Building Budland | Month: March 2017

March 2017

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March 24, 2017

Yannicks Volunteer Experience

David Wilson Humanity backpacking, blog, charity, children, earthquake, education, humanity, nepal, school, travel, travel blog, volunteer, world

I was sat at the Hostel bar, illuminated behind my computer going over the Project, when I first met Yannick, a young German traveller. The first thing that I noticed was his energy. He started bouncing off my words as I began describing what I was doing. He was listening passionately, I could tell from the types of questions he was throwing at me, full of curiosity and a growing excitement for the project which I felt with every passing moment. It was so easy and stimulating to talk with someone that has the same lust for life. His mind was sharp and open. His English was fluent. I decided that we should go to the bar and get a couple of cold beers from the fridge, to continue our dreaming of the future of this project together. The Donations are still a long way from the target, but when you meet someone for the first time with such an honest belief in what you are doing it is encouraging, it is motivating and it pushes you forwards. It wasn’t long before Yannick put the first donation in the Hostel One96’s donation box, decided he loved the T-shirts that I was not satisfied with from the printers and was soon wearing one around Kathmandu. He just never ceases to amaze.

Ste, Yannick, Berenger and David. Meeting together with early project supporters in Hostel One96.

After such a short amount of time, the next thing Yannick was telling me was that he’s thinking to take on a volunteering role while travelling in Nepal, and wanted to do it within our new Building Budland program. I was amazed. Yannick said he would go for a couple of days to see the village and if it feels right and the project is how its been presented to him he would start to work there. Its been a while since I’ve seen him now, as I have had to leave the country due to my Visa, but we have been in good contact online and he has been a Godsend from everything I am hearing from him, and about him. His drive and passion are a force and took me by surprise, as I was literally just launching the project when our first volunteer is already on his way to the village to help the school, and now he is talking about raising money in Germany on his return home. Incredible.

I asked Yannick to please get some photos and give me an account of his time in Baluwapati at Budland School to share with the people interested in what we are doing. Here is his account of his time helping at the school, in his own words:

Yannick’s account

“While on my 103 day trip to Nepal, I felt that I wanted to further connect with this country and do something different than the lazy everyday backpacker life. When you Start to get around in this touching friendly little country, with the highest mountain in the world and an equal hospitality to everyone who treats them with honest respect, you realise that there is also some room for improvement, which these people deserve in my opinion.
So it was obvious to me that I wanted to do something for them in the volunteer manner. Now its not easy to find a project that is convincing in purpose and useful enough to spend my precious time in Nepal. When I met David within the first day I knew I had found what I was looking for. So a couple of days later I came to Baluwapati and once again the natural kindness of the inhabitants from the roof of the world was stunning. Same like the view, because the village is located at a hill at the foot of the Shiivapuri NP you can See from Nagarkot to Chisapani the whole range of the wooded slope in between. On the other side there is the magnificient Himal massive including the Langtang range and even Everest, at least on clear days, is in sight. I stayed as the first volunteer with Ramesh and his Family and was treated like one of them. I ate their delicious Dahl Bhat twice a day and they showed me how to eat with your hands (technique matters ;-)). I had the chance to improve my Nepali, and soon felt actually like one of the villagers.
In the temporary school building (which to be honest is in a devastating state to be a place of successful studying), I was helping teach the classes. Whilst there everyone was really happy with me and I noticed that this place and the kids there are in need for the benefits of this project. The very small building, made of corrugated Iron, reminded me a little of some hut in one of the slums in outer Kathmandu. The heat at noon was too much especially for my German cold blooded body! So I was sitting there, sweating my ass off, on the soily floor with a little whiteboard I should write on. I felt at first a little bit gloomy, when I remembered how I hated sitting in my climate controlled classroom, with running water (which they don’t have, it needs to be carried there from the next water pump, 1km away), and other facilities like decent desks or books. I felt pretty guilty, even more so when I saw the toddlers of the pre-school crawling around on some thin dirty blankets covering the dirty floor in their ‘classroom’.

The teachers where surprisingly dedicated but I recognized a growing dissatisfaction about the conditions. Even though I was there for a quite short time they honoured me with a touching little ceremony at the end and said I should come back as soon as i can. For everyone who wants to contribute something and who wants to come in touch with a side of Nepal beyond the touristic mentality in Thamel, Kathmandu and Lakeside Pokhara, you should join us on this project in some way.”

Yannick recieveing a Blessing from the Principal, Dolma for his commitment and hard work to support everyone at Budland School.

Since Yannick has finished we have had a great debriefing. This is always important as to improve both the experience for everyone at the school and the volunteers, but also improve the efficiency of what we are doing. Due to Yannick being the first volunteer and him having a very different experience with the school to mine, he has been able to give me much food for thought, with such constructive, positive words that I am now working on creating a much better structure for the teaching volunteers with the school. Yannick has been amazing and still amazes me constantly, I love how he fits into this project and makes it his own too. I am extremely happy that everything has gone well during his time, and that all parties have enjoyed the experience. I look forward to welcoming new volunteers to this project very soon!

