Volunteer in Nepal and immerse yourself into another world, a world full of affection, heartwarming people, beautiful landscape… I had no big expectations about the voluntary placement, but it turned out to be one of my best experiences ever. The Nepali language class and the cultural information at the beginning of my stay helped a lot to slowly approach the local lifestyle. I was a volunteer at the IDEAL HOME family in Bharatpur/Chitwan. The IDEAL HOME is a ‘helpless women and children rehabilitation center’. I was given the possibility to be part of the family for 9 days, a time I’ll never forget! Every day was unique and I was introduced in so many different parts of the Nepalese life, like birthday celebrations, cooking & eating, singing & dancing, sewing,… Additionally I got the chance to visit the local radio station, a primary school (and even teach there a short time), a college, the community police, a local bank,… The time ran very fast and I took many pictures to remember everything and everybody! Nepalese people tend to say ‘Come as a guest – leave as a friend’ – I’ve met many new friends and I hope to come back one day… Thanks very much to Kamal and the whole FUN-Nepal team to offer me this once in a lifetime experience!
Thank you.
Name: Barbara Kumin
Activities and service: Adventure travel and volunteering (Women empowerment Program at Women club – 2 weeks)
Country: Switzerland.

When I first arrived I felt that this country and its culture is a different world. And this is not only because it is a developing country, no, the people’s attitude is so different. They are openhearted and friendly, they share their thoughts with you even if they’ve just met you. You will never travel alone in this country, I love it. And the hotel I stayed in the first week was also so nice; I loved to return to it the day before I left to Germany. But now to my stay in Pokhara:

My teaching experience in Pokhara.
The teaching was really fun, just go into a class, grab a book and start the lesson, trying to feed the students with information. I was responsible for class 6-9 in English. And I am grateful for that, because every class was totally different in their mentality. Class 9 was very shy and it was quite hard to teach them, but also a good challenge for me. Class 8 was the exact opposite, very open and I got very close to them, telling things about Germany and everything else they requested. Class 7 was the fastest and most eager class to learn new things from me and the progress in the book was very fast. I loved to go their and felt fully accepted as a teacher, what a good class. Class 6 was rather complicated, too many students making a noise pollution for just teaching with my unknown methods. So I had to adapt to the class climate there and figured a good way to handle them. They loved it, and so did I. Then it was absolutely no problem to teach there anymore. Well, and in the afternoons I met my friends and did a lot of things together in this beautiful city. And yeah, it was a great time and I learned so much from the culture and the people, I’ll definitely come again to this lovely country.
Thank you.
Name: Wanja Peer Grohe
Activities and service: Volunteering at Teaching English at Secondary School- 9 weeks.
Country: Germany.

I came to Nepal not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be the most rewarding experience of my life. First of all Kamal was wonderful and were to great lengths cliterally and figuratively to make sure I was comfortable. The first few days in the placement I wasn’t sure what to do with my self since there was no program in place and was staying with the people with an established daily routine who didn’t speak English Then Kamal came and made me realize that the trip was exactly what I would make of it then everything fell into place and after just 6 days and now have plans to work to fund a factory for the women in the empowerment program with their own work. This trip has truly changed my life and I hope I will be able to give the women ad much as they have green me. I will definitely be back to Nepal.
Thank you.
Name: Rebecca Krauthamer
Activities and service: Adventure travel and Volunteering ( Women empowerment program at Women club -2 weeks)
Email: rose34@stanford.edu
Country: USA.

I came to Nepal not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be the most rewarding experience of my life. First of all Kamal was wonderful and were to great lengths cliterally and figuratively to make sure I was comfortable. The first few days in the placement I wasn’t sure what to do with my self since there was no program in place and was staying with the people with an established daily routine who didn’t speak English Then Kamal came and made me realize that the trip was exactly what I would make of it then everything fell into place and after just 6 days and now have plans to work to fund a factory for the women in the empowerment program with their own work. This trip has truly changed my life and I hope I will be able to give the women ad much as they have green me. I will definitely be back to Nepal.
Name: Charlie Garcia
Activities and service: Adventure travel and Volunteering ( Teaching English and computer at School and village learning center- 6 weeks)
Country: Philipins

