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This is how to keep up in touch with me when I'm on my travels. Hope you like it - please give me feedback as to what you might like to see on it - or not!



Tuesday 30 November 2010

School stuff

It's been a busy week, which is why I have not had time to update. And the good news is that the weather, which has been very overcast and consequently chilly (for here) has improved and is pleasantly warm again. The clearer air enabled Margaret to get a superb Everest-viewing flight today, November 29.
I've been getting passport-size photos of the children I've been working with. To my dismay they came back cut up and all in one envelope instead of on A4 paper, so I had the great job of sorting out about 70 tiny photos into classes.
This week they are finishing off the books they have been making with these stuck on the drawings of themselves. Lots of giggling going on.
Tomorrow I must take whole-class photos which I'll have printed really big for their classrooms.

We've had British visitors at the school.
Graham spent 4 weeks at Samata in July and has come back for a 7 week stint. He is a useful source of information and very helpful at getting things done.
And Sharon and William from Scotland. Sharon was the first ever volunteer at Samata in 2003. William, who is 17, came out on a charity trek which Sharon was on last year and went home to raise money for the school. He was here now to buy and present 50 uniforms to the pupils. What a great story.

TGIF
Alina, our lovely Class 3P teacher, did her Nepali song again at my request and this time I got it on video. Also captured Margaret being dragged on to the dance floor ( a few square inches of space in the aisle of the classroom) to embarrass herself (actually she did very well). I was spared this myself, as I was seen to be the photographer.

In another class we were taken out to the playground to join in a circle game which involved circling and chanting round one person who had to spin round with their hands over their eyes and point to someone who then replaced them in the middle. Part of the chant involved a bit of Nepali-style dancing by the “piggy”. Fortunately we saw enough of it to know what to do before we were picked, but then it was quite remarkable how often Margaret and I were randomly chosen out of 50 players. (Must get the mathematicians to work out probabilities.) The only bit I remember now is “Rana, rana, rana; go si stop”. I'm sure it will come in useful again.

We volunteers have decided we would like our money to go to provide running water to the childrens' toilets (there are 2 for 2,500, so slightly over-used!), and new or refurbished blackboards. At present the children queue up at the one outside tap with a jug to use in the toilet.

We'd love to do something about the library which is kept locked except when volunteers use it, but the problem is staffing it, and incorporating sessions into the curriculum. The children are desperately keen to get at the books. Any time the door is open there will be kids hanging round wanting to come in and look at books. (Just like at home, did I hear? - or not!)

Another weekend off

We all went to Bhaktapur on Saturday and stayed in a guest house right in the centre. Because of my stinking cold, I got the single room – can't think why. Cost? £25 single/20 twin en suite per night B&B (and the breakfast was a cooked one with toast and cereal, and the curds the city is famous for) Prices here take some getting used to. 
 
One of the three ponds in Bakhtapur
Fish feeding frenzy

Cermonial carriage wheels
Potters Square
Bhaktapur is the best preserved of the three medieval city-states of the Kathmandu Valley, and developed around the old trade route from India to Tibet. The oldest part dates from the 12th century. It has three major squares full of grand temples but is very much a living/working city. The streets are full of drying crops and rice and wheat being winnowed, or clay being prepared for use by potters. Pottery Square has rows and rows of freshly made pots drying in readiness for firing.

Next day we visited a school in the hills near Dhulikhel which is supported by Saga and various other organizations. It is a neat building whose pupils live from 5 – 30 minutes walk away. There are 130 pupils and 13 teachers and we felt very sorry for the headmaster, who was faced by a barrage of questions from us on his first day as principal of the school. He explained that he had left his last school because the board was more interested in earning fess than in the education of the children. The views of the mountains are breathtaking, the classrooms light and airy and class rolls small. What a contrast to Samata.


Tuesday 23 November 2010

School party time and hiking in the park

TGIF has got as far as Nepal!
We went in on Friday 19th expecting to work, only to find most of the children in mufti and the classes very informal, to put it mildly. The children did turns, singing popsongs, break dancing, or dancing tradtional Nepali dance. A couple of boys even did acrobatics in the tiny overcrowded classrooms between the desks.  Teachers were persuaded to sing and to dance, and so were we. It was all great fun and may well be repeated every Friday - I hope my video camera won't be out of power next time.

