Before I set off to Nepal I had two motivations for volunteering for VSO 1) To make a positive difference to the lives of people in a less developed country 2) To challenge myself. When I was preparing to leave, I met many volunteers who shared the same motivations. During our training weekends the emphasis was very much on techniques to facilitate this change.
However somehow since I had arrived and was sent to my placement area the reality of the situation rapidly went from its all about them, to all about me and what do I need to do to feel comfortable. At one point I was thinking I am here to live in Nepal and experience the culture first and foremost and make a difference second. I think this was a knee jerk survival reaction to adapting the new surroundings, because that is not why I am here. Having experienced some of the real issues that Nepali people with disabilities face, I think it’s good time to refocus and think ambitiously about the positive differences I can make.
My placement is working for a national organisation that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, this means lobbying for their rights and making people aware of what their rights and entitlement are. People with disabilities really suffer from discrimination in this country, some people believe that if they see someone with a disability in the morning they will be cursed for the day. They also believe that disabled new born baby brings a curse or means the family is cursed and consequently disabled children may be hidden indoors. So part of the organisations role is challenge this discrimination and raise awareness of the issues that people with disabilities face. Unlike the UK transport and public buildings are not built with disabled access. Physically disabled people who have access to a tricycle frequently go Indian and smuggle goods back into Nepal to be sold at a very low price to shop keepers just to make a living. Unemployment levels are 48% in Nepal and even higher for people with disabilities. I have even heard of deaf women being trafficked to other countries to work in poor conditions for no money. So there is much work for me to do in supporting the organisation to be more effective in its management and development and even small changes can make a big difference. One project that I really want to help develop is a mobile camp project which targets people with disabilities in rural villages and remote areas to promote disability entitlements to; free education, free health care, disability aids, operations, disability transport discounts and tricycles , ID cards (in which you can get discounts), social security allowance and employment opportunities. This tied in with a drama based initiative which challenges discrimination against people with disabilities.
So I think now I have settled in its time to think of others before myself and get on with the job in hand as there is much to do.
Holi Festival of colour
Thursday 27 January 2011
Saturday 22 January 2011
Bargain or not?
As I cut my hair over the sink with newly purchased kitchen scissors costing £1.45, it occurred to me that last time I paid £39 for a hair cut in the trendy hairdressers on Beech Road in Chorlton. Now without a moments hesitation I was hacking off the dry ends of my hair with no apprehension. What’s changed? Just about everything! £39 is actually more than I have from VSO as my living expenses per week and although I think a hair cut would be pretty cheap here (50p) I don’t trust that my Nepali language would translate into, ‘just a trim please’.
Although Nepal and Nepalgunj in particular is in stark contrast to good old blightly there are actually some aspects of life here that suit me very well indeed. For a start there are few; cars, buses and lorries on the road, bycles scooter and motorbikes dominate the roads. So I cycle here there and every where on my Indian style bike which has no gears and I love it, even when I am weaving precariously in out of rickshaws and horse and carts. And I am really looking forward to cycling to India to go shopping, where apparently its really cheap and I can buy bargain items like cashew nuts! I will have to wait till I go to Kathmandu and get my visa though which won’t be for a few months.
Secondly the majority of the people in the country are Hindu and do not eat meat or eat very little meat, so being a vegetarian is the norm rather than the exception which makes eating out or at friends houses very easy. Thirdly I don’t start work until 10:00, which means I can lie in till 8:00 go for a run or a hoop, have a relaxed breakfast and do some chores before I go to work.
There is one thing that I really miss though(aside from all my wonderful friends and family of course) which is a hot shower and bath oh and heating I can’t understand where there isn’t a purpose built fire place and chimney inside the houses as its freezing in January.
I also want to mention the price of toothbrushes, they are exactly the same here as in blighty but they cost 40p, we are being seriously ripped off! The national minimum way here is £40 per month, so that is why it appears so cheap, but relatively speaking I think it is expensive for Nepali’s.
Internet is 25p for an hour and milk is 20p a litre, which again my sound cheap but not if you are unemployed or living on the minimum wage here. I shall shortly be splashing the cash on internet access at my home, I was going to do this earlier but I have decided to move out of my community centre style house into something a bit less isolated. I am moving into a smaller apartment which has a landlady living below and an office so the security will be a lot better. I feel a bit like a sitting target living here alone, white lady, big house, living alone hmm...time to make a sharp exit. So this week my landlord has had the unfortunate news of my tenancy termination, which is all above board, obviously he is not happy but I have to overlook this fact and think of my own safety sorry.
So week 3 tick, only another only another 101 weeks to go, not that I am counting believe me I want make the most out of my time here and make the biggest difference I can whilst I am lucky enough to have the opportunity!
The photos were taken when I visited my colleagues village and stayed the night, check out her granny, she is so cool. She is 70 and still works in the fields farming (by choice), whilst we were sitting round the fire when she was warming the inside of her woolly hat it melted and although we couldn't communicate in Nepali (village Nepali is very hard to understand)we shared a laugh at the melted hat.
