२२.०३.12

Namaste!
I woke up from a very weird dream about a religion exam that I had to prepare for and my girlfriend teenage party, even though she isn’t a teenager anymore.. Very strange! I dream a lot when I’m here in Nepal, but I think it is because of all the new experiences in a different culture.
Anyways our theme today was about human rights. First Jinita explained generally about the human rights system and what ActionAid is focusing on. Later we got this individually exercise that we have to draw and explain an article from the human rights declaration. It was an interesting and creative exercise, which gave us knowledge about the human rights. After lunch we split up in the country groups where we need to find information about human rights in the country that we are going to. For me I have to search about human rights in Sri Lanka and if Sri Lanka has signed or not the human rights declaration. It was really difficult to find information and therefore we were allowed to make the presentation at Friday morning.
Tonight we went to the cinema to see a bollywood movie, but the movie was cancelled so we decided to see a “real” Nepali movie. It was really fun. The movie tried to be a thriller, but really didn’t work out, because of the misplaced music, the fake acting and the awkward camera angles. A really amateur movie! I think we all had a great time laughing at the movie. Really fun! Now it is time for bed and I hope not that I am going to dream about this creepy movie..
Goodnight!
- Sidsel

२१.०३.१२

Namaste everyone!

Yet another day has passed by here at the Global Platform in Nepal.
Yesterday I wrote a list of all the things I expected would happen today। Some of my expectations were met and some were not. – This is how the list goes:

1: Being woken up way too early in the morning by dogs barking outside my window
- This did happen!
2: Taking a bath
- This did not happen!
3: Attending the communication and conflict management course
- Of course I did, we all did
4: Having Dahl Bat for lunch
- To our surprise the kitchen had prepared rice and (hot!) vegetables
5: Performing a Forum Theatre (where the audience participate in the making of a solution for the conflict, which the actors have acted out)
- This we did and it turned out to be a very funny experience because we all were forced to improvise, act and react)
6: Having Dahl Bat for Dinner
- Yet another surprise! The kitchen had cooked (hot!) vegetables with some “risengroed”-ish rice. This tasted incredible!

But some of today’s events I could not predict, like going to Parth Dubar Square with the global changers to see a real Forum Theatre used as a media/tool for debating social change I womens rights, or succeeding in watching a documentary about activism, when almost everyone else fell asleep।

This was today’s events and surprises from my point of view.
Goodnight!
- Johanne

तुएस्दय ३/२०/२०१२

Hello everybody,

Today we are halfway through the course here on Global Platform in Nepal, which means that we have only two weeks left. Two weeks to do everything and learn everything and then leave this platform transformed into an experienced, creative, open, fun and cool volunteer. I think those of us who will not stay here in Nepal also really wants to see, hear, smell and feel every bit of this country before leaving. That is hard to do in two weeks. This weekend we will go to Pokhara and I am looking forward.

Anyway. Today’s “theme” was project-management. Using a case we had to choose a problem and create a project. We were divided into groups consisting of those who will travel to the same country after the platform. It was great working like this and knowing that it will be these people and probably also similar projects for the next three months. Through different methods like “SWOT-analysis”, “Scope Statement” and by making an action plan we ended up feeling quite prepared for making a change. Or at least try to.

It is great with tasks like these that you can bring with you and use when standing with a problem in for instance Mutur in Sri Lanka. That is where I am standing two weeks.

The electricity here in Nepal is teasing me so I am going to get up stairs and scream into my pillow, now.

Thanks for reading my thoughts

Andrea

'Adventure in the streets of Kathmandu' - Movie day

Namaste everybody,

Yet again the sun has risen and another day in Kathmandu has begun. Everybody is ready for a new adventure, or at least I am. Today’s program is set for how to pass on a message and in this case we’ll do it through a movie. We started out by having the ritual morning meeting and energizer and then we were sent out in the streets of Kathmandu on our own. We all went out in groups, some on their own, with our heads full of ideas, maybe. My group started at the Garden of Dreams, which was a very beautiful place, an obvious sight for digesting the day passed and gathering your thoughts in reflection and silence. In our case it ended up with cake eating and tea drinking.

Then we went through the tourist district, Thamel, in a rickshaw, trying to catch some interesting pictures and clips for our movie. We ended up at Dubar square, where the architectural and colorful temples took our breath away. Even more astonishing were the cute children running around the streets. Seeing them made me remember how privileged I am and it only enlarged my passion for doing more volunteer work. Even though it is a sad sight it was warming to see them laughing and enjoying themselves with skipping ropes and sticks.

After several hours in the sun and dust, filming laughing children and smiling people, we went home. Unbelievable as it may sound, we still had the hard part ahead of us, the editing. Power outs and incredibly slow internet didn’t ease the job. But after many hours and what feels like square formed eyes we are on our way and close to be halfway there. With crossed fingers and sleepy eyes we hope that all the hard work results in a good product.

