This post features student writing by Victor.
Today, Sunday, we started the day early with eggs, potatoes, and rice pudding. As usual, thanks to Jehta and the other cooks, the food was amazing. At 8:40 AM we left for the work site along with girls from the Girls Dorm where we are staying. The girls helped us a lot and we greatly increased our efficiency moving rocks from the bottom of the work site to the top of the hill, where the buildings will be. The stones will form the structure of the wells. We formed a line of about 60 meters, each person handing a medium-sized rock to the next person, hand-in-hand, one at a time, Nepali to foreigner and then back again. Everyone was practicing other languages and interacting. Goma, the head girl at the dorm, was laughing away with some students, enjoying the hard work. After two and a half hours of music and dance-filled work, we headed back to the Girls Dorm for lunch.
Lunch was fried cauliflower, rice, and vegetables. After, students napped, played cards, or played badminton. We returned to the work site at 1:30 and worked for another hour and a half. Many students were tired, but the girls from the dorms helped us push through and enjoy the moments with the scenic views of the blue sky and sun shining down on the humongous mountains all around us. At the end of the work day, we had a dance party and everyone was dancing in a circle until the rain came and everyone ran for cover.
Back at the Girls Dorm, we had tea, hot chocolate, and biscuits followed by a brief dance class, our last rehearsal before our big presentation day at the local school. By now, everyone had mastered the dance, and our dance teachers were amazed by how far we’d come. Next were a few more independent project presentations, about volleyball and Hinduism. In the evening we had the opportunity to visit the Dalit communities, families who live nearby and whom we pass every day when we walk to the work site. The Dalit is the lowest caste in Nepal and the people often have manual jobs such as making instruments for the monasteries. We toured some of the workplaces and saw how they made the various instruments such as hat-shaped symbols which are called Jyamtaa. We asked the Dalit family members questions and hung out for a bit and then walked back to the Girls Dorm for dinner.
To our surprise, dinner included the first meat dish we’ve had since leaving Kathmandu. In honor of it being our second-to-last night, we ate freshly prepared goat. The girls from the dorms joined us for dinner. Afterward, we danced to Nepalese music and enjoyed the night. The last song was “On the Floor” and all the students were jamming out. Before it was too late, we said our good nights to everyone and headed to sleep early after a tiring yet fun-filled day.
— Victor
