Dear sir,
I’m writing to you to give you an update on my travels so far, and to thank you again for giving me the scholarship, which has been a huge help so far!
I have now reached my final few days volunteering in Vietnam, and I leave to go travelling in the south on Wednesday. So far this has been the most incredible experience of my life! I started my journey in Nepal, where I lived in a Buddhist Nunnery and taught English to young monks. Nepal is an incredible country, however it is desperately poor, with more than one quarter of the population living below the poverty line, and everywhere you looked, buildings were still being repaired from the disastrous earthquake two years ago. Compared to a very high number of the general population, the nuns are very fortunate. They get fed amazing Nepali food three times a day (and a sweet snack at tea time!) and live in good conditions in the nunnery. However, most of the children are there because their parents either did not want them, or were simply too poor to look after them. Therefore since the other volunteers and I lived in the monastery, we became much more than teachers to them, and spent lots of time playing, singing, dancing and eating with them. I honestly think this was as big a part of the volunteering as the teaching itself.
In regards to the teaching; it’s safe to say it was a challenge! Although the children loved going to class, and would ask every morning if they were having it, they were very difficult to control! Since the nuns don’t really have a mother figure as such, they need to be very stubborn to get what they want, when constantly competing with the other girls. In any other situation, I would say this was an admirable quality, but when everyone is arguing over one blue crayon, things get a bit more tricky! Amongst the girls there was a huge range of age and abilities. The youngest girl was called Chindo, and she was only 4 years old! I have to admit she was the most incredible 4 year old I’ve ever met! And more independent than every some of my friends! She, just like all the others, had to wash her own bowl and cup after meals, clean her room, and even hand wash her own clothes (washing machines aren’t common in Nepal). The oldest of our pupils was around 16. There were 3 different classes, and I alternated between teaching the nursery (/ children with minimal English) class, and the middle class, where the youngest was 7 and the oldest 12, and the ability ranged from being barely able to identify shapes, to some being able to hold a decent conversation. I would definitely say the younger class was the most challenging as they had pretty much no English, and we had no Nepali , communicating ideas was incredibly difficult! We mainly focused on teaching them colours, animals and basic foods, such as fruits. A lot of the time we did colouring in and singing and dancing with them, since a lot of them were so young! They also would wander off during classes! You’d turn your back on a class of 10, and turn back to find a class of 6 remaining! This was one of the main problems of having class outside!! However, when you did manage to find, explain and get them to concentrate on an activity, it was a very rewarding experience.
The middle class were much easier to teach, and given their more advanced level of English, they were able to follow activities very well, even though there’s no denying they were still very hard to control! This class needed much more structure, and every morning because class began, we would have to lesson plan. Since none of us had any teaching experience, it was a process of trial and error, however we made real progress and came up with fun ways to teach slightly more advanced things like body parts, directions, and more difficult shapes. I was very sorry to leave teaching, and the nuns behind me. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Immediately from the nunnery, I was met by the trekking company who I was travelling with. I can easily say that without a doubt the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek to Annapurna Base Camp was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. It was truly phenomenal, to the extent where I can’t even put it to words. I’m so glad I had the chance to experience it. It’s something I’ll never forget.
After my two week trek, I left Nepal for Vietnam. Although originally I was supposed to be teaching English in Vietnam as well, when I got to Hanoi I was assigned a childcare project since that is where they most needed people. I lived in a house with about 20 other volunteers which was owned by a local NGO called The Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) who sent volunteers to support various teaching, childcare, NGO or hospital placements to volunteer and help anyway possible. I was working at the Centre for the Future of Autistic Children. It would be lying to say that working at the centre wasn’t a challenge at times as the children we helped were severely autistic, and the culture of childcare is very different to back in the UK. We mainly played with the children, helped with basic skills, helped with feeding the children at meal times and provided general support to the permanent staff. Since many of them had minimal communication skills, and little to no speech, there were admittedly times where we were frustrated at not being able to do more to help. However, I strongly believe that the kindness and affection that we showed the children, which is lacking in childcare in Vietnam, truly brought joy and happiness to the children. I’m so thankful for the money I received towards my trip, as it more or less covered the cost of my project in Vietnam, which was so amazing.
After leaving the project, I will travel the length of the east coast in just over two weeks with another girl, who I met whilst volunteering in Nepal. We’re starting in Phu Quoc, where I will spend my 19th birthday! Then we plan to go to Ho Chi Minh, Mui Ne, Dalat, Hoi An, Hue, and finally back to Hanoi. I’m so excited to be travelling, but I’m sad about leaving the volunteer house and my project as I know I’ll miss the amazing friends I’ve made, and the children at the project who I had a really great bond with.
I want to thank you again for your support, it genuinely made a significant impact on my trip and helped me have some experiences that will stay with me forever.
