Video blog

My friend Mandira and I made a youtube video together! :)

Link here: https://youtu.be/EUkVHiVoNc0

50 to 500

It has been a while, hasn’t it? Fellowship has ended. I am back in Kathmandu. Oh Kathmandu! You were once a solace to come back to from the quietness of the village. But here now, I want to go back to the fresh air of Sindhupalchok hills. You have become a hot concrete mess that I did not grow up in. Every day I have to take public transport. It is full of sweat, dust, smoke and the smell of all these combined. Even when I am at the window seat, I do not feel a cool air. As I plunge through the smelly and hot microbus air, I think about how you were once a big lake. What remains of it is probably the dry Rani Pokhari. Then I really pity your people. Most of them have not really demanded any change from this sticky situation. They are ‘resilient’. Ughh…

For a few days now, I had been cursing this situation. But today, it rained a bit. Of course, it woke me up early in the morning at a time when I would still be dreaming; the rain was welcome still.

Today was a weird day. In the public commute, there was standing space and I did not feel suffocated behind a disposable mask. A girl who had come to study in NAME was standing behind me. She kept leaning on to my body as if I was a steel rod there for her rescue every time the driver brakes in the congested roads. I was trying to avoid the leaning along with people stepping on my sandals with their the muddy shoes. Suddenly, this woman sitting by me bent down from her seat and stretched her arm out a few feet away from her. At the expense of my muddy foot she grabbed a fifty rupee note! Hey, good for you! (The back of my mind sneeringly judged her for stepping on me while she was in the comfort of sitting on a seat and becoming 50 rupees richer)

Then I worked through the day dreading my check-in with my collaborator happening tomorrow. I had planned to take a couple of interviews today. Sadly, I had to postpone them. All day I was trying to get some writing done and stayed till late in the office.

Now on my way back home, I was in the small blue microbus. Thankfully it was not too cramped. At 6:50 the people in the micro looked so drained from their day. Oily droopy faces. There was a guy with a short ponytail whose face looked a bit less oily. There were 4 women and 10 men in that micro, I forgot if I counted the driver. I thought maybe I should write about these faces and how they do not even complain.

My stop was here faster than usual. People started getting off bending their backs to walk up to and get out of the small microbus door. Suddenly the pony-tailed guy reached his hand out the moment both of us spotted a crumbled brown 500 rupee note camouflaged in the rusty microbus floor. He grabbed it inside his large fist without anyone noticing it, except of course yours truly (/slowy).

जेनिशाको फेलोसिप यात्रा

(This article came out of the writing workshop led by our Shisir Khanal dai at Teach for Nepal. This is one of my few attempts at writing in Nepali. Image source: Conscious Impact and Jenisha Shakya)

२०७३ -२०७४ सालमा बनेपादेखि नवलपुरको बाटो जेनिशा शाक्यले धेरैचोटी आगमन गरीन् । सन्दर्भ टिच फर नेपालको फेलोसिप । आफ्नो स्कुल पढ्दा शिक्षकहरुबाट अपेक्षित सपोर्ट नपाउदा भोगेको अनूभव र  ब्याचेलर पढ्दा पाएका उत्कृष्ट शिक्षकहरुको सम्झना संगाल्दै जेनिसा त्यो नवलपुरको चिसो डाडामा पुगिन्। लक्ष्य थियो आत्मसन्तुष्टि: अहिले फर्केर हेर्दा बिशेष दुई कुरामा उनले यो पाएकी छिन्।

सानैदेखि कम बोल्ने स्वभाव कि थिइन् जेनिशा तर फेलोसिपमा यो स्वभावमा निकै सुधार आएको उनले पाइन्। कक्ष्याकोठामा पनि विद्यार्थीलाई अंग्रेजी नडराइकन सिक्न प्रोत्साहन गरिरहिन् । विद्यार्थीहरुमा सिक्ने उत्साह बढाउन सधैं ‘Contextualized learning ’को बाटो अपनाइन। यसरी गाह्रो   भाषा अंग्रेजीलाइ सान्धर्भिक बनाएर सिक्न मदत गरिन्। त्यसो गर्दागर्दै, आफुँमा पनि एउटा अबल शिक्षक फेला पारिन्। आफ्नै शिक्षण अनि टि.एफ.एनका अन्य तालिमका सहयोगले आफ्नो बोल्ने सिप निकै प्रस्फुटन भएको उनि भन्छिन्, "कक्ष्याकोठा छिर्दा लाग्थ्यो I belong here"

