TIME!!!!!

Yesterday when we were having farewell dinner in a restaurant one of the Norwegian delegate came one hour late than previously fixed time and everybody said that she is still in .......(countries). This is just an example of today. I have listened many things like this from many people even if I don't want to because I have always tried to respect time everytime in my life. I think it is a thing which can varies between person to person then, how can people generalize the whole country by just giving an example of a person??
   
     When I was saying these things one of the delegate said that it is said for fun!! but I don't see any funny things here. It is about the respect of your own country where you belong and I can argue this because I have never been an example of 'Nepali Time'. So, I don't want to hear it again.

National day celebration in Arendal,Norway

Every year Norwegian celebrates it's constitution day on 17th of may.  I found children on the center regarding attraction point of view today. Childrens parades, children games, child rally(barna tog) were the things i found most of the peole talking about and further more one of my Norwegian friend was explaining that children get what ever they want in this day. In fact this is the one day of the year where the supply of ice cream and hot dogs is endless.

Children having fun during rally

I have heard that it is like a festival for all norwegians but this year I got the opportunity to watch and feel it from near. I was surprised today because i had never seen this much people in the norwegian streets. It was more crowded then the streets of Kings palace of Norway during summer.All the streets of Arendal was filled with people with their traditional dress. The name of the Norwegian traditional dress is called 'Bunad' and i was explained that it is increasingly being popular to wear this during functions like this but the bunad varies in appearance from region to region.

                                           You can easily guess how many people were there

On the same day, last year of the upper secondary(vidergånde) school  students celebrate the end of 13 year school even though many still have to pass the exams. They call themselves 'russ' and illustrates their standing through colourful russ pants (usually red or black) depending on their line of study. It is one of the surprising thing for me because in Nepal we study hard befor exam and be prepared for that but they have fun since 3 weeks before exam.

'Russ' making fun in the rally

I also took part in the rally(folk tog) with Red Cross. We together with multinational and Arendal youth group had prepared for the rally to show the people what we do? It was my first experience of rally in Norway because it is not normal and we hardly find people watching us but this is one of the main awareness raising activities in Nepal. We youths were together with children Red Cross and  Rescue team. Finally  I can say that this day was full of happiness and new experience :)

Red Cross Youth, ready for the rally

Red Cross/Crescent Day 2010

8th of May is always like a festival for all Red Cross/Crescent volunteers. I always feel proud to be a part of this humanitarian history.  Today Red Cross is celebrating its 148th years of its establishment with the slogan- 'Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are at the heart of the movement endeavours to strengthen urban communities'. Red Cross is a only organization which was established on humanitarian background. Humans(volunteers) are the properties of it, who are always ready to help the vulnerable.

      Red Cross informational stand and some of us

I'm celebrating Red Cross day since almost 10 years and i always have a good feeling with this. This year i celebrate this great day in Norway. It was something which i was looking forward to. In Aust-Agder district of Norway we had  a Red Cross  informational stand in the center of the town . We not only disseminate information about Red Cross but also collect fund to support Red Cross activities inside and outside of Norway with the slogan 'Her og Der' meaning 'Here and There'. We found many people who respect the brilliant job of Red Cross in the field of humanity and put money in the collection box.

me, telling about the work of Red Cross

     

 In addition,we also use a new way to get more money. We sold our hugs for 5 kroner. This was new thing for me because we don't have hugging culture in Nepal but i found it interesting, in fact i enjoyed it a lot :)

 wanna hug?

Hjelpekorpset (Search and rescue team of Norwegian Red Cross) Arendal was also cooperating with Red Cross Youth today in the stand. First-aid exhibition by Hjelpekorpset was also helping to get attention of many people around the town. Many youth and children were practicing first-aid there.

      some children learning First-aid

 In this very day Aust Agder Red Cross also started a second hand shop along with the existing cafe with the new name of 'Henry's Kafe og Brukt' meaning 'Henry's cafe and second hand shop'. It is also a matter of interest for me because here people use to collect as many things as they can but are throwing the things in the rubbish after sometimes even if they are OK and can be used next time. So Red Cross Collected those things and washed them to be sold again which is one of the income generating activities for Red Cross.

photo: cafe

This Red Cross day also became memorable as previous used to be. I'm very thankful to Great Henry Dunant for his great work to form Red Cross, which provide me a perfect ground to work for humanity.

