Happiness and a Hug

I have a dear and respected friend who has worked in the field of international development for decades all over the world. He told me of a time when he visited a friend in Africa and was taken to orphanage in the country. Despite all his experience in development, he had never worked at an orphanage, and this was just a friendly visit. However, he said the surest sign to him that this orphanage was doing good work and taking good care of the children was that as soon as he showed up, the children ran up to him with big smiles on their faces and surrounded him for a group hug. They did not ask for anything nor want anything from him, they were just happy and loved, and expressed that joy with their warm reception. I have remembered that story very clearly ever since, and so I was struck by this one photo in particular shared by our partner in Nepal, Joining Hands Nepal family orphanage. This is a photo of the greeting and reception given to the most recent foreign volunteer who stayed at the orphanage on the day she arrived. It was not a forced or planned thing, but a spontaneous and genuine display of affection captured on camera. And though you cannot see it with their heads turned, it is clear from other pictures that all of the children are happily smiling. As my friend would surely agree, it is clear from this simple image that the children are well taken care of and loved.

Volunteering in Nepal

By Maya (Meike), Netherlands
Volunteer, Joining Hands Nepal

When I searched for a destination for my gap year, I chose Nepal. And when I decided this, I knew almost immediately that I wanted to do volunteer work at an orphanage. Volunteer work would be the best way to explore the country for me. I love to travel, and besides that there are thousands of orphans in Nepal, so it would be nice if I could roll up my sleeves and help. But where to start? I preferred a natural surrounding, fresh air and a peaceful environment so I did not feel much for staying in Kathmandu while volunteering. The people from Travel Active were telling me that they had just visited an orphanage in a littler place than Kathmandu, called Panauti. Kevin was so enthusiastic about this place and the orphanage, that he really wanted me to go there. I agreed. And I’m so happy! It is unbelievable how much someone can do in one year. The orphanage Joining Hands Nepal in Panauti is the best place you could wish for a child needing help. I still don’t know all of their stories, but I could already see from the first moment on the kids here are very happy now. I left Kathmandu on Monday morning with Himal, the leader and founder of Joining Hands Nepal. We had to drive by bus for only one and a half hours to get out of the busy city, into the wonderful fields and mountains of Panauti. What a difference! We walked for about 10 minutes from the bus parking lot to the orphanage. A small, but impressive orange building with a lot of balconies raised up in front of me. And surprise, surprise… Eight smiling faces were laughing and waving at me, walking up that hill with Himal, into the hot sun of Nepal.

“Hello, Sister,” they yelled, “How are you doing, sister? What is your name, sister?” James, Johnny, Clara, Maria, Louisa, Brian, Christina and Rachel. They were smiling and talking to me. It was amazing, they looked so glad to see me! It felt good from the first moment on. We had a welcome ceremony and then we played games, till the daily English Conversation Class at half past six. After that, around eight o’clock, we ate Dal Bhat for dinner. Then Clara, the youngest, fell asleep while eating our evening Dal Bhat, tired of another happy day, judging by her face. How sweet. It was bedtime. At ten o'clock it was almost silent in the orphanage. And so ended my first day in Panauti, “I think I can make something out of my time here,” I thought happily. And it seems to be true so far. Panauti is great, you guys rock!

The mornings here always start with morning tea at 6, a little bit early for me. At seven the kids start doing their homework: girls in the girls' room, boys in the boys' room. At 8 o’clock we play games and do a warming up for the morning exercises to get warm and stay healthy. Then we have our first Dal Bhat of the day and with a full belly of rice we get the kids ready for their school day. At half past nine they leave in a duck-a-like walking line to the school. How sweet! Around 5 o’clock you can prepare to hear all of the sweet little voices again. Singing, playing, asking, laughing, talking, until bedtime. It’s almost unbelievable how much life and good spirit you will find in this family! Yesterday I baked pancakes and today I will help Sarida to cook Nepalese food. I opened my eyes and saw how much there is to learn and exchange! I will only stay here for two more weeks, but I certainly will learn, teach, play and help at the Joining Hands Nepal Orphange as much as is possible. Just because it feels so good!

Healing Hands at Joining Hands

By Julie McNeal, Vice Chair, ForWorld Thinking

Our partner organization, Joining Hands Nepal, has a special treat this week. They are getting a visit from a small group of Integrative Manual Therapy Practitioners that are on a special Nepal volunteer trip, mostly treating patients and training interested medical personnel in the village of Kaskikot. Before heading home though, they are stopping in to spend time with and treat the kids at the Orphan home and train at the local hospital. How exciting for them all!

Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) is an alternative medicine modality with a unique, hand on approach to functional and structural rehab. The premise is that the human body has an amazing potential for self healing when given the right support and guidance to function in this way. In today’s world, we put stresses on and into our bodies that were never meant to be on a regular basis. IMT helps the body to respond in a healthier way to these stresses and tune into its self healing capabilities more effectively. IMT looks at the body holistically and by connecting special anatomical points can affect the body on a physical, mental, and emotional level. In the United States, patient care tends to be more focused on chronic and complicated dysfunction. But IMT has many tools as well for acute situations such as fevers, infections, falls and accidents, etc. The Nepal IMT team has put together a special program to focus on the needs of the people there in Nepal. You can follow their specific blog by going to http://handovermatter.wordpress.com/.

