Stanford Lake College pupils say ‘Namaste’, ‘hello’ in Nepali

On 19 June, a group of six students and two staff from Stanford Lake College departed for Nepal and arrived in Kathmandu, the capital, in the late afternoon of the following day.

They were immediately exposed to the hair-raising drivers and traffic in the city – so began theirNepal experience!

At the hotel, they met with a local agent to talk about the programme.

The drive to Pokhara, 250 km west of Kathmandu, was an interesting 10 hour journey.

From there they were transported to the start of their expedition. What an amazing experience this was. It took them through some of the most scenic parts of the Annapurna sanctuary. It was hot and humid with temperatures above 30°C and high humidity! On day two, they climbed over 7000 stairs and gained 1300 m in altitude to get to Ghorepani!

From here they summited Poonhill! It was monsoon time but they were blessed with perfect weather. It only rained during the evenings and they woke up to breath-taking scenery in the mornings.
The guides and cooks were absolutely amazing and the group departed as friends and not so much as clients.

Back in Pokhara after 4 days of hiking, the SLC team started to get ready for and to plan their service project – this being the World Challenge part of the trip.

The group managed some sightseeing in the afternoon, visiting Devi’s Falls, a Tibetan refugee camp and the World Peace Pagoda on a hill overlooking the town of Pokhara.

The service project was at a small school (nursery class up to Gr5), 3 hours’ drive outside Pokhara. The group included the first white Westerners to visit the school and to undertake physical service work there.

They received an amazing welcoming ceremony from almost the whole community upon arrival.

The girls painted a mural – the South African flag with typical aspects and depictions of our country incorporated into the colours of the flag. Their artistic talent was incredible.

The boys did some physical labour and built a fence to stop the soccer balls from going down the hill. The rocks used for the foundation had to be broken with a sledge hammer, and they mixed their own cement, planted poles and built the wall.

The Headmaster also helped to dig holes. They were all amazed to see that foreigners can also work hard as they thought that we only ever did easy office jobs! Almost every evening people from the local village came to see the SLC group and to check that they were well and safe.

After five days of work it was very hard to say goodbye as the group had bonded so well with the staff, the kids and the community.

They received an even bigger farewell ceremony at which the Headmaster said the Stanford pupils and staff had arrived as strangers but we were leaving as family.

The next morning the group left for a white water rafting trip on the Trusili River, which is some of the best white water paddling in Nepal.

This day was also the first of the monsoon season that they experienced, with soft rain the whole day. Landslides were everywhere and traffic jams were the order of the day, but the group still had an amazing time on the river with an even better time at the river camp afterwards.

On the last day they made their way back to Kathmandu for their final evening in Nepal and to do some last minute shopping.

What a life changing experience this was! Meeting wonderful people along the way and making new friends.

Stanford Lake College would like to extend huge thanks to Elané, Heinrich, Hosea, Danica, Hannah, Reuben and Mr Fullard for being #bestgroupever! Hardik Dhanyabad!!