Danny, Marj, their daughters and nephew Jason volunteered in March 2012 to renovate and rewire the volunteer roundhouse, rewire student housing, teach English and creative writing to students. Volunteers returning to Nangi will appreciate the new open floor plan in the main volunteer roundhouse which made the kitchen and common room one large area. This provides an open space for socializing and cooking together. The addition of one bunk room allows for more volunteers to share the space. The new wiring assures safe electrical service….when the electricity is flowing! Marg’s creative writing classes for older students will be the basis for the new section called Meet the Students which should be up over the next several weeks. This is what Danny had to say about his time in Nangi.
“As my wife & I had been to Nepal previously (twice) we had always said that once our children were old enough we would return. I came across the HEF website through a work collegue in our initial planning stages for our adventure. The underlying HEF goals and mission seemed to correlate with what we wanted our children to experience. The next hurdle to overcome was to decide how an “unskilled” person like myself, could contribute to the HEF, village and school. Given that I was fairly handy with carpentry work and general odd jobs, Deb Stoner proposed that I could complete several renovations to the volunteer round houses. We stayed almost 9 weeks in Nangi and I completed, (with some assistance from nephew Jason) many odd jobs including: a new kitchen bench, additional lighting, laying ply & lino flooring, toilet plumbing, making bedroom shelves and L shaped double bunks. We also renovated the kitchen in the old roundhouse & made a rodent proof cupboard. A major piece of work was the rewiring of the student huts.”
“Advice for future volunteers is to try and get specific details of what your volunteer work will entail. This may allow you to pre plan what tools, materials and other resources you may need prior to your arrival. Materials take a number of days to order and arrive in remote areas and this leads to a lot of down time. I was fortunate to be able to borrow an electric jig saw for the majority of the timber cutting. This meant I had to plan for when there was power available. My best piece of advice for future volunteers is to be patient and remain flexible! Working for the village and school is a rewarding experience. A contribution, no matter how small makes a difference.”
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