Growing Up Talks: Charity donation in Nepal

The Pod Volunteer and Charity Team in Nepal received a Pod Charity grant donation to arrange "Growing Up" talks for the children from the local Children's Homes in Pokhara.

Janice, our Pod Volunteer and Charity Manager in Nepal attended the sessions with the children and here is her account of how the sessions went:

"We ran growing up talk held for the children we work with from Asha Foundation Children's Home and the Street Children's Centre in association with Nepali House who are experts in this field. The talk focused on growing up, discussing puberty, safe relationships and safe boundaries. This is something that the children here are not taught in school; we felt strongly that they should be able to learn about what their rights are in relation to their own bodies and how to respect the rights of others.

The first two sessions were for the children from Asha Foundation along with Ashmita, Aama's daughter from the Street Children's Centre, as we thought it would have been good for Ashmita to be in the talk with other girls and she could also make some new friends. The first session was held at Asha Foundation so Sarah and I went to get Ashmita and went over to Asha. The children were all set for the talk and thus the talk began with lighting a candle by the youngest member of Asha, little Asim. The second day session was held in Nepali House and kids loved being in a new place, different from their normal environment and also since it was their school holidays it was like a refreshment for them. The talks on both days went really well, with the children all saying they felt they had benefitted and learnt a lot from the talks.

The second talk was held for all the boys from the Street Children's Centre at Nepali House. The boys were all very excited to visit this new place and spend two days learning new things. Since Ashmita had already done this talk she had told her brothers what it was all about and how she thought it would benefit them and they seemed very eager. The first day we hired two taxis and went to Nepali House along with Cristina, our wonderful volunteer, who filmed some parts of the talk and took these great photos.

The talk started with Ramesh lighting the candle being the youngest one in the group. The teacher spent time talking to the children about boundaries and how to show respect to others. The day went well, kids all content and happy about what they learnt that day and feeling comfortable with the teachers to express their feelings and raise questions.

The next day was fun filled as well. The boys had fun doing anger dance, when they were all screaming at the top of their lungs and learning how to get out agression in a productive way. The teachers were really pleased with the children and how attentive they were throughout all the talks.

All the children enjoyed the talk and they said they were very eager to come back to Nepali House and do more counseling sessions or a talk in a different topic."

If you would like to support the Pod Charity please visit: https://www.podvolunteer.org/pod-charity

If you would like to volunteer in Nepal please visit our Nepal volunteering page for more details: https://www.podvolunteer.org/destination/nepal