Calling it home

One month after we have spent our first day & night at our host family all of us seem to finally feel home in the community of Serachaur.
From the very first day on we were treated as brothers (dhaai) and sisters (didi) of the Adhikari family. Waking up and returning home from school knowing that we will be served meals and offered our own rooms does take away a lot of work and stress for sure. Due to our caring host family we therefore are able to spend all our energy on project matters.

Ke garne?

If there is no school to work with the students there is no school...
And if there is no power to charge laptop or cell phones there is no power...
Even if the main path in Serachaur village turned into a strong river after the last rain fall... there is nothing you can change about that fact!

It is what it is. So no need to get all annoyed about it. Well that's what a Nepali person would answer you. The Nepali solution facing whatever problem is: "What is there to do?" (in Nepali language: "Ke garne?")

And it's actually pretty simple. The sad feelings about something gone wrong will never help you from now. For a Nepali person it's all about the present & the future. That is what you can still control, can always control. Living in a community that is structuring all its life around this saying can sure offer you a new thrilling insight. Facing loads of daily power cuts did help us come closer to and understand this special way of meeting life.

The never-ending evaluation period

Against all our expectations the evaluation of all research results was one of the our most exhausting and time-killing jobs. Since we had implemented many open questions within both teacher's and student's questionnaires it took us one and a half weeks to sum up and analyze all research results. To mention just two results that especially caught our attention:

 Just 1 out of 12 teachers said that it is due to the teaching methods that the less talented students are continuously facing the biggest learning difficulties. Most teachers named the poor family background and economic condition as the biggest reason why less talented students cannot follow class.

Moreover research proved that teachers talk directly to the best students more often than to the less talented ones.

All other consolidated findings are listed in the files below:
Analysis of teacher questionnaires
Analysis of student questionnaires
Summary

Conducting research

Facing the problem that students are afraid of expressing their personal feelings and thoughts we were in need of a good solution how to conduct some research anyway.
Our first way around was to also question the teachers about the less talented students. Furthermore we interviewed the principle of DACS school. But since the students were within the main focus of our work on the project we also wanted to involve the students themselves. To get the most personal answers from them we implemented a few easy questions within the questionnaires to make them feel more comfortable (e.g., "What is your favorite color?"). Besides that we separated them to avoid cheating by copying the sentences from another student.

All in all we questioned 35 students (all students in grade 6, 7 & 8).

Playing teacher

After we were about to stop the observation process we also executed a few English and physical education lessons. By experiencing the teacher's perspective with our own minds and behaviour we were able to collect another important insight.

We found out very quickly that most students are not able to work individually. The majority is not able to talk about his or her personal feelings, habits and ideas. Instead they try to keep up a codex that seems to be ruling their class by copying the answers from others. To give an example: We asked the students to tell us what they like about school. Every time we told a student to answer that question he or she was turning around in class to catch up on a whispered answer given by another student. Further research proved that the students are afraid of giving a wrong answer when they are told that there is no right or wrong.

Observation

Observing a school class and sitting down in the class room without interacting can be quiet boring... NOT IN NEPAL... where everything is different.

So we started off working within the DACS school by observing teachers and students with the help of observation sheets we had prepared the weekend before. We soon found out that the teaching methods really differ from what we've seen during our work and time in German schools. The parrot learning method is dominating every lesson. It means that the teacher is giving a definition and all students have to repeat it as a group. We hardly never experienced any creative ways of teaching like group or individual work.

Another big Nepali habbit is the grading of students by marks and exam results. At the beginning of every day's first lesson each student is called by his/her name to check his/her attendance. Student number 1 automatically is the best in class and student number 12 the least talented one. Most less talented students can easily be recognized by their poor English knowledge. Some students read in 8th grade and can not say or understand a single English sentence while the best students keep up with our team's English.

We could also observe the signal that reached us back in Germany already. The less talented students can not follow class and participate in the questioning of the teacher. Therefore they receive bad marks.

Further down you will find a summary of all our observation results:
Observation of teachers
Observation of students
General observation

Fighting!

Conflicts might be supporting the team's ability to make the right decisions for some time. As soon as conflicts become personal though and affect everybody's mood the whole project can be at risk. That is what we all found out within the first week we had spent living together as a team.

We faced serious problems trying to find compromises for all our controversial beliefs. Nobody wanted to step back from his/her own way of solving things. And it's strange because there were times each of us forgot that we used to be friends before. The conflicts made us feeling annoyed about each other sometimes. The never ending fight made us go to bed with anger in our minds and wake up thinking in prejudices. We all especially remember one situation where everybody's patience and empathy had left. Two of us were crying and the thought of cancelling this whole project and calling it a failure was already mentioned in words.

It seemed to be a really bad start for our project but at the end it still proved to be necessary. Even if we still fight sometimes today everybody is more able to accept the other person's thoughts. We take each other more serious in our feelings and finally know again how to talk fair to each other. The first week turned out to be an intense experience. Let's hope this was enough of a lesson for all of us.

