In terms of making trekking more joyful our tour guides and staffs entertain respective trekkers by singing Nepali folk song and let clients dance on the trekking trail.
I chose Hands for Help because of the variety of projects available and as a local, grassroots organisation I hoped the projects would be well tailored to the needs of the local communities and provide good support for volunteers. I wasn’t disappointed. The induction in Kathmandu gave me an opportunity to acclimatise, learn a surprising amount of Nepali from my excellent teacher, visit some of the most beautiful sights in the city, and enjoy the wonderful rooftop views of the city from the Millennium Inn…. On my 4 th day I was met by Badri, the volunteer coordinator and Kripa Lama who ran the orphanage that I would be staying at, and taken to my placement on the outskirts of Bhaktapur . My room was in the orphanage ‘annex’ where 5 babies, and 6 small children, a cook, Kripa, his wife and Nima a relative all lived. The other 40 children lived across the road in a larger house (ours had 3 rooms, a kitchen and a toilet), and I was struck by how small the house was as w...
Last summer, I spent a month in Nepal volunteering at a health clinic in Bhadrabas, a rural village just outside of Kathmandu. The experience was significant for me in a number of ways. Though I have traveled considerably in the past, I had never witnessed first hand the challenges of third-world poverty. The clinic I worked at was small, busy, and desperately short of resources. As a new volunteer with virtually no previous medical training, I did my best to help serve in the ways I could. I helped keep records, dressed wounds, and comforted patients, mostly children, undergoing painful procedures. When I was not working, I spent my time studying Nepali and reading Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook, to enhance my ability to provide support. Volunteering at that health clinic was powerful for me because not only did I have the opportunity to assist those in need, but I found that working in the context of health care was uniquely fulfilling. Now more than ever, I...
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