August 4th: Visit to the local school and the work begins again.

Another amazing day in hot Nepal!

The morning started with a traditional breakfast of roti and eggs accompanied by milky tea that would rival anything from Starbucks! Then on to the bus for a 40 minute ride that allows us to peek into the lives or rural Nepal as we bump on down the road.

 I was very excited to get to Unako House because the day before I had arranged for a visit to the school. The school and the classroom conditions would make any BC teacher wonder how we can even think about striking. The students sit on rickety benches in tiny, one window classrooms. The only teaching aid is a 4x6 well used blackboard. The children are neatly dressed in their uniforms and the girls have beautifully braided hair with white ribbons. Every student has a smile on their face and appears eager to learn. The curriculum is all taught using outdated English textbooks. The teachers understand some English but really don't speak the language. Luckily, we had our lovely interpreter Jiwan to help us communicate. Laurie and I showed up with pencils and dice to play a math game that reinforced basic facts. The kids were keen to play. Their variety of skill level kept us hopping around the stifling hot classroom. The best part was that the teachers seemed so pleased to have a different strategy to help them with their difficult job. Not only did Laurie and I feel appreciated, but we really felt that we were helping. We bought chart paper today so we can return tomorrow with multiplication tables and hundred charts.

While we were doing that the rest of the team was painting the windows and whitewashing the walls. Our full day's work was rewarded with a supper of delicious chow mein noodles and cold beers. As a final treat we had ice cream , which is amazing considering power outages are common and fridges are not! The nightly card game of President calls so that's all for today's update.

Katie McCormack 

Math teacher and DWC volunteer

Nepal, July 2014