Article for Big News,

Nepali adventures

As I cycle across the field to my house, I can see a big whirl wind of dust heading towards me, so I brake, cover my eyes and brace myself for the encapsulation, just another magical moment in Nepal. I arrived in Nepal in November, having said farewell to the Energise and Willow Tree Centres in Salford and set out in search of new adventures and experiences, with the support of Voluntary Services Overseas. My assignment: to work as Organisational Development Advisor for an organisation which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities on a national level, for 26 months.

After 3 weeks language and cultural training in the pollution filled, yet strangely charming city of Kathmandu, I flew out to Nepalgunj in the south of the Midwestern region of Nepal. I am living 15 minutes from the Indian border and fully intend to cycle there to do my shopping (when I have my Indian visa) as apparently ‘its so much cheaper across the border’, bit like Asda maybe?

After another 3 weeks language training, I was deemed fit to be let loose on the good people of Nepalgunj and armed with 10 sentences about myself and about 30 verb flash cards, I started working in my office. My office is in a stark contrast to the luxury of the Energise and Willow Tree Centres, whilst in the UK we fight for disabled toilets, in my office there is no toiled at all, I have to scamper round to the neighbours to pee. Although we are fighting for the rights of people with disabilities, they would have to crawl up the steep steps first to enter out office as there is no wheel chair access. Things have changed around here though, now we even have a computer, phone and we are getting the internet! But despite the small difficulties, I love it here. Waking in the morning to the cool breeze coming through my window at 6:00 am, I can hear the gentle hiss of pressure cookers as people prepare their dhall baat. Dhall baat is basically rice, dhall, and curry and Nepali people eat this same dish every day twice a day and they love it, so do I actually but not every day twice a day.

My biggest challenge to overcome so far was to adjust to being one of the very few (eight) white people living in Nepalgunj, this at first was very hard as wherever I went people would stare at me, so to overcome this I bought a bike, which reduces the amount of staring time per person and potential conversation. Now I feel so comfortable cycling around the place, I don’t mind people staring and usually share a joke or greeting with them. The Nepali people are so kind and welcoming it’s beautiful to experience and its real privilege to be here working and living with them. It’s hard to believe that they are capable of the previous years of conflict encountered here, but there are small reminders such as bhandas (strikes on the streets) which take place frequently and regular small bombs. The political situation is very fragile and we currently await the signing of the constitutional agreement by the two main parties.

One of my highlights has been running a hula hoop workshop at the volunteer conference in April, my group were so keen we created a hoop dance which we performed at the bollywood party and they all did really well. Nepali people love hula hooping and I have found a shop which will make hula hoops out of water pipe by melting two pieces of pipe together. I now have a small group of avid hula hoopers, so at the very least when I leave I will have left my mark by way of a hula hoop.
My next personal project is to get approval from a local radio station to present a light hearted English speaking talk show, ‘Next Generation’, for the younger generation of Nepal to talk openly and honestly about a range of thought provoking topics, whilst exploring the English language. I hope I can pull this off as I feel young people here have a lot to say but don’t have the platform to say it and are really keen to learn English.

As time rapidly marches on I wonder will 26 months be enough to bring about some small changes I hope to make during my placement, I try to cling to every moment and to live in the now.