VaaO episode 6: 10/12/2016 - 'Creativeness overloaded'

Today was our 6th day at the orphanage. Today we did lots of different engaging activities. At first we gave each child a balloon, which we had bought for them. They all enjoyed inflating it and then asking us to tie it for them. This was our starter activity- to get them active and going. Then we played some music and then gave the kids books to read for sometime- some read books and some played with the football. Later, we gave them drawings to color and blank pieces of paper to the ones who wanted to draw. Results were fascinating! (pictures attached). While most of the kids were drawing or colouring, a few kids were sitting in the other side of the room. I went there and I saw them play with the football, basically what they did was they flipped around one of the chair and used it as a basket and use the football as a ball and played basketball. (Picture attached). This was such an innovative and creative idea- literally they played basketball with a chair and a football! We all were very happy to see those kids be so creative! Towards the end, we gave them the pack of juice we had brought for each kid, they enjoyed it! Also, I have a few stars of the day; who came up with the idea of the basketball game:

1. His name is Sowropp Tuladhar, he is years 8 old studying at Kantipuri school
2. His name is Sabin Magar, he is 13 years old studying at Kantipuri school

Today was really fun overall!

VaaO episode 5: 3/12/2016 - 'Beautiful Bracelets'

Finally after 8 weeks we went to the orphanage today :( We couldn’t go firstly for the 4 weeks because of dashain- we had gone outside and also the kids of the orphanage were gone away for their holiday. After that we had a school charity activity which we had to attend from our school for the next 2 weekends. Then in the previous 2 weeks the students at the orphanage had gone for a picnic so we couldn’t go :(

Today, we reached there at 11:00 pm, the kids were excited to see us and they all said “Namaste” to us. Seeing those children always makes me happy since they always look very excited and eager to learn from us. They expect a lot from us and we expect a lot from them too! After reaching the orphanage we first made tang for them and served them tang. We had music playing in the background so they enjoyed and were engaged as well as  entertained. Then we kept the reading books we had for them on one table and they came and picked one and started reading. Some students who probably didn’t enjoy reading much they played with the football which we had brought for them. After sometime one of my friend had brought a box which had items to make bracelets. All the children were very excited, they all ran towards us, which made me immensely happy. We guided them at first on the steps to make the bracelets and then they were so smart on their own that they didn’t even need our guidance later on. Each and every student made a bracelet for themselves. After making the bracelets, we did the mannequin challenge with them (video attached), which they hopefully enjoyed. Last but not the least we had a few colour pencils, so some of them drew very nice pictures and some played games with their friends such as tic-tac-toe and hangman. Me and one of my friend went outside and played football with the “sporty” kids who were eager to play football for sometime. (Pictures attached!).
We all finished by 1 pm.

All of us enjoyed these 2 hours spent with these astounding, astonishing and awe-inspiring children. We hope to see them again next week!

An educational essay I had written last year:

HOW TO REDUCE HUNGER IN TANZANIA - ESSAY. 

Tanzania is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and the Indian Ocean. Tanzania borrowed money from MEDC's -> lack of money. The interest rates later rose and Tanzania couldn't pay back. Cuts were made to public services by the MEDC's. The number people in the population rose without any education. Education lack lead to poor land management; not enough money-> malnutrition. Which lastly meant that it created hunger in the country. Low income lead to poverty which then lead to low intake of food. Diseases like Marasmus and Kwashiorkor spread out to children's; disabilities. This meant that they can't work properly later on and have a very low income. This is the poverty cycle which kept on happening. 27,000 deaths of children PER DAY! Can you believe it?

 I believe that the best solution to reduce hunger in Tanzania is Farm Africa! This will help them because they teach adults and children how to manage their own livestock and crops in a sustainable and profitable way, befitting the whole community. Improved ways to manage their crops, livestock, forests and access to water. They will be provided by a goat which will cost Farm Africa thirty pounds per goat! Therefore, this will reduce the amount of hunger because they can profit by selling the crops at a high price since they will be very good quality. They can also sell the milk which they are getting by the goat; 3X more than a cow, to the people and earn money from it and use it for their children's education. Their children would be provided with pure nutritious milk which will be a good diet for them and enough protein for the day. This option is sustainable because it helps the locals education and education is something which can be passed onto generations. Education is the key thing to life.

