In the fall of 2014 I was fortunate enough to become associated with NOH. A fellow teacher, John Lambert, became aware of this organization and introduced his Saudi Aramco Student Group to the home during their annual trip to Nepal.
While I was volunteering in 2014, my work assignment was at the Chelsea Education and Community Center. I worked with the children in the afternoon after they had completed their school day. Then this past July, I volunteered again at the Center. But this time, I found an entirely different adventure waiting for me there.
During the last year, the Chelsea Center started an adult educational program for women in the community of Dhapasi Height. These were women ranging in ages from late twenties to early seventies. Some of these women had not had the opportunity to attend school when they were young. Some could not read and write Nepalese. Some had grown up in small farming villages and others had married at an early age.
Now the Chelsea Center was giving them the opportunity that they had missed. Classes included basic math, English, and Nepalese. Classes started at 10 AM and continued until 3 PM. Many of the women stayed the entire 5 hours, taking several different classes. The teaching staff was composed of young Nepalese teachers, some of whom were former children from NOH. I was accepted into this friendly environment and was able to assist them in their classes, which ranged from basic English to advanced grammar and conversation. I very much enjoyed the conversations that we shared in the classroom. The enthusiasm and interest of the women was most impressive and heartwarming. They were being given a second chance to learn and improve the quality of their lives.
This was a wonderful outreach program for the local Dhapasi Height community. The adult program made use of the Chelsea Center during a time when it would be empty since the children were attending the Skylark School. After the adults departed at 3:00 PM the children arrived at 4:00 to begin their tutoring that went until 6:00 PM.
Being a retired teacher I was impressed by both the children’s and adults’ desire to learn. Once more NOH has opened doors to those who had them closed to them.