that they communicate clearly and consistently with before arriving. It would’ve been much easier to work in Nepal through a program, rather than making all the arrangements myself, but that process certainly allowed me to learn a lot more, gave me more flexibility, and created a closer relationship with each organization.

8. How accurately did you estimate your expenses for this internship period?

Not as accurately as I hoped- I was off by $200-300, though I have a good idea where the discrepancy came from. First of all, I wasn’t able to stay at the home in Kathmandu, though I’d been told I could before arriving. The estimated cost for staying at the home for one week was $20, which included room and board. Living and eating independently in Kathmandu is relatively more expensive, I would say probably approximately $10 a day, perhaps $80 a week. Add that up over a three and a half week period (about the amount of time I spent in Kathmandu) and it would probably be about $250. The VISA to enter the country was also $50 more than I had been told and taxi rides (easiest for the Kathmandu novice to get anywhere) were relatively expensive given gas prices. Finally, everything in Nepal has gotten more expensive, one of the biggest reasons why these children’s homes need donations and support. The world depression has created food prices triple what they usually are, and the cost of living in a city swelled by displaced villagers is also high. Basically my budget wasn’t too far off the mark, but next time I create one I will be sure to over-estimate a little bit to offset the unexpected.

Furthermore, my trip to Nepal did answer the question: can and should I create a photographic-exchange program in Sankhu?

The answer to this question is "yes", and Omprakash has already provided me and a friend, Sam Modest, with the funding to buy cameras and make it happen. In short, I will continue Sam's photography program at Woodside Elementary that he began two years ago, teaching 5th graders how to use digital cameras. Sam, currently graduated and in Darjeeling, will teach paralel curriculum there, and the kids will exchange photographs after each assignment (with luck and logistical manuevering). In the Spring, sam will return to Brunswick to teach at Woodside while I return to Nepal to teach there. The project is explained in more detail by Sam on Omprakash's messageboard at: http://omprakash.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=114

please check it out and feel free to ask questions, post comments, critical or enthusiastic. I will try to keep updating here about progress to this program- after all, saying namaste is about recognizing the light in everyone, and can be said any time, I'd like to continue my learning as I use my summer experiences and build off of them.

the last day (for now), saying goodbye, a bonfire, tika, the snuffles, homecoming

I leave Nepal this evening, and will soon be swinging haphazardly up the east coast on my way back to Bowdoin, Pre-O, and the massively busy schedule that descends at college. However, my parting is sweet as I very much look forward to seeing my friends again, and the (before unrealized) luxaries of hot showers, clean air, avocados and peanut butter. I also suspect I will come back to this place within the next year, and see many of my new friends again.

My last two weeks at Sankhu did fly by, though they were a little complicated by a 5-6 day stomach illness that converged with my final week, a little dissapointing as I wanted to be playing lots of frisbee. Even relaxing in the room, though, has a lot of value, especially given my genetic and personal tendancy to filling up my days with constant productivity. One lesson Nepal gave me is definitely the value of relaxation and reflection, both of which I don't make enough time for in my life. Despite being ill I still managed to do some activities with the kids. My favorite was a way to re-use plastic water bottle, as the other volunteers consume bottled water in large quantities (I treated my water in Sankhu instead of buying it which was much safer than in Kathmandu). All the kids cut the tops of the bottles off in petal outlines, and then painted the insides to make colorful flowers. We put them out to dry in the sun, and later i was (falsely) told that Sagar mama (who runs the Sankhu home) had thrown them all away. This devastating news luckily turned out to be false and they are really adorning the office (so cool!). I also got to make a sweet bonfire my last night in the village, and the children roasted marshmallows to make s'mores, which was a chaotic whirlwind of hands, pointy sticks with marshmallows slipping off of them, and frantic shouts of "bisquit!" and "chocolate!". Ah well- nothing can go entirely as planned. Saying goodbye to the children was difficult, but we were all cheered by the thought that I would be returning within a year when I take a semester off from school in the spring. I think a photography program is increasingly likely, though I also have dreams of making an "Art camp" similar to the "Music Camp" the children had several years ago. This will most likely prove to be a plan for several years down the road.

