Back in Sweden.

While writing this I am sitting in front of my computer in my home, in Sweden. I arrived yesterday and my feelings are quite mixed. Being back home makes the trip seem so surreal and far away. But there are so many things I take with me from this experience, and so many things I have learnt.

The project has made me realize how different societies can look and how many things I take for granted in everyday life. It has also made me see that even though Sweden is a developed country we miss some fundamental things. Like the feeling of community that Nepal has, where people are being so friendly and where there is nothing wrong with talking to strangers. Even though the traffic is quite chaotic, people are not stressed and they don’t just see the other people as something that is in their way. Sweden has become to individualistic.

I already miss Nepal, and the friends that I have there. Saying goodbye to them was not easy, but I know for sure that I will see them again. The Swedish group is now in different countries. While me, Veronica and Viktor are back home, Ebba and Adam are in India and Hanna is still in Nepal. The project is over, but even though this step of the project has ended there will be another step and an even bigger project to come. I really look forward to being a part of that. This project has really opened my eyes and made me want to change things in the world.

A big thanks to the Swedish and the Nepalese teams for making this project an amazing experience! Hope to see you all soon again!

 

More photos and a little catch up

Its morning time and we’re all sitting on our roof top. Trying to recover after a stomack flu that got us all (except Adam). But we are getting better, starting with a little bit of tea and yoghurt. Tonight is our last night together with the Nepalese team, sad but true (even though we’re pretty sure this is not gonna be the last time we’ll see them). The plan for tonight is to have a summary and dinner.

OK, so here are some photos from the last days

Bhawana and Hanna at a restaurant.

Meeting with Kantipur press, the biggest newspaper in Nepal. We got the opportunity to ask them questions and have a discussion around the medias role in the society.

Future workshop in Nagarkot, outside Kathmandu. Adam, Bhawana and Bishnu is doing group work infront of the Himalayas.

The whole team in Nagarkot, after doing the future workshop for two days.

 

Learning about Nepalese youth

Through numerous meetings with different partner organizations, the picture of Nepalese youth is becoming more and more diverse. The one meeting that left me with the biggest impression was the one with Blue Diamond Society. An organization working for the rights of HBT-people. From the start year 2001 its grown from nothing into an organization covering 40 cities. Through discussions we understood that the situation for young homosexuals, bisexual and transsexuals is hard in Nepal. Being excluded from work, family and school is to be expected if one comes out as HBT. Something that surprised me was that its easier to come out as a homosexual if you are a boy than if you’re a girl, since it’s a patriarchal society and men have higher status. The same goes for transsexuals, where its easier for girls to become men, than for men to become women. But overall, my experience from the meeting was that the situation for young HBT-persons in Nepal and Sweden is really not that different. Sweden still has a long way to go, even though the situation for HBT youth in Sweden is mostly better.

The last days we’ve had good discussions within the project group. Especially around gender issues, mental health and motivation. Where we exchanged working methods and gave each other inputs on how its possible to work with problems and issues that we are facing.

Yesterday night we came back from  a fruitful futureworkshop held in Nagarkot. For two days we put our clever minds together in front of the Himalayan ridge. Breathtaking! After these two days its clear that this is a darn dynamic group to work with. Everyone has massive amounts of knowledge and experience, and with the difference in backgrounds the diversity of perspectives are huge. We worked out and planned the next step in our project, I’ll promise to share the result with  you in my next blog post

 

Back in Katmandu

Today most of us have arrived back in Katmandu (except a few) to commence with more activities and meetings. The past days spent in Pokhara and Dhampus were incredible to say the least. The organizations of Youth for Change and Community Support Group both gave me inspiration though the dedication and passionate work they provide for their communities.  Walking to Dhampus was a breath tacking experience!  Ascending though the rhododendron forest  among terraces cut right out of the mountain side, watching the people of the area work the land and respond to the many namastee’s that sometime came from nowhere! Indeed it was a stair way to heaven as the near 700 meet climb followed steps built right into the hill side.  The scene of accomplishment and a wonderful rewarding chai awaited us at the top in Dhampus itself .  That night we met the local organizations to hear the problems and programs that they have int their community.

A wonderful trip and inspiration! would love to breath some more of the fresh mountain air!

 

Photos

Here are some photos from the project.

Picture from the meeting with Youth Action Nepal

Loading the microbus for a ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara

Celebrating new years on the roof top. Fullmoon, cheese and candles

Doing a trekk to the village Dhampus, 1700 meter high. The day after new years eve, who would come up with such a thing? Crazy I know!

We made it!! The whole project team when we reached Dhampus after almost 6 hours walking.

Meeting with community people in Dhampus. Here tired and cold after a 6 hours walk. But extremely interesting organizations!

Some of the swedish team infront of the Himalayas. Beautiful views, thats for sure

 

Happy New Year from Nepal!

