Anna completed her ICS placement in Nepal a year ago, as a youth reporter alumni she continues to contribute to our blog.
I have been reminiscing lately on my time in Nepal. Next month, it will be a year since my ICS placement with Restless Development. I am still in touch with many of the volunteers, both International and N
This is one of my favourite images from my time in Nepal because it was taken whilst we were moving to our communities. We had all just finished our training, we had slung our bags on the roofs of the cars and we were driving in convoy to our different communities. We had no idea where we were going, who we were meeting, what our homes were going to be like, what our schools were going to look like, but we were so excited for our journey ahead. Although this was the part we were going our separate ways, we knew the next time we would be reunited, we would have had experienced something we never had before.
“This is one of my favourites pictures from my placement in Nepal. I chose this picture because this was the day our child marriage rally took place and I remember I was so happy as it was such a success. I felt that I was doing such a great thing and raising awareness for such a huge issue in our community. It was a day that made me realise how much of a difference we making by being there!” – Ancuta Rusu
This is our litter pick. I never thought this would be successful, but one amazing action, kids working hard, they made this successful! – Sujan Maharjan
This is the first photo I took when arriving
to my placement. It is probably my favourite photograph because you can see the house I lived in, the land where my food grew and the mountains that surrounded my community and made me feel so safe. What you cannot seeis the days we spent walking along that path to school, hand in hand with the children. The morning runs across the valley and yoga on the rooftop to clear our minds. You cannot see us running around the house playing our games, sitting inside the house making posters, relaxing on the rooftop after the sun went down looking at the stars, learning Nepalese dances, or watching crazy lighting storms. You cannot see the friendships and bonds that were made, but this picture reminds me of it all. – Lydia Mawdsley
Me and Lila had just come back from a really challenging lesson with grade 8 and we were both tired and pretty demotivated, and these cute baby goats had just been born a few days ago and they cheered us up so much. It was just the pick me up I needed. – Rukaiya Hassanali
This is a picture from Grade 7 during one of our
in school sessions, while we were teaching about Setting Goals. Teaching non-formal education is not the easiest thing, especially when there is a language barrier. We had to find some more creative ways to be able to engage the children.
“Our team-leader suggested trying charades, which was a real success. We split the children into 2 teams and they had to act out their biggest dreams while the other team had to guess. Everybody loved it and it was a fun way to connect with the children. After the game they wrote a commitment contract and made a step-by-step plan on how to achieve their goals. It was definitely one of my favourite sessions and I feel I learned so much with them that day. Coming from a country full of opportunity, I unconsciously assumed that children living in a small village in Nepal would have small dreams. I’m so happy to know I was wrong. To be a pilot, nurse, engineer, learn to play guitar or visit Japan, these are all achievable dreams. And they can make it happen, l know this now.” – Alina-Madalina Ungureanu
This was on a sports day we organised in
Bhardev at Shree Gupteshwor. I love this photograph.Usually it would bother me that the composition isn’t perfect, but the moment is so perfect to me, I love how happy the boys look. Their smiles light up my heart.” – Hiba Jung
