A Little Hope in Nepal

I went on this trip because my mother was going to see her sponsored child in Nepal and I asked if I could go along as well. As a Geography student, I was interested to see first-hand, how the earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015 had affected people and how now, people are coping with the disaster - as this was one of the topics we studied during class.

The journey up the Nepali mountains...

Prior to the start of the journey in Nepal, we attended a safety briefing with World Vision. The journey was not an easy one - the roads up the Nepali mountains were narrow, sandy and steep. What a challenge getting up to the mountain! The villagers welcomed us with happy and warm faces. Many walked hours just to meet us. To show us their daily walking route, they hand-held everyone throughout the journey, through the hills and mountains. It was really an experience. For the villagers, it was a breeze on those challenging routes - without their help, us trippers may have taken hours to get there. From the way they welcomed us, it was evident that World Vision Nepal had really put in a lot of 'heart' to help the less fortunate in Nepal.

World Vision has benefitted their communities in many ways. Educating the farmers on agriculture, teaching them how to rear goats or grow a variety of crops, building outreach clinics that provide the community with access to basic healthcare and building schools that provide children with basic education - one of the gateways out of poverty.

We wanted each and every child to know that they are special...

We travelled towards the project area to participate in the School Opening & Handover Programme of Siddeshowar Primary School. As some of the roads were not accessible, we had to travel on foot up to the school.

We wanted each and every child to know that they are special and can grow up to be successful people with education, so we drew a mural on the wall to inspire them.

He said his dream was to become an engineer.

During the trip, we met many children from various communities but there was this one child who really stood out to me. At Siddeshowar Primary School, I met the principal’s son. His name escapes me but the outstanding thing about him was his ambition and resourcefulness. We were up in the mountains of Nepal, 1,200 meters above sea level, literally in the middle of nowhere. This boy was still able to make a digger out of scavenged materials. He even added a system made out of strings to control it. He said his dream was to become an engineer.

I never expected this trip to Nepal to completely change the way I saw things...

The one thing that gives me hope, is the children’s ambition and drive to achieve their dreams and goals although they may not have the resources or the opportunities to be able to. This is one thing that stood out to me when I compared them to the youths here in Singapore. These children have close to nothing - most of them are living on or under the poverty line. They are unlike the sheltered students of Singapore who lack interest and dread going to school. We are given countless opportunities to reach our potential but sadly, we take them for granted.

We brought 'Capteh' to play with the school children. They were all eager to learn and we were all surprised at how fast they caught on to the game, despite it being completely foreign to them. They were all so happy to be learning something new. These bright children deserve much more then they have now and this experience has really impacted me in a way that I didn’t expect before going on the trip.

I knew we were going to peer into the day to day lives of the villagers and that I would learn about their lifestyles. But I never expected this trip to Nepal to completely change the way I see things. It has really given me a new outlook on life and I realise how lucky I am to be born in Singapore, to the family I have today. 

These children are not just numbers on a graph in a Geography class. They are living breathing testaments of all the potential in the world and we have the power to allow them to fulfil their unfulfilled potential and allow them and their families to live a better life and possibly help others in the future as well. We can do that by sponsoring a child at $45 a month. It is possible for me to make that amount, by working part time for 5-6 hours. But this amount of money can benefit a whole family, and more, for a month. It may seem like a small, almost negligible amount to us, but it can give these children a world of opportunities that they otherwise would not have. If you would like to join World Vision on a trip, find out more here. 

I believe that the little we provide means a lot to them.