Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

Traveler am.

Twelve days and counting. Soon I will be leaving on my journey to do volunteer work in Nepal. I’m very excited and a bit nervous too. I’ve never traveled this far, and to such a different culture, by myself. My husband will be joining me later but for the first 3 weeks I’ll be on my own, on the loose in Kathmandu. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

By chance, I will be in Nepal for the biggest holiday of the year, Dasain. The whole country celebrates the victory of the goddess Durga over the forces of evil personified in the buffalo demon, Mahisasura. Everyone is off work and there are processions and family rituals to be performed. The caveat is that Durga is a bloodthirsty goddess, so this festival is celebrated with  blood-letting and animal sacrifice. My Lonely Planet guide says that 8 buffaloes and 108 goats are sacrificed, each with a single stroke of a sword. Temples are awash with blood and tools of a person’s trade and vehicles are sprinkled with blood for good luck. Even the aircraft of Nepal Airlines are blessed for safe travel. I hope I can bear the spectacle.

I will have to get up to speed quickly on social customs, such as using my fingers to eat (right hand only!), learning the body language for “yes” which is different than ours, dealing with the Nepali reluctance to say “no” to anything, accepting the caste system and the belief in dharma, remembering that feet and shoes are considered unclean, getting up before dawn and going to bed at 10:00, the lack of Nepali words for “please” or “thank you”. I am trying to study a bit of the Nepali language with a phrasebook. The structure of sentences is different: subject-object-verb. “Bob read the book.” would be “Bob book read.” In speaking, they often leave out subject pronouns, articles and information that’s clear from context or not considered relevant. So “I am a traveler.” would be “traveler am.” As part of my orientation with Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN), I will be taking some Nepali lessons when I arrive. Hopefully I will learn better from lessons than from a book. At this point, I would only feel comfortable saying “Namaste” (hello/goodbye).

Last week my husband and I had dinner with another volunteer for VIN. Maartje lives in Amsterdam and just returned from a summer of teaching English in a Buddhist monastery. She regaled us with stories about her experiences in Nepal and with the feisty young monks (many of them are children). We picked her brain for things to pack: DEET-yes; headlamp-yes, for using the outdoor toilet at night; raingear- no, only tourists wear them, locals use umbrellas; flip flops-no, buy them there for one euro; thermometer-yes, for when you get a fever; photos of your family-yes, people will be curious; ipod and speaker-yes, because music is universal. Now I have to see if everything I want to bring fits in my pack. It’s a safe bet that a revised packing list will be the next step.

Today I am boxing up all the donations I have received and getting them ready to ship. I have about 100kg of books and CDs for learning English and Business English, children’s books and games, paper, pens, pencils, erasers, watercolor paints, rubber stamps and toys. I got some sturdy boxes from a friend who works in a bookstore. I have to divide everything into small shipments to avoid customs charges at the other end. This stuff has been piling up in my study for weeks, I’ll be happy to finally send it all on its way. The cash we have collected (more than 1000 euros so far!) will be sent via bank transfer. I am bringing my old laptop and an external drive (loaded with teaching materials and music) that I will donate when I leave. My husband's Singapore office sent a laptop and four cameras direct to VIN. The support we have received from friends and colleagues has been really amazing. We are very lucky to know such generous and supportive people.

I have been asked to help write proposals for the funding of an education center in the community where I will be living and working. So I’ll be spending the next week or so doing internet research on organizations to approach for possible sponsorship. I have also been asked to conduct teacher training and share some of the techniques we use in Western teaching. It’s going to be a busy holiday; I may end up working harder than I do in my real job. But that’s okay. This work may not make me wealthy, but I am sure I will be richer for it. Namaste. (literal translation: I salute the god in you)

It’s not too late! Donations to Volunteers Initiative Nepal are welcome. You can make a donation using PayPal on the VIN website.

Volunteers Initiative Nepal

http://www.volunteeringnepal.org/index.php