 The reason why I rejected the other three options was because the other three options were not as sustainable as this one. They were also not very profitable. Firstly, I rejected drop the debt because it was not a very sensible idea since the MEDC who the LEDC has borrowed money from would not want to lose all their money which they lend to the LEDC’s. Another problem was even if the MEDC agrees to not have the money they gave back, it would still not be helpful to the LEDC because they are not yet developed; they still need money. It will not progress the development of the country by doing this. Secondly, I rejected Alternative food sources because it is not environmentally sustainable option because if the people have not grown up eating insects then they will not be able to eat insects for all their meals and it will disgusting as well. If we would have grown up with eating insects then it would be normal for us to eat insects and we would love it. If we all eat insects at a regular basis then the insects we eat will be extinct and we would run out of them, so it is not sustainable. Lastly, I rejected Family planning group because it is not socially sustainable. You can’t just go up to a family and say that you are only allowed to have 2 kids per family and teach them about having safe sex. This option also involves money but no one is financially supporting it.

 However, there is one disadvantage of my decision which is that Farm Africa needs a very big company to financially support them because all the equipment for farming which they will be giving out to the farmers will cost them a lot of money. Paying 30 pounds per goat will not be cheap as well, so they will need a lot of money and great donations from very rich organisations.

 There are some good points about my rejected options they are, drop the debt will help the LEDC for a time that they will not have to pay the money back and losing much more money than they borrowed which will very strongly financially support them for a short period of time. Alternative food source would be a good thing to do since it will mean that nobody will be hungry and the food will not be unaffordable for the poor people. It will be eating insects which will have much higher nutrition than normal food, it will also be convenient to grow, keep and sell. It would save a lot of time and money. Family planning would be a good option because it will never cause overpopulation and if there will be less humans in the society then less food would be consumed. It would also reduce the number of child death rates.

 In conclusion, I believe that the best option for Tanzania would be Farm Africa because it is the most sustainable and profitable out of the four even though it is a bit expensive and would have some financial problems. Farm Africa would not harm the environment or the people in the society at all so I think it is the best option to reduce the hunger in Tanzania.


Written by- Shreyas Agrawal Y-9B

VaaO episode 4: 01/10/2016 - 'Tattoo making'

Today was the 4th day of us visiting the orphanage. It is very fun when we go every week to an orphanage to help children, it is an honour to be able to attend and a golden opportunity. This week we were running a bit short on time since most of our team members needed to leave at 12 PM instead of 1 PM, so we only did the activity for 1 hour this week. That 1 hour was more than enough to give us satisfaction and make the children have a happy time and day! In that 1 hour we managed to do various activities efficiently. The main activities we did were:

• Tattoo making on their hands.
• Coloring
• Music and dance
• Reading
• Played football
• Team building activities
• They watched us do cards tricks
• Distribution of pen and pencil to the children by us.

At the end of our activities we wished them happy Dashain (a very big and famous festival in Nepal at this time of the year). We also told them that we would not be coming for the next 3 weeks because it is Dashain and we had holidays from school, some members were going on a holiday but most importantly, most children won’t be there and they would be going somewhere for Dashain, so we told them that we won’t come too. I’ll miss them for 3 weeks!

VaaO episode 3: 24/09/2016 - 'Lets paint'

Today was the 3rd day. Today’s main focus was on painting/hand printing. We split the group of children into 2, one group is instructed to read and the other group is instructed to paint or hand print (for smaller kids). Today’s episode will be focused on a particular boy/girl who was the star of the day!

Star of the day:

The name of the star was Minesh Limbhu. He is 11 years old, studying at the Pinagal Academy school. Today, all students were amazing but this boy was an exception. He made a very good painting and he challenged himself, that’s what I liked the most about him. We had told him to do hand printing but he said he wanted to make a painting, so we said okay. He made a masterpiece which was unexpected. Picture attached.  He was also a very nice and kind boy, followed instructions and listened carefully to us. He had also introduced himself very nicely. He was a confident speaker, wasn’t shy to talk to us. We all liked him very much. All students had made a painting or did a hand print, but his painting and the amount of effort he had put into that work was above our expectations! He had also helped me organize all the paintings. The way he had read was beneficial not just for him but 3 other children as well. He was basically reading a book and then 3 little children came up to him, who didn’t know how to read English very well, so as he was reading his book he was translating the story into Nepali and explaining it to the other 3 children which was indeed very impressive. We all just loved him!

