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VOL. 28, NO. 18, Jan 09, 2009 (Paush 25 2065 B.S.)
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Sharing Knowledge
Participating in the Global Xchange Program, eighteen young people from UK and Nepal learn each other's culture
By A CORRESPONDENT
Whether a young person from urban UK or urban youth of Nepal, they have similar experiences in living with the communities of rural Nepal.
What all of them like are the hospitality and the attachment shown by rural folks to the youths visiting their community.
This is what nine young British, who came to Nepal under an exchange program, and nine young Nepalis, who stayed for three months in Panauti Village Development Committee learn in the communities.
"The GX program helped me a lot to learn about the Nepali culture and exchange the ideas with local communities," said Hayley Jones, 25, a volunteer. "Although we are far away from our country, we found local people very helpful and they have shown great attachment to us."
For Nepali youths, too, they had similar expressions. "It would be a dream of any Nepali youth to get a chance to participate in a program like Global Exchange. It is helping me a lot to gain new experiences and learn new skills and knowledge for my personal and professional growth," said Ashika a Nepali volunteer.
"During their three months stay in the villages, our volunteers completed many works. The local communities are very cooperative and they treated us like their own family members," said program supervisor Kathu Eliwand.
Although it was started in Nepal just two years ago, the Global Xchange Program has made significant contribution to the life of youngsters from Nepali and United Kingdom. The youngsters supported the development works to bring positive change in the communities.
Nine young British volunteers arrived here during the last week of October. Likewise, nine Nepalis volunteers are travelling to UK on 5th Jan 2009 under the program.
According to British Council, the Global Exchange is part of a six-month exchange program which gives young people from different countries a unique opportunity to work together, to develop and share valuable skills and to make practical contribution where it is needed in local communities.
Managed by Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) and the British Council, the program has been going on since March 2005 in different countries around the world. The local implementing partner in Nepal was Asaman Nepal, an NGO.
"This is the second Global Exchange programme being hosted by Nepal where 18 volunteers, 9 (18-25 yrs) Nepalese and 9 UK youths live and work voluntarily in the local communities in two countries. It provides an opportunity to do jobs that make a difference to people living in challenging conditions. These 18 young people have lived and worked in pairs for the first three months in Kavre and will be leaving for Brighton, UK on 5th January 2009 to work for the remaining three months. The theme for the exchange was social inclusion and peace."
"After the six months program me is over these youth will carry with them the experiences that will help understand the world better and become better global citizens," said Paula Middleton country director of the Council. "We are very proud to support this kind of program."
