Volunteers – Kaule e.V. – Organisation for socially sustainable Agro Projects

‘In November 2009, we participated in the Kaule e.V. Project in Nepal. During our stay, we witnessed the everyday lives of farmers in the rural community; helping to build a bamboo fence, teaching some english classes, and putting some final touches on the Kaule e.V. headquarters, not to mention interacting within the community, enjoying rice wine with Nepali families, beautiful walks through the hills, and delicious local cuisine. We learned a lot about the local culture, vegetation, and farming practices. We will definitely remember Kaule fondly.’

Arriving in Kathmandu is an emotional process, above all when you intended to stay in Nepal for five months. You probably didn’t expect the things you see, or you never thought about them before coming here. Some people don’t have just a simple life here but rather a difficult live, and this is negatively impressing.

After the introduction period with VIN I was happy to arrive in Kaule. The traffic doesn’t disturb you anymore, nor the local people do it. Life is still looking poor here, but not under the bad conditions the capital “offers”, and not with people in between able to enjoy Nepal as tourists and somehow provoking the locals to rip them of. Ok, I still felt like a stranger or intruder.

This feeling never dissapeared really, but while working, especially while working on some of the farms participating in the project, It feels easier and easier to live here for  a longer time. I got to know people from the village, most of them are really friendly and invite us into their houses for a meal.

The work I’ve done varied quite a lot and included somehow everything from teaching English to children and adults in the village to the more rough work like building a rain drainage out of cement. In between I planted trees, pulled other plants out, counted  nitrogen-lumps on roots while helping Vera on her research work, coloured wood, built up something out of it, and so on and so on. Most of the things I’ve rarely done before. That was one of the reasons why I went to Nepal, to live under different conditions and do something different from only mental work in school, what I will continue in university this year.

All in all, after my five months in Nepal I can say that it was a rewarding experience, even if I suffered from some illnesses in between, which sometimes really made me feel like flying home the next day. In the end, flying home was as emotional as arriving in Kathmandu, not because of what you see – I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but you were not surprised by the living conditions here any more – , but because you weren’t sure about going home. Somehow it just started to feel like a home.

“My stay at Kaule was both pleasurable and rewarding, partially due to the varied diet provided (something not common on Nepali volunteer programs), but primarily due to the community focused attitude of the program’s organiser. Hospitality is a trait that Nepal is famous for (even if the same Nepali would scathe you behind your back), however at Kaule village it is clear that the community is honestly greatfull for the work conducted by Kaule e.v.
I had initially planned to work at Kaule for just three weeks, before heading off to work on a month long project that I had organised in Western Nepal, however I was so happy with the work at Kaule that I returned after my months project and continued to work there for most of my five month stay in Nepal. Although the project is  primarily Agricultural based, the work available to volunteers is varied due to the recognition of different needs in the community. Farming, construction/maintenance and English teaching work can be carried out there and if you have an idea of something different to do that will benefit the community, I’m sure the project organiser would be happy to consider this.
The accomodation is luxurious (by Nepali volunteer standards), but you have to take the short trip to Kathmandu if your thinking of hot showers. Yes that is a hint; if your going there to volunteer I’m sure they’d be greatful if you took a solar shower kit with you as a gift. Also say “Namaste” to the always smiling village shopkeeper for me, I’m sure by now the Kaule volunteers have spent enough in his shop for him to send his children to university, which might be part of the reason for his constent warm smile and golly attitude.
All in all, I would say if you are thinking of volunteering in Nepal, but you’re not looking for some great challenging adventure, then go to Kaule. If adventure is what you’re after head to the West and see what the people there want you to do, then go to Kaule once you’ve recovered.

Roddy.”

I stayed in this house for 6 weeks between Sept. 15th – Nov. 1st, 2009.

View video:  Walking Tour of the Community House in Kaule, Nepal

Volunteering in Kaule was a great way for me to feel at home in a new country. Kaule is a town about an hour bus ride outside of Kathmandu with a rural population of farmers. In the day time I helped with sustainable farming related projects and in the evenings I helped with two English classes. I lived in a volunteer house with between four and eight other people. A Nepali cook came to prepare two meals a day, and a translator would come to help us talk with the villagers. The people I met were very friendly and the location is beautiful. I felt free to take time off from volunteering to explore Nepal, but there is also always work to be done. I feel sad to be leaving this place where people have treated me so well these last three months.