Since returning to Kathmandu my time has been a whirlwind of shopping for presents, tying up loose ends with Raksha Nepal and the Naya Bazaar location of PA Nepal, and trying to track down the packages my mother sent me (dear mom: they have been located, but I lack the time to go and fetch them, as it could take all day, and plus, where will i put the contents when I'm leaving in several hours? thanks so much though! i will dream of their (chocolatey?) contents when i'm on the plane...). I have also contracted some kind of cold, which I only hope serves to knock me out on the plane so I'll get more rest than usual. Last night I said goodbye to the other kids, and they gave me an enormous tika (the red dot on the forehead that is both a blessing and good luck) that looked like a third eye, and they waved goodnight as I motor-biked away.

Soon I will be flying back to the US, where I'd love to talk and hear from all of you who have been reading this blog. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions, ideas or comments at rosalind.gael@gmail.com. I am sure this won't be my last post, as there are many cultural readjustments, reflections and realizations to be made, not to mention a photography program planned.

Note: Dear father, I hope this post satisfies your demands (how rude!) for information about the last several weeks. if not, i suppose i will just have to call you when I land and give you an affectionate tongue-lashing.

unexpected internet, a whole new level of hospitality, the introduction of s'mores, the approaching end

After returning to Kathmandu from Sankhu I moved into Raksha, the women's organization I've been working with, for five days before returning to the village. My new home was with three women: Menuka, the president of Raksha, Isu, the16-year-old who is waiting to join university, is remarkably capable at everything, and cooks all the meals, and Goma, a 17-year-old girl who is between secondary and college-level classes. They are all accomodating to the point of insanity- I don't think I've ever been more closely observed in my life, either due to my American odditities, or out of an intense interest in welcoming me to their home. I've taken to calling Isu, jokingly, Ahmah (mother) as I call Menuka, at her insistance, DiDi (big sister). Honestly, I don't even think my mother ever tried to nurture me this much, and that's saying something! The women provide me with a bed, and a delicious breakfast and dinner of dahl baht twice a day, as well as free internet and intense scrutiny (I mean this in a loving and slightly exacerbated kind of way).
A general day looks like this: I wake up around 7:00 am, do some exercises, eat some snacks I brought myself and drink tea as I wait for "lunch", the first meal of the day served around 10 or 11 (me so hungey!). While I wait I read, play my guitar, work on Raksha business, or check my e-mail (a little obsessively after so little internet connection in Nepal). I then work on Raksha's needs (currently a good brochure) until 2 or 3, after which I run some errands or take a private and relaxing tea in a cafe, and then make my way to PA Nepal in Naya Bazaar to play with the kids until 6:30. After some hectic games, homework help, and general confusion I went with some of the volunteers to get a snack before dinner (crafted by Isu around 8:30 or 9:00). One of the house rules was that I had to by 8:00 pm, which made it harder to hang out with other volunteers, but allowed me to get to know my hosts even more.
Though I loved staying at the house, I suspect I didn't have enough time to adjust to it, or for the wonderful Nepali women to relax and let me into the kitchen. Despite many assurances that I can, in fact, cook, Isu and others would not let me cook, do dishes, or really any chores whatsoever. One night I distracted Isu with "Pirates of the Carribean" and attempted to sneak into the kitchen to make honey popcorn as a surprise (a snack I've made a million times). I was probably there less than a minute before I was found out and lightly scolded. After I convinced her to let me make it Goma hovered over me as I attempted to cover the open saute pan on the gas stove with a metal plate, and hold on to the burning handle with a peice of folded newspaper. In the end my half-burnt, undercooked popcorn was hardly convincing, and i'm sure I won't be allowed to try again... Though their extremely kind hospitality is nice in concept, I really want to help, and to truely be a sister of the house rather than a guest- I'm sure this comes with time, time which I regrettably do not have.
I am out at Sankhu for the next ten days or so, after which I will return to Kathmandu for a few days before I fly off to college. Sankhu surprised me with a stellar internet connection in town, which will make a photography program (which seems to be quite doable!) and weekly e-mails much easier, especially when/if I return in the Spring. I am looking forward to coming home, but there is much I want to do before then, and I know the days will fly by. First on the list is to introduce the kids (and foreign volunteers) to S'mores, an American classic. Then I need to play some more frisbee with them, learn a Nepali song on my guitar, and enjoy this wonderful space full of people and children I will not forget.

