In December 2018, Debbie and Gita went back to Nepal to visit 6° trainees from both projects. They share their experiences and key moments of their trip:

Gita’s Most Beautiful Experience

During our most recent visit to Nepal in December 2018, we had the opportunity to do a 5-day trek to Poon Hill. This experience was made unforgettable by the Sherpa’s who guided us on our trek. The sense of community between our families, our friends and the sherpa’s is what stood out. It felt as if I was among family and that I had finally come home after a long journey searching for my true self.

Sherpa’s are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and their sense of responsibility is what makes them unique. They are immeasurably valuable serving as expert guides at extreme altitudes particularly for expeditions to Mount Everest.

Debbie’s Most Beautiful Experience

After the unique trekking experience with our families and the Sherpa’s, we went to Chitwan where our 16 candidates are being trained to become wildlife guides. Besides the very warm welcome by our local partner SVSI it was such an awesome experience to finally meet our beautiful candidates and their teachers and experience their passion and commitment to become wildlife guides with my own eyes.

It really had a big impact on me, being with them, talking to them and being able to contribute to make a change in their lives. I had the opportunity to also speak to the other community stakeholders of the project and their commitment and involvement was inspiring and energising. This experience makes me believe that there will many more projects that we can work on together, changing more lives within the Chitwan region.

This was my third trip to Nepal and although it is not my birth country, I feel so at home and feel a strong connection with the Nepali’s.

Update on the projects

While on their trip, Debbie and Gita also met with the trainees from the professional drivers project at Boudha Stupa to discuss the current status of their training and next steps. With all trainees present they discussed the challenges the trainees were facing regarding the theoretical and practical exams, who really wanted to try for their exams again and who wanted to work as a driver. In the coming months further discussions will take place, together with New Sadle to discuss everyone’s personal situation and ambition.

Marie-Jose van der Sandt, chair of Foundation Sapana School Nepal, who also works closely with our local partner SVSI in Chitwan, was in Nepal recently. She was able to speak to many of our wildlife guide candidates and was extremely impressed to see how motivated they are and that their self-esteem and confidence is growing.

We would love for you to be part of our network, and together we can help many more women by bringing us closer together through the 6° of Separation principle.