We haven’t updated here for some days now, but it’s only because there has been so many exciting things going on! Both the Swedish and the Nepalese group left Kathmandu on the 30th of December and traveled by bus to Pokhara. Pokhara is a beautiful city, surrounded by the Himalayas and next to a lake.

We have met with two very interesting organizations here. One is Youth for Change, which are some really passionate and enthusiastic young people who work to change the society and to spread awareness on different matters. The other organization we have met here in Pokhara is the Community Support Group, an organisation were ex-drug users and people with HIV are working to help others that are in the same situation. For me it was amazing to meet this organization and hear about the good work they are doing, because I have learnt a bit about how similar organisations work in Sweden, and it’s not easy for them. So I can only imagine that it’s harder here, were both drugs and HIV seems to be more common, and were the society seems more afraid of the people who are HIV positive.

Besides having these two great meeting, and celebrating New Years Eve with amazing people, we hiked up to the village Dhampus yesterday. The hiking took us 6 hours, and it was pretty exhausting from time to time, but when we got up to Dhampus it was all worth it. The view was breathtaking! We were actually in the Himalayas! For me the view from Dhampus was among the most beautiful things I ever seen. In Dhampus we also met the local community and spoke with them about what problems the youth in the village is facing. Sadly they replied that there isn’t enough job-opportunities for all the youngsters of Dhampus to stay, so many of them go abroad or into the cities, which leaves Dhampus without young people. It’s a pity, because it’s such a beautiful and peaceful village. Everybody in the village, even though they are from many different ethnical groups,  are cooperating with each other and they are working a lot with sustainable tourism and preserving the beautiful environment. If you’re ever in the area I really recommend you to go there!

Tomorrow we are going back to Kathmandu full of new experinces and fresh mountain air!

 

Reunion with the Nepalese

Stoked and happy after a reunion with our Nepalese friends me and Ellen are now ready to update you all. Even more than before its come clear to us that we will have 2 amazing and active weeks here. We went through the programme and it will among other things contain;  study visits, meeting with  politicians, trekking, visiting remote areas, work  out the future of this partnership, take a part of Youth Action  Nepals annual meeting, visiting organizations that work for youth, the third gender, safety & migration, around HIV & aids and many many more activities.

I asked the Nepalese today; “what was your thoughts when you came back from Sweden?”. Gopi answered that he felt he needed to take more responsibiliy and Bhawana said that many Nepalese people fight for their rights, but they forget to take their responsibility.

As a counter question we were asked to give our thoughts of the difference between Sweden and Nepal.
Veronica -  “Its so  much people and sounds here, but many beautiful temples.”
Ellen – “people are so friendly!”
Hanna – “I cant day dream here. Cause people, cows and vehicles always cross my way  on the street.”

 

Everyone gathered

Yesterday everyone landed in Kathmandu, finally. Over a big binge in delicious chocolate cakes from the Snowman Bakery we catched up. Everyone is surely happy to be here. Ellen, Viktor and Veronica who came here some days earlier gave us an update of their camel & elephant tours in Chitwan national park. Not bad! And me and Adam showed off our suntan from southern India.

Yesterday we also managed to fit in a fire show at Basantapur Square where Viktor, Adam and some friends took part. After that we all squeezed in in our rooms to keep the warmth up for the night. The nights are cold here, especially in a country with no isolation!!

Tonight the projects starts and we will give you update after our first meeting. But right now the most important thing is to make sure that Ellen, Veronica and Viktor is recovering. They all got bad stomach (which is something you can be sure to never miss when traveling in Nepal). But they are alive and doing fine and me, Hanna and Adam is making sure they still get spoiled!

 

Landed on the continent

Have you ever thought about how quiet it gets when its snowing? Ive almost never experienced such a quietness before as the last days in Sweden, so still with snow everywhere. Now Im in India and its anything but still and quiet here. Loud streetlife, Bollywood music from stereos and cellphones, people and animals everywhere and heaps of people approaching all the time. But more than ever, it feels like home. For the fourth time Im entering this continent and nothing feels weird or different at all. Its just India, and I love it!

Right now me and Adam are south of Mumbai, but in 2 days will be in Kathmandu, Nepal to meet up with the others in the group. And the day after that the project starts. To say that Im excited about it is not enough. I just can’t wait to see everyone in Kathmandu since we’ve been working jointly 2 years to achieve this journey and project.

This picture gets to symbolize: one step at a time, and we’ll get there

 

Arrived in Nepal

Hello everybody!

Me (Ellen), Veronica and Viktor are now in Kathmandu, Nepal. Everything is good, but it’s completly different from Sweden, so there are lots of things to get used to, and lots of new impressions. Now we have met some of our friends from YOAC Nepal, and we will go out and have dinner with them.

There is a few days to get used to the country before our project starts. Right now there are so many thoughts in my head, and not so much time to write everything down, so we will update later.

Take care and namaste!

Ellen, Veronica and Viktor