Orphanages / Teaching English 

Fleur - Jan to May 08 

"I just wanted to write and let you know how much I have enjoyed my time here in Nepal. I have finished volunteering now, and will be leaving Pokhara later this week. I will be very sorry to leave, as I have had such a wonderful time.
 
I really enjoyed my placement at Tender Hearts Day Care Centre. The teachers were so kind and supportive towads me, even taking me to their villages near Gorkha to stay with their families. The Day Centre was a wonderful environment to be in - warm, caring, relaxed, and it is nice to know that the children have this experience.
 
My parents and their friends raised money for the Day Centre which they sent to me. We have used this to purchase many resources for the Day Centre such as a fridge, tape recorder, toys, books etc. Much of the money has also been used to fund scholarships for very poor or orphan children to attend the Day Centre. It is nice to feel I have made a difference in this way. 
 
Kelly and Phil have both been wonderful- cheking up on how I am going, and helping to arrange trips away and providing general advice. It is great to have them here.
 
I have greatly valued PoD'S  flaxibility towards volunteering. It has been great to be able to choose my own start and end date, to choose what work to do etc. This is a major reason that I chose to volunteer with PoD.

Once again, I would like to thank  everyone at PoD for their wonderful support though out my time in Nepal."

Barbara - Feb 08 

"Hi! My final day in Pokhara!!!

Just had lunch with Fleur (I made her take the day off - she works so hard!!) at Boomerang. It is such a lovely place, with views over the lake, you can see so much of 'life' here just from that lake side cafe.

My last e-mail and then back to Bindu's to pack. I've decided to take the bus back to KAT. 8 hours! but the scenery should be wonderful - if I can stay awake on the trip!

Bindu and her 2 daughters give us a farewell meal last evening. They are such lovely people.  Some of the 'tales' she tells are so tragic: the raped 10year old girl, the man who was taken away in the night and was never seen again - life is so hard over here.

The hotel was very comfortable but the lack of warm water in the mornings and if the sun didn't shine, was something I didn't quite adapt to! - The 8 hours of no electric made life quite interesting - you CAN read a novel in bed by candle light ! and we managed to walk home at night - unaided, just with the help of a torch (we managed to avoid the roaming cows!!).

The Nobel school was a lovely place, the teachers so wanted to learn, the children were lovely and I felt so 'at home'. Their resources were dire  (one pencil, about 4cm long between 7 children, no coloured crayons, no drawing paper, scissors, jigsaws, games - except building blocks - dire) and I so wanted to help them more. When I get back home I will try to sent some materials for them (via Kelly).

The English in the school was poor, where as the children in the orphanage could converse with me quite well and most were so eager to learn.

I have met so many wonderful people, I have heard and seen so many good things going on here, Swiss, US, English, Germans and many, many more (and all ages too - amazing). I will come home full of wonderful memories.
 
Thank you PoD for allowing me 'into their world' "

Alexa - Jun 07

"I felt very reassured by the correspondence with PoD before I went out to Nepal and whilst there I knew I could rely on my point of contact if I had any problems. Which I think was due to speaking several times on the phone to Mike before I went and feeling as though he took a genuine interest in what I was doing.

The package was what it said it was, so I can't complain about that. In my situation the main thing I was interested in was that I would have someone to turn to if I needed help and I felt I had that. The teaching placement was arranged for me, and every other activity I arranged for myself, which suited me. So, it was good value for money.

PoD's strength to me, is that it's a small company with a personal feel. As a lone female traveller I needed reassurance and I got it from PoD."

Iain - Aug 07

"* Quality of support in-country?
Excellent. Sonam, Pasang and Bindu's family were excellent. Stars each one of them.

I’m not really one for sentiment so all I can say is that my combined experiences in Nepal: the locals, other volunteers, the natural and urban (Pokhara and Kathmandu) environments have opened my eyes to some of the real issues that face the world. I can no longer sit here writing an email, drinking coffee and eating snacks with the same absent minded indulgence. The comparison between the world that I know and the conditions and lifestyles of the people in Nepal is haunting. It both sickens me and makes me feel overly privileged. I’m left thinking, “What have I done with the opportunities I’ve been given?” I can’t seem to find an acceptable answer. I can only hope that living under the shadow of that question will spur me on to greater things than I would otherwise have been driven to. It was also really good fun."

Hayley - Oct 07

"I really am having a great time and I love my orphanage! There was quite alot of pressure on me to teach when I first arrived, I did try but it didn’t go very well! Its very long days for me and a 6 day week but I have got used to it now! I’m going to Chitwan on the 18th which I have really been looking forward to... most of the children go home during holiday so thought it would be nice to go around now rather then the end of my trip!
I have to get the local bus in everyday and that was an experience! I took the older boys out last week on a boating trip and bought them lots of snacks etc we had such a nice day and I went swimming in the lake! I’m hopefully going to try and take the younger children on a trip next week.
Also I went and bought them a DVD player and some DVD's for them, because they were borrowing a DVD player and I thought it would be nice for them to have their own.
I have Dahl Bhaat for breakfast and lunch, which took some getting used to as I don’t eat spicy food and was hard to eat food like that so early in the morning but I’m used to it now!!!

Over all so far it’s been great though, its a lot harder then I thought it would be, but so much more fun too. I have really bonded with the children too and it will be very hard to say goodbye, hopefully one day I can come back to see them all again!

Thank you!!!"

Sophie - Oct 07

"Everything is amazing out here. I love it there now and would hate things to be different.

The children are incredible and its also interesting because they are from Mustang so I have learnt many things about that. The teachers are also really nice and I know they are keen to have more volunteers; in fact they want me to give them your address to write a letter of thanks. I would definitely recommend the school although perhaps with warning that you have to teach a lot by yourself with no help. (You were right about that they do tend to think that westerners know everything!).

Anyway on to Nepal, it is a brilliant country so glad I came. It has been really hard work but I have enjoyed it. Bindus is good I decided to stay there it would be a little too much to stay at the school all day. I did do one night there the other day though and it was lots of fun."