Arriving at our new home

The first days in Serachaur were the most challenging so far. For some of us it was really difficult to adapt to the every-day-life in our host family. The sanitary facilities, our rooms, the furniture and Nepali food were very different compared to Germany. Everybody finds himself/herself at least once a day missing out on something he/she got used to back home in Germany.

And still... Nepal has so many nice things to offer that we always experience new ways how to love and enjoy our stay in this country. The views and mountainous scenery are just stunning. The people are amazingly welcoming in every situation. And the time is ticking slower enabling us all to experience Nepal's peaceful atmosphere.

Thik-chha? La la la!

... and here you go! The first two Nepali "sentences" are learned (How are you? - I'm fine.).

Our 3-day-Nepali language class was a hit! The simple fact that our teacher Prem was welcoming us with a smile from ear to ear every day made us forget that we had gotten up way too early.

After we could fill out our exercise books with hundreds of Nepali words and sayings it's now up to us to improve our Nepali language within the community of Serachaur.

Goodbye Germany!

 

So from tomorrow on most of us will have arrived at the Kathmandu international airport. This means that we are about to make our first steps within a world that we are not used to so far. There will be all kinds of different traditions. The local's way of living and thinking might speak a language we do not know yet. 

Everything that we worked on so far and that we spent our energy on was aiming on this very last moment where we are able to execute our project.

We hope to return with experiences we can still put into good use months or years after. Maybe we are also able to internalize some of the spiritual wisdom Nepal has to offer.

Stop working, it's Lunch time!

"Leave the work behind and enjoy each others company."
That could have been the slogan of today's gettogether between the Maya foundation, our project coordinator and us. After we had a lot of issues and misunderstandings concerning the project defintion we put today's time into good use. We ate and drank together, laughed a lot and actually finally got to know each other.

Decision making

After our collective intake with the Maya Foundation (8th of June) we chose Signal 3 to work on with.

While working for Maya our main focus will be on the research. By doing the research we will get to know why the less intelligent students have no chance to catch up on the learning matters. Afterwards we will develop a method to coach the local teachers so that they are able to develop teaching techniques that include every student. Most likely we will not be able to complete the implementing process on-site. However we see our responsibility in making our work transferable then.

Signalanalyse

Die letzten Wochen verbrachten wir damit die aufgenommenen Signale zu analysieren und in vier individuelle Projektvorschläge zu verarbeiten. Jeder Projektvorschlag wurde durch eine Pecha-Kucha-Präsentation den anderen Teammitgliedern präsentiert.

Signal 1:

Die bisherige Unterrichtsform vieler nepalesischer Schulen ähnelt dem Modell des Frontalunterrichts. Dadurch scheinen einige Schüler hinter dem Lernstoff zurückzubleiben.

1. analysierter Teilaspekt: Im Unterricht werden wenig (bis keine) kreativ agogischen Methoden verwendet. (Janas Projektvorschlag)

2. analysierter Teilaspekt: Die Schule bietet wenig Raum für sportliche (Gruppen-)Aktivitäten.

(Florians Projektvorschlag)

Signal 2:

Ein Großteil der Schüler, die in den Internaten der Gymnasien für ihre Abschlussprüfungen für drei Monate lang 17 Stunden täglich Unterricht haben und lernen, verlieren nach der Hälfte des Tages nach und nach die Konzentration. Dies erschwert ihnen die Arbeit an den Schulaufgaben.(Daniels Projektvorschlag)

Signal 3:

Die Lehrer der nepalesischen Dorfschulen sind aufgrund mangelnder fachlicher Ausbildung nicht qualifiziert genug den schulischen Unterricht orientiert an den Fähigkeiten der Schüler zu gestalten. (Carinas Projektvorschlag)

Für den folgenden Sonntag haben wir uns ein Ultimatum gesetzt. An diesem Tag wollen wir uns für ein Signal entscheiden, welches wir vor Ort in Nepal analysieren. Diese Analyse wird dann die Grundlage für unser Produkt bilden.

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat, Done!