Nepalsk Aften (Nepali Eve)

'Since you are here what about organizing a Nepali eve?'  Gerd(leader of women group of Aust-Agder Red Cross) said in planning meeting of Kamelonkvinnene (womens group) and every member agreed on that. Date was fixed for 21st April 2010. District office made a poster with our photos and hang it around Arendal.Since it was a Nepali evening, we also decided to prepare a Nepali food along with a presentation about Nepal.

We made mo:mo, which is not a typical Nepali food but it's very famous Nepali fast food with the help of our Tibetan friend.  I think people liked mo:mo because it was finished at the end of the program.

 After food we did a presentation about Nepal, surprising things for us in Norway and our inter rail experience. There were 53 people who were listening us. They were asking many questions. They were curious mainly about cast system in Nepal and religion.

                        We talked about Norwegian weekend culture as one of the surprising thing for us. We saw the streets very tidy in working days but it turned into mess in weekends. They just throw beer bottles and cigarettes in streets. It's interesting culture!! After our presentation one man said that it might be quick decision. He said, it was not like that before 20 years and it is mainly done by youths. Whatever it was the things what we saw in Norway so we included that in our presentation.

An exciting trip to Western Europe

                      Before one year I was afraid to come Norway because it was the first time I'm going out of my country. It was difficult to build up confidence at that time but finally i managed that and now it's almost 8 months in Norway. Me and Sajan were thinking to visit some countries during this Easter vacation and Ellen suggest us inter-rail. It was a great idea to visit many countries. It was difficult to build up the confidence to visit almost 7 countries of Europe. We decided to buy the 22 days inter-rail global pass and started to plan the things. We just had one week for planning three weeks trip. It was so stressful for me. I was not ready for the trip because i didn't have confidence that i can do that.

   

                      On 24th March morning i woke up and prayed god to bring me back safely and started the journey. Cruise from Kristansand to Denmark was really great because it was my first experience.

        I'm really thankful to Bimal dai, Amit and Eli for getting us around in Copenhagen and Brussels.

                            

 On the way to Brussels we had also a short trip of Amsterdam. We went to the dam square of Amsterdam and also a visit to the Madame Taussad museum. On the way back we also were walking in the street of the famous Red Light district of Amsterdam where I was very much surprised to see women in windows and calling customers.

                 The story behind the peeing baby in Brussels was intresting. It is said that he saved the city to be burnt by peeing. Very beautiful grand palace square and we were posing and taking picture....just funny!!

We just tried to visit most part as we can in little time. I feel like just two days in Paris was not enough. The breath taking view of Eiffel tower!! I think i'll never forget this in my life.

                     I think every Red Cross volunteer dreams to visit ICRC, IFRC, Solferiono and so on. It was also my dream to be there one day. I felt very proud to visit ICRC museum, talked with youth secretary in IFRC and some other people. I was so happy that they gave almost four hours time to us.

         We also had a three night stay in Milan and two nights in Verona. There was not much to see in Milan. Only the city lives and the architectural churches. So we thought of having a good rest there.

  

                    Visit the place from where Henry Dunant watched the battle and the church where he did treatment of the wounded shoulders was a matter to be proud, i felt so. I thought myself as a luckiest one because we got one volunteer couple of Montova Red Cross  to get us around. We also visited youth camp where we got opportunity to meet the District youth leader of Mantova RedCross and other high personalities of Mantova Red Cross.

                   The city build up in water- Venice. You will just stop breathing for some moment just after reaching there. There you will not find any bus and cars...just boat. Police is providing security by travelling in boat and ambulance boat  is running in water and there is a taxi boat!! everything is boat and roads are water cannels. So amazing.

