Birthday, Bagnas and Pipal Danda



 

 The day after we got back from Jheksang was spent trying to avoid the persistent rain and we spent quite a long time in Nanglo West, one of Tansen's restaurants, updating the blog and catching up with the outside world. In the evening we enjoyed a meal to celebrate Andy's birthday, the following day, with Sagar and Saran and the four girls; Biju, Kamala, Sushmi and Sobah. It was a really fun night with a nice meal and lots of dancing and joking around. Sagar presented Andy with a special Topi, the traditional Nepali hats, the girls gave him a Karawa, the traditional Palpa drinking pot which they had had inscribed and Saran gave Andy one of the traditional Nepali bags. It was so generous of them all and it is so nice to have made such good friends.  

From left: Sagar, Rob, Saran, Biju, Sushma, Sobah, Kamala and Andy at Andy's birthday meal in Rock Regency.

Unfortunately as a result of the meal (we think) Rob was really quite ill over the following days and was not able to do too much at all. It is not uncommon to get very ill staying in these parts of the world as Andy had experienced on his previous travels in the area. Andy will now take up the rest of this post as Rob was constrained to his room for the most part.

 

The timing of Rob's illness was a shame as on my birthday I went and taught at Bagnas, a school I have really come to love. It is the smallest of our schools but that has meant that I have been able to spend a lot of time with the children and really get to know them.

 

It was pouring with rain in the morning, as it had been over the course of the weekend, and so for the first time, I opted out of walking there and instead got a taxi. I had a lot of stuff to take and without Rob, it would have been extremely difficult. I also was able to give Pushpa, one of the teachers, who lives in Tansen, a lift so we didn't both turn up to school looking like drowned rats. As ever nothing ran on time though and we were inevitably a little late in getting to the school.

 

 

We had a really good creative day and spent a large part of the morning with the whole school in the library letting them read the books and explore the resources I had brought along. Once again the children were fully immersed in this and loved all of the new things. We felt that it was also good to give an opportunity for the children to see all of the resources so that the children knew they were there, meaning that they would not just be locked away in a cupboard somewhere for fear of being damaged. That might seem unfair but with having so few resources the teachers are understandably protective about the new ones we bring. Hopefully with bringing more resources in the future they will be more encouraged to let the children use them more often. 



A morning of exploring new books and resources.

It was a really lovely morning and a nice opportunity to read with the children and ask them questions and also see how creative they could be given the chance.

Afterwards I worked with the older year groups making the 3d shapes. Being a younger age group than others we had done this lesson with, I gave them the net on the coloured paper to cut out but they still got to see how it all fitted together and had to use the scissors accurately. They mostly managed quite well and I think they maybe do a bit more creative work in this school than others we have seen.

Making cubes.

I had a very short lunch break with Rajan and Pushpa before an afternoon doing some hand printing with the paints. The leaf printing had not worked too well at Angakhola school so this time I got an old white board and spread the paints out on their as a sort of artists palette. The children then took it in turns to cover their hand in paint and print it onto their poster. I did this with both class 1 and 2 and they really loved it, as well as it giving them a colourful poster to put up on the walls of the classrooms. I had been a bit worried about what kind of a mess we were going to have with them all with paint on their hands but with other teachers there we were able to manage it well and it turned out to be a really great afternoon activity which we will no doubt do again in other schools.

We found poster paints really difficult to find and the only ones we could get were small tins. It would be really great in the future if we can find some of the big tubes of poster paints that you always find in UK primary schools as there is so much that can be done with them and the children really do enjoy it.

Thankfully we managed any paint related disasters and the children had a great time!

Another bit of artwork for the classroom wall.

It wasn't until I took this photo that this girl knew she had given herself a blue bindi!!!

It was such a nice day at Bagnas and a nice way to spend my birthday. It was a real shame Rob couldn't be there too. I was really impressed to see more display work up and the classrooms are starting to improve. The progress of the new building is amazing too - the chairman of the school Ram Lal is fantastic and is really helping to push the school forwards.

Lovely to see art work on the wall in Bagnas.

