Nepal Volunteer March 2023
Background
It was June 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic was raging in the world, with the total blockage of all activities.
We were in Rome, in the AnM management office, tenacious and resilient as always, to define some operational aspects regarding the construction of the hostel dedicated to Anna de Marinis, an historical collaborator of AnM, who died suddenly and prematurely.
Talking about our many humanitarian initiatives in Nepal, with Paolo Nugari, co-founder of AnM, we came up with a new idea: an innovative travel framework, a solidarity adventure in Nepal, with an active stay in Happy Home, our family home , where about thirty orphaned and needy children live. AvM has always been attentive and close to the many realities encountered on the roads of adventure and even on that occasion Paolo had not hesitated to welcome the idea enthusiastically.
The Covid-19 pandemic, then prevailing, and the related lock down had temporarily left the project on standby, waiting for better times.
To the present day
Two years later, almost three, here comes the surprise phone call: the project can start!
With Susanna Ceccherini of AnM, an intense exchange of information begins, aimed at studying and setting up the "Nepal Volunteer" journey, a new line that will allow many people to be able to live a unique experience, spending whole days with the children of Happy Home , in Benighat Village, about 3 hours drive from the capital, Kathmandu.
With them it will be possible to share experiences of their respective cultures, with games and craft workshops, proposed from time to time, depending on the skills of the individual volunteers. We have experimented, with great satisfaction: courses in sewing, drawing, creation of objects from recycled material, dance, yoga and much more can be proposed, to bring enrichment of mutual knowledge.
Always, every year, returning to the beautiful Nepal, we have brought with us friends and acquaintances, who wanted to live a new travel experience, with the curiosity to see what we have done in recent years and to be together with the children in Happy Home .
Similarly to past years, but in a more structured way, today the participants who register bring their own project to better interact with the local reality. The emotion in facing this new experience firsthand, with the responsibility of bringing value and knowledge to the children of Happy Home and the surrounding schools that we have built, differentiates them from the participants who preceded them. Today, those who sign up for the Nepal Volunteer line must pass an admission interview, which involves selection based on the actual volunteering contribution that the individual can make.
The trip does not include a coordinator, we rely on the references in Happy Home and on the historic and irreplaceable Mr Amresh Tuldhar, AnM official correspondent, who is responsible for managing the group, for the additional days dedicated to visiting the splendid Kathmandu valley .
The dates of departures up to July have been published and the management of registrations follows a double filter, the first managed by Susanna of AnM, who carries out an initial check of the candidate's characteristics and the second by Hanuman, who verifies the suitability to stay together with the children.
This great attention, fully shared with AnM, is necessary to preserve and protect the children who live in Happy Home and to keep the environment safe and secure as always, in the spirit with which it was established.
The enthusiasm for this project is very high and the same is the concern for the success: the trust we have received from AnM and from the volunteers who will travel with us to Nepal for this new adventure must translate into success for everyone.
We leave
Seven, is the number of volunteers who will face this first Nepal Volunteer adventure, in March 2023. Their names: Alessia, Anna, Enrico, Yvonne, Simone, Sonia and Tiziana. With them there will be three members of the Hanuman ETS board: Francesca, Irene and Vitaliano.
The appointment, with the whole group, is on the evening of the arrival of all the flights, at the hotel in Kathmandu. As per our tradition, the first dinner in Nepal is eaten in one of the Thakali restaurants, where you have your first experience with the flavors and smells of the spices of Dal Bath, a typical dish of Nepalese cuisine, then served every day in the Happy Home .
The next morning we leave, the seven participants are about to have their first experience of volunteering at Happy Home. As we travel the long road from the capital to the village, where the family home stands, the energy and enthusiasm in the minibus are uncontainable. The questions multiply and overlap. We try to understand and explain how everyone can best interact with each other and all the volunteers with the children. They talk about the rules of the family home, the time to devote to study and leisure time and how to make the most of the common spaces.
As soon as we enter the courtyard, the children and teenagers line up to welcome us with smiles and garlands of flowers: welcome to Happy Home!
This welcome, as warm as it is unexpected, pleasantly surprises everyone. The looks intertwine to seek ours for assent and sharing. Presentations of the volunteers are made to all the children and vice versa. The manager of Happy Home, a boy, now an adult, who grew up in the structure himself, communicates to everyone the rules of conduct of the family home, which will be our home for the next ten days.
