Events 2018

Volunteering at Ratmate Village, Gorkha – UNSW Student Volunteers

It has already been 4 years since the devastating earthquake occurred in Nepal. There are still so much left to be done – houses to rebuild, restoration of public infrastructure (roads, schools, hospitals and health centers) and local trade and commerce to pick up. For the locals, every bit of help (material, monetary and physical) matters. Sambhav Nepal, through its projects in Gorkha, has been trying to help the villagers get back on their feet. The organization is indebted to foreign donors and volunteers in carrying out its humanitarian tasks and appreciates their help.

In 2018 students from UNSW came here in Nepal to volunteer in rebuilding Bhairabi Primary school. It was all because of them that the local children could continue their education. Although the schools were rebuilt, there were not many teachers to help students with their education. But, thanks to the University of New South Wales, they again sent some of the volunteers again in 2018 to help us with the work and teach the students alongside the other local teachers.

On November 22, 13 students from Australia’s University of New South Wales arrived in Nepal as volunteers under Sambhav Nepal’s “Gorkha Volunteer Program”. After spending a day at the capital by touring and having a short brief about village, locals, Bhairabi Primary School, volunteering activities and trekking, they were driven to the mountain village of Ratmate in nearby Gorkha District on 23 November. After 8 hours of drive to the village, a welcome program was organized where the volunteers were introduced. They spent the night in a tented camp.

The main focus was to teach the students of Bhairabi Primary School. The volunteers had to work alongside the school teachers or take their class on their own. They had to teach subjects such as mathematics, science, English, social studies, etc depending upon their interest and knowledge. This became a good opportunity for the village students to expand their horizon. They were able to know about how things are there in other developed countries.

All the volunteers even helped students with outdoor games as well. They used many innovative ways to make learning more interactive, fun and comprehensible for children. Some examples were word association games, drawing pictures of animals/people to help explain while conversing, singing and acting out stories.

Apart from teaching the volunteers helped in rebuilding works as well. Though they were not engaged with heavy professional activities, their help small help towards rebuilding the school was more than enough.

On their second part of their journey, they wound up their stay in Nepal with an adventurous four-day Annapurna Trek through the Ghorepani-Poon Hill trail filled with magnificent rhododendron blooms, stunning mountain views, and picturesque Gurung villages. Their trek to Poon Hill and Ghandruk started from December 08. They walked through Gurung and Magar villages, through forests and over hills. At Poon Hill, they had amazing panoramic views of the Annapurna and the Dhaulagiri Himalayas. The logistics for the trip were handled by Ace the Himalaya.

The whole voluntourism trip, which lasted for 13 days, was a joint collaboration of Australia’s University of New South Wales, Sambhav Nepal, and Ace the Himalaya. UNSW sent students as volunteers, Sambhav Nepal arranged volunteering at Bhairabi Primary School whereas Ace the Himalaya organized the logistics of the entire trip and guided a trek in Annapurna region. Because of the volunteers, the students of Ratamate village learned many things of the new.

We, Sambhav Nepal family along with Bhairabi Primary School, students, Ratamate villagers and Ace the Himalaya thank you all the volunteers for your outstanding deeds. Our prayers and wishes for your well-being are always with you all!

Names of volunteers:

Anna Jacobs

Abirami Raveendran

Liang Yi Li Shirley

Isabella Anne Ryan

Johanna Yan

Melissa Sandra Thum

Sonia Wang Yen-Ting

Keshav Puri

Nicholas Joachim Van Rhijn

Omar AL-Ouf

Samantha Jingwen Wong

Gaurav Dangi

Jialu Meng

Service, Education and Awareness (SEA) Programme 2018

On September 26, 2018, students and teachers of St Augustine’s College, Sydney came to Nepal once again as volunteers for Service, Education, and Awareness (SEA) Program. A total group of 17 who came to Nepal, volunteered at Bhairabi Primary School in Ratamate, Gorkha from September 29 to October 03. The remaining days were spent by doing other activities like rafting and trekking to Pokhara.

Having a half-day guided cultural sightseeing in Kathmandu on September 27, the group drove to Ratamate village in Gorkha on the next day where Bhairabi Primary School is located. After 8 hours of Drive to Ratamate village, a welcome program was organized where the volunteers were introduced. They spent the night in a tented camp.

The objective of the 17 volunteers was to rebuild Bhairabi Primary School. Since the Earthquake from 2015 had damaged or demolished many parts of the school , all the volunteers made their mission to help whatever they can to rebuild. From September 29 to October 03, they all worked hard on the reconstruction process. They carried stones, mixed gravel, cement, and sand to make concrete and flattened the ground where stones were arranged. By the end of October 03, they had completed their part of the work. Apart from construction, they also did a short tour of the village where they were staying and volunteering.

On the end of October 03, a small farewell program was held where all the joy and gratitude were in the air. The villagers and the students were gathered there to show acknowledgment to the volunteers for their outstanding deeds. At the ceremony, there was dancing and singing and the volunteers were handed Certificates of Appreciation. It was the end of the first part of their entire trip.

