Thoughts

This trip was truly amazing! I knew that I will definitely feel good about helping people, making a difference, but the result of the trip was far beyond expectation. I didn't expect this trip has caused such an impact on me. This impact changed my values in life, changed my goals, and it has helped me to start a new chapter in my life!

There is no word for me to describe how I feel about voluntary work. You have to experience it on your own. Before this trip, I had a mission in my life to travel to 50 (or even 100) different countries. I love to see the world! Till date, I have covered 31 countries, an awesome number I think. To some of my friends, they called me a "Seasoned Traveller".

However, after this trip, my mission in my life changes slightly. I still want to see the world, but the focus is shifted, and doing voluntary work is also another way in seeing the world:

(1) It helps us to see "things" that we would not be able to see when we travelled to BIG cities in the world.

(2) It helps us to understand what we have today is not there by chance, there are people who are working hard to achieve that. Not everyone in this planet (called Earth) are privileged enough to share the same life style as us.

(3) It helps us to understand we cannot take things for granted. Treasure what we have.

(4) It helps us to understand one can be happy by leading a simple life. No computer games, no entertainment, nothing in the materialistic world! Isn't that ironic? People in the cities are working very hard day and night in order to be happy. These villagers are happy, contented for being simple.

So, doing voluntary work can also fulfill my dream of seeing the world.

Where do I go from here? What else can we do to help?
I will definitely be back to Padam Pokhari, so that I can do more.

Some volunteers like to go to different places to help different people, so that they can reach out to more people. This is really nice, and I admire their spirit for lending their helping hands to others WIDELY.

Some people like to donate money, clothes, stationery and other necessities, to the poor. These are very kind gestures, and I thanked these people for their generous donations/contributions. These can definitely help the poor to improve their life.

As for me, I prefer to go back to Padam Pokhari. I see that there are much things we could do to help the people there. This trip is my first volunteer trip overseas, and I don't know what to expect. Now, I know that place better, I know the situations/conditions better, I hope that I can do a bit more in my future trips. You may also lend your hands to the poor ones. I want to share this happiness (of helping others) with you, so that you can only feel the same as me. I wish that we could help the poor ones DEEPLY.

As written in my facebook, I have two new goals in life:
(1) To help the poor ones
(2) To help others who wish to help.
For goal no (2), I have many friends who always wish to help, but they have no time due to family/work commitment. They can help in many different ways, no need to be physically there overseas in order to help. I am hoping that I am offering this channel for them to lend their hands to the poor.

There are many ways in helping them. Donation is one way. We shall continue to donate what could be helpful and relevant to the villagers. I am just a bit concern that donation may result in making the villagers more dependent on external assistance (from charitable organisations and volunteers). What I think is more important is "how we could help the villagers to help themselves?" What could we offer to the villagers so that their life can be improved, by their own effort? How can we help to make them independent?

I have been to Nepal in 1998, to trek the Annapurna Base Camp trek. 11 years later (in 2009), I arrived at Kathmandu (the capital city) again, and I am abit surprised that I cannot see any noticeable improvements. It doesn't seem that the Kathmandu city has developed. Maybe I am wrong, because my focus is narrow, I only see Thamel and surrounding area. There may be some other improvements which I didn't see. But if, only if my observation is correct, then .... ? (fill up the blanks yourself)

Off hand, there are a few pointers in my mind, which I want to do or try to do:
(1) Make a point to visit Padam Pokhari again, at least for a few more times.
(2) Bring students/colleagues from my school there to do voluntary work.
(3) Influence friends to join me in voluntary work there.

Some possible goals for the trip may be:
(1) Donation of money, or any necessities for their daily life consumption
(2) Educate the villagers (English, Mathematics). Since there are farmers, is it possible to educate them in better or more advanced farming skills, to improve their harvest? Maybe our School of LSCT (Horticulture) can help? Just a wild idea.
(3) Donation of old computers and setup a computer lab in the village, and at the same time, teach them on computer skills?
(4) Volunteers teaching English in the school. Learning English can be fun, how to teach and learn in a fun manner? I think our School of IS in NP have brilliant ideas on how to make learning fun. I feel that another possible mission can be having our lecturers to be there in the school, to educate/teach the teachers on new innovative ways of teaching. This will benefit them (both the schools and the students) in the long run.
(5) Perform Needs Analysis on the Health Post. I have not visited the Health Post during my trip, but I heard from other volunteers that the equipments are not proper, and some medical supplies may be insufficient.
(6) Make the Library House as a meeting place for villagers. The villagers can go to the Library to interact, to learn (classes like Massage Course, taking care of babies/childrens, English, Mathematics, General Knowledge). Make it as a game/sports centre, make a small soccer field, a small basketball court, etc. Setup a mini-cafe there, to serve drinks and snacks.

Possible Donation Items:
(1) Money. I personally dislike the idea of giving money directly to the villagers. We could use the money to buy stuff in Nepal, for them. If we are going to do some community work, we could also use the money to buy raw materials and necessary things for the community work. Just a wild idea, probably some of you can donate some money to me, to sponsor my trip partially (like the airfare).
(2) Old computers
(3) Old mobile phones
(4) Board Games, promoting development of the kids' brain
(5) Medical Supplies?

Donation Items which I may deem inappropriate:
(1) big items (reason: difficult to carry)
(2) heavy items (reason: may result in overweight, excess baggage penalty may be more expensive than the price of the items)
(3) new items which can be bought in Nepal in cheaper price (reason: there is no point buying new things in Singapore and bring there. It is better to bring money there, and buy the stuff there, to help in boost up their economy)

What can we do now?
(1) Fund-Raising? Get in touch with charitable organisation. Get students to raise funds.
(2) Start to gather donation items

Some of the above ideas are contributed by Faith Tay and Sandra Toh. Thanks Ladies for brainstorming with me. See? You have done your part to help too! You dont need to be physically there to help.

I need more support and ideas from all of you who are reading this. You can help, just do it!