satisfaction, a day in Sankhu, reflection, the white rabbit from alice and wonderland

Yestderday I returned from a weeklong stay in Sankhu, despite a valley-wide bus strike that made transportation a little complicated and heavily dependent on luck. My days in the village slipped seamlessly by, and I could not believe it was time to leave when my calender ruthlessly read "Friday". I find myself deeply content there, immersed in the routine, the wonderful interactions with the children and other volunteers, and the simple way of life which is deeply satisfying.
I wake up around 7 or 7:30, an hour or so after the children, and spend the two hours before breakfast helping the children with homework, writing letters and in my journal, reading, and doing some basic stretches and exercises (I've vowed to come out of Nepal more flexible in many different ways). There are currently four other volunteers out in Sankhu, and we all share a small room with a balcony. The room is ringed with lumpy luggage and has three beds, though three of us (including me) sleep on thin mats on the floor, as matresses are a mixed blessing of more padding and bedbugs.
After a big meal of dahl baht, prepared by the some of the girls and two staff members- i may be able to reproduce it after i leave, though hopefully not in such large quantities- I walk the older children to school in the village. The walk takes about 20 minutes each direction as the children's home is up on top of a hill, looking down on the far-away houses and out on the mountains. While down in the village I usually buy some crackers and cookies for the afternoon, as there is no real lunch, but instead a mid-day "tiffin" comprised of a small bowl of noodles or beaten rice (exactly what it sounds like, and about as flavorful). It's nice, though, to sneak into the room and munch on a couple of crackers, and there is tea maybe 3-5 times a day, which has become a volunteer favorite.
The volunteers teach in the school, though they don't usually need all of us at once, and we often double-up. A german volunteer, Toby, and I work particularly well together, picking up the slack when the other person feels themselves flagging or needs to sit down for a moment. Teaching is something i'm coming to appreciate greatly, and requires a lot of fast thinking, especially when faced by a very small room full of nursery and first graders who have very basic or non-existant english skills (this is class one, and it is a cut-throad, loud, and frustrating place). Nonetheless, as english teachers I feel we are making progress, and I love giving the older students creative writing, as so much of their curriculum is by rote, with no outlet for creativity. One of my favorite teaching moments was getting classes 3 and 4 to write stories about their favorite hero (superman, batman, wolverine, the hulk, power ranger SPD), or explaining the concept of "Rhyme" and how to write poems. Many first attempts went something like:
"I have one friend
you have two friend
she has three friend
you are best friend."
but they progressed a lot in that 45 minute period, i promise.
After school gets out, there is playtime, which became dominated by frisbee after I handed out the five frisbees I'd brought to the children and demonstrated some basic throws with toby. Some of the kids are absolutely amazing given their age, and there's one girl, Kamala, I want to bring to Bowdoin's frisbee team: she's downright scrappy, even wearing Nepali traditional dress. Unfortunately, I can't introduce Ultimate frisbee as every large flat space in the countryside, and many cultivated terraces, are all occupied by rice plants. Never before have I realized what a luxary a football field is: I haven't had a hundred yards to run around in since I got to Nepal. However, we make do with a small, triangular patch of tramped down mud/earth in which we play an abbreviated version of Ultimate that involves knocking down a plastic bottle of water. The kids love it, and try and get me to play whenever there is no homework and no class.
Many of them also play guitar, though the girls only want to learn how to play the notes to "Every night in my dreams" from the Titanic. I was very confused at first because they all kept saying "you teach me every night, okay?" and i wasn't sure how i would have time for all those lessons.
The children are amazing-my favorite part of Sankhu. They are like having an entire house full of sisters and brothers (around 55!) who want to learn from you, tease you, talk with you, and above all, welcome you to their home. I only hope that I am equally gracious, accomodating, disciplined and mature. I have often thought that America could use orphanages like this: a space where the students have support and stability, a true family. I don't know much about orphanages in the US, but after seeing Sankhu I have to wonder about the constructiveness of our fostercare system, and I also wonder who will take the steps to make such a space for American kids, who have just as much need of a true home. This is a thought I bear in mind for the future.
More than the people, Sankhu has also become a place where I can reflect on myself and my experiences, and I've learned a lot about myself since arriving five weeks ago. For the first time I begin to recognize and appreciate the amenities and opportunities I've had for so much of my life, and how much things are quite secondary to true happiness, which grows from our relationships. I am trying to be grateful for the people around me, even those who are very different from myself, which i suppose is what "namaste" is all about.
After my lovely stay in Sankhu, I feel a deep need to return and spend even more time there, so i plan to spend only five days in Kathmandu, and the majority of the rest of my stay (10-14 days) in Sankhu. I increasingly feel like the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, running around with a big pocketwatch and sorrowful eyes (I have borrowed this book from a fellow volunteer), as I look at the measly three weeks I have left and wish that I had more time to spend with the children and more time to work with Menuka at Raksha. She is such a wonderful supportive big sister, and tells me she is grateful for any time I can give while I'm in Nepal, even if it is only five more days. What is truely important is the relationship that has been created, and the resource I can be in the United States, even if I am not in Nepal. I hope I can keep helping her with writing after I leave, and I am excited to air Raksha's documentary at Bowdoin in the Fall.
Needless to say, true to the Nepali way my plate is very full, and I will never finish all that I've served myself. However, this gives me the incentive I was hoping for to come back next Spring and continue my work in Nepal, with Sankhu and Raksha both, and to use these three weeks to make the necessary connections to create a photography program for the children at Sankhu and children in my own college community.

the Himalayas, bug bites on a whole new level, women's work, the weirdness of time

I returned several days ago from six days of trekking through the Himalayas after being persuaded to take the opportunity by two fellow volunteers, and unlikely sisters, from the states. Kelsey and Raina and I carried day packs with few changes of clothes, lots of granola bars and books, stopping each night at the numerous hostles that cluster in the villages along the trail. It was wonderful to hike for eight hours each day without carrying my entire house on my back, and then to pay less than a dollar for a bed at the end of the day. The food also proved to be amazing: Dahl Baht, Dahl Baht, and Dahl Baht, although the varieties of preparation were surprising, and i even managed to get my favorite snack, honey popcorn (which you should all try, it's exactly what it sounds like) one afternoon on a rest day at Poon Hill.
The trip had it's ups and downs (literally and emotionally), as it was monsoon season. The monsoon brings clouds and mist that obscure many of the picturesque views of snow capped mountains, as well as (unsurprising) abrupt downpours randomly throughout the day. Most horrific are the leeches, which are little bloodsuckers that come out during the rainy season to fall from trees or rise up from the trail, questing for your blood. They are attracted to heat and release a venom that is both an anesthetic and a blood thinner so there is no pain, only the horror of discovering one on you and being unable to stop the bleeding for several hours. Though they sound absolutely dreadful, and I met many along the way, i still managed to traverse the trails without incident, despite the fact that I wore Keens (which are like closed-toed sandles) without socks. My friend Raina got the worst of it, discovering one in her armpit when we got to our room the second night, prompting terror and the immidiate stripping off of all our sweaty clothes and full body searches. Poor Raina got another one on her heel the next day, though the effects were mostly disgust and a ruined sock. My horror came from a different source: at least a hundred (probably closer to two) bedbug bites in the last hotel, which over the first 24 hours swelled to twice the orignal size, reddened, and generally came quite unpleasant. Luckily they are finally beginning to fade off my arms, legs, feet neck and face...bleg.
I describe these things first because they in no way outweigh the wonder of the trip. The monsoons also made the trek much cooler than it would be during the summer months, and the trails were much less crowded with other hikers in off-season, which made the wilderness all the more beautiful. We stayed a day at the famous Poon Hill (almost 10,000 ft!) hoping to catch some clear weather as an hour climb from the town to the top yeilds a panoramic view of the Himalayas. The whole day was clouds and rain, though glorious relaxation, but we awoke to a misty, beautiful half-clear sunrise at 5:30, that slowly cleared off until we could see the mountains, like ice crystals, all around us. So amazing! The air, the small villages, the layers of peaks and mist against a blue sky... lovely, exhilerating and humbling.
After returning to Kathmandu I discovered that the issues with Sankhu resolved themselves while I was away, and I am now free to stay out at Sankhu for long periods. This is wonderful news, and I plan to head out on Saturday for a weeklong stay in the country, which I already miss. Another volunteer, Johanna, has planned day trip for the PA kids in Kathmandu out to the village home, and has arranged for a bus to take them there. I will therefore be part of the traveling circus (that so many kids on a bus represent), and i'm sure i will enjoy the fruit, cake and icecream that will be part of the festivities.
The only sad spot on this glowing horizon is that I am growing increasingly interested in the work of Raksha, and am discovering that a month is simultaneously very long and very short. If i plan on spending weeklong stretches out at Sankhu, there will be much less time available to work with Raksha. Menuka DiDi (DiDi means big sister) is a wonderful, vital woman doing amazing work that I'd like to be a part of. She continually offers her home as a place to stay and has let me copy a documentary they made last year to show when I return to Bowdoin. I do not want to dissapoint her, but worry about stretching myself too thin in the coming month. I will have to think hard about everything, and be sure that I communicate as clearly as possible what I am capable of giving to both organizations at this time. My desire to do too much at once has proven problematic in the past, and the last thing I'd want to do is create new complications for either organization.
In the meantime, I increasingly miss kitchens, peanut butter, vegetables, naked knees and shoulders, the novelty of drinking water from the tap, cold weather and, of course, Alaska. I also miss my family and friends, which is also nice in a way: a wonderful reminder to appreciate the people in my life.

