All things Bright and Beautiful.

A walk home one afternoon this week, with happy children innocently playing hide and seek with their new balloons, brought a fresh sheen to my days in Nepal.  The simplicity of hiding a balloon behind my back, pretending it had gone, then allowing it to “pop” out into the sky caused endless giggles for two little five year olds; time and time (and time!) again, on our twenty minute walk home to the street kids’ centre.

Pure simple pleasure.

In spite of so much that children here do not have (computers, bicycles, footballs, colouring pens, books, toys, games, clothes…) I am constantly struck, conversely, by just how much they do have. They have secure, loving families surrounding them night and day. They have friends all around them, always waiting to play. They have confidence and assured natures in their daily demeanour. They have ingenious skills when it comes to making toys from old rubbish.

They have trust in themselves and those around them. They have no fear of strangers and of the challenges of daily life. They have an innocence and simple pleasure in life coupled with a tremendously inspiring sense of self sufficiency. Give these two five year olds a balloon and a pee-po game and they’ll giggle for hours; yet give them some sticks and they’ll be able to light you a fire or build you a shelter. Hardy on the outside, sweet on the inside: little Nepalese Armadillos (you’ve got to be of the right age and a lover of Dime bars to get that one…!)

It’s been another busy week Chez Musson, and I’m finding I’ve not enough hours in the day to do the things I need to do.  My thrice weekly sessions with the SOS Bahini girls continue to inspire (with some good interview practice at Crossroads House this week) and I have been pleased to support their new café that has now opened in Lakeside

The girls who have left the Hub and are embarking on their independent lives are given the chance (should they wish) to train as baristas, chefs, bakers or waitresses to work in the charity funded SoS Bahini Café. From home-baked muffins and bread to beautiful soups and coffees, the girls are ready to satisfy any customer’s culinary cravings. The beautiful, almost European, décor of the shop and the intense shyness of the girls working there make for a sweet afternoon treat.

Partly to support the girls (and partly to satisfy my intense love of cakes) I’ve been dropping in daily for a freshly baked apple muffin. Yum.

Following on from the rather successful sports day at one of the rural schools in Bhalam a fortnight ago, a “rival” school asked us volunteers to run a  Sports Day at their school.

The small number of students (the whole school totaling 26) made the event much easier to orchestrate and we had a beautifully entertaining morning with the energetic charges, putting them through their athletic paces. I am proud to say that this time, my team (Team Orange) did not disgrace themselves as tardy losers, but managed a highly respectable third place. Get in. 

Plus, all of the students were so happy with their prizes of pencils and stickers – heart-warming.

To make the day even more special, we were treated to a leaving ceremony for the two volunteers, Derek and Jackson, who had been working there for the past month, as that day was their final session in the school. Following an endearing speech by one of the teachers, the boys were presented with a Kata, a white ceremonial scarf (a sign of respect, good wishes and luck for the future) and flower garlands, plus a flower from every single student in the school. A floral fiesta for the senses and a little like a visit from the Queen!

We were all then asked to stay for lunch and were truly humbled by the heartfelt simplicity of their generous feast – bananas and apples carefully presented on platters and handed around to us all. For a school that has nothing, absolutely nothing, we felt so honoured to have been given so much: a most delicious feast, munching together under the balmy shade of the small copse at the edge of the school's small grounds. Serene.

The rather large and terrifying spiders encountered on the walk home blighted the blissful morning slightly, but luckily Incy Wincy and his fifteen hairy, hand-sized buddies stayed fast in their webs as we all nervously scuttled by.

Thursday was International Tourism Day (not quite sure if that is a Nepali tradition or a worldwide day) but there was plenty of entertainment from it this end. The main road was closed from early evening and two stages erected for the icons of the Nepali dance-world to rock their moves to the hoarding crowds. Polite swarms of people crowded around to smile and nod along at each of the acts, offering a very varied range of entertaining treats for the eyes and ears. My particular favourite was the local “hottie” who fancied himself as a bit of a Chippendale come Michael Jackson double. The video does not do his routine justice, but gives a glimpse of what counts as scream-worthy entertainment in Pokhara.

His dancing was thankfully bettered by the beautifully clad range of female dancers, who twirled and whirled their way through endless costume changes and musical blends. Again, apologies for the camera work; another skill I lack.

Back to work. Plans are firmly afoot for my training days, now scheduled for this Friday (5^th) and Sunday 7^th; two sessions as the venue I’ve hired can only hold a maximum capacity of 35. Having spent time last week with the lovely gentlemen from Icon Nepal, I met with them again yesterday to talk about hiring their beautiful training room.

Set out like a primary school classroom, it is a good venue to use to help teachers to see how to provide a positive and stimulating learning environment. Plus there are props-aplenty on hand for the interactive sessions of the training.

We have invited some “honoured guests” to the training sessions; hopefully a government official from the Ministry of Education or at the very least some District Officials from the Education Board. Thoughts being that, if they can see the merit of doing such training with the staff, they will maybe, just maybe, think of offering it to all of the Government Schools. And if they want to find someone to do it (as obviously I’m only here temporarily) they can look no further than the fine team from Icon Nepal (Mr Ramesh and Mr Krishna) who have their own brand of teacher training programmes already running and ready to go. Long term thinking is the name of this revolution – and I’m backing the Tortoise all the way in this race.

As part of this work that I’ve been doing, I have been able to start spending money that many of you so generously donated to the cause. Rather than tell you all specifically where your particular funds have been used, I thought I would just show you what I have spent on certain things, so you can see what I am doing.

Thus far:

• Venue Hire 5000 rupees (35 pounds)
• Training Manual Translation fee 8000 rupees (56 pounds)
• Printing and binding of 100 training manuals 9500 rupees (66 pounds)
• Nepali translator fee for two training sessions 20000 rupees (140 pounds)
• Transport for teachers to training venue 1300 rupees (10 pounds)
• Lunch and refreshments for training days tbc.
• Library book boxes for each school tbc.

This is just the start, and there are many more little ideas that I have in the pipeline for resourcing the schools before I leave. I just thought I would give you a taster of what I’m spending on at the minute.

So a busy week. Add to that five volunteers departing, two new arrivals, a case of typhoid fever in the house (one rather naive volunteer who did not have any (!) of the essential inoculations before coming out to a third world country), a flea bitten leg (ouch!) and a 6 foot snake in the neighbour's garden, and you’ve got a flavour of my week. Overall, many positives and so much development already in my educational plans.

On the whole, things are starting to look bright. And positively beautiful.