"So...how was Nepal?"

Welcome back everyone! Its been a roller coaster month for all of us, and all too soon we're back in sunny Singapore.

These days, the title of this post is the often heard question from friends. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to tell you more about the whole experience, but I guess I do it best in pictures and words. So here goes, a recount of our journey in retrospect.


DAY 1

By 7am, the bulk of us had assembled and Changi, raring to go.....the sheer number of boxes that we had to transport was mind boggling....we literally had to form a human conveyor belt all the way to the check in counter!


As the aircraft gradually ascend into the clouds, and the tiny speck known as home disappeared from the horizon, what we had been dreaming about and striving for in the past few months was about to become reality. Prophetically, an article on Nepal was featured in the Live! section of ST that very day.


After being cooped up in a tiny plane for five hours,we arrived at Thribuvan International airport and were reunited with the advance party!


That was not the end of the journey, but the beginning another 6 hour long bus ride to Pokhara. Thankfully, we stopped for dinner along the the way at Hamlet court, made friends and even had time for an impromptu game of cricket with Nobin and his siblings!

More soon.... Joan :)

Pre-Namaste Medical Checkup

13th November:

This marked a monumental event for some of us. Why? Because some of us had to take up to 4 injections at one shot! haha. And there were of course the few of us whose kryptonite is the deadly syringe!!!!!!! I kid u not! Here are some of our suspects:

1) The hairy giant Thash - could he be the gentle giant?

2) The lady with an eye for the camera Hweifen - could she, outwardly strong be scared of a

little something?

3) Our very own mountain terrorist Anil Motay?

4) Or could ZL have been putting up a stellar Golden Globe award for acting all scared but in

fact....... she is sado-masochistic in nature?

Our investigation led to quite surprising discoveries that unfolded....

Behind that macho pose........ yes he stood firm. Braved the needles with just a trickle of tear.

Hweifen asking for 2 extra shots! what can I say?
Dude, I cant help save your skin or pride. The face says it all.... Waahaha

ZL biting her lips in anticipation of her worst nightmare?

>>> Her perpetual pose after the injections

The verdict is out! You make your own decision as to who survived the ordeal!

Famous quote 1 (made when this pic was taken): "I can feel the holes in my body" Can u guess who made that comment?

Famous quote 2 but not in the picture: "Kil is pronounced as 'Kli'". Ahem Kelly, can we still trust you to lead the English team? Wahhaa

Just after all of us took the injections. In great spirit, we all posed with Kelly's famous walk out of the injection room pose which actually sparked off the idea of taking photos and blogging. Thanks Kelly! Trivia question: Can you spot the deviant character in the picture? We could only wonder why.................................................. Haha.

Anil going for his third helping of free samples. No wonder he considers himself Singaporean.

Hey guys, beyond all the jokes, I think it was a really fun "outing" for all of us. So thank you all for the experience =)

Pulau Ubin

Hey guys! The long awaited entry about our Ubin trip (the weekend of 20th and 21st October - if u guys look back in future and thinking “when ah?”) is finally here! I’m sure all of us had loads of fun while there – good company, fun activities and but of course not forgetting the booze which all you drunkards cant live without – Yishu I’m sure you have something to say about gin! =)

Its obvious who's most excited in this pic. Arriving happy (not knowing what's in store)

On reaching Ubin, the first thing that was utmost apparent was the battle that we would have with the mosquitoes. Bags down and up came our barriers and armaments of mosquito repellent sprays and coils. Of course who could forget our leading warrior, Shei Ting, who was the first to arm herself with a hanging mosquito coil. *By doing so she gained 20 close friends immediately who flocked to seek refuge with her*

After settling down, we kick-started our trip with skits from the respective teams we were broken into. From the mini-skits presented, we uncovered a character not known (then) for his “talent” – up stepped our very popular cook , Yishu, who took on the role of a contestant in a pageant. He gave us a stellar performance, with his hard pumping hand dance moves that we would never forget. And together with his famous tag-line “I go GYM”, it would most surely go down as one of the classic moments of Project Namaste II. Damn it was unfortunate no one recorded it on video. Simply a classic. Haha.

Shei Ting happily rolling over as "Jill"

In Huiling, we have 1 certified first aider! Her, together with the medic team, organized a rather comprehensive and interactive first aid workshop for the team.

<<< Paresh, dont get so comfy.

>>> Bro, you are getting out of hand man. Now you're lying down and even got Huiling as a masseur to service you.

Negative example of how not to use a bicycle

Motay caught in action

The famous Yishu dance hand movement

Project Namaste II: October 20th 2007

For the evening, about half of us went back to our shack to prepare dinner (our first attempt at simulating our cooking team) and the rest headed over to the beach for some sports. It was quite an eye-opener for a number of us who were part of the dinner team as we learned how to chop a frozen chicken. (Thanks Louise for helping out. On a side note, they had originally wanted to practice killing a live chicken but they couldn’t get a live chicken in mainland Singapore and it would have costs $10,000 to kill 1 in Pulau Ubin). Most of us tried our hand either at opening up the frozen chicken or chopping them up. Even our girls were adventurous enough to have a go at them!! Well done girls.

Finally managed to open the chicken after ages.

<<<>

>>> Joan I heard about the "bruises" that you gave the guys in your attempts to kick the ball. Angus just before he got "lobanged" by Kat.