Life in the village, new opportunities, getting lice, and working with women

I got back from Sankhu village yesterday afternoon, revitalized after several days in the fresh air outside of Kathmandu. The village is truely beautiful, and only about an hour away from the city, plus a ten minute walk through town and up a hill to PA-Nepal's Sankhu children's home. There is a greater percentage of older children in this home, which has been very nice, as many of them have better English, and more common interests. I have quickly discovered that Nepali people are very forward, not hesitating to point out that you are fat, beautiful, or strange. Both short hair and one earring have attracted general distaste, and my nick-name, Roz, is generally pronounced "Raj", which i am repeated told is a boy's name. Ah well, at least they like my dimple. It is also funny to be tall for the first time in my life. At 5'5'' I am taller than most girls, and about even with most boys. I finally can sympathize with my American friends who hate feeling "bigger" than everyone else.
The only problem with Sankhu, and with PA-Nepal in general, is that the Kathmandu part of the organization, and the woman in charge, Indira, can be difficult to communicate with. Furthermore, new government legislation passed in the last month has made it illegal for volunteers to stay in children's homes, probably given the lack of screening of volunteers and abusive incidents. This means I can only stay at Sankhu for 3-5 days at a time, and must "commute" between the village and the city, or nearby villages (there are some picturesque places that are very close). The only other problem has been getting lice, which is apparently pretty common so i'm not going to sweat it.
Initially I almost decided to just find a different organization, so i could be outside of Kathmandu all the time, but yesterday I met with Menuka, the head of another Omprakash partner called Raksha. Raksha is a women's organization that helps women who have been forced into sexual acts by their employers escape from these abusive jobs and rehabilitate through vocational training and counseling. They are doing wonderful work, Menuka is extremely friendly and enthusiastic, and has invited me to stay in her home or the office while I'm in Kathmandu so I can help with proposal and brochure writing in English, as well as teach some English to the women in the program. Though I'd like to be outside of Kathmandu, Raksha is doing wonderful work and I really want to help, so I think I will probably alternate between Raksha and PA-Nepal in Sankhu for the rest of my month and a half in Nepal, thereby maximizing the amount I do while I'm here.
It feels very good to have a plan for my stay after the amorphous miscommunication concerning PA-Nepal after I got here. One warning to other volunteers in Nepal: communication is very different here, and goes much more slowly. You have to be patient, direct, and work with the people in charge, which can get frustrating when there is a language barrier, a huge city with very few street names, and so many people involved. However, I'm already finding it very worthwhile, and am excited to get to work.
I am off to Sankhu again this weekend through the middle of next week to watch the girl's dance performance and spend more time with the kids. It is a wonderful place to recharge: we wake up, help the children with their homework, eat a large meal of dahl bat with tea, teach in the school part-time when teachers are not around, or request help, have a snacky sort of lunch, play/talk/help the kids, or do chores, and then eat a late dinner, after which there is homework, general exhaustion, and hanging out. We can really choose to do alternate things though, so if i wanted to go for a walk for two hours, or take a nap, or play guitar, i could do so. I'm bringing out all the frisbees I brought to Nepal this weekend, and hopefully will teach the game, though most of the flat areas are used for rice cultivation and aren't at all acceptable as frisbee fields. I will have to teach a smaller version of the game and the proper throws. Perhaps i can find a good field to take them to...

