Media Centre for Volunteer in Ghana

Stuart Balkham

Upon arrival in Nepal all GVI volunteers undertake a one week orientation period, with the aim of gaining a more thorough and rounded understanding of the people and cultures there. For me this involved living with a Nepalese family, eating (mostly the traditional dish of Dhal Baat - rice and lentils) and spending evenings with them, during the day we visited the local tourist sights in and around Kathmandu, including Swayabhu (Monkey Temple), Kathmandu and Patan Durbar squares with their myriad Hindu temples, the ancient city of Bhaktapur, the massive Buddhist stupa and collection of monasteries, the sacrificial temple of Dakshinkali and the most important cremation sight in the country - Pashupatinath. We also had Nepali language lessons (starting at 7am!).

By the end of this first week I felt much more absorbed in and understanding of the Nepali way of life and just about ready for the real work to begin! We moved to Pokhara where most of the GVI volunteers are based during their projects and were introduced to our projects. I was placed in Children’s Welfare Home - a small(ish), financially struggling but hugely loving orphanage with 30 children ranging from 5 years to 19 years in age. I worked in the orphanage for just over 4 weeks in total and for the last two weeks of my stay I was also teaching during the day in a local secondary school.

For a better understanding of how I lived I have outlined a typical working day.

- Breakfast at 7:30am with the other volunteers and then walk to my orphanage for around 8am.
- Help with homework and then serve Dhal Baat to all the children.
- Help get the children ready for school and then walk them to their school by 9:45am.
- I then walk to Shining Star Boarding school. Teach an English class to the children aged between 14 and 16 and occasionally cover maths or science lessons. When not teaching I am working on the library, which was created by the previous volunteer, or producing posters and signs for the school.
- Back to base for lunch at 1pm and then teaching at the school again between 2 and 4pm.
- Collect the children from their school and walk them back to Children’s Welfare Home.
- 4:30pm help with homework and play games with the children - volleyball, carrom board and anything which involves lots of jumping around are particularly popular.
- Help with class at 6:30pm and serve Dhal Baat again.
- 7:30-8pm return to base and have dinner with the other volunteers and then maybe go into town for a drink or stay in and read or get an early night.

The children were at school six days a week, so on Saturdays or other occasional festival related holidays we would try to organise other activities for them such as swimming in a local hotels’ pool, a party at the volunteers base and a ‘sports day’ event.

The children are taught all subjects except Nepali in English at school so it is invaluable for them to have volunteers to help with the language and our main responsibility is of course to take some pressure off the full time staff there who work incredibly hard and do a fantastic job.

While in Nepal the volunteers have an opportunity to break up the work with some recreational activities. Two days white water rafting on the Trisuli river and a five day trek up into the Annapurna range gave me further insight into the people, wildlife and geography of this amazing country. I will be continuing my involvement with Children’s Welfare Home, fund-raising here in the UK and I hope to return to the Himalayan Kingdom as soon as possible...