My last 48 hours in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak - Kathmandu
PROJECT: Health projects
WRITTEN BY: Trent Cutts

I am sitting in the airport with 2 hours to spare before my flight home via Singapore. It has been a hectic morning saying goodbye to the crew that headed to Pokhara
trekking and to my Nepali family. It has been a fairly emotional 48 hours for everyone as they come to the conclusion of what has been an incredible and character building
experience. Over the past few days the group has had some time do some Christmas shopping, take in some last minute sites around Kathmandu and finally, reflect upon
the previous 4 weeks. I think that it will not be until we are home and hosed, sitting around in comfort with our family's and friends that we will truly appreciate the
adventure we just 'took'.


Our last week was spent at two schools where we implemented a health education program. We took to the classrooms in our traditional Nepali outfits we bought in our
first few days. The topics we taught included hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, disease prevention and transmission and how to care for the environment (something that
needs a lot of work in Nepal). Most of us were pretty cooked by the end of the week. Teaching is tough at the best of times but with the children having difficulty
understanding our English we had to work hard to get our message across. As difficult as the task was we felt as though our efforts had been very worthwhile. At the end
of the week we also had the opportunity to hand over our funds that were raised for the water purification system at Shree Dhapasi Lower secondary school and see the
final product in action. It was great to see something tangible come of the efforts of the group.

In my final 24hours, I said goodbye to two family's who have had a profound effect on me. The first is the family of my friend Shanker who guided me into the Annapurna
sanctuary and subsequently guided the Antips crew to Lumbini, Chitwan, Nagarkot, and Bhaktapur. I was humbled to be invited to have dinner with his family last night. He
lives with his wife and two teenage sons in a room very close to the tourism heart of Kathmandu, Thamel. The room itself is not much bigger than your average Australian
bedroom yet it is where they sleep, eat and cook. Shanker earns a modest wage guiding tourists around the mountains and cities of Nepal. Any money that does not go to
living costs goes to his sons education. Shanker is possibly the most generous, humble and honest man I have met and I count myself very lucky to have met him and his
family.

The second family is my host family. James and I were looked after as if we were their own. The breakfast I had this morning with them was not only my last Dahl baht in
Nepal, it was the best Dahl baht I had in my 7 and a half weeks here! Didi (my Nepali sister) also made amazing rice pudding to top it off! Aamaa blessed James and i and
put a tikka on our forehead along with a garland made of marigold flowers around our necks. It was a pretty emotional occasion. I am so thankful to them for their warmth
and care during the four weeks we were with them.

I have been thinking about how I will describe the experience I have had to the people at home. I have no idea how I will be able to put it in a nutshell. I asked the group
last night how they would describe the last 4 weeks. Humbling, saddening, exhilarating, unexpected and nausea were all words that we thrown out there. One word
everyone agreed on was bizarre. That probably best encapsulates it. Have a merry Christmas and new year everyone, looking forward to my Big Mac!"

Cheers,
Nuzy (: