A visit to Kathmandu

In March 2024, Andrew, our friend Max and myself met Dina in Kathmandu for a week of in person training, meeting with other NGO’s, visit the two children’s libraries and some sightseeing for first time visitor Max.

The first afternoon was a gathering of NGO’s and churches across Kathmandu. We had around 50 people attending and we were able to share about our work. In the few years since we began, there had been a few other counselling services that had begun so the idea of counselling was starting to become more accepted. There were some familiar faces in the audience, people who had attended the online training and were now meeting us in person and bringing staff members from the NGOs they were helping to run. There were NGOs focused on early childhood education, girls at risk of trafficking, and teaching skills. It was a very good exchange of information and shared goals of improving the lives of the Nepali people.

We then ran the training over 3 days with 67 people attending. The training was the same content as the online versions we had been conducting for 3 years. In person training was a lot easier. Often, the internet wasn’t stable causing people to drop out and had to rejoin.  The audience was made up of church ministers, people working in NGO’s and interested locals keen to learn about listening and counselling skills. Even though the training was conducted in English, Dina was on hand to translate any challenging concepts or words.

One of the biggest challenges is the word ‘counselling’ in Nepali it translates to ‘giving advice’ which is not what counselling is. It was quite difficult to change the mindset. The final session we ran a session on mindfulness and led a beautiful guided meditation in English and Nepali. Certificates were awarded to attendees.

Library visits in Lalitpur and Benapa

The afternoon we spent as the Lalitpur library was a joy. Between 3 and 4pm, around 50 children arrived to do their homework and meet friends. There is a garden to play in and some toys. Dina’s parents as well as her sister run the library. Max was taking a gap year and had enrolled in primary school teaching to commence in March 2025. He is a natural teacher and within minutes had found a guitar and was singing songs with the children and playing games. They loved him.

A few days earlier, we had visited our other library in the area called Benapa on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Perched on a hill with lovely views, the library was run by Anita and her family. They had given two front rooms of her house to create a beautiful library and playroom. Again, as soon as school finished a stream of 40-50 students arrived. While Max entertained the children with songs and games, Andrew and I installed a new computer in the playroom. We wanted to access the Google Cloud Reading Library so Anita could show the children books being read in Nepali and English. The children come every day, not just school days but during the weekends and school holidays. No child is ever turned away.