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Collection of some volunteer's experience and opinion:-
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Dear Matrika,
 
A huge thank you for organizing my wonderful volunteering experience in Nepal! You are a very kind person and I couldn't have wished for a better leader to make sure I was safe, happy and comfortable 100% of my stay. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in both the hospital and getting the chance to travel around your beautiful country :)!
 
I do hope in the future me and Mayur will make a return visit together perhaps volunteering with your orphanage project. I wish you great sucess in all that you do, take care and thanks again!


Emily Shuttleworth, Manchester, England. January 2012


 
Hi Matrika,
 
How are you? and how are your wife and children doing? Its so cold in England there is so much snow its crazy. Sorry I had to rush off when I saw you Monday, it was nice to have a beer and catch up. So here is the few scentences you wanted for your website (I restrained myself from writing too much but feel free to add anything I've missed or ask me to change things.
 
" I was able to spend 4 months in Nepal through VSSN and had the most incredible experience during my stay. The whole trip from landing in Nepal to leaving was perfect and I recieved support and guideance whenever it was needed. The language lessons and sightseeing on arrival provided a good basis to start my placement. I worked in the health centre on a school nutrition programme, for which we ran several activities in 3 of the local schools during my stay. The family I stayed with were so welcoming, making me feel part of the family and I had the opportunity to celebrate both dasian and tihar festivals with them. I would recommend VSSN and the programme at the health centre to anyone."
 
Speak soon and take care.
Miss. Amy White, Surrey, England. December 2010

 

 

Hello Matrika! 

Thank you for hour help, hospitality and everything you did for me. Nepal was the greatest experience in my life! If I didn't have my own child and family, I would stay there longer!

 

I felt fantastic in my host family, I was really lucky! And the students at schools were lovely and nice. At Emerald's school I loved lessons with the students-they are so clever! But I didn't feel well there. At Kalpana's school I felt like one of them. LIke at home.

 

I'd like to ask you ab sth.I talked to my headteacher and the mayor of my town about Kalpana's school. We would like to start some cooperation with them. 

At first I'd like the students to chat or exchange e-mails. I will choose about 10-20 pupils (???) to exchange e-mailis ( I will write the subject-e.g at first - my country - geography 2. my family 3. my free time etc) Later they can do some summary what they have learnt in my and Nepali school. Is it possible?

My next idea is connected with money. We'd like to help this school collecting the money ( we did it before for some African sql) . Can you advice me- will it be better to send you money and Kalpana will buy essential things for the kids-or maybe we will buy some items and send them? I have no idea but we are able to give this school about 100-200 dollars a month I think so). Please write me what is better or maybe you have another idea??

I' waiting for an answer, because I fell in love with Nepal and I really want to help in some way.

Matrika-you do great job! I'm really happy theat I've found your organisation:))

kisses from Poland-and thin ab it. I'm waiting.

bye, 

Agnieszka Jochlik. Poland.

 
Hi all! I’m very happy to give you my feedback on my time in Nepal.
The first days in Kathmandu were great. The routine of Nepali classes in the morning and sight seeing in the afternoon helped me a lot to settle down and to feel at ease. Then I was sent to this amazing and beautiful area in the south of the Kathmandu valley where I stayed for 4 months. The family made me feel at home immediately. The food they served was very good and healthy. They made sure I missed nothing. The house in itself had a TV, a bathroom etc…
I volunteered as an assistant in a public school where most of the kids are from deprived households. I helped the teachers with English, Maths and other activities…
Teaching English was a bit challenging (be prepared to have loads of ideas for games, like for example the hangman). I preferred the lessons when I was only assisting the teacher, showing him or her learning methods and the different ways how I learned English myself…
The kids were little monsters at times, but that’s what made me love them even more. They are so lively and have hearts of gold.
Then I and other volunteers bought sport equipments. We played volley ball and badminton with the children. The real fun started at that very moment! I also enjoyed taking part in the numerous religious festivals. I learnt a lot on religions, Asian History and cultures, and was really impressed by the Nepali way of life. The most difficult moment of my volunteering experience was actually to come back to Europe. Both worlds are so different. I felt lost. But now that I’m settled back, I feel really proud to have done it. I gained both confidence and many good memories. I benefited so much from this trip! I hope the kids enjoyed their time with me as much as I enjoyed it with them.
My wish is that more people can discover how incredible volunteering can be or just simply discover Nepal in a real Nepali environment.
Feel free to check the blog I created; it’s kind of a diary where I uploaded photos:
http://www.sjoigneaux.wordpress.com
Don’t be scared, go for it!
Sarah David- FRANCE
 