My Experience for Nepal was immediately obsolete as I arrived in Kathmandu. There is not much you can do to prepare mentally for such a trip but it helps to be greeted of the airport by Kamal. The First couple of days in Kathmandu served as an impotent ice-breaker before being placed at the monastery in Pokhara. Upon arriving in Pokhara I was greeted by another member of the FUN-Nepal team and it helped enormously as Ram was add to ease me in to the monastery. Teaching English to monks with little practice in teaching was intimidating but I do not believe A could have been easier with such an obedient class. Being accepted into the monastery was not difficult, and yet it is my most proud moment yet. Overall; I am thankful to Kamal for the opportunity had to live at the monastery. I recommended the Experience for any one looking fro that spiritual, life-changing event.
Sincerely
Name: Anthony Clavero
Activities and service: Volunteering at Teaching English at Monastery- 2 weeks
Country: U.S.A.

It’s difficult to sum up my feelings of Kathmandu because there is such a strange mixture of them coming from England, Nepal initially seemed like another world but Kamal is a such a hero, he made me feel really welcome , Nepali people are so kind. Everyone says “Namaste” and help wherever it’s needed. Our taxi didn’t turn up so a stranger saves us a life to our destination. The hotel that I stayed in was incredible, I could see our entire city from my room and roof top restaurant. Ajaya and prem also helped me to settle in, feeding me Momo and Dal Bhat. On the rooftop I took Nepali lessons with Deepa and Buddhi which helped me to understand some of the language that seemed like random noise to me. I ‘m still not great but I hope to improve after Nepali lessons, I went sight seeing with Madan. He is really knowledge so could tell me all about beautiful temples that we visited. We even went to the monkey everywhere. Luckily none attacked me! We also went for a long walk around kirtipur with Budhi It was so nice to not get stuck in a traffic jam as was so common in Kathmandu. There is a really old Hindu temple in kirtipur and the raves are traditional and sweet. The quarry just outside was fun to climb down but I can’t imagine working as hard as so many people where, smashing rocks by hand to sell and earn money. Kathmandu valley is so different to home but it is amazing….. Chitwan experience : My two months in Chitwan were the best two months of my life. Kamal and I got the bus there and I was really nervous at first to be staying with a Nepali family but it was the best part of my experience. My housefather knew a little English and my housemother knew none so I had to speak and understand Nepali. It was very difficult to start with but by the end I could nearly understand everything, even if I was unable to reply in Nepali. My family was so amazing and loving. There were four sons who were also lovely and I spent a lot of time with the youngest who is my age, living his life with him. There are lots of national holidays in Nepal, which I hugely enjoyed with my family. Holi was the most fun where everyone gets colour thrown over them and sings and dances in the road. We also went to Bikram Buba, a shrine that is open for only fifteen days in a year and lots of goats are sacrificed. We had to walk through the river to get there and the smells and sounds when we reached it were fantastic. There were so many bells ringing and the incense tickled your nostrils. In Chitwan, I worked at a health post in Gitanagar. I cycled there every day except Saturday, which is a holiday, and observed and worked with the health staff there. The health post was very basic and had only twenty-two medicines; it’s amazing how many illnesses and maladies can be cured but such a few number of drugs. A lot of patients came with wounds and cuts from road accidents or blocks falling on them whilst working, so we had to dress all of these. It was interesting to see how common vitamin deficiencies were and how a lot of health education had to be given on which foods to eat rather than prescribing medicine. Seeing how basic and how few resources there were at the health post made me admire the skills that the health workers all had as they could cope with anything even without the correct instruments. The staff were all very kind and also helped to teach me bits of Nepali and translated for me so I could understand the patients if it got too complicated. I spent quite a lot of time at the local government high school as well, often just sitting in on English lessons and helping when it was needed. As it was exam time when I was there, Santosh – the local coordinator – and I spent nearly every evening teaching extra class in a small room which was normally used to keep chickens in. The children were so dedicated to their studies that they would sit by candle light when there was load shedding – the fixed power cuts that run for thirteen hours a day – and still do all their work. Staying with my host family and being in Nepal for two and a half months was so fantastic and it was really sad to leave. I felt so comfortable and at home and had the best time ever. I can’t wait to go back and see everyone again.
Name: Miss. Alice Holland
Activities and service: Volunteering at Medical/Health, Teaching English at School and community learning center- 10 weeks
Email: alice.holland@talk21.com
Country: England.