Nepal: The Alternative Schoolies
Posted by Michael Milston
In December 2015, 15 Year 12 graduates from high schools in Orange returned from Nepal. They were part of an inaugural program undertaken by the Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak and lead by Rtns Mary Brell, John Willing and Michelle Duncan. The young adults, selected in late 2014, spent their final year at school working together to raise the funds for the trip, improving their fitness and completing their HSC!. This is a story by on Schoolie, Mia Hull, written on her return to Australia.You drive up a long, windy trail; through the dust they call ‘Nepali Powder’. You’re on the shore of a wild jungle which gently laps at the roadside. To your left, there is Maidi village and there men are sacrificing goats in the river – it is after all a Tuesday so it’s what’s expected. Now you’re out of the car, walking to a school with the people you’ve spent a whole year fundraising with. You’ve only really spent two weeks together but you’d safely call them your family. There are drums beating in the distance and anticipation pulsing around the group. You don’t receive a warm welcome but a fiery hot one. There is red tikka on your face; the colour is as loud as the songs that surround you. Your arms are full of flowers and the weight of all the flowers around your neck pushes their spurs into your skin. You don’t care – you’re filled with so much emotion that you’ve begun to dance.
This is a very drawn out description to begin an article, but it’s difficult to show people exactly what our schoolies trip was like, it is really an experience that you have to embark on yourself in order to empathise with me.
I left Australia knowing that I was going to gain a lot from my trip to Nepal. We’d been conditioned for a whole year to believe that “[We] are going to get more out of this than the kids at the schools will”. What we weren’t trained to expect was that we’d also be leaving things behind, and discarding small pieces of our own character across the crowded, landlocked country that is Nepal..jpg)
The first thing I left behind was any apprehension I had about the impact we might have in Nepal. It was only small and easy to carry, but still, it was a belief that perhaps our years’ worth of work would be absorbed into a storeroom or a wage, and then forgotten. I left that belief in an empty, barren classroom in Ratnanagar, Chitwan, where a little girl boasted about how lucky she was. I was glad to leave my apprehension there, along with a host of sporting goods, sanitary kits, and two freshly painted classrooms.
Another thing that I, and many other schoolies I’m sure, would have left behind, is reservation. On our first night in Thamel, we watched traditional dancing while we ate our second dinner for the evening. At the end of the performance, we were invited to the stage to dance behind the professionals. Although I’d consider myself a confident person, I normally wouldn’t willingly stand up and perform a traditional Nepali dance in front of a restaurant filled with tourists, Rotarians, and Kathmandu locals that could be offended by my lack of coordination. We all got up and danced that night, and if the locals were offended, they must’ve been more reserved than we were, because they didn’t say anyt
hing.
hing.We left our 'reservation' in our seats that night, which ultimately lead to Bill overcoming his fear of heights and bungy jumping, to me forgetting that I can’t sing and doing solo performances for a kindergarten class, to Kandii finishing a trek even though she thought she couldn’t, to Bronie offering to find flea treatment for some puppies at the Annapurna hotel, to Ben being a great leader, to Maddy being a great boss, and to all the other schoolies interacting with the country and the locals in a way I never would have expected. There was a strong “can-do” attitude rippling throughout the team as we immersed ourselves in the wonders of Nepal.
Self-absorption was a big one, and one that I’m proud to neglectfully abandon by a roadside in God-knows-where, Nepal. Rotary’s “service above self” is a mantra that we all had to take into our stride in order to carry the weight of the things we were doing - 
I certainly felt it on our last day in Ratnanagar. I was physically and mentally exhausted, and although I loved every single one of them, the thought of going to school, and teaching classes, and playing games, and helping the teachers, and distributing donations, and entertaining the kids was absolutely horrifying: hats off to all the teachers out there. At this point, I really needed to say to myself, “it’s not about you, it’s about them”. This is just one of many scenarios on the trip where an altruistic attitude took place of an egocentric one, an experience that anyone on the team can vouch for. Rotary has definitely instilled a sense of “service above self” in all of us.
I certainly felt it on our last day in Ratnanagar. I was physically and mentally exhausted, and although I loved every single one of them, the thought of going to school, and teaching classes, and playing games, and helping the teachers, and distributing donations, and entertaining the kids was absolutely horrifying: hats off to all the teachers out there. At this point, I really needed to say to myself, “it’s not about you, it’s about them”. This is just one of many scenarios on the trip where an altruistic attitude took place of an egocentric one, an experience that anyone on the team can vouch for. Rotary has definitely instilled a sense of “service above self” in all of us.
I knew that I would leave envy in Nepal, but until I got there, I wasn’t aware of the size of the green monster on my back. Leaving it there gave my mind some space to think, and made customs a breeze when I came home to Australia because I no longer needed to declare all the jealousy I used to have in my carry-on. It is very likely that you have heard Mary Brell say this before, but I’m going to say it again because I can’t emphasise how true it is: in Nepal, they literally have nothing. In 2014, before being hit by a devastating 7.8M earthquake and before experiencing the brunt of India’s ‘undeclared blockade’ (an issue which has developed into an economic and a humanitarian crisis), it was ranked 145th on the Human Development Index.
Being in the midst of this, I’m sure everyone in the team grew to appreciate what we have in Australia. Our home is decadent, rich, and twisting around in its own abundance. Personally, I’ve been thinking about it a lot as we approach the festive season. I say with absolute honesty that since coming back to Australia, I’m not jealous of anyone and I don’t envy the things that others have. That is the greatest change that Nepal has seen in me.
It’s unfair to compare our schoolies trip to a party on the Gold Coast because they’re entirely different things. While all of the year 12s in Orange completed their High School Certificate this year, it was only a select few that had the opportunity to enter a wholly new world instead of only celebrating the end of an old one. As excellent as a regular schoolies trip might’ve been, we were all lucky enough to aban
don traits from our old lives up in the Northern hemisphere, and come home with ‘renewed perceptions’.
don traits from our old lives up in the Northern hemisphere, and come home with ‘renewed perceptions’.On behalf of the 2015 Alternative Schoolies, I’d like to thank The Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak, Hike Himalaya Adventure, and especially Mary Brell and Prakash Aryal. Your commitment to this project has changed many lives for the better. A massive thanks is also owed to our parents, friends, and schools for the endless support you’ve given us throughout the year. On a more personal note, I’d like to thank all of my travel companions for making the trip so fantastic.
Mia Hull