The teachers invited Anny and Rosemary into the staff room for lunch so I went too. They bring food from home. Ate iskus (prickly avocado-like vegetable, boiled and eaten warm (probably cooked in school) with hot pickle – all off newspaper - and nimki (home-made batter pieces). Shared cake with them.

Four go on a hike.

At the weekend, Margaret F, Margaret E, Anny and I went on a hike arranged through Social Tours
Kathmandu lies at 17XX m; we went by minibus with our guide to Kokani, at about 2,000m, but it was soon obvious there was a problem. This turned out to be a no-show porter. So our petite Nepali lady guide shouldered our backpack herself – no problem. She was a hard dude, used to mountain biking and mountain marathon running, and also hard technical climbing in the mountains. And there she was, stuck with two over-60s and two over-70s. 



We hiked about 10 k to Shivapuri Village, mostly through forest, so disappointingly without views, though we did see several eagles, but when we arrived at the tea-house, the view was out of this world. There were log seats right on the edge of the valley with a 180 panorama of green valley sides, then the “lower” mountain range and finally, looking right up into the sky, the snow-covered peaks of the Langtanstopping the clouds. It was clear and cold and we were glad of the open fire to sit round, despite the smoke. Excellent food, very primitive accommodation (there was hot water, but we were too cold to shower!) and company too. What more could you ask for?
Next day we set off after lunch to return by another trail but after 2 or three hours it went badly wrong and we were negotiating pretty difficult rocky terrain. Our nimble little guide had no qualms about our capabilities but we mutinied when she wanted us to cross a section of razor wire and climb down a precipice to gain the path (OK, maybe precipice is a bit of an exaggeration). Anyway we finished in fine form with hot sweet Nepalese tea when the driver met us again about 5. Once again it was good to exchange the crush of Kathmandu for the calm of a national park.

Having said that, I love the craziness of it. Out wandering the streets this evening the power went off, so all the smaller shops were lt only by candles and torches and still the hundreds of motor bikes and the laden pedal bikes without lights appear from nowhere and go in any direction. It's mad, but very good natured on the whole. Yes there's a cacophony of hooting, but it's mostly to say you're coming through, and “pedestrians/other traffic” “Move Over”. It makes me laugh, which reminds me to count my blessings and they are these:
    I don't mind a bit of mess, so long as I've my own place to go to.
    I am not scared of much
    I love all manner of foods
    I don't often get sick
    I'm not very observant so a lot of bad stuff passes me by.
So there we are – lucky old me.

Brenda and the chess tournament

On Sunday Brenda went to work by special request, as the orphanage had been taking part in a chess competition. Sunday was the day of the presentations and they only asked Brenda to stand up in front of everyone and extend her felicitations! She seems to have done this admirably, in front of TV cameras and reporters. Sorry I can't give any better detail but the lady in question has long been in her bed. You'll have to ask her about it, or, better still ,email her and ask her to write on here again.

Weddings

Suddenly (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) we are seeing loads of weddings. Apparently there are auspicious days for this, and there haven't been any for two months. Now there are. Haven't managed a photo so you'll just have to imagine the white saloon cars festooned with flower garlands and glittery stuff, the ladies in bright red saris thronging the street, and even one red coach pulled by two white horses and with two servants in very smart red uniforms. This was either a military or police person's marriage according to our driver.

Thursday 18 November 2010

More news


Wed November 16
Govari Botanical Gardens
Poinsettias
Unexpected day off today on account of the
government declaring a national holiday. Three of us hired a taxi to take us out south of Kathmandu. 1,500R (£5 each) return, waiting for us – “3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, no problem. When you like.”
The weather is hazy at the moment so no clear views but it was lovely to see the mountains all around, and pass through villages with fields being cultivated by hand. Big contrast in the housing though, with some quite palatial villas but the majority very squalid.








It was very pleasant to escape the clamour and confusion of Kathmandu and enter the peace of the National (formerly the Royal) Botanical Gardens. Highlights were watching a group of ladies in saris singing and dancing in some sort of ritual while a little child of about 2 or 3 years old, looked on and danced by himself, copying their movements. Two very brightly coloured birds (unknown species) and many lovely butterflies. The planting, however, was disappointing. Lowlight (no surprise) the toilets!

