Blog by James Tanulak (Oxford Brookes)

A day at Maya Academy in Nepal starts once a breakfast of dahl baht is finished at 8:30 (dahl baht was a common theme throughout our time at Maya!), we would then head to morning circle where all volunteers, pupils and teachers gather in a circle around the yard area, holding hands whilst good mornings are made to one another.

This is then either followed up by a game of invasion or performances put on by the students. It is really amazing to see the variety of different acts put on by the students and the time and effort that goes into practicing for these. The volunteers can’t get out of this though! Every other Friday it is the turn of the volunteers to put on a show! For us, this included a rendition of Cinderella and a samurai sword fighting act, which, despite my reluctance to act turned out to be a lot of fun and a great laugh for all volunteers, teachers and pupils! 

After the games and acts are completed, the students go off to school and the volunteers head to the Old Kitchen to start activities for the day. This consists of either agriculture, construction, cooking or teaching and is decided upon within the volunteer group, so you can always be doing a job role that you enjoy and are comfortable doing. 

Agriculture consisted mainly of picking lemons; a commodity Maya is definitely not short of! Whereas construction takes place all over the school, completing jobs such as making concrete, bricklaying, digging, breaking rocks, anything that Bishnu could get us doing really! 

The cooking team is much more relaxed, making meals for the volunteers to enjoy at lunch after a hard morning of work! 

Some volunteers have teaching duties scheduled in, this can include spending time in the kindergarten, library, or delivering lessons based on skills you have from your life at home. For example, I provided some English classes to one of the teachers at the school who was looking to improve her English. This was also beneficial for me as I have never taught English before, so enabled me to learn a new skill whilst, hopefully at least, teaching her something as well!

During our time at Maya we ran running and rugby sessions for the children that took place after school had finished at 5pm. This gave us a great opportunity to get to know the children better and have fun at the sessions also. Once this was finished it was straight to the natural tap for a refreshing shower, with water straight from the mountain! 

This was one of the unusual features of living at Maya that we had to adapt to during our time, but was one that we learned to love! Alongside this all volunteers sleep in the volunteer house under one roof and a mosquito net. It isn’t the most comfortable place in the world but does make you appreciate what you have at home even more, but you do get used to it very quickly and soon feels like home!

Once the day is finished, we head back to the kitchen for more dahl baht and spend the evening socialising with the other volunteers. This is what I thought was one of the best aspects of Maya, the people. All the volunteers we met during our time were great people who you could sit talking to for hours, taking in the stories and the view from the Old Kitchen, which is pretty good if you ask me! 

On the weekends we visited Pokhara, a great place for a night out, some good food and an opportunity to see the number of different temples and sights around the city. It really is a must!  

Overall, our time at Maya has been one that we will not forget, having met some amazing people, seen some amazing places and done some amazing things, we feel very fortunate to be able say we have experienced this and come back with the memories that have been created and the friendships made. 

Thanks Maya, hopefully see you soon.   

James was part of the Oxford Brookes team of student volunteers in August 2023.