EIL Intercultural Learning

Melanie Henessy is a student from county Clare and has been volunteering in Nepal for 5 weeks. She was placed in an orphanage, a challenging be very rewarding experience! She plans to raise funds for the orphanage and to go back in Nepal next summer.

I decided to go to Nepal to do something different after finishing my leaving cert and before heading off to uni. It seems silly now but one of my main concerns before I headed off was that I would be just turning 18 and everyone was telling me that I was way to young to go off by myself and do something like this. I can honestly say that it didn't make the slightest bit of difference how old you are. All the volunteers start at the same time and spend 2 weeks together with EIL Nepal and after the two weeks it is as if you've known each other for years. The orientation is the best craic ever. You meet the coolest people ever and the guys in EIL Nepal are the nicest, most helpful people you will ever come across. It is like a bridge between ireland and nepal. You still have some of the comforts of home and it makes the transtion so much easier. If you make a little effort at the language classes you'd be surprised how much nepali you can learn and after my two weeks I had made great friends and was completely ready to become completely immersed in the nepali culture-( oh and the white water rafting was sooooooooo much fun)

I was working in an orphanage- and if I thought it was fun at EIL Nepal-- the orphanage was the best place in the world. It was situated in Manamaiju which is just a little outside thamel- the main "tourist" area. It was just about a 15 min bus journey--- hmmm and taking the "bus" during rush hour is definately something you have to experience:) The orphanage I was working at only had 9 boys in. I was fairly shocked at that to be honest because I was told there would be 15. Also when I arrived the boys had just been evicted from where they where staying and placed in the bottom of this house which was just being built. It was beyond shocking. I had to stay with a family instead of with the orphanage because there simply wasn't any room for me. It was not what I expected at all and it was fairly difficult because I've always been so used to being told what to do and just doing it and suddenly I'm put into this crazy situation and basically just told to take it from there. I knew that EIL Nepal would have changed me into a more "normal" situation but then I felt that I'd come out here to help and these boys needed my help an awful lot.

Anyway the boys were amazing. The youngest tanka was four and santose 16. They were honestly the nicest bunch of kids I've ever come across. And naturally sometimes they drove me up the wall- try getting 9 boys ready for school on time when all they have is a hose with freezing cold water to shower and all of them have this fungal foot infection:):) But they were so funny and everyday something happened to make it special. It made me feel really good about myself because it felt like they really needed my help. I decided to teach Ajaya and Ashok how to use a computer and send emails. We used to head down to the internet cafe at 6 in the morning- I shared a room with my house sister and she used to get up at 5 to study but everyone is up before 7 anyways:):):) Anyways I sent all of them christmas prresents and Ajaya and ashok sent me an email to say thank you and its just amazing to think that it was actually you who taught them how to do something. I can't really describe exactly how good it feels.

Now I was super lucky to get such an amazing house family. I wasn't treated like a guest but a member of the family and personally I prefered it that way. They really felt like my family. I helped with the washing up, ate the traditional foods with my hands, cold showers, wore traditional clothes. I was treated just like a sister. Pabitra used always call me alchi bahini-(lazy sis) because I used always moan when I had to get up in the morning. I stayed in a room with my two sisters and we used to get up to such mischief when it was "bedtime" My ama (house mother) couldn't really speak any english so in the begginning it was very INTERESTING to say the least. But your nepali improves surprising quickly and my sisters and brother could speak english anyways. I became really close to ama though. I used help her with her english homework and she would give me the names of everything in Nepali. Having such a great family meant that I never really felt homesick.

And lastly Nepal is the most amazing country you can come across. To be honest I was a bit worried about all the stories I heard about the Maoist before I went but not once did I ever feel in any sort of danger. The people there are amazing friendly- you even drink tea with the shop keepers after bargaining down and it is soooo beautiful. Everyone seems so happy even though there so poor and I went during Monsoon season- it was not that bad!! Quite frankly it rains more in ireland!!! The worse thing- MOSQUITOS the most annoying thing in the whole world. Don't dream of coming without a mosquito net and repellant. Obviously its a different life without home comforts but I loved it. I even changed my ticket to stay out longer. I'm heading back this summer. I'm trying to raise enough money to build a proper place for the boys to live in so if your heading out anytime between May and September give me a shout. And if your in any doubt go for it - u won't regret it and EIL/ EIL Nepal were great!!!!

Melanie Henessy