Thoughts about volunteering

The time here in Nepal has really begun to fly. It feels like I just arrived, yet I only have 6 weeks left before returning back to Finland. Where has all this time gone? 

Well, time has passed while working. I work from monday to friday and I feel like I have a certain routine with work now, which is a really good thing. I usually arrive at the office somewhere between 10-10.15 depending on the traffic. We have a shared office room so while opening the laptops and getting focused on the days tasks we usually chat with collegues. This is one of my favorite part of the day, because it gives a positive and cozy start for the day. The rest of the day goes by planning, visiting class rooms, writing, searching information, brainstorming, creating, editing texts or just listening to others. Around 1pm or later we have lunch either at the cantine of the school or then we go to eat outside. Officially the day at the office ends at 5pm but it is not uncommon in UCEP to stay and work longer than this. My routine at the office consists also of learning Nepali language with the help from my collegues (I am still having trouble forming proper sentences) and also discussing about the cultural differences between Nepal and Finland.

Working as a volunteer for teachers without borders is quite creative and diverse in my opinion. Then again it sometimes gets stressful since things might move ahead slowly and you might not be able to see any concrete results of your work. I have noticed that it is very important to try to adapt to the day and to the moment because it is really difficult to plan things ahead in Nepal. Something always comes up, plans change or something that you might not be able to affect on might occur (as in traffic, strikes, miscommunication due to language etc.). When working in a new country it is also important to except that you can not fully understand the culture and the ways in this short period of time. You can try to understand it better and learn the language but I think that in order to work in full potential in ngo one should really know the ways, history, culture and everything about the country. Sometimes I do think that this is an issue in the development sector because this can actually never be possible for myself and then I begin to question the outcome of my work. My main priority is to try to follow the concept we learned in FCA training "do no harm". If I actually manage to do no harm and maybe work alongside with my local collegues in a way where we both can learn from each other, I guess that is something already. I feel like it's a huge misconception that a volunteer or expat or anyone working for ngo would actually "make a difference" because the difference should be made by the country itself. But if you manage to be a positive influence in this process I guess that is good. 

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-Elisa-