The volunteer room comes alive right away. The race to get the top of the bunk beds begins, it almost becomes a game we hadn't thought of … if this is the beginning, the group will undoubtedly be a success.
Happy Home
In this days of March, there are end-of-year exams in the schools and all the children are concentrated on studying. We decide to make an exception to the rules, we suspend the study and each of the volunteers will present their work path: Anna will do yoga class in the morning and in the evening and will have the children draw, Tiziana and Alessia will do sewing lessons, Simone and Enrico will organize the ping pong tournament and board games, Sonia will organize the group that will make objects, with recycled material, Yvonne will hold some geology lessons, to illustrate the composition of the Nepalese mountains and territory. Over the ten days available, the working groups will take turns, to involve everyone in the various experiences.
The morning of the following day and ... then every following morning: at h. 5.30 a large group of children goes to the volunteers' room to wake up Anna, for sun salutation and yoga class. Obviously the whole group participates, with difficulty dragging themselves up the stairs to reach the terrace where the lesson will take place, between one yawn and another. It's fun to see children imitate the moves and positions that Anna gradually performs, but if you look closely, maybe it's more fun to see us adults trying to imitate Anna. After the morning lesson, all the children go down to the study room and begin their day of study.
As observed by Tiziana, in the video contribution left after the Happy Home experience: "getting up early in the morning and finding 20 children around a table who are studying and one says - it's not possible! – in reality it is just like that, they understood what their place is in the world…”
Later, while the children are at school, we go to visit the schools that we have built over many years, to check the state of conservation and the progress of the new projects underway. In every school, the welcome is always exciting: the children are all lined up and pay homage to us with applause and flowers. The school committee, as usual, entertains us with new requests for expansion or modernization of the classrooms. In all the schools we visited we brought a school kit consisting of: notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers and sharpeners. Seeing the joyful looks of the little school students who receive unexpected and precious gifts fills my heart with joy. It's a small gesture, repaid by the many smiles received.
We crossed the hills of Benighat, partly on pick-up trucks, to reach the farthest and most remote schools, partly on foot, enjoying easy and always pleasant treks, through the small villages of the Tamang and Chepang populations, where every glance reciprocated with a smile and a greeting from Namastè.
Back in the Happy Home, the children come to meet us, inviting us to continue the activities begun in the previous days and to share our studies with them.
They arise reciprocally: Italian and Nepalese lessons, requests for math and geometry checks, information on the city we come from, leafing through the images on each other's smartphones, a cultural exchange that occurs naturally, without having planned anything in advance. This is how the games of our childhood emerge: flag, one-two-three stars, roundabout, hide and seek, the game of the chair, the Latin American dance school … in Nepal(?)!
Volunteers are increasingly involved and enthusiastic and so are we.
In the evening at the table they ask us a thousand questions about our origins and we gladly tell our story, how and why we decided to found Hanuman, our first steps and small and big successes. We tell of the terrible earthquake of 2015 experienced live, as present on the Nepalese territory in those fatal days. We tell them how AnM has been close to us in the management of post-earthquake first aid and in other subsequent projects. The questions follow one another and their curiosity is equal to the attention they devote to our answers.
Then three or four children arrive, to remind us that it's time for the big ping-pong tournament. A couple of friends from Verona gave us a regulation table and all the accessories to use it: a global success, reflected in the eyes of all the kids, big and small!!!
The noise of the ping pong ball will be the mantra of our entire stay in the Happy Home. Let's all go back to being children once again, sharing games with them, some of which brought from Italy: Memory, Uno, Shanghai, La Torre, etc.
The second Hanuman Run – Run for Fun
We organized the second cross-country race, in the green hilly countryside of Benighat.
Registration opened at the beginning of March, before our arrival, with a participation fee of ten Nepalese rupees and with extraordinary prizes for the winners.
It was divided into three mixed groups, by age group. Participants were given a free technical t-shirt, kindly offered by Verona Marathon Hub. Rich prizes for the first three classified in each category, both male and female.
