When I decided to come to Nepal I wanted to do a volunteer programme. I had time to dedicate to a cause and thought it would a good experience for both me and whatever organisation I decided to help. I chose Volunteer Initiatives Nepal as they seemed to offer what I was looking for and I liked what I had read about them. I picked the Women's Empowerment Programme, this appealed to my interests and I was very interested to learn about how women live in Nepal.

From the moment I arrived I liked the organisation and I thought that the women's programme was brilliant. The basic idea that has been set up is that throughout the community lots of women's groups have been created. These groups together are part of a cooperative, so every month each woman pays money in to their savings. Then a woman can apply to the cooperative for a loan of up to 5 times their savings for an income generation project; for example vegetable farming. The cooperative then makes money on the interest from the loans, but as it is not allowed to make a profit the money over is then split among the women and given back as dividends. It works really well, the women all get involved and many have taken loans to increase their income. The women's groups also bring the women together and they seem to enjoy all being together, especially as here a sense of community is so integral to their way of life.

It was after 2 weeks observing the programme that I became a little unsure if this was the right place for me to be. I still loved the programme, I just couldn't really see a way that I could help particularly. We seemed to spend long amounts of time sitting around and without a proper translator it was very hard to keep track of what was going on. I began to feel as if I was wasting my time and not really doing anything. I'm sure that it wasn't helped from the fact that I was not overly keen on the house I was living in either. So I think it all just amounted up and I wasn't happy staying here. I could have stayed longer and seen if things would progress but after much deliberation and talking to people, I realised that I was not very happy here and that the best thing for me to do is to leave and continue with my travelling. I am happy to support the organisation but it is not right for me to stay here. It's a little like when I chose to leave university, I got feeling it was not what I wanted, I could have stuck it out but it wasn't worth it. I am on this adventure to be happy and enjoy the time I spend it places. I really enjoyed living in the community and catching the local busses, it was quite the experience! I also loved all the people that I have met here and even in a short time I feel I have learnt a lot. I do not regret coming here in the slightest, I am just now ready for something else.