Ääkkösten valtakuntaan

Siteeraan tässä vapaasti suomentaen Jon Burbankin "Culture shock Nepal" kirjaa:

"Nepaliin asumaan tulevat ihmiset käyvät läpi neljä sopeutumisen vaihetta. Vaiheet kestävät jokaisella eri mittaisen ajan, mutta ovat yleensä ohi ensimmäisen asumivuoden jälkeen. (Minun kohdallani siis ennen kuin seitsemän kuukautta oli täynnä). Sopeutuminen tapahtuu nopeammin, jos elää Kathmandun ulkopuolella ja varsinkin jos elää pienessä kylässä.

VAIHE 1: Koet euforiaa: kaikki on uutta, jännittävää ja eksoottista. Usein tässä vaiheessa ihmiset saavat työpaikallaan erikoiskohtelua ja tukea työssään. Alkuvaiheen huumassa kiellät negatiivisten asioiden olemmassaolon tai et vain kiinnitä niihin huomiota. Uusi tulokas kokee myös oman olonsa hyväksi, eikä voi odottaa aloittaakseen työn tämän huumaavan ja uskomattoman ihanan maan hyväksi.

VAIHE 2: Tässä vaiheessa ruusunpunaiset lasit putovat nenältä alas ja rikkoutuvat. Huomaat eläväsi Shanri-Lan ihannemaan sijaan kiirastulessa. Maa on sekasortoinen, et saa pizzaa mistään eikä sanomalehtiä tai postia ole saatavilla, sähkökin on koko ajan poissa kun sitä tarvitsisit. Etkä voi sietää silmissäsi enää yhtäkään lautasellista riisiä!



 Jokapuolella minne katsotkin on likaa ja roskaa, kukaan ei ymmärrä sanaakaan mitä sanot eikä sillä olisi väliäkään, sillä ihmiset eivät kuitenkaan tee mitään tai tekevät kaiken käsittämättömän hitaasti ja myöhässä. Tunnet myös oman olosi surkeaksi ja koet että teit elämäsi virheen saapumalla tähän maahan, mikä myös omalta osaltaan osoittaa kuinka pätemätön olet. Organisaatio ja kollegatkin ovat jättäneet sinut yksin syrjäiseen loukkoon selviytymään.

VAIHE 3: Kolmannessa vaiheessa alat palaamaan omaksi itseksesi ja saavuttamaan tasapainon. Näet sekä hyvää että pahaa niin maassa, kulttuurissa, itsessäsi kuin työssäsikin. Nepali ihmisineen ja kulttureineen alkaa kiinnostamaan jälleen, mutta et katso niitä enää ruusunpunaisten lasien läpi, vaan realismilaseilla, joilla näkee sekä kauneuden että rumuuden.

Alat vähitellen jopa ymmärtämään mitä ympärilläsi tapahtuu. Et enää vain reagoi tilainteisiin että: "olipa ihanaa tai olipa kamalaa", vaan pystyt jopa analysoimaan ja ymmärtämään Nepalin elämänkulkua. Kun näkökantasi tulee joustavammaksi, niin tulet sinäkin; alat huomaamaan mikä on Sinulle todella tärkeää ja mitä ilman voit elää. Töissäkin on helpompaa, sillä ymmärrät nyt miksi asiat etenevät niinkuin ne etenevät. Voit myös jälleen syödä lautasellisen Daal-Bhat-tarkaria (nepalilainen riisiä sisältävä ruoka).



VAIHE 4: Lopullisessa vaiheessa et ole enää paratiisissa tai kiirastulessa. Olet vain paikassa jossa elät ja teet töitä. Koet olosi kotoisaksi. Olet jo kehittänyt omat rutiinisi ja olet niihin tyytyväinen. Pizza olisi välillä kiva, mutta tulet hyvin toimeen myös daal-bhatilla; itse asiassa olet jopa alkanut tunnistamaan erilaisia riisilajeja! Olet myös oppinut että vaikka aikaisemmin luulit tietäväsi jotain Nepalista ja sen kulttuurista, on sinulla vielä paljon opittavaa. Eikä viikko ilman sähköä, suihkua tai postia ei ole maailman loppu!"


Minä olen kaivannut tämän seitsemän kuukauden aikana miloin mitäkin asiaa. Usein kaivatut asiat ovat liittyneet, omaan henkilökohtaiseen elämään, kulttuuriin ja opittuun elämäntyylin: perhe, läheiset, toimiva sähkö, vessa, oma sänky, kahvi, lämmin suihku, lumi, saunominen, lenkkeily ja niin, taisin jo sanoa: oma sänky.

