NAME: Allison Schultz

HOME ADDRESS: Rosebud VIC Australia

DATES IN NANGI: 12 May – 8 June 2008

PROJECT

My original plan was to help teach English, however shortly after arriving in Nengi, the “new” Nepali government declared month-long public holidays due to the shortage of textbooks. Very disappointing but such is life in the 3rd world under a new government. I did help out in the nursery with the 3-4-5yo’s most of the time. I had three days helping Ganga with his English classes for years 8-9-10. I would’ve enjoyed doing more teaching but alas, the timing wasn’t ideal.

I also helped Tek, along with Jason the other volunteer, repair the panels on the campground shower. When I was last there, we had the panels in place, albeit with cracked glass, but we feel confident that with a good dose of sunshine during the day, those showers should be quite warm. Fingers crossed. Tek had ordered new glass panels from Beni so they might even be installed by now.

LIST EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING MATERIALS

I brought notebooks, crayons, pens & pencils, along with stickers, balloons, a soccer ball & a volleyball. In hindsight, I would’ve like to contact the teachers at Nangi to find out what is really needed & what is practical for them & the students. Eg: computer paper, graphs, charts, erasers, ec..,

METHODS

It was just basically ‘get in there & give it a go’ I found I had to assert myself more often than not, as the folks were a bit shy at first. They are an amazing group of people – the teachers, staff & locals of Nangi village. Although I didn’t get to do as much teaching as I had wanted & hoped to do, it was a delight & a pleasure to get to know them all. Thank you to all of them for their kindness, friendship & hospitality!

OUTCOME

Campground showers – our hope is that trekkers will be able to use (& enjoy!) these warm showers while they visit Nangi. We also hope that the locals can enjoy them as well.

The nursery kids – We did a lot of ABC’s & 123’s so hopefully, they may remember me a bit, as well as all the singing 🙂 I have a feeling, however, that my memory of them will far outlast their memory of me.

FUTURE GOALS

I would like to return one day to Nangi but as my long-service leave time is over, I do not know when that chance will appear again. I will keep in touch with the friends I made at Nangi but just not sure when I’ll be able to get to that part of the world again.

PROJECT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE VOLUNTEERS

If volunteers are keen to teach English, as I was, I think there has to be a more concrete schedule or at least an agreement between the volunteers & the teachers involved. It was a bit frustrating to wait around to get a chance to teach & in the end, I just kept sitting in on classes until I could help out. It’s a delicate situation as I never wanted to offend anyone or step on anyone’s toes, but if you are offering ‘teaching English’ opportunities to future volunteers, you need to make it more structured, in my opinion.

I’m in the process of shrinking my photos down so when I’ve done that, I’ll send a bunch through…. Promise!!!!

Namaste 🙂