VaaO episode 2: 17/09/2016 - 'Change your station'

Today was the 2nd day. Me and my friends (Nin-waam, Sneha, Tencho, Suvrat, Dhanvi)- we are doing this together in a group because it will be more beneficial for children at the orphanage. As a starter activity we played passing the ‘passing the parcel’ game with them and whoever the parcel had stopped onto had to say there name, age, school, class and what they like the most. Then, after a few minutes we divided them into 3 groups and made a circuit. One of the circuits was coloring, another was reading, and the last one was sports activities. Each group was at each station for 20 minutes with 2 of us on each station with them for help. They rotated and went to the next activity after 20 minutes, and then again, so they all got a chance to do everything. To finish off, we played music for the last 15 minutes and gave them freedom to do what they liked and wanted to do. Some danced, some played football, some read, some played indoor games, etc. We also gave them chocolates just before leaving! It was fun overall!

Volunteering at an Orphange (VaaO) episode 1: 10/09/2016

After organizing this great opportunity to volunteer at an orphanage with friends, we all met at the Swimming pool, Satdobato at first. Then we all went to the orphanage and met the lady in charge and I talked to her and told her that I came last week, and then she welcomed us inside. It was very nice of her. We went to her office and told her the days and timing we are planning to come at and what we will be doing generally. She was very happy and so were we. She introduced us to the children, there were about 30 children and then each child stood up and introduced himself/herself to us. The children were approximately 6-14 years old. They all seemed very well mannered and nice children and they were. After a while when we got to know them and since it was the first day we mostly only played with them and they did what they wanted, we just guided them  roughly. In a while, the main owner of the orphanage arrived. She was a kind hearted and a nice lady. She welcomed all of us and asked us where we are from, our names and why we are doing this. She also welcomed us by giving us all a scarf. Picture attached. Another thing, we were so excited about this that we even forgot to ask the lady’s name!

Volunteering at an Orphanage (VaaO)!- check out all the episodes!

Shreyas Agrawal Year 10, The British School, Jhamsikhel, Kathmandu, Nepal.

As part of my Duke of Edinburgh award at the bronze level, in the service category, I have chosen to volunteer at an orphanage called ‘Loving Home’ located in Satdobato, Kathmandu, Nepal. I will be doing this for over 6 months, for 2 hours (11 am to 1 pm) every Saturday, with a few of my friends.

Call for VOLUNTEERS:

Firstly, before starting anything, I would like to thank my parents for giving me support to take part in this marvellous opportunity.

When I got to know that we have to do a service for 3 months in order to receive a bronze certificate for Duke of Edinburgh, I was confused as in what I should do that would be beneficial for the society and at the same time also give me happiness and satisfaction along with learning. Me and friends (Nin-waam, Sneha, Tencho, Dhanvi, Suvrat) made a group together and decided to do something together so it would be more beneficial. We had a brain full of different ideas of what we could do for a service, but could not decide on which would be perfect and meet all the requirements. After involving a lot of discussions, we came to a conclusion that we should volunteer at an orphanage and help little children live a better life. That way, it is beneficial for the society, gives us happiness and satisfaction and we also learn how to cooperate with small children and also enhance learning leadership skills.

My dad had also given me a brilliant idea of volunteering at an orphanage and also encouraged me. Also, my mom used to regularly go to an orphanage to donate items with a few of her friends. I got to know that, the orphanage she used to go was nearby and was suitable for us to go and volunteer. My mom helped me a lot in organizing this; she called one of her friends asking her for the contact of the orphanage. When I went to the orphanage with one of my friends just to organize everything, as soon as I told them that I live in sunrise homes and my mom and her friends come here, they immediately recognized me. Without my mom supporting me attend the orphanage, this would not have been possible. Thanks a lot to my mom.

Varanasi travelogue

THIS TRAVELLOGE IS ONLY FOR VARANASI. SINCE VARANASI WAS THE ONLY NEW PLACE I WENT TO IN THIS AUGUST 2016 TRIP

Trip to Varanasi

Our trip started by landing at Delhi Airport from Kathmandu on 3rd August, 2016. From Delhi airport we went straight to Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. That is where we go to pray to our god. On the way back from Jhunjhunu to Delhi we stopped at a few temples. We stayed in Delhi for 2 days, and then got the train to Gorakhpur. Next morning we were in Gorakhpur. Went to my mom’s house; party. Then we went to my dad’s house and then headed for Varanasi also referred as Banaras with my parents, my younger brother, my grandmother and also my elder cousin sister.

