Embarking on an unforgettable prelude to their university journey, three adventurous young girls from the UK have ventured into the heart of Nepal with a profound purpose in mind.
The trio, Ranya, Zain and Reiya Shrestha, will dedicate two weeks to volunteer at the Saraswati Secondary School in Kavre and spending most of their time on Kumar Balaram memorial free hostel.

Their incredible experience unfolds as they courageously dedicate their time to volunteer and immerse themselves in the rural communities of this captivating nation. Published by SAT, their diary entries offer a compelling glimpse into the transformative journey of these three individuals, recounting their captivating Day 1 and Day 2 experiences. If you wish to delve into the rich tapestry of their expedition, be sure to follow the link provided and join them on their remarkable odyssey of self-discovery and cultural enlightenment.

Click here for the diary of Day 1 and Day 1

Diary 3:
Once again, the day starts by waking up early. Ranya and I went to take what we thought would be another cold shower at 6:30 am, but to our surprise, the kind chef had warmed us up many buckets of hot water. His kindness is something we will never forget as getting us hot water must not have been easy. The buckets were heavy and he carried them all the way from the kitchen which is fairly far away. Ranya and I were extremely grateful for everything he has done for us three and this experience would not have been the same without him. He would even offer to cook something completely different for us if he felt even a small bit of fear we didn’t like the food (which was never the case) which also could not have been easy as he spends hours a day cooking for around 70 people. After the shower, Ranya and I stacked the buckets all up and returned them to the kitchen. After the shower, we met Reiya downstairs near the kitchen and had a delicious breakfast. It is very easy to eat healthy here and very difficult to do otherwise. After breakfast, the three of us were meant to go on a small hike. However, since we are not used to such an active lifestyle back in England, we were told to go rest. As a response to this, we had taken a leisurely nap. At around 1:00pm, we woke up from our rest and realised we were late for our English lesson. We grabbed everything and headed straight to the classroom. As we we entered, almost all the kids were sat on the floor on their mats waiting for us. We were greeted by a harmonious “good afternoon teachers!” from everyone. While waiting for everyone to arrive as not everyone was in the room, we started to write the aim of the lesson on the whiteboard, which was ‘Tenses’. We gave the kids examples of how to write sentences in different tenses, for example, ‘Past: I cooked/ I have cooked’, ‘Present: I am cooking’, ‘Future: I will cook/ I am going to cook’. After explaining these example sentences, we handed out picture cards to each group which contained images of people doing actions, for example, a photo of a young girl drawing or a photo of a young boy playing the flute. After handing these out we asked the kids to write their own 3 sentences using the 3 basic tenses, for example, the kids were able to write ‘The boy played the flute’, ‘The boy is playing the flute’ and ‘The boy is going to play the flute’. We went around to anyone that needed help and supported in writing their sentences correctly. This was a a fairly hard topic and some of the kids even expressed that they would like to learn about tenses as they struggle with it. After 45 minutes of the lesson, we moved onto antonyms and synonyms. We taught them the definition and wrote a list of words on the board. We asked the whole class to shout out the answers together. For example, ‘Big’ was written on the board and the kids would respond with ‘small’ when asked for an antonym. Again, we asked them to think of their own words and to write them in their books. This process was repeated with synonyms. Before coming to Nepal, the three of us were feeling quite nervous about teaching as it is not something we do. However, the kids have made teaching light work as well as enjoyable. The kids are usually shy but not when it comes to learning. When English class ended, one young boy who we frequently saw around stayed behind. We knew he had something important to say or ask because as much as we try to communicate with him, he struggles to communicate and becomes shy. The little boy walked up to us first to show us his notebook which contained his own English sentences that he has thought of. They consisted of higher English for his level which shocked us three. This whole time we figured he was not comfortable with English though it turns out he was not comfortable socially expressing himself. This again warmed our hearts as it was wonderful to see he was comfortable enough to do so with us. Right before he stepped out the door, he hesitated and walked up to us again. He asked us if we wanted to play football with his doe-eyes. However, since the sky seemed as though it was going to rain very soon, we had to decline his offer. This 13 year old boy’s name is Sudin. When the three of us made our way out, we sat on the logs outside the children’s rooms. We met a teacher who came just for us three. Her name is Yalyna. She came a very long way all the way to the top of the mountains just to keep us company. We talked with her and got to know her. We learned she teaches science and basic level English. Her liveliness was grand. After a long chat, she insisted we make videos of us all dancing together. She helped us learn choreography and we made a soulful video together. While dancing, a bunch of the kids gathered around to watch us. However, it had started to rain so Yalyna brought everyone to her designated room. When inside, she pampered me with her traditional jewellery such as her beautiful gold head garment, gold earrings, a slip-on nose jewel and lastly tikka. I felt like royalty. The kids were gathered around the windows and inside the room. After that, a guitar was handed to Reiya. Reiya and Ranya sang together for the kids while Reiya played the guitar. The kids looked so intrigued as they were playing songs in English. The last thing we did with the kids and Yalyna was play a long game of Ludo. The day ended with dinner, then finally another restful sleep