Imagine yourself arriving in the middle of the hills to a small blue windowed cottage, dogs lying around in the sun, and a warm welcome is coming from the people already living and working here for months. Imagine that is going to happen after a week walking and negotiating in the dirty streets of Kathmandu and you feel at home all of a sudden. So the place, the project takes place – overlooking Kathmandu and facing the white ranges of the Himalayan -, makes you feel home very soon. This is an important thing for you being in a foreign surrounding which at first isn’t familiar at all. But also the surrounding village and its people became familiar and like a small family quite soon. Already after two days we’ve got an invitation to a wedding in the village and some days later we went to a dinner at the place of a farmer who is taking part in the project. All the other community members were around and we had a great evening with them, eating the national dish ‚Dhaal Bhaat’ and dancing together till the stars were twinkling. You wonder how we were talking? Well, as far as one side could just speak English and the other side could just speak Nepali or Tamang, the local language here, we tried to talk with hands and laughing, which worked out quite well. But why not learning a little bit English? So Alina’s idea of teaching the members and their children some English started the next days. A small cottage was found and in the evenings after the fieldwork for the farmers and after the project work for us we met there: in a small room, mattresses on the floor and very interested pupils sitting on the floor as well. It was an overwhelming experience. Already the walk to the small schoolroom was like going through your village at home saying „Namaste, Hello“ all the way along. In the lessons with the help of a nice translator from the village we had the young children at first, who were very keen on improving their English skills. We had much fun together teaching them small English dances and songs, and afterwards the adults: already asking for pen and notebook before class even started, giving us a plate full of strawberries to say thank you in their way. The first dialogues in English with the farmers started soon: „How are you?“ we asked, and then we heard the first weeks a „How are you?“ plus a laughing back. But after a while the right answer was given, not a „How are you?“ anymore but an „I’m fine“ combined with a great smile and a nice giggling. Also when the farmers came to our cottage to take part in a training program we could „talk“ this way. And so it went these days. For me the most impressive situation, which I still have in my mind now being back at home, was an old farmer lady. I gave her a paper on which I wrote her English name (Budda Laxmi) just to have it for herself. The next day she handed me back the paper, having practiced her name over two pages long. She probably never had a pen in her hand before. These are moments, which give you back a lot. And so the project in total gave me a lot. I also tried to contribute something to it with helping to clear the project site to make place for new plants, to put concrete on the walls of the cottage to protect it from heavy rainfalls and to take care of the project site in general. For me the best was to be able to do so many different things like teaching, working outside and being able to learn how to mix cement or how to built a fence. This is possible because Alina gives you a free hand to do what you feel after. So every day was different and an adventure itself because in Nepal there is always something happening: the water-tank is breaking or the electricity is not working anymore. With nice people like other volunteers from all over the world and at first Alina around you can face those problems better and at the end of the day sitting on a camp fire you can laugh together about it. Finally you can see all the small steps the project is taking towards its aim and you feel how the farmers realize what they have to do in order to improve their situation. And all these little moments together make it a great adventure for a volunteer coming to Nepal with some expectations and going back with a lot of great experiences. At the end of this report it is time to say „thank you“ to Alina!! Just her great organization, work and enthusiasm make this project possible! Dhaanyaabaad, Thank you, Dankeschön!

Marie

I worked in Kaule on 2 separate occasions for about a week each time.  My first visit, I did construction work and did everything from building fences, working with cement, laying brick, designing and building a washing station, planting a couple hundred plants and of course meeting the locals.  I had a great time.  The villagers, volunteers and project coordinators were great!  I would recommend this site to anyone who is looking for a peaceful, fun experience that incorporates interaction with the locals but also gives enough “western comforts” to feel close to home.  If I go to Nepal again, Kaule is where I’ll go.  The agroforestry project seems to be going well and even in the 2 weeks I worked there, I saw so much progress.  I anticipate that there will be great achievements from this endeavor.

Taylor (USA)

my name is Morgane Sanson, I am from Geneva in Switzerland. I have read somewhere that there were two places to visit in the world before dying, one of them was Nepal. Therefore, I decided to go to Nepal to volunteer in an orphanage. In the beginning, taking care of children was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my time with them, yet after a few weeks the job became really exhausting: to interact with children was even more difficult because of the language barrier as I could speak no Nepali besides “Namaste”. After the orphanage experience Alina’s place in Kaule was like heaven: as she has worked with volunteers in the past, she made us feel comfortable right away. Alina is a 32-year-old German girl who’s doing her PhD on introducing and teaching agroforestry in Kaule in Nepal. I admire what Alina is doing all by herself in Nepal, she’s so young and has already achieved so much, I want to follow her example. I was so impressed by her patience, in Nepal everything is made “tomorrow” (which can mean everything but definitely not tomorrow!), everyday many farmers are surrounding her house watching her work, smiling, not offering any help… she never raises her voice or looses her politeness and that is quite impressive. My work there was mostly to create a compost, planting herbs on the hill for the land not to be damaged when the monsoon arrives, build fences, concreting the house, making a new floor in the bathroom, panting the walls etc… Two other female volunteers, Claudia and Marie, were teaching English to the farmers and their children and they seem to really like it even tough it was a challenge to teach people who didn’t speak one word of English (and they could not speak Nepali as well) but they said it was a really rewarding job since the farmers were so motivated to learn and were always laughing and in a good mood… I really enjoyed my time up there in Kaule, the place is gorgeous, the house is located on a hill over the community offering a beautiful view on Kathmandu and the mountains, the fields etc… After Kathmandu and its pollution, Kaule seems like heaven! The work was very good we always had the choice in our activities and we were almost always working outdoors, which I really enjoyed. I definitely want to go back to Nepal and visit Alina and see how much her project has progressed.

Morgane