Internet is getting less and less for me so I apologize for the infrequency but I will do the best I can and just make them a little longer. I have now been living in my village for about 3 or 4 weeks and most of the projects and groups are underway. I am working in a girl's group twice a week in which we meet with about 18 girls from the village to have fun and also discuss more womanly topics that the girls do not necessarily have another outlet for. Many are very shy when it come to sharing their own experiences, but when you say something about yourself or how you feel they are always interested and agree if they feel the same. In one of the women's groups we decided to paint with the women and give them some time to just sit and look at the beautiful surroundings and paint what they saw. We come and look around and take our pictures and sit in awe at how green and serene the setting is for us but for these women this is their home and their work and probably do not even have he time to appreicate it. At first some of the women stared at us with these brushes and then they began to paint and paint. With only two or three colors for each women dropped into the egg cartons we had been using for our breakfasts, each woman did her own impression of the tree in the distance or the flower next to her and it was so nice to watch. We tried to play some soothing music (for the record Nepali women are not the biggest Adele fans, I know, shocking), but it was slightly hard to set the mood when there are 19 women painting with 10 children, two babies, and three machetes for cutting the rice surrounding them. In the end we had over 30 paintings of all types of aspect of nature, each one more impressive than I could ever make (which does not say much because I can barely even draw a circle, but you get the idea). They all seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves because for once the activity was just about them and although it is not likely hey will go home and become the next Van Gogh, maybe a few of them were just a little bit more proud of themselves for the work they had done.
I am teaching English to a couple of the girls from that group at six in the morning because that is the only time they have free and it is so refreshing teaching students who want to learn. Many of the girls had to drop out of school to help with the family at a young age so although they are 16, they are much behind other people their age. I am also teaching teachers at a public school nearby ( meaning n top of a half hour hike up a mountain which for Nepalese people seems to mean right around the corner) and I have to come to understand how truly difficult English really is. There are so many rules and exceptions to the rules that are so ingrained in my mind but so challenging to teach. The class is made up of the principal and five other teachers who all have different levels of English and it is fun to watch this role reversal of teachers as students copying each other's work, shouting out answers when it is not their turn, and of course every time they want to reenter the classroom asking us "Miss, May I come in?" just as their students would do.
I am still trying to figure out the balance between where we as volunteers fit into the community and even more so into the volunteering role in general. NGO's have set up a complicated relationship with communities and in some areas have almost put organizations against eachother instead of working together. While at a women's group in the stone quarry I work with, one woman told us that another NGO has given the women pigs for income generation ( a term that gets used many times by a lot of people in this area but only few know what it actually means) and that our organization has only provided knowledge and questioned where that has gotten her. She wants physical and monetary things and looked at us in that moment as if she was the queen and we had not brought her the shiniest jewels. To me, it seems as if the process of giving in many respects is dis-empowering the women because it makes them dependent on the NGO and also makes some of them believe that money will be the key to fix them all of their problems. In many cases it will, being able to provide more food, better education for their children. However, it will not cure the HIV that they may have and not even know about it and it certainly will not stop their husbands from beating them at night. This is where knowledge does become a key role and if they know about where to get tested or how to use self defense, that could also greatly improve their lives. We are trying to slowly work with other NGOs in the area so that maybe a joint program with an emphasis on knowledge and with some financial backing so that a more sustainable, well rounded plan can be established and it is not a matter of which NGO is giving the best deal but rather a group of people with a common cause (The NGOs and the women), all working together. I will keep you updated on the progress ( if there is any). Sorry about all of the run on sentences and spelling errors! I can just see my sister's edits she would make. Miss you all!
Food for thought: At one of the girl's groups this week, we discussed the body of a woman, in regards to hormonal changes, the period, and pregnancy. Although the group is shy, we still asked if anyone had questions and I was surprised to see that one girl raised her hand. She asked "Why do so many babies die at birth?" The doctor we had invited to speak paused for a moment, not sure how to answer such a question and then used the only approach she saw fit, the medical, doctor voice we all hate to hear "There are many factors that can cause..." Although the answer was certainly appropriate, those of us in the room knew that in that moment the girl was probably thinking about a lot more than just the medical reasons for the loss of so many babies.
I am teaching English to a couple of the girls from that group at six in the morning because that is the only time they have free and it is so refreshing teaching students who want to learn. Many of the girls had to drop out of school to help with the family at a young age so although they are 16, they are much behind other people their age. I am also teaching teachers at a public school nearby ( meaning n top of a half hour hike up a mountain which for Nepalese people seems to mean right around the corner) and I have to come to understand how truly difficult English really is. There are so many rules and exceptions to the rules that are so ingrained in my mind but so challenging to teach. The class is made up of the principal and five other teachers who all have different levels of English and it is fun to watch this role reversal of teachers as students copying each other's work, shouting out answers when it is not their turn, and of course every time they want to reenter the classroom asking us "Miss, May I come in?" just as their students would do.
I am still trying to figure out the balance between where we as volunteers fit into the community and even more so into the volunteering role in general. NGO's have set up a complicated relationship with communities and in some areas have almost put organizations against eachother instead of working together. While at a women's group in the stone quarry I work with, one woman told us that another NGO has given the women pigs for income generation ( a term that gets used many times by a lot of people in this area but only few know what it actually means) and that our organization has only provided knowledge and questioned where that has gotten her. She wants physical and monetary things and looked at us in that moment as if she was the queen and we had not brought her the shiniest jewels. To me, it seems as if the process of giving in many respects is dis-empowering the women because it makes them dependent on the NGO and also makes some of them believe that money will be the key to fix them all of their problems. In many cases it will, being able to provide more food, better education for their children. However, it will not cure the HIV that they may have and not even know about it and it certainly will not stop their husbands from beating them at night. This is where knowledge does become a key role and if they know about where to get tested or how to use self defense, that could also greatly improve their lives. We are trying to slowly work with other NGOs in the area so that maybe a joint program with an emphasis on knowledge and with some financial backing so that a more sustainable, well rounded plan can be established and it is not a matter of which NGO is giving the best deal but rather a group of people with a common cause (The NGOs and the women), all working together. I will keep you updated on the progress ( if there is any). Sorry about all of the run on sentences and spelling errors! I can just see my sister's edits she would make. Miss you all!
Food for thought: At one of the girl's groups this week, we discussed the body of a woman, in regards to hormonal changes, the period, and pregnancy. Although the group is shy, we still asked if anyone had questions and I was surprised to see that one girl raised her hand. She asked "Why do so many babies die at birth?" The doctor we had invited to speak paused for a moment, not sure how to answer such a question and then used the only approach she saw fit, the medical, doctor voice we all hate to hear "There are many factors that can cause..." Although the answer was certainly appropriate, those of us in the room knew that in that moment the girl was probably thinking about a lot more than just the medical reasons for the loss of so many babies.
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