Day 1:

Reaching Varanasi…
The train from Deoria (my dad’s house) came to Varanasi City station at 10:30 am. My uncle (fufaji) and cousin brother were at the station waiting for us. We went to their new house they had just moved to in Varanasi. I was happy to meet my aunt (buaji), my cousin brothers and also my little cousin sister. We had some traditional kachori sabji at their house as breakfast which was indeed delicious.

Temples…
The month of August is considered as the month of worshipping Lord Shiva. This entire month is dedicated in receiving blessings of Lord Shiva, known as Sawan. In Varanasi is the most famous temple dedicated to Lord Shiva known as Kashi Vishwanath Temple. After breakfast and shower we headed to Viswanath Temple. The traffic was deadly. I will talk more about that later. After Viswanath temple we went to my uncle’s (taoji) house near that temple. We were in their house for about 2 hours and in the mean time my parents were shopping. From their house we went to another temple called Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple. It was 7:00 pm by the time we finished everything at Sankat Mochan. After having some ice cream we headed back to my uncle’s (fufaji) house. It was 8:30 pm by the time reached the house. The house from that temple is only around 2km, which took us 1 hour 30 minutes! I know that shocking, but that’s the time it takes with Varanasi traffic especially in this month.

Reached home…
After reaching home no one had the energy to cook food and eat, so we just decided to go out for dinner in a restaurant. The restaurant was good and had mouth-watering food. After getting back from the restaurant we all just slept without wasting even a second! That was the level of tiredness we had from the whole day of visiting temples and especially wasting hours stuck in the traffic.

Day 2:

Ganga River…
I woke up at 5:00 am to go the holy river Ganges. Ganges flows through India and also Bangladesh. We had left the house by 6:00 am and reached by 6:15 am at the Dashashwamedh Ghat. We took a little bath in the Ganges. It was very relaxing and pleasurable. It is considered that if you take a bath in the Ganges then your body is purified. After the bath we went to another temple to do another puja after being purified. Later we had breakfast.

Going back from Varanasi …
Our last stop was my uncle's (taoji) house where I went with my parents. He owned a very stunning hotel called Hari Vilaas, which was indeed very neat and clean. We were at their house for around 30 minutes and in that time he also order a pasta with white sauce for us from his restaurant which was without any doubt extremely delicious.

The departing time of the train was 2:00 pm. We had planned to leave their house by 1:00 pm, it takes 45 minutes to reach. I started booking an Ola cab at 12:30 pm so it would come by 1:00 pm, because in Varanasi it takes a long time for Ola’s. I could not find any cabs, none showed up on the app. Then after around 10 minutes one prime showed up, I immediately booked that one and rang the driver. He said he will be there in 15 minutes so I confirmed the booking.

After 10 minutes I called him again to ask, how long will he take? He told me he would be there in another 10 minutes; we started to think that it might get late. We still waited for 10 minutes for him to come. He didn’t arrive. I called him again and he said another 10 minutes! I cancelled the booking and then we decided to look for another one immediately. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any cabs until 1:20 pm. We were already very late!

So, we decided to squash into a Solar Auto, which was all we could find, after all not that bad, until we realized that he had brought us to the wrong railway station! It was 1:30 pm. You can probably imagine the situation we were at – super tensed and worried! My dad got angry at the driver and was like why did you come to this place? Immediately go to the other station! I don’t have any words to describe that moment, because it wasn’t just the fact that we would miss the train but the fact that half of the people – cousin sister and my younger brother didn’t come to my uncle’s (taoji) house, they stayed back at my other uncle’s (fufaji) house and they had already reached the station with luggage and had sat in the train. That moment was extremely nerve-racking!

After 2-3 minutes we saw a gas Auto which would run much faster than the solar auto, we shifted to that auto and told him to accelerate as fast as possible to the railway station, it was 1:45 pm. That guy – the auto driver was an extremely kind hearted person, he drove the fastest he had ever in his entire life and made us reach in time to the railway station. He was just a god who had appeared to help us! We reached the railway station at 1:50 pm, which was just in time! The train departed at 2:00 pm, on time, which was the end of our beautiful, happy and memorable journey!

