Lesson 2:   Art.

Below are a few photos of mine from Nepal.

Lesson 1:  History.

I first visited Nepal in 2006, at which time the country was going through the end of a civil war.  I had been interested in this nation for several years and travelled there to help build roads in a region called Rolpa. After being bitten by a mystery spider (which left me covered in lumps), shot at by the Nepalese Royal Army (who luckily were not great marksmen) and beaten by the Armed Police (don’t take photos of foreign protests); you'd think that I would have had enough of this country.

Contrary to the above, I had fallen in love with Nepal and its people..... well most of them anyway.  

Two days before I left Nepal I was pleased to discover that a ‘peace accord’ had been signed; better still in 2008 it was announced that the autocratic ‘God’ King Gyanendra had been overthrown...  ‘He’s not Vishnu; he’s a very naughty boy!!’  (Perhaps Michael Palin should get back to his roots). 

My memories and experiences from this short month-long trip have always stuck with me and in 2009 I returned to Nepal for 5 months.  During this time I travelled back to Rolpa to see how things had changed after the war, things are better, but that’s not to say ‘great’.  Whilst there I came across some charity workers from an NGO called Merlin, they provide drugs and treatment across this region and others.  I personally discovered the importance of this work when I needed an operation there and the hospital had no anaesthetics.  Aside from this, I spent most of my time working on an agricultural project called Kaule ev situated a couple of hours from Kathmandu.  Whilst working on this project, I was asked to run English Language classes for the local farmers and their families.

Having never taught before I was a little hesitant to run classes, especially for people who I shared little common language with.  However, the farmers and project manager persisted in asking me, so after a few days I decided to give it a go.  I would not say that I was a perfect and natural teacher, but I certainly discovered a natural love for teaching, which when combined with the community’s desire to learn; made for a great experience.

Since then, with the support of family and a number of part-time and temporary jobs I have been studying a variety of TEFL courses, both in-class and online.  

Armed with 3 TEFL certificates (that’s 2 more than you need), a 2:1 degree (an Ord is enough) and a small amount of savings, I am again headed out to Nepal to volunteer with NELTA and teach in government schools.  Let’s hope I don’t meet that spider again.