Into the Concrete Jungle

I arrived in Nepal several days ago, after a long and harrowing (44 hours?) plane journey through Seattle, Newark, Frankfurt, and Doha. I met many nice people on the plane, especially on the last flight, during which a mother and 15-year-old daughter from Nepal "adopted" me, gave me fantastic amounts of information, and helped me get into a taxi and to a good hotel when i was woozy from the flight, practically rupee-less and completely overwhelmed.
Kathmandu is gigantic and bustling, but not in the same way as New York City, which is kind've what I imagined. The streets are tiny, numerous, and very similar, and they are all bundled under neighborhood, thus directions are just about as approximate as saying "The Bronx". I spent the first day trying to track down Prisoner's Assistance Nepal, and succeeded entirely through luck when I began talking a British woman in an Internet place after the internet failed, only to discover she was there with the same program. Since then I have gone every morning to help the kids get ready for school, and also in the afternoon to pick them up, help them with their homework, and play with them. The children are amazing- very strong, sweet, and clever. One child, Puja, who normally lives in the Sankhu home, is staying in Kathmandu for several days, and spent at least half an hour yesterday teaching me Nepali colors and parts of the body. It is nice to have a teacher! She says she will keep teaching me in Sankhu, and that her friend will teach me if i get there before her.
Despite all of the lovely aspects of PA-Nepal (the children), the staff has taken a little longer to warm up. Some of them are quite friendly, but i get the feeling others feel almost like we are in the way- perhaps they worry about "babysitting" us. The leader of the organization, Indira, has been gone for several weeks, so many of the volunteers have not met her yet. She is supposed to return today, and hopefully will be able to give us more information about Sankhu. I plan to travel there tomorrow or on Sunday, with another volunteer, Joe, who stayed in Sankhu for three months before. We are a little worried that we won't be able to stay in the home with the children, based on a comment one of the other directors made, but hopefully this will not be the case, and we will truely get to stay with them.
My afternoons and evenings in Kathmandu are generally spent with other volunteers, either from my program, or who are staying in the same guest house. They make up a whole range of nationalities, ages and interests, but i feel very close to the people I've met already, and will probably miss them. I am now sharing a room with Joe (technically Joehanne, how many of those can i sleep in the same room with? i mean, really?) to save money, and it is very nice to have someone to walk around Kathmandu with, where the storekeepers, beggars, and especially the drivers, are very aggressive.
I have also had some wonderful encounters with Nepali people, who have been very nice and welcoming. I ended up speaking with a shop owner near my hotel for perhaps an hour- he order tea and we talked about politics and economics (he is currently getting a masters degree). There are some wonderful Nepalis working in the hotels as well, and some of the people at PA Nepal are just lovely. One woman always calls me "Miss" and is trading english words/phrases for nepali.
I will update again in a week or so- apparently there is quite slow internet in Sankhu, which i will be able to use, though perhaps will not undertake very often. Let me know if you have any questions, or even if you just miss me , and would like to say hello (I already miss the cold and my mountains) . Namaste.

Details, Contact information, nervousness, and anticipation.

