Every year our college (St.Xaviers) assigns the Interns of St.Xaviers to various agencies to implement the theoretical knowledge and techniques that have been taught to us in the class. So, this year my colleague Ayeesha Joshi and I were placed at buildNepal. In the beginning, we had a very vague idea about the agency. we predicted that this agency could be working on making Nepal better just by looking at the name. Later we Interns of St.Xaviers visited buildNepal’s secretariat office kaiser Mahal and got to know about the agency. We gained a few ideas about the agency from Mr. Souvidhya, the team leader of buildNepal. We learned that the organization’s main aim is to promote integrated and bottom-up approaches of sustainable development leading toward glocal townships.
buildNepal has been focusing on North Kathmandu at the moment. Mr. Souvidhya, after listening to our interest suggested few projects from with we decided to work for a project of buildNepal namely RSN (Responsible Student’s Network). RSN is an initiative that has attempted to bring together different schools and students of North Kathmandu to a common platform to make students responsible and entrepreneurial. This group forms clubs (Social and Entrepreneur) in the schools and involves the students in various activities. RSN was on its cocoon phase, it has two members at the moment, and among these only one is very active. The active school is Prithvi Narayan School. The recent activity that had been conducted was a marathon named “Run for North Kathmandu”.
As a result, RSN is planning to make the event a yearly thing and It was a huge success this time. Before we joined the internship program Run For North Kathmandu was already organized. You may be wondering how organizing a marathon helped the students to be independent. It is very interesting; the students of Prithvi Narayan School came up with a very cool and ingenious idea. So, a group of students decided to make lassi (a refreshing drink made from curd and banana) and sell during the marathon. And, it was an ingenious idea because it was obvious that everyone would be thirsty after the run. The dedication of students led the lassi as a big hit. They also earned a profit which gave them a motivation to engage more.
After joining RSN we have managed to conduct a few signs of progress. We made an effort to involve the teachers of the school by making them the board members of RSN. As a result, we have come with an agreement with the board members to conduct a meeting every once in a month. Which will discuss about the progress and further planning.
With the help of the students of the club, we helped Prithvi Narayan School conduct a quiz contest. We encouraged the students by organizing a quiz contest. Students who participated in the quiz to try to be competitive. We encouraged them to do their best. In addition, we encouraged the students who were not participating in the program. By asking them to show their talent in the middle of the program. Also, We suggested them to come up with interesting poems and jokes to perform during the quiz to refresh the audience from the monotonous program. The quiz went well.
After the quiz, the other work we the Interns of St.Xaviers engaged ourselves was giving away exam preparation tips to the students from grades 6 to 10. We came up with an idea amidst of their exams around the corner. The idea was to teach them a few tips on how to prepare for better results. The students appreciated our tips and thanked us as well.
We have recently passed a few agendas with our board members. We have decided to form a small office on the premises of Prithvi Narayan School. It would be easier for us to communicate with the club members and the board members. Having an office in the school premises would also help us perform our activities smoothly. Also, we have agreed on engaging the students in some fruitful activities during their winter vacation. Students and the board have brought up an idea of performing a street drama that has not been finalized yet. We will also discuss with the members of the boards and after they finish their terminal exams. At the moment we want the students to prepare well for their exams.
