First Post-Earthquake Volunteering program in Chandani Village

Crooked Trails guides Tanner and Kolena send this latest post as the first ever group of volunteers to come to Chandani Village for earthquake relief after the Earthquake.

We are still enrolling for the December 2015 and April 2016 Rebuilding Trips in Nepal!

Welcome from Nepal ! We don’t know where to begin with. If we have to describe about our first week in Nepal in a nutshell, it will probably be centered around being mortified by how insufficient we assumed about this appealingly complicated country.

When we left for Kathmandu from Seattle, we were full of mixed emotions. But once we made it here and were bumping along the roads to Chandani,we felt nothing but excitement,anticipation and appreciation. The opportunity to learn about a new place as well as enroll ourselves in the rebuilding works was like a dream come true for us. The villagers were warm and welcoming. They greeted us with a whirlwind of handshakes, hugs and chorus of children’s voice asking,”What is your Name?”. In no time after settling down our stuffs and luggages, we rushed to the school to get started with our work.

We met our team for the first time there. Our team comprised of some selfless volunteers who were covered head to toe in dirt and cement dust. Lyle, Jeanette, Rosyln, Anne, Emi, Karin, and Jody – a mixed group of individuals to work with. We began our work by excavating the first floor of the school. Our only work for the rest of the week was to make the room look like classroom again by removing like thousand tons of dirt from the space. We used to work persistently for hours and were even accompanied by the school staff, student and folks.The co-operative gesture by everyone made us forget about our back-ache and only treasure the bond we made. We felt really proud to be a part of a true instance of joint teamwork.

The reward for our hard effort was a golden opportunity of spending quality time with our host families in their homes. The feeling was terrific. We were served delicacies like tea, dal-bhat, etc. We felt really delighted and honored to be able to touch the lives of hundreds of people through our small deed. People were literally trying to bond with us by communicating with us in broken english and even more broken Nepali. Chandani Village is a vigorous community, one that has gone through inconceivable catastrophes lately. But it was amazing to see how people were trying to dig themselves from the rubble of an earthquake. Earthquake shook their homes but not their spirits. Eventually, we departed with genuine appreciation and acknowledgment from the villagers. We were going back but with a treasure of memories and remembrances.

If we look back to our experience of being in Chandani Village, it was a very unique and overwhelming experience. Chandani Village has a very good potential and we look forward to being a part of unleashing the potential for the world to see it. We were motivated by our time there and we hope to work with KEEP Nepal in shaping a new future for Chandani. A future created by people who are more willing, amazing, radiant, and loving like no place we have been.

This journey is just a beginning to tons of other journeys. We look forward to working for people who have taken us in as their own family. At the end of the day, our main motive is to give what skills and knowledge we have to help Nepal recover, outshine and rise. If our little effort can make a difference, then why not?

We want to express our sincere gratitude to everyone in Chandani Village for the overwhelming hospitality. We would also like to thank Arjun and Tara at Keep Nepal for taking care of us and answering our multitude of questions. Also thanks to all of you for following along as we look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks.

Source : Crooked Trails