Village Home Stay

Saturday, September 27, 2014
Kathmandu, Nepal


Yesterday we returned to Kathmandu from our first week-long home stay in the village of Bhotechaur .

Throughout the week we lived with host families, trying our best to live as the villagers do. We helped around the house, ate traditional meals, and learned various words and phrases in Nepalese.

During the day the group congregated at the local school where we painted murals in classrooms, taught some classes, and helped build the remainder of a brick wall.

This past week was a challenge due to a number of aspects from the lack of showers to the constant pairs of eyes watching us. It truly was a tough but rewarding week.

Upon arrival we were welcomed into the community by a ceremony performed at the school. Tika, a red powder or paste, was painted on our foreheads and white scarves were placed around our necks.

We were then given a small tour of the school and shown where we would be working. From there we paired off into our home stays and while some walked the short distance up the hill to their new home others trekked up the rocky, slippery paths to reach their destination . Once we arrived home the miming began! The language barrier was a huge challenge throughout this home stay and right off the bat it was clear there would be a lot of laughing at the miscommunications.
 
Children milled in and out of the houses while the older villagers worked around the house. At times it was difficult to do nothing else but sit and watch as it was hard to communicate our desire to help, or they simply didn't want us to help.

Most meals were rice with dal and some sort of cooked vegetable. Some of us struggled with the large portions, as the villagers typically only ate one large meal in the morning and one large meal at night. However, most of us thoroughly enjoyed the tea and would be willing to consume as many cups as they gave us.

The daily work at school moved along slowly because of the countless number of children wanting to help and the uncooperative weather. We painted multiple classrooms white and then proceeded to paint various pictures on the walls, like cows, flowers, the alphabet, and many other simple objects and animals .

For the brick wall we began to move the bricks closer to the location where the wall would be built. Then with the help of a skilled local worker, we began to build the wall layer by layer. It was incredibly rewarding to see our end results and the pleasure on all the children and school administration's faces.
 
Our home stay ended with a closing ceremony where each team member was presented with a certificate and a hat for the boys and a scarf for the girls. Then various members of the community and school got up to speak.

We finally finished with everyone dancing in a circle while the men of the village sang. While at times this home stay was an immense challenge, we are all grateful to have had this opportunity to live with our host families and help the local school.

It was a great and memorable week.

Mia and Sofia





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