Näin reissun kääntyessä loppuun huomaan käyneeni jo läpi Jon Burbankin kuvailemat neljä sopeutumisen vaihetta. Sopeutumisestani huolimatta olen iloinen saadessani nähdä läheiset ihmiset ja myös kaikki kaipaamani asiat. Yksi kaivatuista asioista, jota en aikaisemmassa listassa maininnut on ollut itselle yllätys: olen kaivannut omaa äidinkieltäni ja läppärini näytön rikkouduttua omia suomalaisia aakkosia! Työskentely englannin kielellä ja nepalin kielen opiskelu ovat rikkaus ja mahdollisuus, mutta silti iloitsen paluusta ääkkösten valtakuntaan!





  

LAST DAY IN POKHARA

Time flies. Almost seven months in Nepal and now it is my last day in Pokhara. 

In the morning captain and his wife took us over the lake with our luggage. Strange, no more rowing or kayaking for couple of moths. In Finland lakes will be frozen... hmmm...

Beautiful warm morning and crispy clear mountains were making the journey over the lake enjoyable. Even the homeless people at Lakeside looked happier and smiled more than in during many of previous cold weeks.

last time over the lake

Captain and his house

 

Me and my fresh stomach flu (started this morning, stomach flu number 27 or something) went together with Zelda to meet Pokhara group participants at Alternatives office on New Road. Stomach flu decided it is not my day to work and I returned back to Lakeside.

Now couple of hours `office` work and I have done my volunteering for Change for Change. Tomorrow morning we will see our participants on our way out from the city. Week from now I will be in Delhi.

I have been missing my family and friends in Finland, now I have started to miss my Nepali friends and Nepal. I try to comfort myself with Henry David Thoreau`s words: "Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."

 

C4C last workshop in Pokhara

We spend the last two Chance for Change workshop days with our group in Begnas Tal and Peace Stuba woking together to build `Trainer`s Toolbox`. Doing different experiential learning activities and spending days together outdoors was a good way to end out ten weeks together.

Begnas Tal

 At Begnas Tal the first task after morning tea and getting to know each other (Zelda got to know the group for first time) was the group to go to market and buy food for our pick nick. Each participants were given money and they had free hands to execute the task the best way they decided. After couple of minutes of discussions group decided to collect the money to one pocket and go together to market. We as trainers were happy to see successful communication and democratic decision making!

Reflecting activities

yeee!

Trainers toolbox is not only full of separate activities but also how and why to use these activities and to use methods how to evaluate the effect of the activity to individual and to the whole group. Also to start to understand that there might be transfer from doing outdoor education to `real life`. We used during all the workshops different creative reflection methods.


Main topic at Begnas Tal was communication. On the pictures you can see `Chinese whisper`; group was sitting on the stairs facing lake and instructors whispered the sentence to first one up on the stairs. One by one whisper found it way down to last one who then told the whisper out loud to all. None of the whispers were the same than the original one. One of the most powerful activities when working with our groups in Nepal; after this activity you can start conversations about listening, speaking, understanding, languages, cultural differencies and similarities.

Chinese whisper on its way down

Chinese whisper... "What??"

Zelda helping Santosh

What is happening? have we already completed the star?

Nirwan is leading

Hunger is a good reason to have a brake! We had nice pick nick (Dalmut, dried fish, samosa, soda, fruit and chocolate) with amazing view to the lake.

Pick nick lunch at Begnas Tal

At the Valentine`s day morning we gathered to the Phewa Tal beach at Lakeside and started the morning with nice cup of hot coffee at restaurant Mike`s. This morning group was instructed: "four boats, across the lake. The people who row the boats across the lake and people who lead hiking up to stuba can not lead any other activity. People on the way back has to be different than on the way up."

Men row the boats across the Phewa Tal and two women led us up to Stuba.

On the way up we leaned that you can make soap out of this plant

 Zelda led activities up at Stuba and there was also time to look the beautiful scenery and walk around the Stuba.

We did try to have one song too close to holy place and we were told we are too loud, what Zelda did was she tough the class how to `sing` the song silently by using body, hands and animated face. Actually I think the song was better this way! :-)

Peace Stuba at Valentine`s day

Mountains from Peace Stuba

 On the way back men wanted to row also back and some of the women were a little bit anxious about the task ahead. Group embraced the challenge and women row the boat to the next location. What beautiful moments, made me remember once more why I do trust experiential learning, adventure education, outdoor education.. what ever we call it. To see someone win hesitations and gain understanding `how`, it just is immeasurably valuable! THANK YOU POKHARA GROUP!! THANK YOU Sanjeeta, Kalpana, Laxmi, Nirwan, Jamuna, Tara, Laxmi, Asmita, Anjana, Basant, Krishna, Santosh, Hiralal, Kamala, Sita and Sita!!

