Louise Murphy

From 15/09/2012 to 05/10/2012

My time spent at Light for Nepal Children’s Home was the most amazing experience of my life to date. I have endless fond memories of teaching the kids card games, playing cricket on the terrace, football in the study room, drawing pictures and teaching the kids to play an Irish tin whistle. The kids have a passion for learning and would even ask me for additional maths questions during homework time. I endeavored to help them to improve their English as unfortunately class-work home-work tends to extensively focus on the rote learning model, which does little to improve their spoken English or listening skills. Basic living in Nepal will encourage you to escape the materialistic nature of the Western world. I quickly grew to love (become accustomed to) the Nepali culture and lifestyle, including twice daily meals of ‘dahl baht’, cold showers, regular power cuts, crowded micro buses, street stalls, cups of ginger tea.…the list goes on. The Nepali people are so kind and welcoming and would always go out of their way to assist me- whether it was showing me to the bus stop, bringing me to an air-conditioned room while waiting for the Prince’s wife to arrive or inviting me in for dinner in their family home. I was lucky enough to experience the Teej Festival (a festival for women) during my first week, where women singing and dancing in beautiful red saris is common-place. I was immersed in Nepali culture and despite my pasty, white skin, I felt like I fit in with my sari, henna and red, rice tikka. When walking home to the orphanage, we joined a group of about 20 women walking along the road, who were singing and stopping to dance every now and then. My shyness was short-lived as I was encouraged to get up and dance in front of all on numerous occasions. I have so many great memories of my time in Nepal and I will never forget the children at LFN children’s home. Seeing their happy and excited faces everyday was such a heart-warming experience.