                   The history of Rome from many years before Christ and our Italian lawyer friend who even know the meaning of every paintings. It was so interesting to listen!! How beautiful would be Rome if all the ancient remaining parts of building were the real buildings?? Rome is a city to be learnt. We visited most of the tourist attraction in Rome in two days.

We also found Kathmandu fast food there. It was so nice to find  place to have some Nepali food there.

                  Finally we ended our journey from Pisa by visiting city of Pisa and leaning tower. It was almost summer there. After long time i walked in t-shirt. Sajan was saying, that was just like walking in Nepal. We were happy with even very early flight from there on 10th april because we were getting tired of travelling with very pack schedule and started to miss the food in house. This trip build up so much confidence on me and gave me a lot of experience. Especially meeting people and getting contact to them was also the other aspect of this trip.

Status of Women in Nepal

In the world even though women are the major founders of the society, yet women have not achieved equality with men. Nepal is also one of the developing countries where is gender discrimination. Nepal is a Himalayan country situated in South Asia. Nepal’s total population is about 28 million and out of this 49% are womens.

                                       a typical Nepali women

They are marginalized from economic and social opportunities due to illiteracy, poverty and conservative thinking. Traditional ethical code of the society expects women to remain within the four walls of home. women are discriminated, because of son preference traditions of the society. The hindu family especially prefers to give birth to boys, since in their old age the parents are supported by their son(s). According to a proverb among Maithili people, "when girls are born the earth sinks by a foot, but when a boy is born it rises up a foot to greet him". I can never forget the story from my mum what she faced after not giving birth to any male children. Women are also suffering from domestic violence, wrong tradition and cultural malpractices. Some awful examples of violence are: sex selective abortion, child marriage, polygamy, rape, sexual violence, trafficking of women & forced prostitution, sexual harassment, dowry and domestic violence. Each year 12 000 Nepali girls are trafficked to India to work as a prostitute and 200 000 are working as a prostitute in brothels of India.

  46 years old Bishnu Maya Pariyar killed by her husband

                                                                                                        photo:Nirmal Kuwar

On 4th of November  husband Baburam Pariyar killed his 46 years old wife just because she was not ready for sexual inter course at that time. And this story is not from rural area. It is from district headquarter of Chitwan. To read more about the incident-Naya patrika

                But we can say that things are changing slowly but steadily. Number of female student is increasing in higher education. Women are spreading their skills in every fields. Just few years back government opened army sector for female. Now there is a separate ministry to look after the welfare of women and there is 33% female participation in parliament. Provision to give citizenship from mothers name, law against domestic violence, equal salary for equal work are some of the great change in favour of women. We can take it as a good sign of women development. Education and the skilled training is the most important thing to make women self supportive, independent and decision making.

   celebration of 100th womens day at Chahara VDC Tansen Palpa

                                                                                                         photo: Santosh Dahal

Thus, good economic program could help increasing the income of the women and it helps to reduce the poverty.

   What is your openion about the status of women?

   What should be done to uplift the status of women in Nepal? 

Want to save lives?

First-aid is a thing which everyone should be able to do. But we found that here(Aust-Agder) where there are a lot of immigrants but no one has conducted any first-aid course in English. All courses are in norwegian so that foreigner can't join those courses because of the language problem. Kari Thorsen(district head) also suggested us to organize the course in English. Therefore, we made a poster for it's advertisement and hang it around the Arendal town.

                                        advertisement of  the course

Finally the day came 20th feb.2010. There were 11 youth participants and most of them were non- norwegian. We got leader of Hjelpekorpset Arendal(a branch of Red Cross which is mainly responsible for rescue and first-aid) to assist us and help in practical things.

                                  Participants learning to do CPR

We did practical of the incident just after the theory course so participants were quite active and curious to learn.