By- Shreyas Agrawal,
Year 10,
The British School, Kathmandu, Nepal  
 

Dharahara article

I have written an article titled THE LIFE, PAIN AND DEATH OF DHARAHARA on the anniversary of earthquake. This article is based on a beautiful painting which I saw in an exhibition at Siddhartha Art Gallery.

THE LIFE, PAIN AND DEATH OF DHARAHARA 

I AM DHARAHARA. Oh no! I was Dharahara , the tallest building in Nepal. God! Me? Really me? Yes it was me who fell down in the devastating Earthquake which hit Nepal with a rector scale of 7.8! As I started to shake, I knew my death was coming. In a few seconds I was dying myself. Within a few seconds, from being the biggest attraction in the city, I became the biggest killer. From giving smiles to people's face, to killing hundreds of people and breaking into hundreds of pieces before my last breath. Did I deserve this? Did I actually kill them? When I fell it was horrible, hurtful and haunting for me. 

There was a small house next to me and that was in danger, all my fault. Me, the evil building, fell on the house killing all the people in the house as well as people around it. Lots of dust and dirt stormed as I fell to the ground. It really was painful. Me, a beautiful sparkling white tower, in no time, turned into a gloomy, grey and ugly mix of my debris and dead bodies. 

I died a year ago along with my dearest people. I know, Kathmandu wants to create me again, taller than before, stronger than before. But I am finished, I am dead. My soul is not. I can reincarnate. Thank you Kathmandu. 

 Shreyas Agrawal Year 9,
The British School, Kathmandu, Nepal. 
The writing is inspired by the painting. 

Ooty travelogue!

Ooty: Excitement in another mountain!

While living in Kathmandu surrounded by beautiful Himalayan mountains one would not want to spend a holiday in another mountain range. That’s what I argued with my parents when we decided to go to Ooty during our Dashain break. Nevertheless, coupled with some other places in the southern part of India, we still headed to Ooty. Also known as the ‘queen of hill station’ or Blue Mountain, Ooty, in retrospect, I think, was a great choice and a fascinating experience.  

We drove from Mysore through famous Bandipur national park in Karnataka to reach Ootywhich is situated at an altitude of 2,240m. We needed to drive on very steep slopes and turns appropriately called ‘hairpin bends’, covering 34 km and the entire altitude within an hour from the plains. Ooty, officially known as Ootacamund is a small town, a municipality, and the headquarters of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The highlights of my trip are the toy train ride, visit to the botanical garden and photography at the tea gardens! The toy train ride from Ooty to a nearby town Coonoor is the best part and must not be missed. It is so popular that one has to stand two hours in the queue for buying the ticket. The ride in the mountains is 1h 5min long and covers 17 km giving you a breathtaking experience, something which one must experience. Coonoor is an extraordinary place to be, the best place for looking at splendid mountain peaks from a view point locally known as Dolphin Nose. On the way back, one should come via road to enjoy the tea gardens with stunning view. People stop there for photography. We did as well. 

Strolling around the Ooty streets after 7:00 pm was also a memorable experience. We enjoyed shopping from the streets and eating lip-smacking south Indian food in the cheapest possible price on the street. To be honest, it tasted much better than the one in the big restaurants. We stayed in Meadows Residency and I would highly recommend newcomers going to that hotel. It is one of the most value for money, neat and clean with great service hotel in Ooty. Oh my God! How can I miss talking about the Ooty’s special chocolates! Yummy, the locally made chocolates from Ooty are the best possible gift you can give to anyone. We in fact saw a small chocolate factory but we couldn’t go inside. There are several varieties of chocolates coming in various shapes, sizes and tastes with a very reasonable price tag.  You must not miss out on this special gift from Ooty. 

My trip to Ooty was indeed very good, enjoyable and enriched my mountain experience in addition to the hills around Kathmandu.  I would recommend Ooty for people who want a relaxing and beautiful holiday to a splendorous place in the Western Ghats offering a complete different culture, mountains, food and experience than the Himalayas. If I had to pick one favorite moment from the trip, it has to be the tea garden and the stunning pictures. So, you have planned your next trip already to Ooty right? Well if not, you should since Nepal Airlines offers you a direct flight from Kathmandu to Bangalore in a very reasonable price and Ooty is only a few hours drive from Bangalore through the beautiful Mysore palace and the famous national park. I hope your trip will be as exciting as mine! 

Shreyas Agrawal

Year 9, 

The British School, Kathmandu