Boating back to Lakeside

FAREWELL GHYAMPESAL

Two weeks at the Ghyapesal village, what can I say? Nepal, its nature and people just are amazing, gives you memories and emotions, fills your soul, but sometimes just leaves you speechless.

Chance for Change classes conducted by my colleague Zelda and me, in Government school Dullav H.S.S and Evergreen boarding school. We had possibility to work with classes 5, 6, 7 and 8. Last time in December we had Art Attack in Government school and this time we had outdoor education spiced with creative methods. Thank you both schools, teacher, principals and all the students!!!!!

While preparing the classes at the house Zelda had time to teach art to our Tika Didi and neighbors who were working in the fields. For Didi it was the first time in her life to test water colors and oil pastels. Oh those moments of laughter and happiness! Tika Gurung is amazing woman!!

Meeting at the house

While we had a meeting at the house during a free day from school, people from the village used only free day they have during a week for carrying compost to the fields. Work was done mainly women and children. In Europe we are used to see heavy machinery on fields, but here in Nepal people do all the work on the fields by themselves or sometimes by help of buffaloes.

Those millions of terrace fields and rice paddies have been made by many generations. Huge amount of hours by man labor in order to get food. No supermarkets, no money, if you want to eat - you work hard.

women carrying compost on their `dokos`

Compost on the fields waiting to be spread by hands

The moment in the schools when you feel you have made a rapport with children: priceless!!

In Nepal there are many dialects, smile is one language which connects them all

Language of creativity

Games, challenges, energizers, being together

Ghyapesal is located on Masel V.D.C in Gorkha district and Gandaki zone. Chain of small villages lay on top of the long ridge. You can see rivers far down on jungle and it is an effort go down and do some fishing. It is rare moment at Bazaar when there is possible to buy some fish, especially big fish.

We had a wonderful evening at our Nepali colleague Sumans home eating some Daal Bat with fresh fish from Gorkha.

Our Nepali colleague Suman and a big fish at bazaar

My conclusion of Nepali wedding season is: "Season is always!". We could here almost every night music which is played during Nepali weddings and saw many new happy couples.

Sadly my camera run out of battery and we had six days load shedding at the end of our journey, so I couldn't have pictures of our fried Rita`s sisters wedding and Didi`s grandsons fifth birthday. Anyway, pictures doesn't give reflect the sound, the looks, the smells, the tastes, the laughter, the real Nepal.

Wedding bus

Wedding music

On both Saturdays we had a possibility to meet and work with Chance for Change English lesson group. Youngster's aged 16 to 21had a taste of outdoor education with some questions to help us to plan the future `Pathfinders` training.

Within couple of months out of these 40 youngster will be selected 12 to the future training. Next Autumn those 12 trained `Pathfinders` will be working in many secondary schools in Gorkha district.

Outdoor education, experiential learning and creative methods, words not heard so often in Nepal nor to experienced. While doing activities and discussions together we realized how much culture and formal education defines our ways of understanding and how much we still have to learn about the country and its culture, norms, religions and family values before fully have the best result of our work.

What are you saying??

By living in traditional Nepali village house you will experience the weather and feel the closeness of nature in your home. Outdoor educators love nature.....

We were wondering where our bread is disappearing... well, anyway we knew already we had rats and mice in the house. Couple of rats had created evening system of taking their share of food. We were laughing few days but during the night rat had a little bit too loud parties and at the end we had to use stronger methods than laughter.

Stealing the bread

Sorry!!

Suddenly sun was behind the clouds and rain broke down. Three days of Spring rain and thunder. After the rain Manaslu and Ganesh Himal mountains looked like they are closer than ever, even the Annapurna and Machapucchre were clearly on horizon, early sing of future greenness was around us and air was full more livid songs by the birds.

After the rain moments, you can taste them!

I will be back in Finland after three weeks, but Zelda will go back to beautiful Ghyampesal. Thank you Zelda for the wonderful two weeks together; working, talking, laughing, moping, sharing ideas and life stories, spending endless moments in candle light finding the ways to really successfully to work with Nepali children and youngsters. I was supposed to teach you and ended up learning a lot from you!

Farewell Ghyapesal for so far!! I will be back latest with Oma Kapua Mera Peak 2014 group.