         One practical on how to do first-aid of external bleeding

                                                        Practical about burning

 It was quite interesting to see how they handle the situation on road traffic accident. Leader to handle the situaton and never forgot to call the emergency telephone number 1-1-3. 

                                                        Participants on the action

In my evaluation the course went well because particapants were interested to learn more about first-aid. They were eager to take intermediate course on First-aid. I found them satisfy about the course.

         one of the participant evaluating the course

Flames for humanity

A group of people were gathered in buspark of Tvdestrand yesterday. Some Red Cross Youths were selling flame and people were buying that in 100 kroner. We were going for a rally with flame to show solidarity and support to Haiti. Tvdestrand is a small town in Aust-Agder and there were more than 150 people and most of them were youths.

people with flame in their hands.

During this time my co-delegate was talking about the difference in the usages of this flame rally in Nepal and Norway. when some groups are against government's action or want to thraten government, people do flame rally in Nepal but here It is using to show solidarity and humanity.

 After a short rally, there was a concert in city hall of Tvdestrand. There also Red Cross Youths and students of Tvedestrand videregående skole(a high school in Tvedestrand) were selling hot dogs, pølse, bread and drink to collect money to help Haiti. Some of the youths who were not in Red Cross Youth group were thinking of joining soon because of these sort of acitivities. I found this when I talked to them. It was great to make youths involved in humanitarian activities like this.

 

Red Cross Youth Selling Food and Drinks

 Most of the perfomer in concert were school students. Also the point of attraction was Mari Lorentzen who was placed third in X-factor(one of the norwegian talent hunt show). She gave her performance at last but before that people were enjoying songs, dance and poems of youths. Some youths also challanged adults to do something for the shake of humanity after watching this work of youths. It was an incredible arrangement of Tvdestrand Red Cross Youth in this short period.

Mari Lorentzen singing a song

Andy playing guitar and singing song

youths dancing

group performance.

  
What you and your youth group is doing to help Haiti?

Haiti needs you

Human need humans; Help Haitians

More than 3 million people are affected by earthquake in Haiti. Many people died, many people lost their everything(house, property and beloved). They don't have house to stay and food to eat. there is a long queue for water.

It's time to show brotherhood, and help Haitian to overcome this sorrow. Your little help can save the lives of many people. In Aust-Agder district we have started to collect fund to help them. Me together with local Red Cross Youth group is collecting money in different places of Aust-Agder. Sometime by going door to door or sometimes by standing in roads and supermarkets. We were 35 youth to go door to door on last friday(15th january) in Tvdestrand. Most of the people contributing as much as they can to help Haitian.

You can support Red Cross to relief Haitians from this humanitarian disaster. If you think it as your social responsibility, you can help them just by clicking here.
or you can give money to the

account 8200 06 08331, or call

ll
Donor Phone 820 44001 (£ 200, -)

New Year camp

"We would like to invite two people from Nepal in stage to take this gift from our side" Ole Andreas(one mentally handicapped people) announce from stage. It was so un expected for me because we were just two to get gift from them among 14 volunteers. I spent my New Year holidays by assisting 35 mentally handicapped people in the New Year camp in Merket.

Their love towards me.

It was a interesting experience for me. Sometime, My communication with them became a nice ice breaker because i can't speak good norwegian and they can't understand english. Their interests, and their behaviour was very different and they were very sensitive. I was vey afraid that maybe i could hurt them unknowingly but i'm happy that I managed.

dancing with them.

We both, my co-delegate and me organize different activities for them. Just like; baloon fight and musical chair. They were very happy at that time. Most of them participate in those games. I also played with them. The game became intresting when some of them don't want to leave chair in musial chair.

Playing musical chair...

I enjoyed a lot together with them. They were also happy to get company and help from me. They were laughing, dancing, playing and enjoying the best moment of their life.

game to find chocolate in a bowl(full of flour) without using hands.

Mentally handicapped people are also citizen of this world. They also have equal right as we have. Your hate will hurt them but your love towards them can bring happiness in their life. Show your love towards mentally handicapped people, will you?