Let’s wish them fun and productive times with the children, a great and healing experience for them all and safe travels.

An Observer's Mentality

Last night at the San Francisco International Film Festival I watched the new film by director Eran Kolirin of Israel, "The Exchange". It was a fascinating exploration of the voyeuristic aspect of human nature, and how we enjoy observing what happens to other people in a detached way. It is evident in everything from reality TV, to popular entertainment, to youtube videos, to the daily news. If we can watch any piece of the human experience, whether it be humor, love, eroticism, violence, or suffering, and feel detached from the subject, then we can feel the emotions that arise, such as joy, pain, excitement, disgust, or outrage, without feeling accountable or responsible in any way. What the film cleverly examines is what it would look like to bring that level of observing detachment into the personal life of the protagonist. As viewers, and naturally also as voyeurs ourselves, we are disturbed and fascinated by how he can behave in this manner with friends, colleagues, and his lover. These are people he is attached to, that he cares about, so how can he act in this detached manner?

By demonstrating how absurd it would be for a person to act in this manner towards those within his or her sphere of influence, the director brings up interesting questions about what responsibility we have to those outside of that sphere. There is no denying that this observer's mentality is a part of human nature and is in no way an unnatural phenomenon. So we cannot ask nor expect people to care enough about the problems of the world and the suffering of those in other countries to act simply by seeing a story on the news or reading about it on a website. A critical necessity for the pleasure of indulging in this voyeuristic part of our nature is detachment, so if the issue remains outside of their sphere of influence, they will not feel responsible to act. So to engage people, rather than try and convince them to care about something that is outside of their sphere, we must instead bring that something inside of their sphere.

What this is all leading up to is the big question: how do we bring local community issues from around the globe into the average Westerner's sphere of influence? Well the obvious best answer is direct experience. If you go overseas to a local community in a developing country and live and work with the people, it will become personal, no question. The people will enter your sphere and you will act to help them solve the problem at hand. Of course, not everyone can or will volunteer abroad and get this kind of direct experience. What is the next best thing? Someone already in your sphere of influence goes and has the experience and brings it back to share with you. But this relies on the storytelling ability of the person who had the experience and their level of commitment to selling it to you. In order to connect with their experience and make it personal for you, they have to show you their passion and commitment. What about after that? If we get to a friend of a friend, it is like a copy of a copy, and it becomes less clear and harder to become invested.

So what is the solution? How do we encourage everyone to feel responsible and accountable for the problems of the world that affect us all, whether we can see it clearly or not? First, I believe that anyone who volunteers in a developing country has a responsibility to tell their story to others and share that experience for the benefit of everyone. Second, I believe that volunteers should be trained and educated on how to tell their story so it is more effective, relevant, and compelling. Finally, I believe that volunteers should be given the tools to tell their story easily, widely, and in a variety of ways. If we begin to carry out these three steps and make every volunteer a messenger, the conversation will be raised, more people will feel accountable, and there will be a higher level of cross-cultural communication and understanding. We are all connected, all attached in the future of this world and humanity. We cannot afford to continue to be observers and to feel detached from those outside of our personal sphere.

Archives: Life At Arm's Length

By Eric Roache, Founder

Back in the days when I was a volunteer myself, traveling all over the world and experiencing different cultures and becoming a part of different people's lives, I kept a personal travel blog to share my experiences with friends and family. I continued this online journal up until the opening of Joining Hands Nepal orphanage. I thought it would be fun and enlightening to occasionally share an old post with everyone. With the first full year of the orphanage just completed, no post is more relevant than the last one I wrote before the first children were taken into the home to commemorate the experience of Himal (director of Joining Hands Nepal) and myself setting up and preparing for their arrival. Enjoy!

End of an Era

In a few shorts days this house that was once so quiet will become filled with the sweet noise of children laughing, playing, learning, and growing. From 2 will become 12 and a new era will begin. I cannot help but take this moment to say goodbye to the era that is ending, and even lament a little its loss. For though all we have been working towards is about to be thrust upon us and we will embrace it with open arms and hearts, there has been something special about these last 5 weeks. It has been the two of us living alone, cooking, eating, washing, working, in the house we have made together. These days of planning and dreaming, merely imagining the day when our efforts would finally bear fruit, have been some of the most memorable of my life. It is in the journey, and not the destination, when our true character is revealed, and when we learn the most about ourselves and those with whom our lives have become intertwined. Despite the minor setbacks and frustrations, victories and errors, we have made our way together and become the closer for it. We have created our own inside jokes and spent countless hours laughing at them us two. We have developed our own language mash-up of Nepali and English that nobody knows but us and provides us endless entertainment. We have set our sights high like dreaming men are apt to do, and can only hope we shall not soar so high so fast as to meet Icarus’s fate. Today I allow the sadness for these days gone by to enter my heart and flow through my spirit freely, for tomorrow a new era begins, ready to refresh my spirit and refill my heart with love.