Thank you – To the volunteers who built a family

When we were building the schools and then realised we built our second home too.
~ Gréta Čandová

Photo credit: Pam Gamboa

One of the beautiful byproducts of building a school in a relatively remote mountain village with only thirty volunteers has been the campsite home we created and the family who filled it throughout the project.

When I left Project Leyte in the Philippines, I wrote a post to remember the volunteers who had impacted me the most, and as I sit in this pizza restaurant on my last night in Kathmandu, it feels appropriate to reflect on the ones who have been such a positive force this time around. And I recognize that all of the words I write will never be enough to thank all of the volunteers for creating the hope that this world needs, but I wish for this post to be a start.

So thank you.

Thank you to the best Project Director in existence, who made both Leyte and Sindhupalchowk the most magical bases in the world. I will forever think of you washing your shoes when I hear that one Nepali song.

Thank you to the two English blokes for filling the campfire air with your nonstop after-work banter. May your Nepali experience and biscuit tattoos never fade.

Thank you to the fall Frenchman who found the sixty rupee chow mein place in Kathmandu. Your inappropriate question of the day suggestions were très magnifique.

Thank you to the girl who hates when people say “Why lahk diss?” I was sad to miss you in Thailand, but I’ll see you in Australia ;).

Thank you to the volunteer who messaged me while I was in Thailand, telling me you were flying back to Nepal to finish the school. It was just the push I needed to buy a ticket myself. Hope to see you in Australia as well!

Thank you to the team lead who embodies the very definition and every value of what it means to be an All Hands Volunteer. We will never forget your Uptown Funk and tribal raksi dances.

Thank you to the landscaper who was never anybody but herself. How I wish we could have seen you dance at the handover but how I have so much respect for you that you never let anyone pressure you into anything you didn’t want to do.

Thank you to the girl with blue hair who took a leap of faith. You can do more than you ever thought possible if you continue to seek the company of positive people.

Thank you to the Alaskan couple who built their own house for showing up and taking the project by storm. You have been role models to so many of us – I hope I am half as cool as you two when I eventually grow up.

Thank you to the backpack hoarder who brings the best beats with her wherever she goes – even to the toilet. Just let me know when your knee heals and we’ll conquer the circuit together.

Thank you to my Pokhara roommate for the peanut brittle. I will forever think of you when I hear the word “biscuit,” and for some reason, also “Jaffa Cake.”

Thank you to the girl with two names who spoke to me from the other side of the toilet. I feel like I met you in the Philippines, but I didn’t know you until Nepal.

Thank you to the girl who taught us how to move our hips at culture night. Your English is so much better than you give yourself credit for.

Thank you to the girl who is returning home early to surprise her friends and family. I think it’s impossible for anyone to look at your smile without smiling back themselves.

Thank you to the volunteer I met in the Philippines who has graduated to pre-con staff in Nepal. It was a relief to see that your heart hasn’t changed – that you still dance and laugh like the breath of fresh air I met a year and a half ago.

Thank you to the girl who unintentionally sang me to sleep and taught me about astronauts. You were the only one to stop and watch the stars with me.

Thank you to the kindest base manager and human being (read: angel) I’m convinced I will ever meet in my entire life. The way you approach life and see humanity is the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. You deserve a mountain, a hammock, and all of the wonderful experiences I’m sure you have in store for you.

Thank you to my partner in sickness and in dance. I tried your slack line when no one was looking and fell on my ass.

Thank you to the poet with three stars on his water bottle and to the architect who didn’t tell us until she left. Thank you to the PM who will head straight to another project, and thank you to the PC who will do the same. Thank you to the woman who wanted to take a picture of us mooning the camera and thank you to the woman who refused to have it happen. It’s probably better that image doesn’t exist anyway. Thank you to the English couple I met in January and the English couple I met in April who somehow met up in Kathmandu – ping pong and toilet trench alliteration buddies for life! Thank you to the volunteer who left and returned more times than I can count, to the volunteer who extended until the end, and to the volunteer who stayed the whole time. Thank you to the German couple who taught us how to make bread on sticks and the girl whose last name is a different color than her Facebook profile leads you to believe. Thank you to the girl with cactus in her toe who still walks around barefoot and thank you to the woman who shouted my name from the campfire when I came back. Thank you to the musician with the beautiful voice and thank you to “Samantha.” Thank you to the cute bear and thank you to the ping pong master (you’ve still never beaten me though you’ve still never played me either).

And thank you to the rest of you crazy-beautiful outdoorsy morning/not-so-morning people for making all of this possible. We built a school, we built a washroom, we built a playground.

High up in the mountains, across a scary suspension bridge, sitting on a rice terrace, we pitched tents, threw up a few showers and toilets, and we called it a base. But it wasn’t until you showed up that this bamboo and CGI camp site started to feel like a home. And through culture nights, tea time chatter, and early-morning bowls of porridge, we filled it with memories. The kinds of memories that will stick with us for a lifetime.