Peace and love from across the world
Sunday 16 January 2011
A visit to the bank
Gwyneth and I were invited to visit the people who worked in the bank to practice our Nepali. I thought this photo was really funny, check out the guy second from the right he is so cute like a cuddly teddy bear.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Things I would like to achieve in 2011 (2067 Nepali calendar
I almost forgot to write a list of things I want to achieve this year because I have been working towards achieving the goal of doing VSO for about seven years, now this goal has been realised and with the coming year I have set a new list of things I would like to achieve this year.
Thanks Rob for reminding me (yes we are both goal setting freaks but it’s worked so far)!
1. Learn to speak Nepali fluently
2. Learn to make gallup jamums (and learn how to spell them)
3. Learn to read and write the devanagari script
4. Make a complete hoop routine to music
5. Teach colleagues to speak English (that want to obviously)
6. Learn to bollywood dance
7. Be kind to strangers
8. Invest time in worthwhile friendships in Nepal
9. Plan trips, visits and treks around Nepal
10. Cycle to India and go food shopping
11. Plan visits to other countries like; Bhutan and Tibet
12. Learn to sing 10 songs really well
13. Make an effort to stay in touch with friends and family at home
14. Take time to reflect on all aspects of like
15. Think about what I would like to do next
Thanks Rob for reminding me (yes we are both goal setting freaks but it’s worked so far)!
1. Learn to speak Nepali fluently
2. Learn to make gallup jamums (and learn how to spell them)
3. Learn to read and write the devanagari script
4. Make a complete hoop routine to music
5. Teach colleagues to speak English (that want to obviously)
6. Learn to bollywood dance
7. Be kind to strangers
8. Invest time in worthwhile friendships in Nepal
9. Plan trips, visits and treks around Nepal
10. Cycle to India and go food shopping
11. Plan visits to other countries like; Bhutan and Tibet
12. Learn to sing 10 songs really well
13. Make an effort to stay in touch with friends and family at home
14. Take time to reflect on all aspects of like
15. Think about what I would like to do next
Work starts
It has been freezing here over the last couple of weeks, every morning I don vest, and complete set of thermals before layering jumpers and jeans, it’s not that it is colder than the UK, it probably about 10.C it’s just that there is no heating!
I have started work now (which is also cold) and much to my relief it’s enjoyable and not scary. In my office there are two ladies my age and younger who are very keen to learn English and to improve their work skills. The office is small but tidy, with no working telephone, computer, internet or heater, so the set up is very different from home where we have all the resources we need at our finger tips. Not a lot really seems to happen at work apart from visits from family, colleagues and board members-this is the Nepali way, there are no boundaries between work and personal life. Thankfully in my first week we agreed to a meeting to plan the year’s activities and improvement areas, so I am planning my first workshop. This will be very interesting as I will be delivering a workshop to 15 people who are deaf, blind and physically disabled oh and do not understand English. I am looking forward to it though and will have the aid of an interpreter and my office colleagues, I do not expect it to go to plan.
My work days are very short the office is open 10:00 – 4:00 in the winter and 10:00 – 5:00 from April till November, I have yet to work out the rationality behind this. I start work at 10:30 because I do not have the keys to the office and the staff are usually late and do not want me to be subjected to passers by pestering me, which would be the case. There is much sitting around and practising English and Nepali and generally dossing and some work does get done , we finish around 3:30 or 4:00. Nepali’s eat a meal before the office and then a snack in the afternoon before a meal in the evening, any food brought into the office is shared, so if I brought lunch in I would have to bring everyone lunch, so I have had to alter my eating habits to eat break fast late and my evening meal early and hope that a snack will appear. Yesterday I took raw peas and radish in to share and much to my surprise this proved very popular. And everyone is late here, an hour or two late is normal, which is hard for me as I am really punctual and impatient but I am adapting to the slower haphazard pace of life. People can be relied upon though, last week a water piper burst in my bathroom and the entire water tank (tanky in Nepali) emptied itself much to my horror, into the bathroom, I called my language teacher and he came and brought a plumber with the right part and the matter was resolved in one morning, very kind.
And so I can happily say I have survived my first week at work!
I have started work now (which is also cold) and much to my relief it’s enjoyable and not scary. In my office there are two ladies my age and younger who are very keen to learn English and to improve their work skills. The office is small but tidy, with no working telephone, computer, internet or heater, so the set up is very different from home where we have all the resources we need at our finger tips. Not a lot really seems to happen at work apart from visits from family, colleagues and board members-this is the Nepali way, there are no boundaries between work and personal life. Thankfully in my first week we agreed to a meeting to plan the year’s activities and improvement areas, so I am planning my first workshop. This will be very interesting as I will be delivering a workshop to 15 people who are deaf, blind and physically disabled oh and do not understand English. I am looking forward to it though and will have the aid of an interpreter and my office colleagues, I do not expect it to go to plan.
