My Visit to Nepal 2017
Before the adventure...
I’m Ethan from Grade 11 and this year I’ll be going to Nepal with Projects Abroad thanks to the James Rao Live Your Dream Foundation.
The reason why I have decided to go with Projects Abroad, despite looking at many other volunteering websites that offer trips to Nepal, is the friendly and helpful set-up of the site, and the relatively simple and efficient way of accessing information about the trip I’m interested in. Along with that, the trip itself was unlike any other offered to me, as it didn’t just focus on relief building, renovation or decoration of a school, but also interaction with the young children there every day, giving volunteers the opportunity to freely bond and socialise with the locals.
I’ll be arriving on July the 23rd and staying in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, for two weeks. I chose Nepal because of the Himalayan Mountains (which I have always wanted to see), its vibrant culture and people that I can’t wait to experience, and the fascinating Hindu religion. But, the main reason I’ve wanted to visit Nepal and why I chose it as a destination is because of the earthquake in April 2015 which devastated the country’s infrastructure, including buildings and water supply, crippling what was an already financially poor and vulnerable nation. Whilst there I’ll be working with other volunteers in a local primary school – helping renovate a school damaged by the earthquake in the form of painting, tiling or plastering each morning – whilst tying in with my interests in architecture and construction, it also is something the people of Nepal desperately need after the events of 2015. This will be followed with playing games and interacting with the young students at the school in the afternoon, which I am sure will be the highlight of the trip.
This will give me the opportunity to see the positive effect the work of myself and other volunteers will have on the children as they learn and play in this environment, and hopefully give them something to look forward to despite the terrible conditions they might live in because of the earthquake of 2015. There is also the possibility of going to Chitwan National Park in the middle weekend as a rest weekend for the volunteers – something I would love to do, being so close to the Nepalese wildlife in the foothills of the Himalayas.
My flight sets off on the 22nd of July from Toulouse airport with Qatar Airways, and arriving on the 23rd via Heathrow, London and Doha, Qatar. I come back on the 5th via Doha and Munich, Germany. Booking the flights was probably the first time the realisation of this trip of a lifetime was actually happening – before then it had not sunk in all that much. I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting on that plane to Nepal and getting started – and I can’t wait to meet new people, experience a completely new culture, and learn as much as possible from this trip and mature as a person. I cannot thank enough the James Rao Foundation and the Rao family for giving me the opportunity to work with other like-minded volunteers of my age to make a positive and lasting impact on the world, all for people who are much less fortunate then myself.
The reason why I have decided to go with Projects Abroad, despite looking at many other volunteering websites that offer trips to Nepal, is the friendly and helpful set-up of the site, and the relatively simple and efficient way of accessing information about the trip I’m interested in. Along with that, the trip itself was unlike any other offered to me, as it didn’t just focus on relief building, renovation or decoration of a school, but also interaction with the young children there every day, giving volunteers the opportunity to freely bond and socialise with the locals.
I’ll be arriving on July the 23rd and staying in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, for two weeks. I chose Nepal because of the Himalayan Mountains (which I have always wanted to see), its vibrant culture and people that I can’t wait to experience, and the fascinating Hindu religion. But, the main reason I’ve wanted to visit Nepal and why I chose it as a destination is because of the earthquake in April 2015 which devastated the country’s infrastructure, including buildings and water supply, crippling what was an already financially poor and vulnerable nation. Whilst there I’ll be working with other volunteers in a local primary school – helping renovate a school damaged by the earthquake in the form of painting, tiling or plastering each morning – whilst tying in with my interests in architecture and construction, it also is something the people of Nepal desperately need after the events of 2015. This will be followed with playing games and interacting with the young students at the school in the afternoon, which I am sure will be the highlight of the trip.
This will give me the opportunity to see the positive effect the work of myself and other volunteers will have on the children as they learn and play in this environment, and hopefully give them something to look forward to despite the terrible conditions they might live in because of the earthquake of 2015. There is also the possibility of going to Chitwan National Park in the middle weekend as a rest weekend for the volunteers – something I would love to do, being so close to the Nepalese wildlife in the foothills of the Himalayas.
My flight sets off on the 22nd of July from Toulouse airport with Qatar Airways, and arriving on the 23rd via Heathrow, London and Doha, Qatar. I come back on the 5th via Doha and Munich, Germany. Booking the flights was probably the first time the realisation of this trip of a lifetime was actually happening – before then it had not sunk in all that much. I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting on that plane to Nepal and getting started – and I can’t wait to meet new people, experience a completely new culture, and learn as much as possible from this trip and mature as a person. I cannot thank enough the James Rao Foundation and the Rao family for giving me the opportunity to work with other like-minded volunteers of my age to make a positive and lasting impact on the world, all for people who are much less fortunate then myself.