My oh my… It’s been a long way since this whole thing started – with months of planning, ping ponging of ideas, confusion, some more idea ping pong, and some more confusion – everything worth it.
From the start, our unstoppable team of idealists, the magnificent seven, were ready to go full-on and I had many wild expectations for the whole journey, and now as I think of it, maybe my anticipations were not so far from what actually happened…
After almost two months in Finland after our trip to Nepal, remembering some specific moments of the trip has become part of my routine when I walk to university every day.
I’m still in the process of digesting the whole experience. Kathmandu, Dhungentar, the beginning of a friendship with the students of AITM, the different interactions with the inhabitants of the valley, interviews, photography. Today I don’t want to write about the most shocking moment of the trip, neither the happiest nor the saddest. Today, on my way to the university, I remembered the first walk after our arrival in Dhungentar.
Friday 16th March was our last official day of the field trip. After two weeks of intense meetings with people from all kind of levels, from the beneficiaries in Dhungetar to experts of big influential NGOs we had this last day with 4 meetings scheduled for the day. Due to the tight schedule with a need to travel across Kathmandu in the crazy traffic, we split into two teams. One team went to have a meeting with Lucky Gurung from Association of International NGOs in Nepal (AIN) and Jyoti Tiwari and her colleagues from the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB).
We spent the day in Bungamati learning about reconstruction projects and the history and architecture style of Newar people, who were the native people of Kathmandu Valley.
We started our day with an excursion to the Center of Resilient Development, a non-governmental, non-profit organization. They are focused on research about the sustainable reconstruction technologies in Nepal. But also do trainings and have built their own demo-house for other NGO’s who are having reconstructions projects.