So, I thought it might be a good idea to give a brief sketch of my actual whereabouts in Nepal. For the first two weeks, so until the second or third week of July, I will be in Kathmandu, probably able to check my e-mail/post blogs. After that, I will be in Sankhu, which is a small village 20 km away from the city. I don't know what the electricity/internet/contact situation is in Sankhu, but I hopefully will at least visit Kathmandu in the month that I am there.

While in Nepal I will be very very difficult to reach via phone, unless I call you, but here is the (Kathmandu) office number for the organization I'll be staying with (Prisoner's-Assistance Nepal), who could probably relay messages if there is an emergency:
436-4896
(Notice the distinct lack of enough numbers, I don't even know the proper codes for kathmandu, so you'd have to really do some research to reach me this way)

The mailing address there is:
PCN 363
PO Box 8974
Kathmandu, Nepal

Once again, i don't know if that's a good way to send letter or not, and it would likely take 3-4 weeks to reach me. i would highly suggest against a package, as the contents may get distributed before i ever see them. I'll send another e-mail, or post a blog, when i know more about the available mailing systems.

For further contact information that is not internet-based, check out Prisoner's Assistance Nepal's website: www.thequietrevolution.net/panepal/contact.htm

Finally, the e-mail address i'm currently using is rosalind.gael@gmail.com instead of my old bowdoin one. however, if you send e-mails to the bowdoin address they will be forwarded to me.

As it is, I am leaving in 10 days, which is simultaneously nerve-racking and endorphin-inducing. If you have any last minute thoughts or messages (or advice!) please give it freely, I welcome it all (unless it's really mean. or stupid. (just kidding)).

I'll miss each of you, toilet paper, bare knees and my veganism, but i'm sure i will discover many things i never knew that I loved.

many miles, plans for summer and beyond, photography, and namaste.

In several weeks, on June 21st to be exact, I will board a plane and travel the 5,570 miles from Anchorage, Alaska to Kathmandu, Nepal. During my two month stay I will primarily work with Prisoner's Assistance Nepal (http://www.thequietrevolution.net/panepal), an organization which provides housing and education for children who would otherwise be sharing a prison sentence with a single parent. Though I do not yet know how I can best help the organization, I plan on doing whatever they ask, and proactively taking responsibility and tasks on (despite limited Nepali language skills).
I also want to spend the summer laying the groundwork and exploring the logistics of an interactive program between students in Brunswick, ME, and the students in the PA-Nepal program. Currently I would like to create a Photo-pal program, where the students learn photography and trade images with each other, an idea which I am developing with my good friend, Samuel Modest, who will be in Darjeeling in the fall. We would love to see this idea flower in many locations around the world, so the students can get more than one different perspective. However, such a program cannot be planned without paying attention to the specific needs of the students in PA-Nepal and other locations, the logistics of camera equipment, networking, and printing, as well as an effective and thoughtful curriculum, all of which require time and 'reconnaissance'. In the meantime I have a bagful of discs so I can at the very least bring the paragon of all sports to Nepali children: Ultimate Frisbee.
I will also be an active representative of the online non-profit Omprakash (www.omprakash.org), an organization which seeks to increase the connections and learning between grassroots educational non-profits and volunteers. At home in Alaska, and later in Nepal, I am advertising for and spreading awareness about this free, amazing resource for people who wants to volunteer abroad and for the programs who seek them.
I will return to the states on August 18th, spending the fall semester of my Junior year at Bowdoin College in Maine. At this time I will use the information and knowledge I gained in Nepal to finalize a program (photographic or not), and gather the resources to return and implement it in the spring of 2010. This blog is for my family and friends, and for anyone seeking to know more about Omprakash, Prisoner's Assistance Nepal, or international photography programs. Please tell me about your thoughts, questions, reactions or news, I want to hear from anyone who has taken the time to read my thoughts and experiences. I recently looked up the definition of Namaste, and found that it means "the spirit in me recognizes the spirit in you". I hope I can always find such affinity with and respect for others, even when they are very different from myself. I value this kind of appreciation more than anything, and hope to discover more about it this summer.
Therefore, until my next post:
Namaste.