Nicole Wasser, 2008

From the chaotic city life of Kathmandu to the agricultural villages that Nepal is dependant on, there is so much to experience here in this small diversified country. Walking through the villages is exhilerating. As the Annapurna Mountain Range greets the sunny skies in the morning, the villagers also greet you warmly as they continue their days activities. Children holding hands smile shyly saying, "Hello, Namaste!" Giggling is contagious and you can not help but feel how special this opportunity is.

Everday offers new possibilities of being active in the communities. Going to schools and talking to the students about littering, community clean ups, playing with the children and farm animals, cultural events, and dancing with the villagers is more like an adventure than work; but you are a positive impact on these communities.

Ramesh and Govinda, from SADP are wonderful hosts. They are very receptive to your ideas and will try new projects if possible. The mix of work and play has been so much fun and truely inspiring. I have learned so much from these villages and hope to implement a couple of the sustainable practices at home.

Thank you SADP for letting me be part of the team! Cooperation will continue to create the change that we are all looking to affect. I truely hope to return and see all the progress you have accomplished.

Savhanna Wilson, 2007

SADP Nepal was a program of widely varied emotions and experiences for me. A most unforgettable and amazing period of time was spend in Nepal, full of learning, peace, serenity, hard work, and a lot of fun. My stay delivered both important life lessons as well as amazing insight into the lives of an incredible, culturally rich society of people whose way of living is so vastly different from my own.

I had the pleasure of experiencing both the village life and the farm life during my stay. The first stretch of my stay was spent in the Pragati English Boarding School, where the students and teachers were as eager to learn about my lifestyle as I was to learn about theirs. I spent each day teaching and learning, working closely with both the staff of the school as well as the pupils, aiding where I could in areas of conversational English, pronunciation, and grammar. I was also assigned the mission of aiding the principal in the daunting and time consuming task of editing the school's yearly newspaper, in which I proudly accepted an editorial credit as well as a copy to take back to Canada.

I got to experience real village living, as I was set up to stay in the home of the wonderful family of a Pragati staff member. This was an unbelievable experience for me, as I got to learn about every day Nepali living, closely observe their customs, and form lifelong bonds with the entire blended family, which consisted of a mother and father, their two sons, each son's wife, and their collective 3 children. I was treated as a member of the family, which was a warmly welcomed courtesy for one so far from home.

Because, at 20 years old, this was my first time away from my homeland, and I'd decided to be solo on this adventure, I was quite nervous and felt rather lonely. My feelings of unease were quickly abolished upon my receipt in Nepal by the SADP Executive, Ramesh Nath Sharma, and in Pokhara by the people who, as a whole, welcomed me into their lives as if I were a long lost family member. I felt safe, relaxed, comfortable, and more at home than I ever imagined I could so far away, and for that in itself I am eternally grateful to the SADP Nepal program and the people involved with it.

I was also granted the experience of life as a Nepali farmer on the Seti Valley Integrated Organic Farm. Here my days were filled with all kinds of labours, from planting crops of garlic to cutting grass by hand in the fields; digging and sifting in the vermiculture compost and weeding crops of cabbage. I'd never experienced this kind of farming before, so there was much to be learned. I was an amateur; a setback easily conquered by working closely with the various employees of the farm who were eager to help, and even more eager to ease my mind and seemingly lighten my workload with laughter, jokes, and friendships.

It was a major concern of mine that I simply would not be cut out for the hard physical life of the Nepali farmer, but I was given options as to what work I wished to do and was urged to go at my own pace and take breaks if ever I needed. I soon entered a comfortable routine and was able to spend the days with a smile on my face, and finish them with a remarkable sense of accomplishment.

Located atop a cliff in the Seti Valley, mornings on the farm provided me with peace such as I have yet to find anywhere else in this world. Early to rise, I spent my mornings, starting at 6am, reading, writing, or simply basking in the soothing sounds of the rushing river below or the splendor of Mount Machhapuchre and the Annapurna Range which could be observed in all their majestic glory on clear mornings from any given location on the farm.

Days began with an unbelievably delicious meal prepared by the boisterous and gracious hostess Deepa; were spent working hard, but at my own pace, throughout the farm; and ended with another amazing meal, enjoying the Nepali radio stations and joined by the overwhelmingly jovial host Puspa. Each night I would chop vegetables in the dim glow of lantern light as I watched the farm workers carefully yet systematically fill bags with fresh milk from the farm's many cattle. It was simply amazing.

I was also lucky enough to have been joined for much of my stay by Ramesh himself, whose ever smiling face, kindness, and eagerness to exchange lifestyle, religious, and cultural information was both appreciated and relished, as my interests and passions lie not in agriculture, but rather in culture and religion.

