MY VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE IN NEPAL

I tried to leave for Kathmandu as a solo volunteer abroad with no particular expectation but even if I had had some, they’d absolutely have been outclassed by the transformative experience I lived.

After a few introductive days where a lovely and really competent local guide showed me and another girl I had just met around the city, tried to teach us some Nepali language and shared a lot of local culture and traditions, I stayed for two weeks in one of Kathmandu’s Buddhist monasteries. There I spent my time with the students and the older monks, assisting them during classes and exams, playing and living with them, sharing knowledge, experiences, personal information. I didn’t really teach the students because I understood that, for my age and experience, my true and useful role there was to entertain them, talk to them, exchanging opinions, views about the world, funny jokes and above all arise and maintain curiosity. I probably ended up learning more things from them than they did for me, and I am very grateful for that.

I also met some other international volunteers, wonderful people from around the world, but also from Italy, I really hope I’ll stay friends with. We shared every possible moment, from big celebrations to daily rituals and some discomfort we easily overpassed together with patience, confidence and an always present smile. At the end of the period there, my only regret was that I couldn’t start all over again.

Then I stayed at the women’s empowerment center: I had not planned this kind of community volunteering but I liked the environment at a first glance so I gave it a try and it was definitely the right decision because the experience was amazing. The women there are kind, funny, respectful and most important really eager to learn about everything I had to say, and equipped with an enormous curiosity: all qualities that helped me to communicate with them even if we couldn’t really understand everything the other was saying. Even this time, it was really hard for me to leave.

I also tried to attend the disability center but despite liking the people and the way, even with barriers, we were able to connect, I felt my lack of experience made me pretty useless, so I aborted this part of my volunteer project to return where I was most needed (the women center again). For a moment I lived this as a failure, but after I realized this experience also had taught me something big and raised interior awareness, so I’m still really grateful for it.

My time in Nepal, apart from the volunteering projects, was also devoted to a little trek in the city of Pokhara and to visit the main cultural attractions of Kathmandu and the surroundings and this more “touristic” moments allowed me to bond even more with the local atmosphere through learning about Nepali history and culture and observing local people in their normal life and habits and also during some traditional festivals I was lucky to assist to. I was impressed and delighted all the time by everything and everyone.

I have to thank infinitely Volunteer Society Nepal that allowed me to live a real local experience and cultural immersion, in which as I said I melted deeply with the Nepali culture, and above all the people I got in touch with: the guides, the two host families that hosted me, the people involved in the various volunteer programs, the taxi drivers and every other local I spoke to. This is because they made me feel welcome and comfortable in every situation, treating me like family, with a kindness and an openness I shall never forget. I learned so much from them than I can’t even start to describe, and I made some marvelous friends and acquaintances that perched in my heart and I will surely come and visit again, as well as waiting for them in Italy.

This was my very first-time volunteering abroad and also solo traveling outside of Europe and I believe this is until now the most intense travel experience, I have ever done. I left completely alone and now I’m back full of friends and memories and with renewed purpose, a heart that got really bigger and a deep melancholic serenity inside that I cannot explain with words since you truly have to live it to understand it. Since every doubt and fear will just be replaced with emotions and life, my unbiased advice for everyone is just to book that flight and go volunteer in Nepal!

About the Author:

Margherita (Ritu) Del Fabbro, from Italy
Instagram : margherita_delfabbro