Brona Higgins is a student from County Monaghan who spent 9 weeks on a volunteer programme in Nepal. She's shared with us an account of this life changing experience:

Nepal. The natives will continuously tell you it stands for Never Ending Peace And Love. Of course you laugh off this cute but predictable little mantra in the beginning but by the time you leave this absolute paradise you realise they couldn't have been more right all along!

I spent 9 weeks in Nepal both working as a volunteer and travelling with the other volunteers and (without wanting to sound like a Miss Universe candidate!!) I can honestly say that those 9 weeks have been the most fulfilling, rewarding, happiest and most memorable of my life so far. I had always wanted to visit Nepal, but not as a mere fleeting visit or holiday where I would only get to see the 'touristy Nepal'. I chose to work as a volunteer so that I could experience true Nepali life for myself and get to the root of it's culture.

I was 19 last summer when I went there, and was going on my own so I was a bit worried that I would have trouble assimilating into such a different culture and that there may be no other volunteers there to befriend. I needn't have worried.

When I arrived in Nepal I was picked up at the airport, by a member of EIL's sister organisation in Nepal, and whisked through the streets of Kathmandu en route to the hostel where I would be staying and taking language classes, with a group of other volunteers form all round the world, for the first week. Quickly, our little group became good friends and we would all go on excursions (both day and night!) together in-and-around Kathmandu after the classes.

On the second week most of us went our separate ways with some volunteers beginning their various placements while the rest of us got the opportunity to visit and stay for two nights in a traditional ethnic village, Lamatar, in the hills encompassing the Kathmandu Valley. Here we were taught ethnic dances, how to cook the national dish - Daal Bhat - and got a lot of exercise on our daily hill hikes which were more than compensated for by the staggering 360 views over the Kathmandu valley and the snow-capped mountain peaks. If I could imagine a place to epitomise what Heaven should look like it would be Lamatar.

During the second half of the second week we were brought by bus, with many of us choosing to ride on top of the bus (extremely recommended!!!) for five hours through some of the most breathtakingly picturesque Mountain Passes imaginable, stopping half way to go white water rafting on the Trishuli river, only to be picked up again and brought to Chitwan National Park. Like the rest of the whole experience, the days spent here were also unforgettable, filled with elephant riding through lush jungles, being happily thrown off the back of an elephant into the river while 'helping' with the elephant baths, visiting indigenous ethnic villages and an elephant breeding centre, floating down the river in authentic dug-out canoes while crocodiles swam lazily past and again, dancing hand-in-hand ethnic tribes.

On our third week we were given the opportunity to partake in a Himalayan Trek, which I enthusiastically accepted. Had I realised how physically demanding I was going to find it I might have reconsidered, as I struggled to drag limb and lung up stepped mountainsides while native 'sheraps' ran unfazed past (once even while carrying a TV. and a table on top of his head to my utter disbelief!) But given the chance I would undoubtedly do it all again, as no amount of physical exertion can dampen the high of sleeping above the clouds and waking up to a 'gods-eye-view' of snow capped mountain tops for as far as the eye can see.

I finally began my volunteer placement on my fourth week. I was originally intended to be teaching English but I was eager to experience working in an orphanage also, so I asked the coordinator in Nepal about it and he willingly arranged for me to work for a week I an orphanage along with another one of the volunteers. My time at the orphanage was demanding but utterly enjoyable. The kids vied for our attentions non-stop and we were constantly called upon to play with them, or in my case sing a song or play something on the guitar. Our duties involved caring for the children, bringing them to school and helping them with their homework. I fell in love with the kids and did not consider it 'work' as such as I loved playing with them and just being happy with and towards them brightened up their days. The only down-side of my week at the orphanage was that after a week I had to leave them and I was afraid they would feel like I was abandoning them just as they were beginning to get attached. I made a promise to myself, and the kids that I would return once a week for the rest of my time in Nepal to visit them and let them know I hadn't forgotten about them. That promise was easily honoured.

It was after my week in the orphanage that I was brought to my original destination the family home stay. I didn't really know what to expect, living with a Nepali family for 5 weeks - would they have sufficient English? Would they like me? Would they be very protective over me? Even what would the food be like?

But, typical of everything else that had happened to me so far this experience, this too, surpassed all my expectations. The mother was an exceptional cook and I often found myself helping myself to more food than even the father! Meal times were family times and enjoyably intimate. Another volunteer was staying with the same family at the same time as I was and we would sit with the family during meals and in the bedroom/living room, all of us watching TV together in the evenings. We would join in the cheering for our favourite Bollywood Stars when they appeared on TV or jeer if a villain did. The younger children would lie with me on the bed while we watched TV as if I had lived there with them all their lives. The parents, also, more-or-less adopted me as one of their own. By the end of my stay I had assimilated into their culture with so much ease that I was beginning to feel like a Nepali myself!

The kids in the school where I taught were no less accommodating, always bringing me flowers or cards into the school or inviting me to come eat dinner with them in their houses, which I did on occasion. The school children, also, would plan little day trips on Saturdays where they would escort me on foot to all the local attractions - hill-top temples and lakes passing shocks of colour in the form of the vibrantly coloured saris of the women picking rice in the paddy fields as we walked by.

As for the people of Nepal, they are without a doubt, the most welcoming, selfless, generous and friendly people I have ever come across. Whether it be the families of schoolchildren who would kill a chicken for my benefit at dinner or the ladies on buses who would insist upon me sitting on their knees if the bus was over-crowded, or the group of young Nepalis whom I befriended that brought me everywhere - parties, sightseeing, their respective rural villages - on the back of their motorbikes day after day without asking for a thing in return, these people would put the selfishness and greed of other nations to shame.

I fell head over heels in love with this land of unique beauty and even intend to go back to work there when I finish University.

I would definitely recommend choosing to do volunteer work in Nepal, especially with this programme as it gives volunteers the chance, not just to work as a volunteer, but to explore the country through a whole host of other, previously arranged, activities - ie. White water rafting, trekking, rural village stay.

If you do choose to go to Nepal I needn't wish you a happy journey - that's a given, and I might even see you there :)

Brona Higgins