My work days are very short the office is open 10:00 – 4:00 in the winter and 10:00 – 5:00 from April till November, I have yet to work out the rationality behind this. I start work at 10:30 because I do not have the keys to the office and the staff are usually late and do not want me to be subjected to passers by pestering me, which would be the case. There is much sitting around and practising English and Nepali and generally dossing and some work does get done , we finish around 3:30 or 4:00. Nepali’s eat a meal before the office and then a snack in the afternoon before a meal in the evening, any food brought into the office is shared, so if I brought lunch in I would have to bring everyone lunch, so I have had to alter my eating habits to eat break fast late and my evening meal early and hope that a snack will appear. Yesterday I took raw peas and radish in to share and much to my surprise this proved very popular. And everyone is late here, an hour or two late is normal, which is hard for me as I am really punctual and impatient but I am adapting to the slower haphazard pace of life. People can be relied upon though, last week a water piper burst in my bathroom and the entire water tank (tanky in Nepali) emptied itself much to my horror, into the bathroom, I called my language teacher and he came and brought a plumber with the right part and the matter was resolved in one morning, very kind.
And so I can happily say I have survived my first week at work!
Saturday 8 January 2011
All Creatures, Great and Small
Moving into my new house was a tumultuous experience. Having finally signed the contract with the landlady after much confusion on their and my part, I set out with my language teacher to buy the essential items; bed, mattress, stove, gas bottle, pots and pans. Having selected said bed from one place and mattress and duvet from another, an old man on rickshaw (tricycle with a place to sit/carry) was commandeered to cycle the bed and paraphernalia to my house. He was first directed to follow us to the gas stove and bottle shop, where to my surprise my teacher attempted to further load these items onto the already over loaded rickshaw. I suggested another rickshaw might be a good idea and we set off guiding two rickshaws through the traffic to my house.
Having settled into my house for two days, I have to admit I was at first a little daunted living on my own and had for two nights not slept that well, by the second day I was checking my contract to find out how much notice I had to give to move out just incase! I was missing the luxury of my temporary apartment and the family there. My new house was certainly different to the last, since moving in I had encountered all sorts of creatures including; very big and very small ants, jumping spiders, a very cute looking mouse which scurried along the roof whilst I was hula hooping, a big cockroach found on its back wiggling its legs in the bathroom (later removed) and my most recent discovery a lizard at the top of the stairs (not removed). There were certainly more mosquitoes too, probably because I am on the ground floor instead of the second, I spent the first two nights with my head under my bed sheets sheltering from the mosquitoes as I didn’t have a net and found bites on my nose in the morning.
Having bought a mosquito net and fashioned a four poster effect, made out of sticks from the garden, I put up my new mosquito net and watched the misquotes dive bombing then ricocheting from the net, ha ha you can’t get me now and contemplated all the creatures in, my new house-which were far more what I had expected from the VSO experience, this was more like it! Suddenly I heard a loud clatter of pots pans coming from the kitchen, my heart shot to my feet in 0.1 seconds and I lay still rationalising the sounds, I decided that the pans must of have fallen off their hooks and I slid from under my mosquito net to investigate. I peeked through my door and saw and heard nothing and crept to the kitchen gingerly. A rat scarpered across the kitchen surface and cruised into the store cupboard, to be honest I was quite relived that it was a rat and not burglar. I have lived with rats before and it’s not that bad, all food now lives in the fridge even the bananas which is what had drawn the rat in the first place. I had very good night’s sleep and decided it’s not too bad here after all. It even rained over night which is the first time in two months and its smells like home.
Having settled into my house for two days, I have to admit I was at first a little daunted living on my own and had for two nights not slept that well, by the second day I was checking my contract to find out how much notice I had to give to move out just incase! I was missing the luxury of my temporary apartment and the family there. My new house was certainly different to the last, since moving in I had encountered all sorts of creatures including; very big and very small ants, jumping spiders, a very cute looking mouse which scurried along the roof whilst I was hula hooping, a big cockroach found on its back wiggling its legs in the bathroom (later removed) and my most recent discovery a lizard at the top of the stairs (not removed). There were certainly more mosquitoes too, probably because I am on the ground floor instead of the second, I spent the first two nights with my head under my bed sheets sheltering from the mosquitoes as I didn’t have a net and found bites on my nose in the morning.
Having bought a mosquito net and fashioned a four poster effect, made out of sticks from the garden, I put up my new mosquito net and watched the misquotes dive bombing then ricocheting from the net, ha ha you can’t get me now and contemplated all the creatures in, my new house-which were far more what I had expected from the VSO experience, this was more like it! Suddenly I heard a loud clatter of pots pans coming from the kitchen, my heart shot to my feet in 0.1 seconds and I lay still rationalising the sounds, I decided that the pans must of have fallen off their hooks and I slid from under my mosquito net to investigate. I peeked through my door and saw and heard nothing and crept to the kitchen gingerly. A rat scarpered across the kitchen surface and cruised into the store cupboard, to be honest I was quite relived that it was a rat and not burglar. I have lived with rats before and it’s not that bad, all food now lives in the fridge even the bananas which is what had drawn the rat in the first place. I had very good night’s sleep and decided it’s not too bad here after all. It even rained over night which is the first time in two months and its smells like home.
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