Joining Hands Nepal
A Family Orphan HomeArchive for Programs
Exploring the World Outside & In
By Flore (Phul), Volunteer, Netherlands
I’ve been here for one month now and it’s been wonderful. It’s so nice that there is enough time to spend a whole week on the same subject. We spent seven English Conversation Classes talking about the world. What is the difference between a country and a continent? Where do I live? What do we know about North & South America? Which countries are in Europe? We talked about the tango from Spain, Mexican food, polar bears in Alaska, the Eiffel tower in France and snorkeling around the Maldives. For the younger children it was a bit difficult. The last class I was very happy and proud because they remembered a lot. Even Venezuela, Suriname and Cambodia, all hard to pronounce.
And last week we drew. Every day between 8.00 am and 9.00 am the girls’ room was filled with pages, pencils, colours, lovely & concentrated children, and many ideas. After one week of daily drawing lessons we have drawings of dragons, names, people, fantasy fishes, jungles, princesses and each other. I’m glad that the apples are now also purple instead of only green and red. And that they all make something totally different. Not eight of the same dragons anymore! In other words, I’m sure that they are a little bit more creative now. Really important, isn’t it? If they don’t forget this thing ‘creative’, it will help them forever. Hopefully one day they will understand that copying is not good. Be different! In short: I’m having a great time here. And I’m enjoying to teach them more and more!
Easter in Nepal
This weekend Easter came to Nepal as Bina and our special guest from America, Greg, helped the children to make Easter eggs and hold an Easter egg hunt. Last week while teaching an English conversation class to the children, Bina told the children a little about Easter since it had just passed, and we decided it would be wonderful to give them a real Easter experience. We ran around Panauti and scoured the internet to find all the ingredients necessary to make Easter eggs with natural dyes.
First each child received an egg and got to draw some picture or design in crayon that would resist the dye coloring. Then we experimented with 4 natural dyeing agents: cilantro for green, carrots for orange, red grape juice for purple, and turmeric for gold. Turmeric was by far the best dyeing agent, with grape juice second, and carrots a complete failure. After the eggs were finished dyeing and drying, Bina and Greg hid the eggs and candies throughout the house and the children got to participate in a true Easter egg hunt! The joy on their faces and in their loud laughs and screams as they found egg after egg and candy after candy was priceless. We could not have imagined they would be so skilled, and it only took about 20 minutes for them to find everything.
After the hunt was finished, each child got the pleasure of eating their hard-boiled egg and chocolate bar. Despite a few failures with the natural dyeing process, the whole celebration was a joyous success. We are so grateful to Bina for her brilliant idea of giving the children their own Easter celebration and exposing them to a foreign holiday, and to Greg for joining us on this special occasion and providing so much entertainment to the children. When we set out on this journey to create a loving home for the orphaned and disadvantaged children of Nepal and a place for volunteers to come and exchange culture with us, this Easter in Nepal celebration is exactly the kind of experience we had in mind. We are thrilled to see our vision being fulfilled and the Joining Hands Nepal community extending beyond all borders and boundaries.
This Year’s Children
We are back this week with the wonderful news that we have taken in our 5th orphan child from Sindupalchowk district of Nepal. His name is Gautam, and he is 6 years old. He is adjusting to the home and the other children quite quickly, and we are happy to welcome him into our family. We intend to only take in these 5 children for the year so that we may give them the best possible care and attention until we have the staff and facilities to expand in the next year or two, and so our class of 2011, as you might call them, is now complete. We hope to give you a more complete profile of each child of Joining Hands Nepal here on the blog in the coming weeks so you can get to know them individually. School will be starting soon as well, so updates on classes and English language progress will be coming also. In the future, we have big plans that include sharing writings and art of the children with you via this blog, as well as starting an international pen pal program and perhaps Skype English practice sessions with children from around the world. It is going to be an exciting year, and we hope you stay tuned and get involved with us to make it truly special!
Joining Hands Nepal 