Story
As much as I love travelling this will be a far different experience from smoking silly herbs in Thailand or dancing till the sun comes up in Buenos Aires! The programme is challenging, I will be paired up with a Nepalese volunteer on my arrival and following a one month intensive training period I will set off to a rural village (some being 5 hours walk from the nearest road) to live amongst the local community as the only westerner. We will help the village identify projects we feel worthwhile. It is the involvement of the local people that attracted me to the program, as I strongly believe that without such involvement, development projects cannot be ultimately sustainable. I will not only be educating those less fortunate than ourselves but also learning a lot about myself being the only outsider in the village, a serious character building exercise in which, although apprehensive, will no doubt be life changing.
The nature of SPW's programme relieves problems facing rural communities in Nepal everyday. In the past volunteers have provided villages with clean drinking water, established solar power cooking devices, afforested unstable slopes, built classrooms and provided books and equipment for children wanting to be educated.
As you may have guessed, the underlying message of this letter is that I am appealing for sponsorship in order to be able to work with these communities. Although I have already raised £1000 to cover my flight and insurance through work, I still need to raise a further £2600 to directly finance the essential education and development projects we will undertake. As I am flying out to Nepal in October, time is short and any donation would be much appreciated as hard currency goes along way in Nepal. You can also be sure that your money will benefit these communities directly, rather than be lost on administration costs, as I will be involved with the use of the money personally. In return, I will be detailing the projects your donation has enabled and will write up a final report on my experiences with minimal censorship!
If you wish to make a donation via post please make cheques payable to SPW and sent to the SPW office at: Faith House, No 7 Tufton St, London, SW1 3QB.
Please could you put my name and volunteer number (2010023) on the back of the cheque. If there is any information that you require please get in touch at baucherjm@hotmail.co.uk .
Flying out 23rd of October- 1 week training period in Katmandu with the national volunteers, 2 week training period at base camp in the Doti District 2 days bus ride North West of the capital. 6 Months working in a rural village. Fly home 4th of May.
Thank you so much for all your support.