The second part of the trip started with rafting on October 4. All the volunteers drove to raft start point which is 4 hours of drive. They participated in rafting in the Trishuli river for three whole hours.

After rafting all the volunteers headed to Pokhara and did a short sightseeing tour of Tibetan Settlements and International Mountain Museum. Their trek to Poon Hill started from October 6. They walked through Gurung and Magar villages, through forests and over hills. At Poon Hill, they had amazing panoramic views of the Annapurna and the Dhaulagiri Himalayas.

After their 4 days trek to Poon Hill, they flew to Kathmandu from Pokhara on October 10 and had farewell dinner. They departed from Nepal on October 11 carrying great memories and noble experiences.

The whole voluntourism trip, which lasted for 17 days, was a joint collaboration of St Augustine’s College, Sambhav Nepal, and Ace the Himalaya. St Augustine’s College sent students and teachers as volunteers, Sambhav Nepal arranged volunteering at Bhairabi Primary School whereas Ace the Himalaya organized the logistics of the entire trip and guided a trek in Annapurna region. Because of the volunteers, the students of Ratamate village got their school rebuilt. The actions of these 17 volunteers from St Augustine’s College will be remembered greatly.

The names of the volunteers of Service, Education, and Awareness (SEA) Program are given below.

Teachers

Craig Jeffery
Greg Egan
Amanda Neilson
Guy Richards
Alexandra Davies

Students

Zaid Ayoub
Billy Barwell
Oscar Bentley
Ethan Brocklehurst
Benjamin Cranch
Hugh Finlay
Hugo Jeffery
Jaedon Marr
Thomas Mohr – Gilcrest
Nicholas O’Brien

Teachers Training Program 2017/18

Considering the importance of development and progress in the education sector, Sambhav Nepal initiated the Teacher Training Program one more time at various schools of Gorkha district on the leadership of Dr. Anne Prsecott from January 10 to January 18 2018. There were a total of 10 trainers and 65 trainees involved. Two of the donors Ross Emslie and Kerry Emslie also joined us in this program. The training mostly focused on Primary and Lower Secondary teachers but there were few Secondary teachers as well who were on benefit.

On January 7^th, 2018 the team of the trainers arrived in Kathmandu and were transferred to the hotel for the night. The next day they went shopping to buy the necessities for the teachers training program. Without losing much time the team along with the staffs of Sambhav Nepal drove off to the village Gorkha the next day itself. They were given a grand welcome with various gestures such as welcome dance, playing musical instruments like baaja, putting tikas and garlands. The villagers seemed more excited and gave a heartwarming welcome to all the team members. For accommodation, tents were set up for all the individuals for the whole session at Dharapani.

The training started on 10^th January. 30 teachers from various nearby schools came together in Dharapani Secondary School and attended the training session. The session lasted for 4 days at this school. The main aim of this training was to enhance the teaching techniques of the local teachers especially in the subjects like English, Math, Science and Classroom Management. The training usually started from 10:30 in the morning. There used to be a lunch break from 12:30 and the session would restart by 2 and end at 3:30 pm. The sessions according to the teachers were very helpful and helped to broaden their horizons of teaching techniques. On the last day that is 13^th of January, the teachers were awarded with certificates of participation. All the trainers, Mr. and Mrs. Emslie, teachers and the ACE staffs got the opportunity also to visit Bhairabi Primary School, a project of Sambhav Nepal which is on the verge of completion. The whole team were thanked upon, and were provided with a heartwarming farewell on the last day.

The successful completion of the TOT session at Dharapani provided the enthusiasm and reenergized the whole team. Thus, on January 14^th, the team headed to Manbu; some by drive and some via trek to impart knowledge to the trainees once again. A tent was setup for the whole stay at Manbu, Gorkha. The training took place at Bhawani Higher Secondary School starting from January 15^th. As mentioned, the session started at 10:30 am in the school involving 35 teachers from various schools nearby. The training here too lasted for 4 days. The teachers highly appreciated the teachings and were thankful towards the trainers. On the last day which is January 18^th 2018, the trainees were provided with the certificate of participation and the trainers’ team were bid a warm farewell.

The next day, i.e. 19^th of January, 5 trainers including a guide headed to Pokhara for Poonhill Ghorepani Trek whereas the rest of the team headed back to Kathmandu. The ones headed to Kathmandu took a day rest and headed back to their respective countries.

We want to pay our respect and gratitude towards Dr. Anne Prescott for always standing with Sambhav Nepal. Similarly, huge respect towards Mr. and Mrs. Emslie for generously donating for the construction of Bhairabi Primary School. Appreciation to all the trainers who were ready to impart their knowledge to all these teachers. Last but not the least we are also thankful to all the teachers who participated actively, the villagers who supported our initiative and all our well-wishers. Education being the most important key to a person’s success, this training was helpful for all the teachers.

The trainers involved in training the teachers at Dharapani and Bhawani Schools are: