Volunteer Society Nepal : The best experience for volunteers, the best value for Nepal.
Volunteer Rama is originally from India but has been living in the USA most of his life. He decided to come to Nepal to make a difference. He wanted to experience the rural mountain area so we proposed him to go to Salleri, a town in the Everest Region of Nepal. Below he shares his experience.
The mountain town of Salleri was amazing. It is one of the most beautiful towns I ever visited. The view of the Dudh Kunda mountain every day on my way to school was beautiful. The people are kind and always have an innocent smile on their face that brought joy to me every day.
The people in the town. Especially my host Nuri and Maya that treated me and my friend John (a fellow volunteer) like their own children. Fellow teachers at the school became our friends and made sure we had a great time. They were so kind that they hosted a music program for us! Pemba
and Binta (Nori’s grandchildren) played with us and made sure we were never bored. The students in school were such a pleasure to teach, their curiosity to learn new things was truly inspiring which made me want provide funds for the school to set up a computer lab.
The lack of computers or access to internet for the kids in the school was a bit of a challenge. When I was teaching general knowledge to grade V the kids were so curious and had many questions. They had questions about space, satellites, “Who invented the telephone?”, “How was the internet created?”, etc. The majority of the answers to these questions are at our fingertips in the developed countries. You can find the answers on Google,
YouTube and we get them on a voice command using google home. However, these kids have to wait for teachers or volunteers like me to give them the answers. If the teacher doesn’t know the answer, the students have no means of accessing this information. I felt the lack of internet access is preventing these kids from exploring, utilizing their curiosity, and ultimately realizing their dreams.
I can’t say enough about the homestay. Nuri and his family are one of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. The food Maya made was from their own farm which was absolutely delicious. Every Saturday they make us Momo’s (Nepalese dumplings) from scratch. Pemba and Binta the kids at the homestay always made sure were entertained by playing board games and sports with us.
I would highly recommend this experience to any volunteer! Please note that if you come in winter time, you have to be able to handle the cold weather at night! Yes, you should definitely visit Salleri! It will be an experience that will stay with you forever.