Despite the holiday, it was business as usual at the orphanage but today the other Margaret was feeling too delicate so Brenda went alone. She came back with her hands covered in blue and red felt tip, and going on at length about the “wicked” day she'd had floating balloons down the stairwell!

Thursday November 18th

A much better school day today as Margaret and I took groups out of class. We are trying to follow their normal teaching schedule but in our own way, and giving the extra attention to individual children which is impossible in whole classes.

The ability range is vast and the teachers don't seem to make any attempt to select out similar ones for us to take. In one group I had some children who couldn't understand the most basic English and one who spoke as well as an adult who had learnt it as a second language.
Keeping them all gainfully occupied is some challenge.

Brenda here. We had a great day at naxal today the children were great making and flying aeroplanes. They all joined in when we had built them we had contests flying them to see whose went the furthest ,great fun. Margaret had an English country dance CD which the children loved and we did sort of English country dancing which caused great amusement.
We stayed on later for sewing and knitting with the older children,the boys requested to knit socks and gloves!! I told them to go ask Margaret as she is the expert good luck Margaret. Tomorrow we have visit from some other orphanages for chess tournament.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Brenda's day

Mon November 15

Well, quite a day.
Off to a good start with the news that Margaret had been up all night with diarrhoea and was in no fit state to go to school, so I was on my own!
Help!
Brenda's birthday today so she had celebration No.1 with card and little present.
We went straight in to mass ( approx 2,000 children) assembly in the courtyard, children lined up in neat rows and Sushil talking and singing into a microphone. We three had to introduce ourselves and were greeted with applause.
Conditions are very overcrowded and under-resourced, but all the teachers were welcoming and keen to cooperate. I was able to observe the classes with no pressure to teach yet. Anny and Rosemary, teaching maths, got on well and have reached an arrangement which will involve teaching more advanced classes too.
Break time

Uttam (the founder) appeared briefly during our break but was more interested in a visiting group of sponsors, and Sushil spoke proudly of the progress the school has made in achieving distinctions in the school leaving certificate.
Altogether Uttam has made places for 18,000 children in 10 schools, with 8 more and a college under construction.
There are 2,500 pupils, about 50 in each of our classes. One of my teachers only passed her own SLC 2 years ago and is in her third year at college studying to become a journalist, teaching being a stop-gap.
Thanks to many reports from previous volunteers, everything so far has been pretty much as expected. Far from what we are used to, but they get results so there must be a lot we can learn from them.

When we picked up Brenda and Margaret from the orphanage we heard about a frustrating day. 40 children live there; 28 go to school. The remaining 12 are taught there during the morning, but the teacher removed 9 of them, leaving B & M, a nurse and a teaching assistant with only 3 children all morning. Lunch 1 – 2 pm was followed by compulsory 2 hour nap for the children, which took them to 4 pm and hometime. There are going to be some changes! More later.

B2
5 pm at Social tours for a “debriefing” which turned out to be Celebration No.2 complete with cake and presents.


B2

B3
Dinner at the hotel was accompanied by Nepali song and dance and Celebration No.3 – the birthday cake we had ordered and presents from Saga. Even Margaret F staggered down to share the occasion, though not the cake.
B3

B3


No need for the G&Ts to get high tonight.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!


Tuesday November 16

Our experience of the teaching and the classes varies a lot, largely according to how much English the teachers have. When we can converse with them, we can participate more easily. (Margaret was sufficiently recovered to come with us today, thank goodness)
The lower grades do a lot of chanting passages in English word by word at the top of their voices, after their teacher or another pupil. Not sure what this is supposd to achieve.
Our smallest class has 45 and our largest 57 children! Strangely, it doesn't seem anything like that many to me, probably because they are so closely crowded on their benches!

Class 4P
Class 4P


Lunch boxes are a daily surprise. Yesterday we all asked for various sandwiches made with brown bread. We got a half-round of white bread sandwich and two thick, dry unbuttered pieces of brown bread. But the fruit cake is delicious. Today, after a second attempt at explaining, we actually had brown bread sandwiches. The real difficulty, of course, is knowing whether you have been understood, as it invariably appears you have. They don't like to disappoint.