Ergebnis einer erfolgreichen Team-Instruktion zur SWOT-Analyse

	Stärken: Weltoffen, Wissbegierig, Ideenreich Tolerant, Flexibel, Unvoreingenommen Abenteuerlust, Selbstbewusstsein, Mut Kommunikation untereinander Die eigens erstelle Struktur (z.B. Dropbox, Protokoll) Positive Naivität (wir vertrauen erst einmal) Tatendrang, Selbstständigkeit Organisationstalent von jedem Spaß und dadurch freiges. Energie Ausgeglichene Teamrollenvertretung Kritikfähigkeit	Schwächen: Krankheit Teilweise Unstrukturiertheit Oberflächlichkeit: Das nicht zuende bringen von Aufgaben Schnelligkeit: Tolle Ideen werden vergessen Zeitmanagement Manchmal sind wir unzuverlässig in Bezug auf Verantwortungen Fehlendes fachliches Wissen
Chancen: Finanzielle Unterstützung durch konkreten Friedensdienst Ergebnis: Tolle Bachelor-Arbeit Ergebnis: Bewegung vor Ort, einen kleinen Fortschritt in Nepal fördern Die Möglichkeit viel von der nepalesischen Bevölkerung zu lernen Den Ausbau unserer Anpassungsfähigkeit Kompetenzerweiterung vor Ort: Erweiterung des persönlichen Horizonts, HAN Kompetenzen, Englischkenntnisse	Die Erweiterung unseres pers. Horizontes kann durch unsere Stärken Enthusiasmus, Weltoffenheit, Toleranz, Wissbegierigkeit und Mut noch verstärkt eingeleitet werden. Die Chance unsere Anpassungsfähigkeit ausbauen zu können wird dadurch vergrößern, dass wir weiterhin so flexibel und tolerant gegenüber neuen Entscheidungen und Wegen bleiben wie bisher. Wenn wir zudem unsere eigens geschaffenen Strukturen (Kommunikationswege, Dropbox, etc.) aufrecht erhalten, steht einem tollen Produkt und einer tollen Bachelor-Arbeit nichts mehr im Wege.	Durch die andere Herangehensweise/Lebensphilosophie der Nepalesen haben wir die Chance, diese Wege auch für unsere Gruppenarbeit zu übernehmen. Dies hilft uns die eigene Unstrukturiertheit anders zu nutzen. (z.B. könnte es ein Ziel sein den Fokus mehr auf das „Hier und Jetzt“ zu richten, als dass wir uns bezüglich verschiedener Aufträge verrückt machen.) Nach dem Motto: Wenn schon unstrukturiert, dann aber konzentriert. Durch eine gut organisierte Verantwortungsverteilung schaffen wir Raum für die individuelle(n) Horizonterweiterung/Ziele Durch aufkommende Teamkonflikte wird Spannung entstehen, die uns und unsere Arbeit in Bewegung hält.
Risiken: Teamkonflikte Eine viel beschäftigte MAYA-Leitung, Zeitnot Unsere Ideen passen nicht auf das Land Nepal Signalanalyse war im Nachhinein wenig hilfreich, vor Ort ist alles anders Unterschiede zwischen Nepal und Deutschland: Wetter, Kulturell, Sprache Kosten Vorgaben der HAN, die sich nicht mit Nepal vereinbaren lassen	Eine fehlende Unterstützung seitens der Maya Leitung  und Unstimmigkeiten mit der HAN könnten wir durch unsere Flexibilität und die eigene Struktur auffangen. Wir beginnen bereits die ländertypischen Barrieren (Sprache, etc.) als Herausforderung zu sehen. Unser Mut und Enthusiasmus wird diesen Weg weiter unterstützen. Die Risiken, die uns in Bezug auf die Zeitnot erwarten können wir verringern, indem wir unsere schon gute Kommunikation durch einen Kommunikationsplan weiter ausbauen. Da wir alle kritikfähig sind, können wir Teamkonflikte durch regelmäßige Feedback-Spiele vermeiden.	Bis zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt sind wir finanziell noch auf die Hilfe vom konkreten Friedensdienst angewiesen, obwohl wir damit noch gar nicht rechnen können. Es könnte zu Konflikten mit Rene kommen, bei denen sich keiner verantwortlich fühlt sie zu lösen. Unsere Zeitnot erhöht sich von Tag zu Tag, wenn wir uns strukturell nicht verbessern. Durch ein oberflächliches Arbeiten an Aufgaben und dem Nichterledigen kleinerer Teiläufträge könnten Ideen und Vorschläge in Nepal nicht realisierbar sein. Bisher war dies jedoch kein Problem.

Team excursion while clocks tick slower

Long ago one of us came up with the idea of an excursion that we could carry out as a team. The old plan was to visit the buddhistic center in Sonsbeck on friday and camp outside somewhere else for the Eastern weekend. We ended up spending three days and two nights in the buddhistic center cause we were stunned by the things we saw and experienced.

It was a magic place. A place where time seemed to pass without noticing. A place so welcoming that you felt home since the very first moment. Everybody living there was just amazingly kind and open-minded. We were offered four beds, food, firewood (and even more!) without being asked to pay for it. Everything that belonged to the owner belonged to us. They trusted us without knowing us. We were foreigners and still their friends from the beginning.

We were so not used to this world that seemed to be completely different to our own. We took part in meditations, enjoyed the peace of nature and started breathing slower for a couple of hours until we finally headed back to our almost "mindempty" lifes and homes.

This place will drag each of us back sooner or later. We therefore also agreed to use this place for our presentation concerning the project.

Don't give up!

After several set backs and many discussions with the HAN we can finally say that the fight was worth it. We achieved the following results.

• Time frame: We are allowed to work in Nepal in the following period: 15.09.12-08.11.12

• Group size: We can work in a team of four students.

• Study day: We are allowed to work as a team even if we study on different days (Mo&Tu).

• Bureaucrazy: We went through both Mayas and HAN's registration procedure.

• Safety regulations: The International office and Maya assured us that Nepal is safe enough to initiate a project.

The whole project and our money we spend on flights (about 3000 Euro) were dependent on these results.

Flights booked!

So now it's official! How exciting!!!