Day 2 Adventures

After a relatively gentle introduction to their work on Tuesday it was full steam ahead for the visitors from Australia on Wednesday as we travelled by bus to Phulbari to meet around 60 of Mitrataa's Dream Catchers scholarship girls.

The bus ride took almost 3 hours due to some traffic and a very rough patch climbing the hills into the village but it was worth it when we finally arrived at the top of the ridge to be greeted by most of the village, a lovely cool breeze and some fresh air! First stop was a visit to the local school where we each received a garland and walked through a tunnel of clapping students. It was fantastic to see that the school was as clean as we had left it after last year's clean-up campaign by MLC. We had a quick look around the school and showed the visitors the murals MLC had painted last year - it was great to see that this had inspired the school to start putting more of the students' art on the classroom walls.

We then proceeded up a hill to our lunch destination, a lovely courtyard at the entrance to a big organic fruit and vegetable garden. Lunch consisted of mostly local produce from the garden and was as good a dahl bhat as you would find anywhere in Nepal. As everyone then had tummies full of rice and curry we decided to wait a while before starting the day's activities - the Phulbari Olympics!

At the top of the hill inside the organic garden was a shaded area where we all sat and were treated to some singing and dancing by the local girls. This was a great way to get the normally shy girls warmed up and it didn't take them long. Of course it was then expected that the Australians would also perform so they hastily made plans and sang fantastic renditions of Kookaburra, Waltzing Matilda and Home Among The Gum Trees. The last one was particularly popular thanks to the entertaining actions that go with each line!

It was then time for the real fun to begin. We divided the girls into 5 groups and they each had to choose a country as their team name but they were not allowed to choose Nepal or Australia. Canada, Korea, USA, China and Singapore were chosen and with that the games began.

The 5 teams had to move through 6 stations covering cup stacking, three-legged race, wheel barrow race, balloon race, 'beach' flag sprint and captain ball. It was hilarious to watch the chaos that ensued as most of the girls had clearly never seen any of these games before. They all gave it their best shot however as their team pride was at stake. In some cases it was even more entertaining when the Australians tried to demonstrate the activities as in the case of the three-legged race!

After a good hour and a half of craziness in the hot afternoon sun the Phulbari Olympics drew to a close and it was time to present the winners with their prizes. All girls received a participation certificate and a gold medal sticker however there were extra prizes for the top 3 teams. Canada was in 3rd position, Singapore came in 2nd, and perhaps no surprise the USA finished on top! The afternoon was a great success and demonstrated to the kids and their teachers that you can have a lot of fun with very minimal amounts of equipment or resources.

We finished with some group photos before making our way back to the bus for the bumpy ride back to Kathmandu. There were clearly some cases of heat stroke as some very ordinary joke telling, trivia questions and singing took place to pass the time as the bus crawled through a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city. I'm sure the group slept very well that night!

Picnic in Phulbari

Saturday brought a complete change of pace for Sarah and D as we held a picnic for those girls with scholarships to go to school outside of Kathmandu. This group comprised 30 girls from Bhaktapur, Panauti and Phulbari. The picnic was held in the village of Phulbari, nearby to the school we have been working with there. It was organised with the help of Rabindra Puri, one of our partners in Nepal, and his team of ever helpful and enthusiastic staff.

We first had to make our way to Bhaktapur to meet the bus that would take us and some of the girls the rest of the way. Fuel shortages have become such a problem in Nepal that the queue of vehicles on the highway actually blocked the entire road at one point. Fortunately we had a taxi driver who thought nothing of driving off into a field at the side of the road and despite almost becoming bogged a number of times, he successfully managed to navigate us past the jam and back onto the road safely. In Bhaktapur there was time for a few quick photos around Durbar Square before we joined the bus and were on our way. Once on the highway climbing out of the valley the driver turned on some very loud Nepali pop music and the atmosphere was complete. Wind blowing on our faces, rice paddies and mud huts perched on the hillside, and a bus full of Nepali girls singing at full volume!

We were greeted enthusiastically in Phulbari by the girls from the school there as well as a number of curious villagers. We walked a small way up the hill to our lunch destination – a local restaurant that has its own organic farm garden on the hillside. Rabindra decided to get things going by starting a game in which each person had to say their name followed by a unique hand gesture. The trick was that the next person had to recite all of the names before them including their gestures. The worst part was that we were towards the end of about 45 people! Fortunately Rabindra sensed our growing anxiety and changed the rules half way through so that each person only had to recite any 5 names and gestures of the people before them.

Once introductions were complete and everyone was in fits of laughter (the hand gestures became more elaborate and ridiculous as the game wore on!), it was time for some traditional folk songs and even some dancing. Some girls were more shy than others to be involved but there were others who were unstoppable. Before long everyone was clapping and singing along and the songs just kept coming. This was a great way to work up our hunger and thankfully after an hour of songs lunch was served. We all piled our plates with a delicious dahl bhat including vegetables and curry made from items grown in the organic garden. It really was one of the tastiest dahl bhats I have ever enjoyed.

With full stomachs we set off up the hill to the helipad that would be our playground for the afternoon. Walking through the organic garden was truly magic, it was so lush and peaceful and looked out over the valley to the north. On a clear day you can see a sweeping vista of the Himalayas from here but this is not the time of year for that, nonetheless the view was beautiful. When we reached the top the view extended for a full 360˚ and was truly breathtaking. Hard to imagine a more inspiring a spot to play sport anywhere in the world!

Sarah and D had brought some games to play with the girls including badminton and rounders (like softball). Some of the girls immediately started a game of badminton but with the three of us demonstrating, a few of them gradually took an interest in rounders as well. Soon there were balls flying everywhere and girls running and screaming with delight all over the field. It was amazing to just stand back and watch all of the girls having so much fun for an afternoon without a care in the world. We should remember that these girls come from extremely poor backgrounds and many live in pretty awful conditions. To give them a day like this was truly special and it is a memory they will always cherish. Many new friendships were made and it was great to see everyone playing together without concern for religion or caste etc.

All too soon the sun began to approach the hills to the west and we had to bring the games to an end. After a quick cup of tea and tour of the Phulbari school we piled back on to the bus and started making our way down the rocky dirt track, music blaring and the singing louder than ever. By now D had managed to learn some of the words so she joined in and even taught the girls some interesting new dance moves!


Our very special thanks must go to Sarah and D for sharing in such a fantastic day and for donating the sports equipment to the school in Phulbari. We must also thank Rabindra and his team for organising everything and helping to make the day such a resounding success! We plan this to have been the first of many such days in the future.