After lunch we were told that the government has just declared a national holiday tomorrow for Eid, so we will have the day off. This is not uncommon apparently, and I imagine it perplexes and inconveniences many of the tourists who might not be aware of such a sudden holiday.

Margaret and Brenda had a better day at the orphanage today, and stayed on till 5 pm to meet the school-age children. They had more of the children to play with (sorry - instruct/educate) and consequently had a whale of a time. They will have a full house tomorrow, ie 40 children, as the children will be on holiday.  Stories of paper balloon making and parachute games at dinner, as well as children's games of jumping from one rooftop to the next!

No birthdays today, but looking forward to a visit to a nearby village with a botanic garden.

There are lots more pics if anyone's interested on
  http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/on81lHQvwhkKc4BKdOHMzg?feat=directlink

If this link doesn't come out well, copy it out with no spaces from http to directlink and paste into the address bar. Or email me for the link.


Sunday 14 November 2010

Packing it in

Friday Nov 12th
Time for our introduction to the Naxa orphanage. First impressions were of a poor but well-structured and stimulating environment, with posters, photos and pictures on the walls, and toys in the rooms. Once again, photos on our digital cameras were good ice-breakers with the children. Previous volunteers had left good evidence of their work behind, in the form of boxes of materials and childrens' personal records. There were even two computers.




The board of governors was supposed to meet with us there but they didn't turn up.
We had an excellent Nepali language lesson later from Ram Devi. The others have almost caught up with me in one lesson!
Shopping triumphs were finding local gin for £5 (instead of Gordons for £20) and tea bags for 80p (previous best £5), celebrated by G & T's all round before dinner.
The electricity down-time is only two hours a day at the moment and hasn't been an issue so far but will increase considerably from now on as the dry season means hydro-electricity is low and the winter means increased demand.

Saturday Nov 13th
We rearranged our guided tour of Durbar Square from 3 pm to 9.30 am today and had an excellent morning looking at and hearing about the vast number of temples and palaces crammed together in this centre. 







We visited the Kumari Bahal which houses the living goddess. She is chosen from a particular caste of the Newari and must be between four years old and puberty. Her selection from amongst the many candidates depends on her stoicism when confronted by various trials, such as masked dancers and the slaughtering of hundreds of animals in front of her. The one who remains calm and unafraid is chosen as the living goddess and confined to the Kumari Bahal, apart from half a dozen ceremonial days. The current Kumari Devi is six years old and makes regular appearances at an upper window at certain times. She looked singularly unimpressed by the crowds of people staring up at her from the courtyard, hitched up her knickers and scratched her back, then disappeared again. A most ungodly goddess.

At lunch in the hotel garden we got talking to an interesting American lady who was in the company of her husband, a young Tibetan woman and her son, and an elderly lama in saffron and red robes. The Americans were neurosurgeons who had set up a neurosurgical unit in Kathmandu and made friends with the Tibetan family. Now back in USA, they were over on a visit and introduced us to the young woman when she heard that we were going to be helping at Samata school. She lives very near the school and knows it well, so she has invited us to call on her. We are thrilled at the prospect, as you can imagine. 



In the afternoon four of us hired a taxi to Swayambhunath, visiting first the three enormous gold statues, constructed in 2003, which are currently being repainted in gold by hand. The path up to the stupa is thronged with Tibetan pilgrims, prayer wheels, shrines, hippies, hawkers and stalls, and monkeys everywhere. Tourists make the climb in the afternoon to watch the sun set over Kathmandu, but it was cloudy and there was no glorious sunset. I will probably give it another go later, as it is an exciting place to be. We even had a singing bowl demonstration, using a very large bowl with deep resonances held near but not touching so that the vibrations can be felt running through you. It's supposed to be relaxing but not when you are wondering how to escape without buying one, and whether your friends have gone off without you. Margaret couldn't resist trying one on!



