by Amanda Punch –
On the verge of high school graduation, you are constantly burdened with the question “what will you do with your life?” It’s a question that I, like many, lost sleep over. After placing the final brick on a school my classmates and I helped build in Bandipur, Nepal, I found my answer was quite simple: I want to help people.
I’ve been involved in a class at Stelly’s Secondary called Global Perspectives – a program focused on humanitarian work – for the past two years, and this year our project was to build a Learning Centre in Bandipur. It has been over a year since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. Here, tucked within the refuge of the Canadian West Coast, the quake may be nothing more than a distant memory, but the damage is still very real in Nepal. Temples were reduced to rubble and thousands are still living under nothing but a tarp held up by bamboo – we wanted to help this country in any way we could.
After countless hours organizing our annual Global Gala and with thanks to all the local businesses and families who came out to support us, we were able to raise over $21 000 towards the project. This money was then translated into rebar, cement and other supplies, and, after a week of work alongside the locals, we were able to finish the brickwork – a task that normally would have taken months – leaving the roof and the plastering to the professionals.
The final day of our project fell upon Holi – the festival of colours where a dye called tika and buckets of water are thrown throughout the streets. I came to Nepal with my white shirt, blank canvas and open mind, and let the culture stain my clothes, bowing down to let the children paint my face. The colour war ended with a ceremony and despite the language barrier, I could sense how much this new school, three times bigger than the old one, meant to the community. The workers hugged us and danced with us, and, before we left, we stopped to press our hands together and say a final namaste, a powerful greeting that can be heard throughout the streets meaning hello, goodbye, and, quite beautifully: “I honour the soul within you.”
Walking through the rubble, it may not seem as if we made a huge difference, but I have learned that any impact you can make on another person’s life is significant. My final day in Durbar Square only enhanced this philosophy when we met a man selling pottery who stopped a few of us, asking us why we were in Nepal. When we told him about our project he decided to give each of us a little clay animal to put incense in. It continues to amaze me how thoughtful the Nepalese are, and I wish to continue this karma, this infinite cycle of giving.
My time in Nepal may have been short, but if there is one message I bring back it is to inspire others to take their own white shirt somewhere new, embrace the colours of the world and take the time to help others, no matter how big or small. After all, we only have so many hours on this earth: might as well use them for good.
