MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 1

The dust has settled in Nepal (well, as much as it does in the lead up to the beginning of the monsoon!), we have caught our breaths, and the team from MLC Sydney have returned safe and sound to Australia. We spent a truly fantastic 5 days with the group working on various service projects and we were truly inspired by the energy and enthusiasm the girls brought to each task. Visiting Nepal for the first time is exhausting enough for any tourist but when you combine that with some of the challenging sights and stories confronted by the girls during their work, it really becomes a life changing experience.

I will post an entry for each of the 5 days as each one was unique and full of fun and excitement. We also collected many great photos and movie clips and I am working on posting these to a special section on our website for everyone to see.


The group had spent the previous week trekking so day 1 of their service project was set up to allow a relatively easy transition into the week’s work, but there is nothing easy about visiting an orphanage in a country like Nepal. The girls were first introduced to a number of rooms full of orphaned children ranging in age from 2 weeks to 3 years old. I could see on many of the girl’s faces the despair as they realised that many of these kids have never known a mother or father and will probably remain in the orphanage until they are adults.

After spending some time cuddling and playing with the babies and learning more about what it means to be an orphan in Nepal, we took the group to the play room where around 40 excited kids were waiting for their ‘performance’. And what a performance it was. The girls and some of the parents and teachers had put together a brilliant program on the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness. The opening song taught them how to say ‘hello’ in Australia – “In Australia, we say ‘G’Day, how are you going?’”. Then came a stellar performance from puppet Dr Amy who had the children in stitches of laughter. By the end of the first part the children knew exactly what to shout when asked “what are germs?”, “BAD!” came their reply. “Where are they?”, was instantly responded to with “EVERYWHERE!” “What is soap?” was immediately followed by squeals of “GOOD!”

Upon completion of Dr Amy’s presentation it was time to divide the kids into groups and they set to work on various art and craft activities related to what they had learnt. The room soon transformed into a whirl of activity pierced with cries of “more glue!” and “scissors please!” By the end of it we had all kinds of posters, drawings, find-a-words and message chains declaring the personal hygiene mantras. Once we had decorated the TV room with the artworks (as well as placing a few in choice positions outside the toilet areas) it was time to bid farewell and let the kids have their dinner.

I think everyone was sad that the afternoon had to come to an end. The success of the program was obvious by the size of the smiles on the kids’ faces thanks to an obviously huge amount of preparation and thought put into it by the MLC group. Their energy was immediately apparent and the kids picked up on this and responded in kind. It really was a life changing experience in the best possible way for everyone involved.