Facial tanning gone wrong !!!

Still trying to figure out how that piece of rag on The Destroyer's head is supposed to represent a wolf.

Late night was when the party started for the guys. Beer bottles, gin and whisky were quickly whipped out. As Paresh would so testify “Booze is the best ice-breaker” and so it did. One embarrassing tale after another was made known. But the spotlight was again on Yishu – he who thanks to his buddy, John, simply stoned after drinking some beer and then gin. It was hilarious to see how he sat on the chair… dazed even when we asked him questions. Poor guy was knocked out as soon as he hit his sleeping bag.

Despite all the fun and games as mentioned, this trip was also a very fruitful one in terms of getting serious work done. The facilitation sessions made us come to consolidate our common visions better, fostered stronger relationships, understand what we need to do as a team and listed down some possible problems the team might face. We also managed to work on the teaching charts that we would be using for the kids in Nepal.

Mostly fun and games but hey, we still got some work done

Finalists of beach hunks competition?

Goodbye Ubin

Combined meeting

Mid-term break proved to be no break at all for the Namaste team. In fact, we've had to step up a gear with the expedition drawing ever nearer. Despite the tight schedules and really heavy workload that all of us have, they did not dampen our spirits during our second combined meeting/teaching session.

Hey one and all,

I will be going for a Community Service trip to Nepal with a team from SMU (Project Namaste II) at the end of the year to serve the community there in particular to help educate kids and reconstruct the school there (painting, maybe building something small, etc).We would also be constructing a library and improving the stoves there. The project then requires a lot of funds for us to make this success a major one. 1 way in which our fundraising will be done is through the "sale of postcards". These postcards are very special as one will not just be buying a postcard in itself but in fact these postcards will be filled by personal messages from the Nepali kids themselves and later posted from Nepal back to Singapore. What you see below here are some of the Nepali postcards. They are both beautiful and meaningful.

Therefore, one can think of it as if you made a donation and in gratitude, the Nepali kids decide to write you a "Thank you" message,because that is what it is. Do your part for charity. Contact me at 81007451 or email me at kelvyn.li.2005@socsc.smu.edu.sg for more enquires. Think about it. One good meal would more than exceed this amount already. Why not make a little 1 day sacrifice to help others more in need? It's definitely worth. Feel your heart. A lot of people have asked me how much to donate. Our team have discussed for it to be at least $10 per postcard but since it's for such a good cause and if you feel able enough, any amount more than $10 would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- kelvyn

~Project Namaste~

There is a country in South East Asia, blessed with majestic mountains and unspoilt nature. It's scenery might be beautiful, but it's standard of living certainly is not. Let me introduce to you, Nepal, one of the most remote developing countries in the World.

This December, a group of SMU students will be going up to Nepal for a community involvement project (Project Namaste). You're probably wondering, why choose Nepal? Well, let me give you some background on this country: Nepal has a population of 28 million people, and a literacy rate of 50%. As you can imagine, most of the people are mired in abject poverty and find it difficult to escape the poverty cycle on their own.

Through this project, we hope to benefit the Nepali people and bring a glimmer of hope by aiding them in our own humble way.

The team in Project Namaste have a few plans which will be executed when we go to Nepal:

Firstly, we want to tackle the problem of illiteracy, by helping to teach the school children of this village that we are visiting. We will be coming up with a curriculum of simple English and maths. Also, we will be training the teachers in the school as many of them are ill-equipped to teach the children, due to poor language/linguistics and mathematical skills. Hence, by developing a curriculum and training the teachers, we hope to achieve a long-term impact through this sustainable education plan.

Secondly, the educational facilities in the school are delapidated and in need of refurbishment. It is not a place fit for school children to study! Hence, we wish to beautify the school and give it a fresh new look by painting its exteriors and decorating the interiors with murals. By doing so, it will create a more conducive and warm environment for the school children to study in.

Thirdly, the school in the village is facing overcrowding. Hence there is a strong need for new facilities. The team in Project Namaste has decided to fund entirely, the construction of a brand new library for the school. We have also contracted a local construction company in Nepal to do the job, so that the funds for construction will also flow into the local economy.

Lastly, we will be introducing the concept of an improved, new, stove. The current situation in the village is such: The old stove used by the villagers requires a lot of firewood and produces alot of smoke and soot. As a result, this forces the villagers to cut a huge amount of firewood for daily use. This has worsened the deforestation that is occuring in and around the village areas. Also, smoke inhalation from the stove has led to respiratory problems in the people. With our improved stove which requires less firewood and produces less smoke, it will certainly reduce the respiratory health problems faced by the villagers and eased the deforestation problem. Hence this stove is important as it is environmentally-friendly, and also less damaging to health.

We have many big plans for Project Namaste, but this plans don't come free. Even though SMU will be subsidising us, we still have to raise funds required for this project as it is not enough.

There are 2 ways in which we'll be trying to raise funds.

1) Corporate sponsorship. However, this is a difficult route to take. Most corporate sponsors are only interested in large-scale, island-wide events in which they can get maximum publicity. Thus, small-scale, student-initiated projects like ours tend to get overlooked.

Thus, we are banking on the method below...

2) Donations from well-meaning private sponsors.

To find out more about how you can donate to us. Read the post above!

-huiling