In February 2020, I spent 4 weeks working with GVI in Pokhara, Nepal on the healthcare programme and truly had some of the best weeks of my life there. From the moment I arrived, I felt completely at home in Pokhara – the GVI base had a lovely community atmosphere, with many a card games, Nepali dance lessons and walks along the lake being enjoyed by all volunteers. The staff were truly fantastic, going above and beyond to ensure the projects were run effectively, whilst always allowing volunteers ample freedom and responsibility to bring in new ideas, meaning that the projects continually evolve and improve. Having the opportunity to teach healthcare and English to such motivated, polite and appreciative children, whose enthusiasm and creativity made even the simplest of tasks more fun that I could have ever imagined was a joy to be a part of. The days on project of course came with their individual challenges, but these helped me to further learn and improve my teaching skills, and ensure each day was exciting and rewarding. I really could see just how much GVI’s work was valued in the communities in which we were working, and as a volunteer, you therefore feel such a sense of pride to have contributed to this. Nepal was an amazing place to explore outside of project time, with weekend trips such as to Chitwan National Park in easy access of the GVI base. There were always things going on in Pokhara too and getting to experience festivals such as Shivarati was incredibly interesting, giving me a better different insight into the culture and religion of the Nepali people. I left Nepal with amazing memories, friends from all over the world, a genuine new-found confidence, and only one regret – that I hadn’t stayed longer! The project work confirmed my love for teaching and encouraged me to complete my TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) qualification on returning home, so that I am able to work teaching abroad in the future. I am eager to return to Nepal as soon as I can and can only encourage anyone considering volunteering abroad to bite the bullet and go for it with GVI – if you are passionate about the cause for which you are working, you are guaranteed to have an amazing and eye-opening experience.

I joined the program to make a difference and get some much work experience, and I feel confident I achieved both of these goals. Working on project helped me become comfortable working in a professional setting, and allowed me to develop my skills in terms of planning and presenting information to individuals with completely different backgrounds from my own. The staff were incredible, always supportive and helpful but at the same time felt more like friends than anything else. Can’t recommend this enough.

Let me preface this story with the most important fact, volunteering in Pokhara, Nepal was undoubtedly the most amazing experience of my 21 years. However...I’m not going to lie, within hours of arriving in Kathmandu I was sitting in a small, dark hotel room bawling my eyes out. Completely overwhelmed by the chaos that is Kathmandu, I could not stop asking myself, “What on earth have I gotten myself into?”. Then I arrived in Pokhara and fell instantly in love with Nepal. This beautiful city can only be described using cliché...The spectacular yet dangerous Annapurna Mountain Range looms over the Phewa Lake casting a crystal clear reflection (Google it, I’m not kidding!), which borders the main street of Pokhara aka. Lakeside. It is in Lakeside that I would hang out with the GVI crew, shop, eat insane amounts of momos and pakodas and develop a raging coffee addiction at Olive Café. A bumpy bus ride out of Lakeside took us volunteers in our different directions to project every day. An aspiring nurse, I volunteered on the healthcare project. I was lucky enough to contribute to the new Health Care Workshops Program. We kicked it off with nutrition, first aid, anatomy and exercise then puberty for young women. You’d be surprised at the amount of fun and laughter we had implementing these workshops! Trying to keep this brief but feel it’s really important to bring up the life-long relationships you’ll develop. Another cliché, sorry!! Really though, I was lucky enough to find not one but TWO soul sisters and a whole lot of incredible individuals who I’d never have met otherwise. Living with a huge variety of funny, intelligent, inspiring humans is one (of many) of the unexpected joys of going on an adventure with GVI. It’s hard not to ramble on about every single experience on offer in Pokhara. I guess the most effective way to communicate it is to say GO (!!), see it and experience it for yourself, it’s absolutely unreal.

From my initial Kathmandu tour, to our time volunteering, my rafting and trekking, and even to the arrangement of my Indian visa and onward transport, no stone was left unturned to ensure I was given 5 star service.