यस्तै आफ्नो बोल्ने सिप संगै, जेनिशाले Collaboration र Coaching सिप पनि सिकिन् । फेलोसिपमा भिज्दै जाँदा उनले Conscious Impact संस्थाकी एक स्वयंसेवी एलिसनलाई भेटिन्। दुबैले एउटै लक्ष्य बोकेका रहेछन्: गाउँका युवतीहरुको सबलीकरण र सशक्तिकरण ।  

" कक्ष्याकोठामा छर्लंगै देखिन्थ्यो केटीहरु केटाहरुभन्दा पछि परेका। उत्तर भन्न हात उठाउँदा होस वा छलफलहरुमा भाग लिंदा।"

एलिसन र जेनिशाले त्यो देखेर ‘Girls Group’ सुरु गरे । Girls Groupको हरेक  शुक्रबार भेला हुन्थ्यो अनि युवतीहरुले विभिन्न सिप सिक्थे । छात्राहरुले हस्तकला, कवितालेखन, इत्यादि सिकेर आफ्नो आत्मविश्वास बढाएका छन् । यो देखेर स्कुलको हेड सरले पनि यी तालिमलाई निरन्तरता दिने प्रतिबद्धता ब्यक्त गरेर हौसला दिनुभएको छ।

अहिले दुई  वर्षपछि बनेपा फर्केकी जेनिशा भन्छिन्, " आउँदो दुई महिना Conscious Impact संगै काम गर्छु। सहरभन्दा गाउँमै बस्न रहर लागिरहेको छ ।"

Nutrition and Youth Advocacy Days

My friend Bonita Sharma and I had been thinking about collaboration for a while. It finally worked out on March 11 to 13 for the Action for Nutrition project. Sochai - Youth For Nutrition team came to Melamchi, Sindhupalchok on a three-day trip to train our students in public speaking and information sharing about facets of nutrition and hygiene such as Menstruation, Malnutrition, Dangers of Junk food, etc.

They dedicated about 30 hours towards the project. They individually mentored students to understand the ideas about these topics and then to prepare them for presentation the next day. Students and the mentors/SOCHAI volunteers wowed the whole school and community during their stall presentation. The posters were excellent. The stalls were interactive. The celebration through dance and song at the end of the program ensured participation of a maximum number of students.

In our school, younger students come to school with a five or ten rupee note every morning and before assembly, they buy chamcha paun, candy, instant noodles etc. It was a very apt awareness program for our school. The SOCHAI team carried their work impeccably and they very much aligned with the Teach for Nepal values of Excellence, Mutual Respect and Responsibility, Sense of Agency and Sense of Urgency.

Thank you everyone for making this event successful, even more so, for providing an amazing platform for our students to apply their learning and skills. Thank you Lekhnath Sir, IP sir, Tara sir, Bhuminanda sir , Hari Sir, Radha Sir, Devi Sir, Thakur Sir, Anita Miss, Durga Miss, Anil Sir, Mandal sir, Bidur dai and didi and everyone for your constant support and enthusiastic participation in the event. Thank you Tej for shouldering the stress of our SEE preparation while I got busy with the event. We could not have done this without you. Thank you children for showering our guests with love and respect.

A huge shoutout of appreciation to Sochai - Youth For Nutritionvolunteers Kritee Lamichhane Stuti Sharma Sagar Parajuli Bonita Sharma and Neha Malla for your hard work. Thank you so much to funding partners We Inspire Nepal and UNESCO

Picture Credit: SOCHAI