You probably have heard of Nepal because of its most famous landmark, Mount Everest. But otherwise, you might not know much about it other than that.
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located mainly in the Himalayas but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. With an estimated population of 26.4 million, it is 48th largest country by population and 93rd largest country by area. It borders China in the north and India in the south, east, and west while Bhutan is separated from it by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation’s capital and largest city. Nepal is a multiethnic nation with Nepali as the official language.
Reference: Wikipedia
The country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the proclamation of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world’s last Hindu monarchy.
Reference: Wikipedia
Below is a documentary which gives you a closer look at the country of Nepal.
Peace Corps Nepal
On Friday, 30 November 2012, one of the most beneficial operations in Nepal-U.S. cooperation resumed after an eight-year hiatus when 20 men and women took their oaths as Peace Corps Volunteers. The new batch of Peace Corps Volunteers was sworn in by His Excellency Peter W. Bodde, the American Ambassador to Nepal. Once again, President Kennedy’s dream and the hopes of Nepal had merged.
Reference: ECS Nepal
The arrival of the new batch resumes a long-standing tradition of friendship and cooperation between America and Nepal, which began 50 years ago, in 1962, when Peace Corps first came to Nepal. Back then, volunteers stepped off the plane, and after a few weeks of training, walked (almost no roads existed then) to their respective districts, living a life of austere simplicity and hardships, all the while trying to improve the same lives that made such a profound impact on theirs. Mike Gill, a former Peace Corps Volunteer from the 1967 batch, was in attendance to see the new faces of the Peace Corps. “I was never the same person after my stay in Nepal. It changed my life completely,” he said in fluent Nepali. Since Peace Corps began working in Nepal, over 4,200 Volunteers have served in Nepal.
Reference: ECS Nepal
I will be a part of N206, the 206th group to serve with the US Peace Corps in Nepal since 1962. There will be two sets of volunteers, Agriculture working on Food Security, and Education teaching English.
Living with a Host-Family
Peace Corps volunteers live with a host-family during their 2-year service.
PreService Training
Our first 10-11 weeks in Nehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhNZkYk_NKUpal will be outside of Kathmandu at Pre-Service Training, or PST. Here we will study language and culture while living with a host-family, but also working on our technical knowledge so we can become effective “agents of change” once we start at our new sites in western Nepal.
And I’ll be able to tell you more as I get closer to staging on January 31st, 2019.
Have you been to Nepal? Where and what did you do there? Any blogs or other websites you can recommend? What about good books about Nepal? Leave your comments below. Thanks.