In the evening I was greeted by my homestay family with great excitement when I got home. I had a really lovely evening and they had gone to so much effort for me with a 'Happy Birthday Andy' cut out on the wall and had had an amazing cake made for me. Rob came up for a while despite having felt very ill all day, whilst I opened my presents. Rob gave me a traditional Tansen wicker stool which I had had on my list of things to buy. They are actually made in the prison at the bottom of the town and are really bright and colourful. The only slight challenge will be getting it in my bag to come home! My homestay family brought me a shirt and I also opened some presents and cards that family and friends had sent from back home. It was a really special evening - I really do feel very attached to them and it is going to be really hard to leave in six weeks time.
 

My wonderful homestay family, on my birthday.

Sagar and I at meeting with Pipal Danda.

We were pleased at the attendance of this meeting so we could
speak to them as a whole rather than just to individuals.

The following day we had a meeting set for Pipal Danda. We had bumped into the village chairman during our visit to Jheksang and this seemed to have prompted a bit of a move forward. I travelled there with Saran and Sagar and we spoke to a large number of the villagers and explained what we were trying to do. There was some resistance at points and at one point both myself and Sagar had to be quite blunt and tell them that there were many other schools which needed our help and that they were not the only ones. They seemed to be insistent on having a number of rooms built which were completely unnecessary but finally did seem to come round and we left with the village voting to work with us. Whilst we are not there yet it was a good step forward in getting this building project back underway and I was fairly pleased and relieved at the end of another long and fairly intense meeting. What is rather sad is the amount of time that we could have spent working with the children rather than having all of these meetings. It is a sad fact in Nepal that for the most part, right from the government down, there is far too much talking and not enough action.



Rob, was feeling a bit better when I returned, though far from 100% and wasn't really ready to go back to Bagnas the next day for what I believed would be my final day there. It might be that we will be able to pop back for a quick visit before we leave, given the schools proximity to Tansen.

An enthusiastic morning welcome from the children at Bagnas.

I was once again warmly welcomed by the children who waved and called out my name enthusiastically as I arrived at the school. Carrying on with the creativity from two days before I started out with Year 4 and we made wall hangings from leaves, an activity chosen by Pushpa, from one of the books we had brought for the school. Again the children loved the practical nature of the task and it gave them an opportunity to work together in a small group. I was really pleased with the results and there was a lot of practice for the children at cutting and following written instructions and they got to explore symmetry too.

On a hunt for materials!

Showing good teamwork skills.

Getting creative with sticks and leaves. The ideas were taken from a book we brought which is full of creative ideas using natural resources which are easily accessible in our remote villages.

The next lesson I taught, and another new one, was sound with Year 3. I showed the children that sound is made from a vibration which I demonstrated with the Madal (drum) small stones on it, showing how the vibrations from the drum made the stones jump up off the surface. We then made cup and string telephones which the children were very enthusiastic about. We tried different lengths, made a 4 way telephone and looked at whether the string needed to be tight or not. The children were also able to feel the vibration in the string as their partner talked. It was really very clear with this exercise in particular as to how much practical activities can help with children's understanding.

Exploring sound through cup and string telephones.

We again had a short lunch and as a snack I tried a rather unusual local delicacy - chicken feet!!! Despite how disgusting this sounds it actually wasn't too bad - you didn't eat the whole thing but just chewed off the crispy outside layer. I'm not sure this will ever catch on back home though!!!

Vegetarians look away!! Chicken feet for lunch!

 

 

In the afternoon, the chairman, Ram Lal came along and they presented me with another Karawa - I'm building up quite a collection now, and thanked Manisha UK for everything. With their new building almost completed they requested help in getting the rooms furnished, something would be excellent for a school twinning project. I hope they can get these new classrooms looking really great. They have done their best with display work in their other classrooms but it was always quite difficult with the rough walls. It would be great if we can get their classrooms looking more like their 'Room to Read' library, full of colour and displays.

 

 

I was almost tearful leaving this really lovely school. They are the friendliest and most welcoming school and I wish them every success in the future. That's the end of another entry. Rob and I are going to a Nepali wedding over the next couple of days (hopefully he is feeling better for it!).  

Rajan speaking at the leaving ceremony.

Group photo with all the teachers and pupils of Bagnas.

 

Their work not mine... but great to see!!!