| Irene Spann (Holland) |
 I always wanted to do some volunteerwork and in December 2003 I started searching on the internet and I founded Hands for Help. Some emails from my side and from their side and then I decided to go (to Nepal). I surprised my parents, booked my ticket and on 12 July 2004 I arrived in Kathmandu. I had booked a hotel for my first days and the people from my hotel picked me up from the airport. That day I called Anil and next day Anil, Badri and I had a meeting in my hotel to break the ice! We talked a little bit about my placement and about all the trainings. The day after that day Badri picked me (and my backpack) up from my hotel and brought me to the Hands for Help office. There I met 3 other volunteers and we spend some days together being the tourist, having Nepali lessons and having teaching lessons. On Sunday Badri brought me to my placement in Lubhoo, a village 45 minutes away from Kathmandu. I came in a hostfamily with 6 sisters and a very sweet hostmother! I didn't know how to adjust there for a month, but next day I started on the primary school in Lubhoo and got a schedule there and then I started loving to teach, loving the children and loving my stay in my hostfamily. My teaching-schedule: 10.10-10.50 class 4 10.50-11.30 class 3 11.30-12.10 time to study and prepare the lessons 12.10-12.50 class 5 12.50-13.30 time to study and prepare the lessons 13.30-14.00 lunchbreak 14.00-14.40 class 2 And teaching those children, that was really great! It really made me happy and I started thinking of coming back after my study (I'm doing my child-psychology master now) to teach again. I've been in that school for 4 weeks and I really had a great time there; singing, dancing, games and learn the children that learning a language can be fun! After some days the children started to bring me flowers, poems and drawings and they didn't stop. On my last day the teachers arranged a farewellparty for me on the school. That was great and emotional. It's hard to say goodbye to a place you got attached to. After my stay in school I went to Pokhara with one of my sisters from my hostfamily. We wanted to do a trekking there, but I got a fever and we had to go to a hospital. So we didn't see that much from Pokhara, but still it was great! After our stay in Pokhara I went back to the office and spent my last days in Thamel to do some shopping. On Tuesday, 24th of August I left Nepal and that gave me really a double feeling. It was hard to leave Nepal and it was great to know that within 19 hours I would see my parents again! My stay in Nepal was great! I got a cultureshock, that's for sure. But the country and the people are so great and friendly. I've never felt myself so welcome in a place. Hands for Help was also great, they arranged everything, gave me a wonderful placement and also arranged everything we wanted. For questions please feel free to contact me on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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