This post features student writing by Alexa.

It was five in the morning, a whole two hours before breakfast, and some of us girls were already awake, washing our laundry by hand. After getting a head-start on the day, we then enjoyed some hot drinks—salt tea/Sherpa tea (my personal favorite), milk tea, coffee, hot cocoa—and played the card game Gin. Other students began to wake up and roll in to the breakfast area. We ate rice pudding/porridge with apples and pomegranate seeds, buckwheat pancakes, and egg omelettes. Our group then split into two with one half headed to the project site and the other going to the school. At the work site, a few of us helped workers carry cement for the foundation posts and other students filled the edges of the foundation with dirt and mud by shoveling and passing along bowls. We were lucky enough to meet Karma, one of the founders of The Small World. We’re glad to have him for these last few days in Salleri and at the project site.

At the school, Sara, Mimi, and Anna went into a grade ten class and introduced themselves. They spoke about their schools and American culture and songs. The students then enjoyed a game of Hangman. Mimi drew a map of the United States and sang the “states” song. Then Sara, Mimi, and Anna went into a ninth grade classroom and engaged the Nepali students in similar activities. They also showed their U.S. driver’s licenses, U.S. currency, and pictures on their phones to the very curious students. When the bell rang for recess, they all together played a game called Tornado.

In a nearby part of the school, Elijah, Ethan, and Olivia spent the morning with young students ages five to ten. Describing the chaos that ensued, Elijah said, “The boys were fighting and the girls were reading.” Elijah and Ethan decided to use this energy and proceeded to do pushups, sit-ups, and dance moves with the students, and even made secret handshakes with the boys. In another part of the classroom, Olivia and leader John read with the other kids.

Our Putney group reconnected back at the Girls Dorm at lunchtime. We met the new girls coming to live at the dorm and enjoyed pineapple juice before lunch. Lunch was corn sisno, stinging nettle soup, chow mien, and AMAZING fried bananas. After lunch, we listened to Karma share his story of how he came to start The Small World. Karma was born in a village near Taksindu. All his mother told him about his birthdate is that he was born in the fall—so he doesn’t know exactly how old he is. His older brother worked as a porter helping foreigners summit Mount Everest, and for one of his jobs, he worked for a woman from Colorado. They hiked the classic Everest Trail and made a visit to his village. To thank him for his help, the woman wanted to support one of his sibling’s education. Because Karma was too young to help out with the family’s farm, it was decided that he would be the sibling to benefit from the woman’s generosity and go to school. Karma was the first in his family to attend school. Karma wrote to the woman every week for years. Eventually, as a way of paying it forward and as a thank you to his generous sponsor, Karma decided to start a nonprofit organization to give back. So far The Small World has built 15 schools and worked on many other projects across Nepal. They continue to make a big difference in the country.

For the afternoon, we stayed at the dorms to work. Half of us helped Ethan with his independent project, clearing the garden outside the common room/eating room to make a meditation space. The other half helped make a new stone staircase leading from the girls dorm rooms below up to the kitchen. While this was happening, I rehearsed the dance I choreographed for the girls for my independent project presentation after dance class later in the afternoon. Just before dance class, several of us enjoyed the daily volleyball game with the girls. The dance we have been practicing, which we will perform on the last day at the school, is 80% of the way to perfection, according to Mingmar 🙂

After dance class we had our late afternoon tea and biscuit break. I kicked off the start of our presentations with my hip hop dance performance with the girls. Then I taught the dance to everyone. It was a really fun experience for all to watch the Nepali girls perform popular American dancing like the Woah and Millie Rock and then for the Putney students to quickly learn the dance, too. As I gave auditory signals for dance moves, everyone else repeated the words aloud and laughed at how ridiculous we sounded. Next to present was Anna, who shared the emotional life stories of Pradip, a cook from the kitchen, and a girl from the dorms. Then, Jeff taught us about the 2001 Royal Massacre, in which the king, queen, and either other people were killed. Finally, Katie presented about education for women in Nepal, specifically the experiences of Goma and Doma Sherpa. For dinner, we savored mushroom soup and papad, rice and lentils, butter potatoes, vegetable pakauda, and peach for dessert.

A few things we are learning from doing our independent projects:

“Dance is such a universal thing. It was evident when I taught the girls from the dorms because we were laughing and having a good time, despite the language barrier.” —Alexa

“I learned that if one weren’t going to have education here in Nepal, it can either make or break your future.” —Anna

“Seems kind of shady that no one, including myself, knew anything about the royal assassination or the political fallout.” —Jeff

“I have gained so much hope for the future for the girls I interviewed because their drive to better their country, even at their expense, amazes and inspires me.” —Katie