The Nepal project embarked on its annual trip to Nepal in February, bringing along a group of 12 students, including myself. The members of this trip are all part of the Nepal Project at SIS, which for many months prior had been actively preparing for, by creating educational lesson plans.“The Nepal Project is a special bond between our community in Stockholm and the Nagarkot Valley community,” says the chair of the Nepal project who has been involved with the project for 4 years and was a participant in the trip last year.
We had an early flight from Stockholm to Doha, and a late 3 AM arrival at the airport in Kathmandu. The first few days were very tiring, especially dealing with the different time zones and climate. The first day was filled with cultural tourism – we first explored the Buddha Stupa area, which is a temple very important to Buddhism as it is home to the relics and remains of Buddha. Walking around and spinning the prayer wheels was very evocative. Later, we travelled to Durbar Square in Patan, in the Patan Museum, which is part of the UNESCO’s world heritage sites. It truly felt unreal to walk through what was once the king’s palace. The museum contained many stunning pieces, very important to the Buddhist religion. Lastly, my favourite part of the first day was the Monkey temple, situated on a hill, and home to monkeys, of course! Through the top of the hill, we were exposed to beautiful views of Kathmandu and various snowy mountains.
After this first packed day, we settled in the Lapsi Tree Hotel, a wonderful place on a hill overlooking the Himalayas. From Monday to Friday, the routine stayed pretty consistent, we woke up, had breakfast, and set out on a hike to reach the school. Teaching at Shiladevi was an absolute life-changing experience. The kids were fantastic and we made so many friends in the classrooms. Dancing, singing, and playing were a nice break from our own school routines, but was equally as educational. For me, this experience was transformative. I was given the opportunity to discover a foreign culture with my peers and enrich my knowledge of a part of the world I’d never been to before. This trip allowed me to step up in my responsibilities and allowed me to put on the shoes of a teacher. The role was hard, overcoming cultural and language barriers but at the end of the day I made some unforgettable memories with the children at Shiladevi, that will forever stay in my heart. I mainly taught grades 5 and 6, which were grouped as one whole class. The students were very sweet and we covered a lot, from multiplications, to geography, to English. After school, we hiked back, and reflected on the day, as well as planned lessons for the next day in pairs or groups. In our free time we played cards, filmed with Mr Kingsley’s drone, or sat and sang by the fire.
It was very sad to say goodbye, as my experience on this trip had been very positive, but at the same time, I started to become a little homesick, so with a long flight back and an equally long layover in Doha, we were back at Arlanda by 6 am on the 19th. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in cultural exchanges like these, as it is something that will forever stay with you and you will get to see new cultures and places.