Feel free to browse this website and get in touch with us if you too would like to volunteer like Yannick did, making a difference in the world, whilst at the same time, having an unforgettably great experience

March 8, 2017

Ready to Launch

David Wilson Humanity, Uncategorized backpacking, charity, children, earthquake, education, Fundraising, humanity, nepal, school, travel, travel blog, travel blogger, volunteer, world

There were a few reasons to come back to Baluwapati village now. Firstly Monisa had been missing school over January and I was worried about how things were. Secondly I wanted to make sure that the video footage from last year’s film shoot with Sushil was going to be edited and other loose ends were going to be tied up so I could launch. ‘Building Budland’s’ fundraising needed to start as soon as possible in order to reach our target to build during 2017.

It felt great to be back! It was 21^st January and I arrived wearing a pair of shorts. I had never felt Nepal’s big chill before, and it was freezing. I was more concerned than last time however, as was Ujwal (my old friend from the work after the earthquakes, and loyal partner on this project). The concern was mostly due to Ram and Monisa’s unexplained absence from school and the village. It was strange that this time nobody in the village knew for sure where they had gone. My initial reaction was to think that maybe they were at Ram’s sister’s house in Sindopalchuck, another area devastated by the earthquakes in 2015, also struggling to recover.

Ram had expressed he had wanted to marry again and have a solid family life, and that he had met a woman in Sindopalchuck. This came as a surprise to me after such recent hard times, but he had looked much better the last time I saw him. I was thinking to jump on a motorbike and find the village whilst on a road trip to see my friends and check they are OK. Ram and I have previously expressed the desire to take a road trip together to meet this mysterious woman, but sadly it has not yet been possible. Ram meanwhile had arrived back in the village whilst I was on the plane to Nepal, and so my worries were eased! He had moved away briefly for work to support his family, and couldn’t manage his worries for his daughter being alone (it turned out that it was his mother who had gone to visit his sister in Sindopalchuck).

It had not been an easy trip for either of them, especially in the coldest months Nepal has to offer, with Ram being uneducated and having to work for long hours for only 600 rupees ( 6 USD) a day, I was worried where he would stay, wherever he went, but I respected him for being the man of his family and doing what it takes to resolve his situation. Ram is such an honest man with dignity and doesn’t like asking for help. When I saw them it was clear they had not had the easiest time, and I was still concerned, not wanting them to fall into the same situation again.

Ramesh, Pārbati, Ujwal and I all reminded Ram that we can always help make sure Monisa is comfortable and safe in the village if he has to go for work, camping out, battling the harsh conditions of winter in Nepal. We also reinforced to Ram that he wasn’t alone, that we are all in this world together, to support our friends as much as we can, and to help constructively support him through the tough times as a single father. What are we, after all, after a growing history of time and hardships and problem solving together, if our relationships are not cemented in strong friendship? No man is an island, as they say. Finally, after a long conversation, it was time for a small celebration; we were all back together again, after all!

BACK TOGETHER : David, Ram, Ramesh, Parbati and Monisa

Building Budland movie Premier: — Building Budland movie Premier

It wasn’t long before I was in the Editing Studio with Shushil Baba Chhetri; a future legend in the making; editing the videos you can see on the website. It was an honour to be next to a professional working in an editing suite making the difficult decisions on the footage and music. I was mainly just there for him to consult on some of those decisions. He was well organised and managing to fit this project into his very busy schedule, as it was coming together I felt relieved that we were almost ready to launch after months of learning and hard work building a website.

Building Budland movie Premier: The School children thoroughly enjoying seeing themselves in the project movies. — Building Budland movie Premier: The School children enjoying seeing themselves in the project movies.

I was also relieved that an old friend of mine; Daniel, who I met volunteering in Kolkata, was still in contact with me and agreed to help edit and perfect the writing on the website, its already been such a long road and the launch of the fundraising is really just the beginning!

Back in Baluwapati I have been looking over the ground plan on site, looking at the land we have and how we can best serve it, and the school, getting ready for the design and costing phase of the project, even learning more about the Eco-friendly earthbricks and how we can make them (while visiting a different building project nearby with some local building tradesmen I met last year in Nepal). These bricks seem to be gaining some great recognition here in Nepal, and hopefully with machines to use on our project free of charge, they seem like a natural and exciting building medium to be using during construction.

Whilst in the village I have been talking to the school about setting up a volunteer program with Ramesh as well. Ramesh enjoys being a part of the conversation and has always been passionate to give service to his community. Eventually we will need volunteers for the construction, but it made sense to begin helping improve the lesson quality and spoken English straight away. Speaking English really does optimise a rural Nepali child’s potential in a developing nation largely dependent on tourism. Ramesh can communicate well and can also host in his house, but we are looking into making small comfortable bamboo bungalows for the volunteers to stay in as well, and have already started collecting and buying materials.

While tying up loose ends in the capital city of Kathmandu I bumped into a very passionate young German traveller, Yannick. He was very interested in this project from the start of our first conversation, and it turns out he is indeed a man of his word. Yannick put the first 1000 rupee (10 USD) note in our new donation box at HostelOne96 and said he would love to go to the village to see the situation. He came back even more passionate than when he went, deciding that he would like to be our first volunteer in the school in a teaching role, and hopefully go on to do some fundraising afterwards. As soon as we can we will update you with both Yannick and Ramesh’s progress in Baluwapati.

With every passing day I become more nervous of launching such a large fundraiser, but the excitement, passion and belief in this project; along with the support and encouragement I have received so far, all drive me forward and calm down those nerves. Everything is coming together, and I am feeling a lot of positive energy. It’s a slow start, but people are already interested, and we welcome you to join with us on this unique journey.