It all comes together - day 4

Geplaatst op 08 maart 2020 om 06:52 uur

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Rain in Kathmandu! After waking up, I already felt it was quite chilly. Looking outside I noticed that it was raining. Being Dutch, we manage rain. So no problem! 

I know that I am repeating myself, but again this day was an amazing day! We started off with some reflection, with the question: 'With what kind of feeling do you want to go home today?' Because we learned from our experience of the last couple of days, we knew that we had to give them some time to think about an answer to this question. We decided to give them 15 minutes, told them to do this task individually, and write their answer down. 
Afterwards we came back in the circle, and we gave everyone a maximum of 3 minutes to share their answer to this question. It became a combination of answering this question, and sharing what everyone had learned from the training. For us very good to hear, because we can use this as an evaluation as well. It was great to hear everyone speak up, and share their answers and ideas. We already saw some changes in the people, especially with the women. In the beginning most of them spoke with a very soft voice, but now they were more clear and powerful. What an achievement!

After this we did another exercise. This time with a rope. They had to work in two groups at first, once with speaking and once without speaking. After succeeding in finishing the task, they were joined together and had to work as one group. It was great to see that the more we do these kind of exercises, the more people actively participate in one way or another. Actually: they all participated now in an active way! 

Then it was time for lunch already. Since it is quite a cold day, we also ordered some hot drinks to warm us up. 

In the afternoon we did one more exercise, which took the whole afternoon. At first we thought they might not be able to finish the exercise, but in the end they all did. We could not have been more proud of all of them! 
After this it was time to reflect one more time on the whole day, again with some questions that we had prepared. And that was it! Training over. It was now time to hand out the certificates that we had prepared for them. 

The trainees had also prepared a big thank you for us. Every student gave us khata, which is a traditional, ceremonial scarf. They use it for example for welcoming someone, but also for thanking someone and wishing them a pleasant and safe journey. In the end we both had around 20 scarves wrapped around our necks, which was an amazing feeling. The whole ceremony made me quite emotional (yes, again tears!), because I really felt the gratitude that the trainees have and the pleasure they had during the training itself. We also received a very beautiful gift, made by women from Dolpo. It is a purse. And really, so beautiful! 

After this ceremony, we had tea and aloo roti together one final time. What an amazing feeling this is also: sitting with each other on the floor, having tea, sitting close together and enjoying food. One of the trainees started singing. The voice of an angel! She sang an English song, one Nepali song and one Korean song (K-pop). We all loved it a lot! 

And then...departure time! We had to say goodbye to all of them, because this was (for now) the final day of our training. I had such an amazing time, and I also learned so much from these people! The most important thing I always learn when I am in Nepal (or India for that matter), is that it is very important to develop yourself as an individual, but you definitely need the community to do so. The community that these people over here have, is so, so strong! And that makes you move forward as well. This element should never be lost, and this is also what I stressed to all of these young people. Develop yourself, but do not forget your heritage and community, and use this as a strength! 

After this, I went back to the hostel. I was invited by four ladies that work here for a couple of months to do volunteer work, to join them for dinner. The night before I invited two of them to join me, so now they invited me as well. So nice! We went to a very local restaurant, with only Nepali people. We were the only foreigners. The food was great! I had vegetable thukpa, some kind of noodle soup with vegetables. I eat this a lot here, because it is super tasty. I also had a coke with it (my mantra when I am in Asia is: one coke a day keeps the doctor away), and in the end I had to pay around ONE EURO. Only 1 euro for a great meal, AND a drink! Unbelievable...

Off to bed early, since I was quite tired. Tomorrow another day, having lunch in Thamel with Gerrit and a woman from Nepal. Let's see what the day brings! 

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