With two bulging suitcases, stuffed full of donated clothing and gifts, we travelled from our home in Spain, via London, to Nepal. Flying in to Kathmandu airport, with the Himalayas as a backdrop, was amazing and the wonderful welcome we received from Rabindra, the hostel warden, and from all the girls on our first day made it feel 100% worthwhile.
Valerie & Steve
In the summer of 2005 our daughter Jessica came to live with us in Spain, after finishing University. Six weeks of sunning herself on the beach and lots of "what shall I do next in my life?" conversations, led to her volunteering as an English teacher for 3 months with the Help to Educate in Nepal.
Her life changing experience there inspired us to support two sisters, Rita and Gita Ramtel, and in February 2007 to realise a lifelong dream of visiting Nepal and the girls.
Prior to our visit we fundraised 500 Pounds, in cash donations, which we gift aided to Help to Educate and then a local quiz in Spain raised a further €300.
With two bulging suitcases, stuffed full of donated clothing and gifts, we travelled from our home in Spain, via London, to Nepal. Flying in to Kathmandu airport, with the Himalayas as a backdrop, was amazing and the wonderful welcome we received from Rabindra, the hostel warden, and from all the girls on our first day made it feel 100% worthwhile.
During our two weeks there we packed in as much as we could. We had two main aims, to build and begin stocking an educational library in the hostel and to spend as much time as possible with the girls and hostel staff, so we could better appreciate their immediate and future needs.
We also wanted to meet Rita and Gita´s parents and sadly found, on our first visit to their tarpaulin "home", that Mrs Ramtel was quite seriously ill. With Rabindra´s help we were able to provide hospital treatment and medication for her and thankfully she made a fairly rapid recovery.
After many hairy taxi rides through the streets of Kathmandu we achieved all we had set out to do. Books, maps, posters, tapes and CD´s were purchased from the incredible Ekta Educational Palace in Lalitpur (highly recommended for English Language books and teaching aids). The study room was transformed with library shelving, books and educational games, computer and desk, CD/tape player, posters and maps etc. It was so rewarding to see the girls excitement on their return home from school. We had decorated the hostel with multi coloured streamers and flags for a surprise party with lots of party food and juice drinks with lots of singing and dancing, partly in candlelight due to one of the frequent power cuts. It was a wonderful evening that we will always remember.
We also visited the nearby brick kilns, with Rabindra, to see potential candidates for the hostel. What a step back in time with terrible working and living conditions for the children so we are especially happy to see that there are now 15 girls in the hostel, some of the new intake we understand coming from there.
Our commitment to the Little Gems Hostel is for life and we will continue with our endeavours to fund raise more money to improve and sustain the Help to Educate project.