The day before the race, dozens of children between the ages of 6 and 12 knock on the door of Happy Home with 10 rupees in hand for registration. On the morning of the race, from the early hours, at 06.00, we are all ready to organize the competition.
The volunteers begin distributing the bibs, printed cards, sewn at the moment with metal staples on the athletes' shirts. Others dedicate themselves to setting up the table with the prizes. The Happy Home guys, who won't be participating in the race, help us distribute the bibs to the youngest category and contain their exuberance and excitement for the upcoming race. Shree Chandrodaya Multiple College professors participate on the race course, with stopwatches. The mayor of Benighat comes to congratulate and promise the patronage of the municipality for next year's tender.
Here are the ready athletes who begin to warm up their muscles.
The available t-shirts are Medium or Large in size and the little ones wear them with conviction, inserting the whole part of the length inside the shorts and checking that the bib is well attached. Always available, there are the girls of Happy Home who, quickly, with the stapler in hand, provide for the best strengthening.
Last check on the racing flip flops (!) and we are all ready for departure. Obviously the funniest race is that of the little runners. The agitation on the starting line is uncontainable, the push to be the first to leave cannot be controlled and the authority of their master is not enough to bring order. Obviously, our cheers go to the children of Happy Home.
The start is frantic and along the short descent of the route, many of the athletes will lose their flip flops, but regardless they will continue running, so much will they recover them on the way back. At the end of the race everyone will be given a fruit juice and a candy.
Finally, the big prize-giving ceremony in the Happy Home courtyard.
The winners of the three categories, all 170 participants, the organizers and local authorities present, will receive their respective prizes, with a roar of joy at each delivery, a testament to great sportsmanship.
If you ask yourself if some of us participated, the answer is: “we were too busy organizing and containing all the athletes”!
Last days in Happy Home
The exams are over and all the kids have free days.
Tiziana and Alessia manage to complete the hair bands for all the girls in the sewing workshop. Anna after teaching sun salutation every morning at 05.30, she dedicates herself to drawing mandalas, for the kids to color. Simone and Enrico are very busy with the last matches of the ping-pong tournament. Yvonne and Sonia conclude the choreography of the lambada, which will see everyone participate on the last evening, on the terrace.
The boys will guide the group of volunteers, taking them to visit the village inhabited by the Sunar ethnic group, characteristic for the craftsmanship of iron products. The last days will pass with the great cleaning of Happy Home, where all together, armed with brooms, rags and detergents, we will do our best to make the family home shiny and tidy.
The question that has been repeated for some days is: "but will we be able to say goodbye to the children, will we be able to leave Happy Home?" and a veil of emotion and sadness pervades everyone.
The tenth day has arrived, the time to say goodbye. The joy and light-heartedness of the days spent together has given way to a great nostalgic sadness: it is very difficult to leave Happy Home. All the children come together for a long hug, which never seems to end. The shining eyes express all the emotion. We slowly drag ourselves towards the bus and here is the group of girls running towards us for another greeting. Silence accompanies us along the road to Bhaktapur, our next destination.
Only upon arrival, in the lobby of the legendary Hotel Bintuna, with my voice still choking in my throat, I manage to congratulate this fantastic group of people, who have been able to best express their characteristics, placing them at the service of the children. They understood what it means to live a volunteering experience and to be a volunteer, respectful of all others and of the environment. They knew how to live a human adventure in the truest sense of the word.
Some testimonials from volunteers
Anna
“The lived experience brings to mind words or rather values such as: kindness, empathy, care, cooperation, humility, sensitivity, lucidity, compassion, presence, listening, silence, love, joy and many questions about me and the world and the way I live. Realities like Hanuman make it easier for us to hope and try to build a more equitable and balanced world. Being able to donate a present, a future, a safe place and a lot of LIFE must be considered a privilege. Nothing more.
Concepts such as education and home in our privileged and spoiled reality are almost taken for granted and therefore their fundamental importance in the growth and evolution of a human being is not recognized. A sentence by Mololo Yuosafzai, written on the wall of a school I visited, made me reflect on this concept: One child, one teacher, one pen and one book, can change the world.
I consider it our duty to be grateful for being born in the right part of the world and for being in a position to be able to help and not ask for help.
I make my own the words of a friend of this adventure: "she seems to me to have arrived late".
