INDELIBLE EXPERIENCES IN GPYC-NEPAL
Global Peace Youth Corp-Nepal (GPYC – Nepal) is a non-profit organization which is peace and youth oriented. It envisions the unity of the youth under the motto “ One family under god”. It conducts seminars, workshops, contests, awareness programs and many more among youths to develop the leadership skills and to unite them for peace and holistic development. Recently, it had conducted three days workshop on leadership and peace from June 28 to June 30. Students from 40 different colleges participated in the seminar and there were about 100-120 students including the staff members.
In Day-1, The students were divided into eight different groups with 9-10 students in one group. The group was formed by the ice breaking game with the random selection of the participants to make sure that the members in a group to be totally strangers to each other and from different colleges so that all the participants can garner together the spirit of team and social skills. We named our team ‘Youth Solidarity’ and the team motto was ‘Youth initiatives for Peace and Leadership’ The presentation from the president of GPYC – Nepal , Dhruba Prasad Lamichhane truly reflected on who we are and what we ought to be. His focus was on the leadership development and unity which was best demonstrated by the Unity Ball Game where we got the insight that how an individual’s mistake can cost dearly to a team.
Then in the following day i.e. Day-2, Under the ‘I can help’ project Prof/Dr. Ananda Shova Tamrakar bestowed us with her presentation on Vermi-compost .She taught us how to collect manure from earthworm. The simple idea kindled that how we could be self sufficient simply from managing the waste that we tend to be offhanded about and at the same time mitigate the environmental pollution and hazards. The practical implication of the whole discourse was finally on the run. Each group was asked to go to a house to lend a team’s devoted service for free for “home to home service” . It was the relishing feeling when our team provided the selfless service to the orphanage known as “Rakshya Nepal.” We simply cleaned and managed the stuff which apparently didn’t carry much weight but then it was from the heart that mattered. Our simple act of kindness and service in filled our heart with the sense of ecstasy.
Finally, the last day i.e Day 3, it was a big day for us,since we were to graduate in the three days long workshop. We had a lecture from prof Dr. Tulsi Prasad Pathak ,nuclear scientist of Nepal. Then we got to hear an inspirational speech from none other than Mr.Anil Shah.He was very persuasive and encouraging. His words were reminiscent to Bob Dylan’s song “ blowing in the wind” . At last, we got the special honor to receive the certificate from our Our National Poet ,Madhav Prasad Ghimire. His valuable words were very empowering and prodigious. Before the graduation, participants of each college were assigned a college project in which we had to design the projects to implement in the college within a given timeframe. Every college came up with the idea such as book donation program to a library, cleanliness program in the college, blood donation program etc.
GPYC – Nepal gave each participant a platform to represent oneself in an individual to a collective team level. We found our hopes and confidence boost up at the end of the day. We are eternally grateful to GPYC-Nepal for showing a glimpse of hope in the pitch darkness. And finally we are thankful to our team members : Adina,Avishek,Mala,Sujan,Gayatri,Mridul,Umesh and our leader Kanishk.
Co Authored By:
Sujan Shrestha Sudati Shrestha
(publsihed in The Himalayan Times on July 6, 2011. follow the link http://www.epaper.thehimalayantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/THT/THT/2011/07/06/ArticleHtmls/STUDENT-REPORTER-STUDENTS-LEARN-ABOUT-PEACE-AND-LEADERSHIP-06072011016034.shtml?Mode=1 to read in the e-news format)
Thoughts and Reminiscence 