Busy yet?

One of the biggest complaints from volunteers who come to Nepal, highly qualified people who have temporarily given up their hectic lifestyles in the West or the Philippines or Africa, is that they come here and don't do anything.

Sometimes people in the organizations they are working with also aren't doing anything. Teachers have been known to leave the classroom and to go shopping for the day here, leaving the students in the classroom to fend for themselves. Others in NGOs can read newspapers for hours on end without beginning work. And it could seem, at times, there are more holidays and strikes than days in the office.

Sometimes volunteers work in organizations who are busy and doing a lot, but they can't quite figure out how to work together. There are certainly lots of people working incredibly hard here, as well. (Especially in the fields, but this is for another post).

I was sitting around so much at the beginning of my placement that I used all my creative energy to find ways to do things and to entertain myself. Which included finding a second NGO to volunteer with in the evenings and weekends. I did whatever I could to feel productive in the office: cleaning, listening, visiting people's workshops.. Reading and research. Connecting with fellow volunteers to see what was working for them. Trying various ways to let my colleagues know that really, I could be helpful if they would just let me in on the decision making processes.

After six months of this in my placement, I started to get worried. I am someone who has no trouble making myself busy usually. So this was an unusual circumstance for me to be working *this* hard to find things to do. And uncomfortable. It also went against my whole idea of the purpose of volunteering: to act, to think, to help create.....here in Nepal. If I'm not needed in Nepal (and there is an argument for this perhaps - to come in another post), then I should go back home, right?

Turns out I needn't have been so worried. I am so busy these days all of the sudden that I can't remember what it was like to have time for yoga in the mornings, to plan dinner while in the office, to write big, long emails to friends.

If I wasn't so exhausted right now, I would have the energy to be excited about this.

But after 6 days of training followed by 17 days of research in villages straight to meetings, meetings, and more meetings in Kathmandu....I am signing myself up for a massage tomorrow.

There is this place I know that hires and trains Dalit women in massage. The Dalit caste is traditionally considered the "untouchable" caste. Some Nepalis I know still refuse to eat at the same table as someone who is Dalit - not so rare, in fact. Untouchable, because if you touch a Dalit, you are then also considered "polluted" and then have to go through extensive purification.

Tomorrow's plan, then, social activism and massage in one fell sweep: yes!!!

I thought I could get away with my first full day off from work. I've been holding this day sacred for myself - mentally, at least - for the last couple of weeks. But alas, turns out there is a concept paper due tomorrow evening, and I was pleaded with to come into the office and help in the afternoon. Bargaining chip: extra day off on Monday. I'll believe it when I see it!

Now, I'm not complaining about all this work. This is GOOD you see. And there are so many volunteers who are very jealous of how much my organization is engaging me. I am lucky. I know I am really lucky. Really. But...I am now striving for a bit more balance between the two extremes.

Turns out that working in villages for 17 days is really, really tough work that I am still, apparently, recovering from. My eye infection is almost gone, and my energy is starting to come back again. I lost several pounds which I have gained right back now that I am in Kathmandu and around brownies and banana pancakes and lattes again.

The trash in Kathmandu is piled high - the garbage companies are on strike again. Not coincidentally, I think, almost everyone I know is sick. Fevers, bronchial coughs...not good stuff. While this doesn't fit into the I've-been-working-too-much category, it is mentally taxing to experience. It takes a fair amount of energy to a) sidestep the trash and b) mentally tune it out at the same time as much as possible.

Would I change any of it? No. Being in the field and all this work I'm engaged in is fabulous. I am learning a lot. It's pushing my comfort zones in many ways, and I'm experiencing things that travelers coming through Nepal could never experience.


Once I get a chance first to relax.....I will post some stories and thoughts from my fieldwork and time in the villages near Hetauda.

For now, I have a banana pancake on the way....