Hello Matrika!  Well, Shelby and I made it safely back to California, and it's nice to be home.  Nepal was the craziest, funniest, biggest adventure we've ever been exposed to!  We have to admit we miss Nepal and we will always remember this experience. Thank you so much for everything, we really appreciate you coordinating our trips and placement into our host family.  We also miss having philosophical conversations that make no sense with Ram, so you'll have to tell him hello for us.  We miss the food so much!  I wish I could just run down the street to Zaika's to get some Momo.  When we think back on our time in Nepal we usually just laugh and tell people Nepal is Crazy (but in a good way)!  Looking at our pictures and telling our family and friends about our experience makes us very thankful we were there.
Thank you so much for everything!
Ella Flambures and Shelby Peterson
Fresno, CA
 
hi All!!
just wanted to say a big thank you for everything once again. i would like to notice that the way you had organised everything was perfect. really, i had the greatest time. so i wish you lots of luck in your further work and if you ever decide on coming to Russia - just give me a call! and we'll try the real Russian vodka as well this time:)!, thanks thanks.
Miss. Polina Eremenko from Russia
 
Matrika,
Thanks very much for the photos. They are much appreciated and I will see what I can do as far as getting sponsors for a few other children, but as I said before, I can't promise. I naturally hope to share my expriences with a lot of my family and friends in any case.
Thanks again, for making my stay in Nepal comfortable and worthwhile, as well as taking the time to take me around and visit the places on that last day. Please thank Pramila again, for me too, as well as the car drivers and people at the guest house as well. I really wish I could have stayed longer, but am hoping to get back next year, probably about the same time, as I mentioned before. I'm looking forward to a new adventure and trying to do a bit more, and hopefully learn a bit more Nepali.
I assume you are busy with the new volunteer and other projects. Don't work too hard, but keep up the good work, and the same for everyone else in VSSN and the schools.
All the best,
Randy from USA, Living in Japan (Volunteer of March, 2011)
 
hi,
As promised i have written a small paragraph about my placement:
I volunteered at a monastery near Pharping for one month directly through VSSN. The program was well organised and took care of any concerns about coming to a new country. The children in the Monastery and local school were very willing to learn and want to know about other cultures. VSSN through its other partners were also able to arrange visits to Pokhara and Chitawan during my placement. This program was a wonderful experience for me and I hope to be back in the future.
Elaine Kow- Sydney, Australia
 
I actually was looking to do a construction project at first but since there weren't enough people I decided to teach instead.I never taught a class before and I thought it would be very difficult. Especially because I don't like handing out discipline and my spelling is horrible (I had to pull out my Nepali-English book and pretend like I was looking for the Nepali translation of the 12 months when I was actually checking the spelling). During my stay I taught English, Math and a bit of Science and basic Psychology. I also learned how to trick students into working. I was also considering switching around schools partly because I wanted to travel around a bit but I decided it would be best to stay there for the full five months. I had no teaching materials since I wasn't planning on teaching and was not entirely confident on the rules of English Grammar so I bought some books.
Getting concepts across was a bit hard however the other teachers were always supportive and sometimes translated for me. The hardest part was that the children always wanted to play and its so easy to give in. It got even harder when they found out that I am only 19 and the older students I am teaching were around 15-16. They were very respectful in the way a teacher is respected until the point where they asked about my age. On the other hand since I was around their age they always asked me to play with them during the breaks and so usually when I was free I would play football (soccer), volleyball (which was flat, but we pulled it back into a sphere every few hits) or even have a wrestling match. At one point one of the students said "You're not teacher" and I thought "Dang, I failed at teaching" but then he added "You're our brother, big brother".
I was honestly moved but I made a compromise that I was both their brother and teacher. With teaching, everyday was unpredictable which was a nice change from my "School-Work-Study-Sleep" routine. What time the students would barge into your room and wake you up is also unpredictable. Along with walking to school and finding out they forgot to tell you that there's no school today. The school teachers were always supportive and friendly and after a month they also loosened up and we joked a lot. They really liked making fun of each other and even asked for criticism. Leaving was very difficult because after five months you bond without noticing. The fact that they live in a totally different world made me felt like they were so far away. None of them had an address, never mind an email address, and were too young to have cell phones. If there's a reason I would never do it again it would be because its too painful to leave. I miss everyone at Nava Jyoti and my host family. I will never forget them. Thanks Matrika, I won't forget you too and hopefully you will see my application again in a few years.
Kunihiro Muto, USA

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