Ramesh not only took care of all the arrangements for my stay in Nepal, he was kind enough to help with the suggestion and arrangement of my visiting different tourist destinations throughout Nepal. I was able to visit the Chitwan National Wildlife Conservation, which included a jungle safari on elephant-back, as well as go to Kathmandu for a visit and take a mountain flight (which was cancelled due to weather). But Ramesh ensured that my stay in Nepal would not only aide SADP Nepal, but prove to be fun and exciting for me as well.

Needless to say, my time with the SADP Nepal was overflowed with excitement, fun, and education - of the mind and otherwise. This has been a life altering experience for me, and I truly believe that anyone who takes part in this amazing program could not possibly come away unlearned, indifferent, or unchanged – for the better.

Miriam Bowling, September 2007

My stay in Nepal was an amazing experience, and I wish to thank SADP Nepal for making this possible. An especially nice part was that the Director, Mr. Ramesh Nath Sharma, worked hard to integrate experiences of Nepali culture into the general organic farm visit. My trip started with a stay in the home of Mr. Sharma, as little work was happening on the farm as most of the laborers were celebrating the Teej festival. I was able to celebrate this festival along with Mr. Sharma's family, and thought it a wonderful introduction to the Nepalese focus on the family as the center of society, and the wonderful Nepalesse music. After a quick tour of Pokhara (I highly recommend the Mountain Museum), Mr. Sharma brought me to the farm, where I would spend the bulk of my visit.

The Setti Valley Integrated Organic Farm (SIOF) is both a working organic farm, and a demonstration and experimentation station for SADP Nepal. It also happens to be located in a setting strongly reminiscent of early Renaissance paintings of the Garden of Eden, with a few stunning mountains and foothills of the Annapurna range thrown in! I was most impressed with the spirit of experimentation that pervades the farm, as the owners, Mr. Sharma and Mr. Puspa Raj Paudel, work to find a truly sustainable way to build a farm. Every time I walked the fields with Mr. Sharma, he was able to tell me of both future plans for that square foot of land and previous experiments. I was perhaps most enamoured of the vermi-compost operation, where the manure collected from the cows and buffalo is turned into the essential fertilizer for the vegetable operation. Though the worms might get all the attention, the careful labor that goes into this aspect of the farm, as goes into all aspects of the operation, is a wonderful example of thoughtfully executed organic farming. I will leave Mr. Sharma to explain his exact technique to the interested citizens of Nepal. The results of this careful care are clearly obvious in the fields, where two plots of cucumber, one with and one without an initial boost of compost worked into the soil, exhibit dramatically different growth and fruit production. As a volunteer, I was able to ask questions and participate fully in any aspect of the operation that interested me. Unfortunately, my labor was very small compared with the hired local women, but I truly appreciate the opportunity to learn about a few of the different organic techniques in use at SIOF). Working with the local village women was also an eye opening experience of the challenges lower caste people, and especially women, face in Nepal. I hope that Mr. Sharma's plans to link organic agriculture to community development are able to succeed.

I was able to stay right on the farm, in the temporary home of Puspa and Deepa Paudel. The views on clear mornings of Machhapuchre were worth rising early for, and I cannot imagine a lovelier setting for working in the fields. My hosts were very conscientious about giving me a private space for my things and to sleep, and the house was comfortably dry and surprisingly warm even during the late monsoon. The best part, of course, was Deepa Paudel's wonderful dal bhat, spiced additionally by the knowledge the majority of the food we ate came directly from the farm. I purchased a book on Nepalese cooking before I left in hopes of re-creating some of those wonderful meals.

After leaving the SIOF, I had the opportunity to travel with Mr. Sharma to a meeting in another district to discuss the start of organic agriculture and possible agri-tourism ventures in the village of Cami (sp?). Even in a day that produced more rain than I have ever seen at one time, over 50 farmers hiked to the meeting, to hear Mr. Sharma speak about organic agriculture, and ask enthusiastic questions about the possibilities. This was perhaps one of the most inspiring parts of my visit, as I witnessed local farmers interested in switching to organic practices, and knew that there were leaders like Mr. Sharma to help them in this transition.

After a brief tour of Kathmandu, guided by Mr. Sharma, I ended my three weeks in Nepal, with the promise that I would return as soon as I am able. I was very impressed with the work that Mr. Sharma, SADP Nepal, and all of the farmers and organizers that I met were doing in Nepal. Even with the pressures of a small farming in an oftentimes difficult environment, Nepal is beginning to recognize the necessity of organic agriculture. I wish everyone at SADP all the best as they demonstrate organic agriculture on their many farms, and hope I have the chance to see the fruition of their many projects when I return.