Sleep tight and pheri betaula,

/Trine

Tempels and monasteries

Namaste!

Today we went on a field trip to a Hindu and a Buddhist temple and what a day! We started out at the platform with a presentation made by some former students about the change from platform to placement. The 4 students are staying here in Nepal and tried their best to give us a realistic picture on how the change and cultural chock will be. Some might say they scared us off a little, but at the end I think, they did a good job and gave us some brilliant advice, like not to expect too much, and to put on out “yes-hat” as we say in Danish.

We went from hearing about a future cultural shock, to actually having our first small one! We went by bus to our first Hindu temple visit, and this was at least to me, quiet an experience. We visited the Pashupatinath Temple which is the largest and most visited Hindu temple in Nepal and is the temple of Shiva. One of the most impressive, and maybe also scary things were that we came very close to the cremations of the dead people, that were being burning on the riverside, . The smell of the dead burning bodies, the beggars and all monkeys running around was very hectic and from time to time a little too much - but I am happy to have experienced it. We ate our lunch on top of the temple area and while we ate we rounded up a small assignment Janita had given to us; we got 5 questions and when had to get the answers by talking to the people at the temple. It worked out really well and we all enjoyed the friendly spirit of the Nepali people and I think we got most of out answers correct.

After our hectic visit, we went to the Buddhist temple, Boudha, and I must say that this experience differs quiet a lot from the first one. The Buddhist temple was quieter, but still here were a lot of people, as I never think Kathmandu goes really silent or runs of out of people. We had time to go around and see some of the temples, we got to see the wheel of Dharma and many Buddha pictures. Some also talked to a couple of Buddhist monks who were very open and shared their knowledge about the temple. Again the friendly spirit of the Nepal showed itself.

This field trip was definitely a great way to put all the knowledge and facts we have learned from our classes on the platform into practice. Now my head must rest, because a day likes this demands time for reflection!

/Kirsten

Religion ned social structure

Nameste!

Our first monday here in Kathmandu is now coming to an end and what a day..

It started out with a weeding. Just across the road the groom was preparing himself for mariage. An orchestra was playing , the weeding car was decorated with flowers, more people kept shopping up and the woman were all in beuatiful dresses. Especially the girls who all looked like little princesses. They invited us all into the house so that we could see and meet the groom and there we got our first red dot in the forehead or an tilaka which represents the third eye and is a mixture of this red powder, yoghurt, grains and rice.

After that we went back to the platform to have our first class with Jinita. Today the overall theme was religion and social structure of South Asia. We concentrated on 4 religions: hinduism, buddhism, Islam and Christianity which was really interesting cause eventhough we all new about the religions, Jinita had so much more to tell.

Tonight we had a social night with the global changers who also lives here on the platform were we where divided into groups after our nationality and each group then had to make a short presentation of one of the other countries. It was a night with singing, dancing, funny games, smiling faces and more dancing.

Tank you all for a wonderful day!

Cancelled on account of rain

Yet another day in beautiful dusty Kathmandu has passed. Today though for the first time since our arrival, one of the 36 million gods in Hinduism let some well received rain fall on the ground of this mountain country. This rain, as needed as it may be, still caused some issues for our group as we were supposed to go temple-crawling today. As this could turn out to be an unpleasant experience, our facilitators decided to do it tomorrow, and instead have lessons on spreading the message of social change today. This gave me the opportunity to write a blog about spreading the message of social change, while spreading the message of social change. A meta-blog if you please. So here goes.

Your blog should start with a funny fact or a joke, like that you have an upset stomach or that your right hand got sunburned while you were mountain biking during the weekend, because you used it to rub sun screen on yourself and, at the end of the sun-screen-on-solar-exposed-bodyparts-rubbing-ritual, forgot to put sunscreen on it. Both are, sadly, in my case true.
Now your target group, and, or receivers, feel that they can trust and feel acquainted with you. At this point in your blog you have to tell your readers something interesting, educative or inspiring that you have experienced during the day. In my case it would be the conversations I have had with some of the people from the Global Change program on the platform who, under their dancing and laughing exteriors, are inspiring young men and women who fight for a change in their respective communities, and have achieved many times greater things than I have.
Now your readers have received, and hopefully understood your message. The only thing missing is to give your readers a reason to return to your blog. This could be telling them about all the cool things you do, and will write about the following days. On this particular blog, you will tomorrow be able to read about a trip to the marvelous Temples of Kathmandu, which is sure to be a very spiritually inspiring post.
Now end your blog post with something authentic and original, like a phrase in Nepali.

So, Pheri Bhetaula! (See you later)

/Daniel