I’ve made it in one piece to Nepal! After many months of preparing and packing up my life in Aberdeenshire, it feels very surreal to be sitting here writing to you from my new home in the township of Dhading Besi.
I already love it here, and was welcomed so warmly by my adopted Nepali family - my landlord Sanu Tapa, his lovely wife who always greets me with a smile and “Namaste Bahini!” (which means “hello sister!”) and their gorgeous children Ajeen and Riwaj. It’s just a 20 minute walk to work, and it’s very rare if someone doesn’t greet me on my ‘commute’ to the Sisters for Sisters office.
My working life here is very different to the UK - I was used to being in an office where, as the head teacher of a primary school, I was interrupted frequently by my staff with questions and issues. There are no desks in the office, and the custom is to sit together on the floor to work if we are not out visiting schools. My introduction to this was the monthly meeting – a mammoth seven hours without getting up, ouch!
I’ve had my first opportunity to meet some of the wonderful Little Sisters. An event was organised to celebrate another successful year for Sisters for Sisters, and the Little Sisters were invited to share their experiences. So many of these young girls stood to speak so movingly and with such energy, motivation and intelligence.
Hello and welcome to my blog! Firstly a massive thank you for choosing to follow my placement in Nepal, and for understanding the importance of keeping girls in education.
I visited Nepal in the 1980’s and instantly fell in love with the country’s culture and people. When this placement was advertised on the VSO website I knew this was a sign to follow my lifelong goal of helping others less fortunate than myself and sharing my skills as a head teacher.
Choosing to volunteer is a huge change in my life; I’ve been in the same small village in Aberdeenshire for the last 19 years, and the primary school I lead has been the centre of all of this. I’m leaving the post with a heavy heart and nerves of what is ahead, but my whole village has been behind my big move, and has never let me doubt my decision to pack up home!
I am really excited about working in, rather than just visiting, Nepal. I’ve just come back from my VSO training weekend, where I was really shocked to find out how few Nepali girls finish their education. In fact, each girl in Nepal is only in school for an average of three years, and less than half can read or write. This is heart-breaking when you think of the successful future full of opportunities they are missing out on.
But VSO has an established programme called Sisters for Sisters that is breaking this cycle of girls growing up without schooling. Sisters for Sisters groups young girls (Little Sisters) with older girls (Big Sisters) to encourage the Little Sisters to stay in school. It is a wonderful idea using the power of friendship. I’m looking forward to seeing how my experience of training my teachers in Scotland can be used to help the Big Sisters make learning a fun environment for the Little Sisters.
10 year old Prinsi now comes to school every day thanks to the Sisters for Sisters programme. I can’t wait to encourage more girls like Prinsi to stay in school.