Sunday November 14th
Spent the morning at Social Tours organizing the trips we want to fit in during the month and having our second (and last) Nepali lesson. Two hours should be enough, right?
Then a three hour walk through the old market of Ason. Some wonderful old buildings and courtyards, and some grotesque modern(ish) constructions on top of really old ground floor or two-storey buildings. The usual chaotic and colourful market scenes. Some begging and hawking but nowhere did we feel threatened.

Tomorrow is our first day "at work". We would expect to have had our briefings by now but we have met the project teams from neither the orphanage nor the school yet, so we have little idea what we will be expected to do.

Thursday 11 November 2010

Hello from Kathmandu


Well, I’m here. Arrived about 6pm Wednesday. Travelled down from Kettering with Brenda and had great fun trying to spot fellow Saga volunteers. A couple of misses but we met some very nice trekkers and eventually Anny and Margaret. The other two we didn’t identify until arrival in Kathmandu, nearly two hours late, having had to change a brake block – entertaining for those of us sitting in the window seats, less so for nervous fliers like Brenda.
And Kathmandu – well the only word is awesome.  We arrived at the best time of day – after dark, in rush hour! What an introduction!  But the Malla is an oasis.  We have lovely rooms, great service and the weather is around 24C. Slightly uncomfortable to be so comfortable, but I guess we’ll get used to that.
Today we were taken to Social Tours office by Raj and Binita, who showed us their outfit, explained the ethics of their organization, and the structure and functions of the several different parties involved in our stay out here – the Malla hotel, Saga, Social Tours, People and Places and the project management teams of the school and the orphanage.
Then to the school. We were introduced to the teachers with whom we will be working – all seemed very open and friendly. We were given sample text books to borrow in order to gauge the standards and content and then shown some of the classrooms. After that it was lunchtime so we were suddenly surrounded by children demonstrating their English or wanting to see our books or pictures. Some spoke exceptionally well. I was brave enough to try some of my Nepalese, most of which was not understood until corrected. One 11 year old boy who spoke impeccable English waved his hand dismissively and said – “Please, speak in English” But they did enjoy filling me in with the numbers I couldn’t remember.
Classes seemed quite manageable until we realised that there were far fewer children there than usual as there had just been a 5 day holiday and many had not yet returned.
Some shopping on our way back, a late lunch at 3pm, some Internet access to sort out and then Binita took us out to a dinner with Nepalese song and dance.
So far I’ve eaten and drunk everything on offer, and enjoyed it all.
Tomorrow we go to see the orphanage.
The Internet speed is very slow here so I think I will have trouble uploading photos but will try tomorrow.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Absolutely the last thanks for donations.

It's the final countdown and I've just come back from a last minute errand with two late donations from Jill and June which bring the total finally to £340.  So my heartfelt thanks to all of you generous people.  I'll take with me not only your gifts but also thoughts of each one of you.  I'll miss you all.  Back December 18th.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Final donations - thanks to all of you

Many thanks to Ann Gilmore, Jenny, Judith, Graham, Dorothy, Alan and Marie, all of whom are either table tennis or badminton players, or both! 


Samata will be grateful to all you sporty folks, and I look forward to telling you how your donations have been spent.


Not long now.  I had a one hour phone conversation today with a school volunteer who returned in mid October.  She loved it and wants to go again next year.  She is a retired teacher but even she found it daunting when faced with a class of 56 children, having an Oxford Reading Scheme book thrust into her hand and asked to condust a lesson, completely unprepared.


Well, at least that has prepared me a little.  I've never taught a class of any size at all, so I shall be preparing an emergency lesson tonight! Leaving on Tuesday afternoon, so I've got tomorrow to label my pictures, prepare my leasson plan, and make sure I have all relevant chargers for phones, computers, cameras etc.


Then the real challenge - make sure Jon has all emergency numbers, not for me, but for computer problems, who to ask about using Skype, how to use the breadmaker, etc etc!

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Donations - thanks to Marion and Ambika

Thank you both for your kind donations to the school and to Practical Action, and for the laminating contribution.  I must try to remember to take photos of the laminated cards in action.

Getting really nervous now - just for the "teaching" bit.  The rest is just exciting.

Grand total collected to date is £230.  I'm so grateful to you all. Watch this space for how your money is used.