Monday, July 8, 2013

Days 15-19: Final days; could we have done more?

These last few days have been spent enjoying this country that we have all become connected to, and enjoying the company of our new friends that we have made here.  As we are getting ready to leave I think that all of us feel that we could have achieved so much more.  Before coming here I was very excited about being able to not only learn about the organizations we would be visiting, but also about being a part of the work they were doing.  Now as we are packing our bags for home I feel like we just did not do enough.  As I have thought about this I have come to the realization that we did not have to be in the trenches doing the work for these organizations, the most important thing we could achieve is learning about them, then spreading that knowledge to others.  Although these organizations appreciate and need volunteer workers and money donations, they do not need us to come to their country and save them.  The Nepali people are perfectly capable of improving themselves.  What they do need is the support of the world behind their causes, and for the world to know that this developing nation will not be behind the crowd for long.

The thing that most amazed me about the people we met during our time here is their determination to make their nation better.  These people are native born Nepalis who have struggled to obtain an education, then struggled to get their organizations started, often starting with just a few dollars in their pockets.  Then they have fought to make a difference and have their voices be heard, and the good they have achieved can never really be quantified, nor duplicated by foreigners trying to achieve the same results.  These people have been successful because they are fighting for their homeland, which instills in them a dedication to their cause that no foreigner can ever obtain.  We talk in U.S. about the American Dream, that by coming here and working hard you can achieve anything.  Well, these Nepalis are achieving this right here in Nepal by moving their country forward and making this dream we hold in America a possibility in Nepal.

So as I look back at our time here I think was our contributions appreciated, and I feel that the answer is yes.  Second, I ask could we have done more, and the answer is probably.  Thirdly, what more can I do, and the answer is continue sharing with the world the things i saw and learned during my time here.  Tell people who the Nepali people are, and how they are striving for a better tomorrow, and perhaps most importantly share with people how they can contribute to making the world a better place wherever they are from, by following the example of the amazing people we met while in Nepal.  I guess what i learned most of all from this trip was that by small means we can achieve great things, we just have to be willing to work for it.  Wherever we are in this world we can make a difference for ourselves and our communities, perhaps there was nothing more we could have done in Nepal, but there is certainly a lot we can do back at home.