Hello from the other side, another month passed in the country of Never Ending Peace And Love N-E-P-A-L. Both of our voluntary services are still going very well, were both developing a deeper understanding of our NGO's work every day. With us having been invested in the tailoring trainings at SAATH (Cathy) and the education for sustainable development programs at SCLC (Tilly) over these past months, the projects have become much more our own, so are their little successes and failures. Both of our project managers should be given the credit for this, it's not easy to make a volunteers work count, but we do feel like ours does, and that's because SAATH and SCLC have given us a role and a place in their NGO.
Especially during the week we spent following Julie and her work, we came to learn the importance of cooperation and accountability on both sides. We visited Setu and Umbrella in their offices, and saw that team work considering all the contracts and financial matters is key for a partnership on the same level.
Then came the first of three field visits, where we visited two agricultural schools which SCLC (Where Tilly works) is looking to support by extending the practical learning opportunities. Having adopted a very all-round approach this support for better Training will hopefully help to give more value to rural farmers on the long-term. The visit was followed by a meeting at Bottlehouse, mostly about the April Meet-up of all partners in April and the Scouts camp in September.
Though we both did mostly observe, we didn't mind at all because we learned so much about the professional side of Julie's and the Partners work.
The second and third visit were both more than 6 Hour drives away, but in different directions, meaning we took 3 days for each, with a stop back in Kathmandu. We started with Janakpur, where SAATH is providing tailoring and Mithila-Arts training to women from one of Nepals most marginalized communities. Getting this very rare insight into the lives of these women really helped us to understand why sometimes the most need of support are the hardest to reach out to.
Their community is so shut-off that it seems like they have been left out when it comes to the development in education and hygiene, especially, which had thought to have reached every Nepali in 2020. Truth is, SAATH is one of very few of the 50000 NGO's in Nepal that is at least starting empowerment programs for this community. One of the positive take away from Janakpur is definitely that SAATH has achieved what many NGO's have failed: to take their beneficiaries out of the position as a victim and truly treating them as women who have a lot to be proud off: they are getting a qualification, maybe a business and then a bank account, nearly all of them have around three kids, and undoubtedly everyone has had incredible hardship, still they're going to school for the first time in their lives, on top of all they are wearing the most colorful saris.
The third visit was with a relatively new partner, Forward looking, who is working towards equal opportunities in education. Two of their projects are supported by ONGD, both are aimed at enabling physically disabled people to live their life with more dignity and independence. Mostly through different trainings, like for example goat farming, tailoring, electrician or beautician trainings, the beneficiaries are able to do much more on their own, most importantly earn money. The area which we visited had the advantage of making facilities like schools and training centers relatively easily accessible for Forward looking to work with. With the experience gained from similar projects in 7 districts and with the support of ONGD-FNEL, Forward Looking could continue its work in Palpa and Gorkha districts last year with an approach where a little goes a long way.
In Rampur, we visited 10 beneficiaries in their homes, and exchanged with them about how useful they would say the trainings financed by the ONGD were in enabling them to be more independent. For most, the main value of their training was that now they could do something for themselves, they have more dignity.
All together, we've learned a great deal during the field visits, thank you Julie for taking us to places we would never have been able to see like that!
Cathy has got only two weeks left now and she can't begin to explain how sad she is to leave soon. She laughs about how she'll look like with teary eyes and hands full of souvenirs to remind her of her second home, when she arrives back in Luxembourg. No hands will be big enough to hold all the funny stories and great experiences we've had, one of the best things we got to see was the Himalayas on a clear day. The picture shows us two with our friend Nisha, after having trekked for hours through the Annapurna region.
In one month we had both half a meter snow in the mountains and 20 degrees in Kathmandu and Janakpur. We know a lot of the Nepali ways by now, but we're still a little surprised every single day.
Namasté,
Cathy and Tilly