BLOG 1 We have arrived in Nepal for the second time, after 24 hours and 15 minutes travel. After being hassled into the hotel minibus by the airport touts, I was in the front with the driver and Kath was right at the back. It all came quickly back to us - the traffic, noise, smell, fumes, dust. Our brains had wiped out just how dreadful Kathmandu is. It couldn't be. But it was. After a few minutes, a voice came from the back, "What have we let ourselve...

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of what we've done and how it's gone, of Noddy, dust and slings. Firstly, we never want to see another Noddy jigsaw but it does epitomise what we feel we've achieved. And we do feel we've achieved a lot and our work at DNC has been very worthwhile. We started by just following what the younger children wanted to do but progressed to identifying how we could help them. So the younger children have bee...

For me not to find fault with something it's got to be pretty damn good but I've at last managed to find a failing with our Holy Himalaya Hotel. The hotel guarantees hot water between 6-9am and 6-9pm but, it seems, this guarantee only applies if nobody else has used it all. Kathie and I have a hatred of cold showers so, after a quick cold wash, we hope nobody gets too close. Of course, most Nepalis never have hot water and don't know what a warm shower is. Th...

After all the days we have put in at DNC we are beginning to see where some real opportunities lie. But we feel that it means separating children out for attention that suits them personally. This must mean ignoring other children for a while which is hard. But only by this means can we really help them to understand English. As we've said before, they learn letters and words by rote, chanting and constant repetition. They can read to us but have no underst...

Does such a thing as a normal day exist? In theory the children go to school 6 days a week but, with religious festivals, 'Martyr's Day' and strikes, they have been at home more days than at school. A school day is more structured. We play with the little ones and then, when the school bus disgorges its load, there's a snack to be had and homework to be done. Non-school days are less structured; dare we say chaotic. The structure of a school day comes from being...