It was a day of celebration at the Career Building International Academy last week as the community came together in honour of the Hindu Goddess of Education, Saraswati. Nick, one of our teaching volunteers from England writes about the event that saw another 50 pupils enrol at the Volunteer Society Nepal funded school…

We had known about the up coming celebration for some time and had been looking forward to it. All the Hindu festivals are a treat for any visiting volunteer to Nepal with bright colours, smiling faces and always some delicious local food! The 20th January was the celebration of the Goddess Saraswati. She is recognised as the Hindu goddess of spiritual enlightenment; encompassing learning, wisdom and fine arts. It is customary to begin a child’s education on this day and the CBIA organised a special worship of Saraswati.

The most significant aspect of this day is that Hindu children are taught reading and writing their first word – as it is considered an auspicious day to begin a child’s education. Goddess Saraswati being pure and white and representing learning, no animal sacrifices are made to her. Everyone has a vegetarian meal on this day. While the preparations on the new basketball court were underway, at the back of the playground the VSN language trainer Beesal was hard at work making Prashad in a huge cauldron over a wood fire. This was a mix of ground wheat and rice meal, sugar and dried fruits topped off with apples and tangerines. It was delicious and fed all the assembled after they received a blessing from the Brahmin. Standing with the families of the children you have been teaching witnessing the ancient rituals was an incredible experience. The school seems to be going from strength to strength with new classrooms, a new basketball court and an expanding library all donated by the funds of VSN volunteers.

We only have one week left at the school after 3 months volunteering here and it’s going to be strange to say goodbye to the children. It makes you want to come back and see how everyone in the community is getting on. All I can say is that I can fully recommend coming to volunteer as a teacher here. There is something new everyday and the kids surprise you with what they want to learn about. The pride they have in their country and their ambition is humbling and to be able to help as a volunteer even in a small is a great way to spend your time as a volunteer.

To find out more about volunteering as a teacher with Vounteer Society Nepal you can explore the Placement Pages:

• Volunteering in Schools
• Teacher Training and Subject Specific Teaching
  
• Teaching in Monasteries

Last Friday was both an exciting and a sad day in Pepsi-Cola Kathmandu. It was Jan and Misty’s last day volunteering in Nepal with us and we will miss their energy and enthusiasm greatly. But to say goodbye they organised a party at the New Life Children’s home (Volunteer Society Nepal’s orphanage), which was a great way to spend a Friday night and rarely have we seen an orphanage feel so much like a family gathering!

All the VSN staff, their kids and the volunteers squeezed into the orphanage at 5pm where a house full of very excited children were getting themselves dressed up for the concert and munching on some sweet treats. Whilst the kids did their last dress rehearsal we all helped to help make momo in the kitchen. With over 20 hungry mouths to feed a big team effort was important! Beesal mixed the buff meat with the secret blend of spices, Gelu mixed up the hot sauce, Nick rolled the dough and the rest of us tried our best to stuff the mixture into the dough in vaguely momo like shapes. This is not as easy as it looks when the Nepali’s do it! If there is a knack then it will take another few months of volunteering to get it.

Once the momo were steamed and ready to eat, the whole house fell silent for half an hour of filling bellies with delicious food. I think about 50 each was the average number consumed, quite a feat given that some of the children are just 5 years old. The hot sauce was no barrier either with the call of  pani, pani! (water) being echoed throughout as the children flapped their hands in front of their mouths.

After the feasting came the entertainment. Misty had prepared some dancing for the kids and they each took it in turns to sing a song of their choice – a nice mix of Nepali and English classics that found the rest of us humming away. The volunteers were also called up for an impromtu singsong of their own, which lead Nick to get all 20 of us to do the hokey-cokey bringing on much hysteria from the kids.

Finally it was time to try and calm the children down and say goodbye. The New Life Children’s Home presented the volunteers leaving the next day with beautiful and very touching hand made cards to say thank you for all their love and support. A few tears later and we all headed off to bed, the adults as exhausted as the kids, but all with the warm feeling of love and laughter! It was incredible finish to the time as a volunteer in Nepal and a wonderful memory to take away back home.

International volunteering in Nepal is not a new idea. People have been coming here for decades to offer their help and support in any way they can. However, as is often the way when opportunities like this develop, there are lots of people who tend to take a cut of the money involved. What makes Volunteer Society Nepal different is that we are a local Nepali company and so you can be 100% confident that when you volunteer in Nepal your money is going to the country itself, not to pay for advertising and office space abroad.

International vs. local agencies

There are many placement agencies located throughout the developed world. You will see large adverts in magazines and newspapers from companies in the US, UK and Australasia offering volunteer packages throughout Nepal and the rest of the world. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that these large agencies then use local agencies like VSN to manage the placements in Nepal. Despite the difference in cost, the experience you have on the ground is no different, and in fact they are often a lot less flexible than if you arrange to volunteer direct.

International fees are often 2 to 3 times more expensive:

To give you an idea of the huge range in volunteer fees, here is a list of some of the leading organizations worldwide and what they charge for a 6 week program:

All of these programs offer very similar inclusions. None of them include flights. Volunteer Society Nepal is far better value at between half and a third of the cost.

Affordable volunteer fees do not mean less contribution to local projects:

?Looking at global volunteer agency websites, you read about funding for multiple offices around the world and the ever increasing costs of getting listed high up on search engines. However, you very rarely read clear information about what % of your fee goes to the project. The simple reason being… it’s very little. Once they have paid for all their running costs only a minimal amount goes to the organization you are working with. However, we know if you volunteer in Nepal you want to know exactly where your money is going. That is why we give you a clear breakdown on our website according to your length of stay.  Click here. On average it is over 30% of your total fee, far higher than international agencies.

But how do I trust the quality of VSN?

Talk to our previous volunteers. We have placed hundreds of people since we started work in 2004. On our site you can find email addresses of past volunteers who are happy to answer any questions, or you can contact people through our Facebook community group. There is no better recommendation than those people who have come before you. Volunteer Community

We hope you can come and join us to volunteer in Nepal and make sure every bit of your hard earned volunteer fee goes to the right place.