Volunteering and Internships
NEST is happy to provide internship and volunteering opportunities for local and international youths. NEST has had international volunteers and interns from countries like the UK, the USA, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, and Korea. NEST promotes global citizenship engaging youths in volunteer activities which can effectively and positively enrich your understanding of local and social realities, as well as create a bridge between yourself and the people in your host community. More detailed information is provided on NEST volunteering guideline (PDF).
Included are some case studies of volunteers and their contribution
Yvonne with a student of Janapriya
Yvonne Rijnders, the Netherlands
Volunteered two weeks in March- April 2011
Janapriya Technical School, Hatiya, Makawanpur, Nepal
Ever since I was a teenager I had been thinking about travelling to Nepal some day. As, at the age of 25, finally the opportunity arrived, I could not wait to go. I had my mind set on going trekking but also on doing some volunteering. With a background in agriculture (International Agricultural Trade, Larenstein, part of Wageningen University), the link to Janapriya Technical School was easily made. I went there on a short visit for two weeks, trying to get a general idea on how things are going and to maybe give some lessons too.
I was amazed by what I saw. Students are enthusiastic and eager to learn, teachers are very devoted and all is supported by the local community. With only little help from NEST /ICFON it can function really well and the graduates are highly in demand.
This obviously is a success story.
On the other hand, teachers earn very little (they could earn more in other similar jobs, as they all have minimum Bachelors Degree and some of the materials should be updated. In general the school could generally do with some maintainance. The crew is much more ambitious than that though. Even though there is very little budget, they dream of building a third floor (to host more students from remote areas), developing a horticultural yard (for which a well is needed), building a veterinairy clinic to help local farmers at a minimal price…… Their ambition is addictive and I hope all their wishes will come true.
First thing that I would like to focus on is to see if its possible to send some students from my university to the school to help out. Even better would be an exchange project, where not only students from Europe go to Nepal, but also vice versa. I am sure that would be a great asset to all that are involved.
It is clear; my work only begins now…
Yvonne can be contacted at yvonne_rijnders@hotmail.com
Sandra and Bas
Sandra Rutten, the Netherlands
Sandra Rutten and Loes Meulenbroeks were both ICFON volunteers and Dutch students of sports academy in the Netherlands. They had come to volunteer with NEST on their final year for their graduate stage. They ran sports workshops for Physical Education teachers in Hetauda and gave coaching to students and teachers of the Prajwal School. Their major contribution was towards fund raising, designing and running training of Play for peace project.
After 5 years, Sandra went back to Nepal with her boyfriend Bas and set up an intern-ship programme to continue Play for Peace project. Sandra is currently based in the Netherlands and works as a volunteer for ICFON and acts as a mentor for three Dutch students who are in Nepal .
Loes Meulenbroeks also went back to Nepal in February 2011. Loes said:
Volunteering in Summer Camp with NEST in Chaugada, Nepal
By Ai-Ling Lin, 2007
Before visiting Nepal this summer, I did not know it was a popular tourist attraction. I chose to volunteer in Nepal because it was my last summer in Asia after JET and I wanted a challenge to visit a culture that I did not know. When I first contacted various NGOs in Nepal, only a few replied. Purna’s responses to my questions were quick and informative. The website that I was referred to was also helpful. Although I was still not too sure how the set-up for the volunteer work would be, I felt more confident about the visit.
I was glad that I had some time to adjust to the new environment and some briefing about the events in the beginning. When I first arrived in Hetauda after a jeep ride from Kathmandu, I was not too sure what was happening other than a brief idea of a 3-days teachers’ training and 5-days summer camp. I had the first few days to observe the teachers and share some teaching techniques. Being the only foreigner in town reminded me of my experience on JET in Japan with a lot of attention. In the beginning, there were about 30 campers who signed up for the summer camp. Just two days before the beginning of summer camp, the number increased to 90. During my past camp experience in America and Japan, I used to be in charge of a group of 10 or less campers and helped facilitate discussions after a big group activity or seminar. The language barrier prevented me to do so. The day before camp, I still was not too sure how the activities would work with all the students or how I could help outside of my sessions.
When summer camp started, I was very impressed by the peace walk with all the campers on the Chaugadave streets chanting “Peace and Tolerance. Here and Now” (in Nepali). The campers and helpers all wore the camp t-shirts in red, blue, or white. The campers were very energetic and excited. As the opening ceremony came to an end, it started to rain and we had to move the students inside the classrooms. The students were split into two groups by age. Group A was the younger group with campers who are under 12 years old. Group B was the older group. From that point on, the camp seemed to have split into two tracks as well.
We tried to target the activities and seminars towards the different age groups. With Group A, we did more physical response activities such as songs, dances, games, and drawings. I was able to share some of the Hawaiian dance culture with Group A and learned a Nepali children song from the campers. I did not work with Group B as much, but there were many guest speakers and theater related seminars. Group B students produced some interesting skits. Although I could not understand the language used in the skit, the students performed with lots of emotions and body language in their stories. For the everyday language activity period, I tried to keep it flexible with my lessons because I did not know which group and how many students I would have until the morning of that day. Also, I shared some Japanese gestures and language with the Group B students. At the end, we made paper cranes as a symbol for peace and exchange dance moves. It was a little difficult but we finished it with lots of help from the NEST members. Most of the seminars went well and I think the students enjoyed the activities. However, I felt that some of the creative activities were not shared with both groups due to lack of space to run the same activity for all the campers at the same time. Some campers seemed disappointed when their group did not get to do what the other did.
Overall, I was very happy to have shared my knowledge and cultures from Hawaii and Japan with the campers. The students were very responsive and energetic compare to my students in Japan. It was a different experience working with primary school students for me. Their high energy and short attention span taught me to be more observant in handling classroom atmosphere and flexible with my lesson plans. The rain forced us to work inside the classrooms, split up the group, and run different activities. More preparation and structure in planning before and during camp were needed. However, I think we did well with the timing, volunteers, and limited resources we had.
The NEST members were all very genuine and caring people. I learned about the Nepali culture through dances, songs, motorbike rides, food, and their warm hospitality. The people reminded me of Hawaii because they also had a lay-back life style and appreciated everything they had. In addition, some of the students needed to walk over an hour through the woods to reach the school for camp. I really admired their determination and hard work. I hope that they have found the summer camp rewarding. Volunteering with NEST in this past week and a half, I have broadened my own horizons to another part of the world and met another group of amazing people who are trying to improve their community through education.