It was a real privilege for me to be part of the Hanuman family, full of smiles and a desire for the future, even if for too short a time.
With deep gratitude."
Alessia
“We are in flight and out of the porthole there is a magical panorama, magical like the experience we have lived with you these past few days and I feel the need to thank you, Francesca and Irene for allowing me to taste a small part of everything that you have built with effort and passion over the years. You have done so much for us volunteers, giving us the opportunity to see with our own eyes what it means to take care of others, respecting their identity, but above all you have done so much for all the happy home kids, giving them not only the possibility of hoping for a better future but also the tools to take it, teaching them method and discipline. Thanks to you they are learning to earn a place in the world with their commitment and solidarity. All of this goes beyond raising money to support them in life and in their studies and giving them a place to live, because in happy home you have created a community, a family in which the older ones help the younger ones and all together they argue.
In a world where it is easier to give than to teach others to be autonomous, you have chosen the difficult path, giving these kids the tools to be able to build their own future, you have done and continue to do the dirty work of a true parent to raise independent and responsible individuals and I am sure they will never forget your teachings. Thanks for everything"
Tiziana
“If we think that it is not a journey, I define it as one of the most exciting journeys I have ever experienced, because despite remaining still in a house with some children, after all, every day, I faced my journey with them, around to them, around their day. I want to leave you a photo: getting up early in the morning and finding 20 children around a table who are studying and one says - it's not possible! – actually that's right, they understood their place in the world. I owe a lot to Hanuman, because what is left in my belly? I felt from day one that I arrived late."
Simone
“I look out the window and think, I think about how strange life is, I think about all the series of circumstances that led me to meet Vitaliano, Francesca and Irene.
Because then, let's face it Simo, if you're sitting here on this bus now it's also thanks to them who managed to involve you to the point of convincing you to leave.
I smile and repeat softly: Sakal, Buddhi, Daniel, Himala, Sushila and so on, name after name. These are the names of the boys and girls who live in Happy Home, this wonderful structure located in the village of Benighat. These are names that I will hardly forget now, because with their spontaneity, sweetness and education they managed to enter the hearts of all of us participants.
It is not easy to explain in words the succession of emotions that have accompanied me during our days in Happy Home; perhaps certain experiences should only be lived and kept as a precious asset.
Because a certainty accompanies me, that of having received much more in return than I could ever have given. Saying goodbye wasn't easy, actually.
Getting attached to each other instead was inevitable even if not so obvious.
We prepare our backpacks, we hug each other while a few tears fall, the last photos and it's time to get back on the bus with our heads still leaning on the same window
The tears now turn to crying…
Sakal, Buddhi, Janak, Daniel, Ganesh, Himala, Sushila etc. etc. now the names are no longer so confusing, they have a beautiful face and smile..."
Brief reflections by Francesca, President of Hanuman ETS
“In over twenty years of missions in Nepal, I have been able to witness and experience the great changes that have taken place in the territory, often hostile and in its people, always hospitable and generous.
People who own little, but who share a lot.
I will not dwell now on individual emotions, too many and too varied, to fit into a short narrative.
Rather, I want to congratulate the new participants, because they have been able to grasp the meaning and ultimate purpose of their commitment, despite not having previous specific experiences.
I like to think that the creation of Nepal Volunteer, with AnM, can give birth to a virtuous way of traveling with sustainability and can give impetus to paths that may have already been seen, but relived with a more participatory and intimate approach.
For my part, growing up with Hanuman, the desire to continue to be there remains, with renewed energy and enthusiasm, partly stolen from the new participants, who marvel at the looks, smiles or extraordinary and real gestures, which in my eyes have now become pleasantly familiar.
My personal commitment also remains not to bind myself with greater affection to the individual boy or girl, because they are more defenseless or more needy or even just because they are smaller or more sympathetic, but to remain attentive to helping those who really need to find an optimal growth solution and never certain or taken for granted and to ensure that the overall climate in Happy Home is the magical one of a large family, the one it has always had since its creation.”
We at Hanuman were infected and amazed by this first group of volunteers, to whom we extend our heartfelt congratulations.
A big hug to everyone, also extended to AnM, who believed in it.
Vitaliano Bissi
Namaste.