UPDATE - Thursday, March 17th -
Kopila Valley Home and School
Surkhet, Nepal
I can't believe that my time at the Kopila Valley Home is drawing to a close soon. This week has been an exhaustive, but rewarding time with many challenges and rewards. It's a challenge to teach technology when 9 out of my 12 adult students (teachers at the school) have never touched a computer before. Simple things that we take for granted, like basic computer terminology, are another foreign language for the teachers to learn. Words like "scroll" and "click" and "hard drive" are simply not part of their vocabulary and it's not easy to use the tracking pad on a laptop for even experienced computer users, but these brave student/teachers have persevered. At the end of this week, they will have set up an email account, opened and saved files, used a browser to search for lesson plans, and saved files to their own personal flash drive. Pretty amazing, I think.
The best part of my trip, however, is working with the children. They are so sweet, respectful, and happy souls. Who knows where these children may have been, had it not been for Maggie Doyne, the young lady from NJ who opened this lovely home for orphans and street children. I truly feel blessed to have had this opportunity to be around her and all the positive energy in this place.
Sister Suzy Becker - Live from the Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal
I'm finally here at the Kopila Valley School in western Nepal. The journey was a bit arduous, beginning with a 14 hour flight to Delhi, India. After a couple of nights there and two more nights in Kathmandu, I was off to Surkhet on a tiny 2-propeller plane with breathtaking vistas of the Himalayan Mountains. What a blessing to have the opportunity to make this trip.
The principal from my school, Nina Sharma, is traveling with me and we began our teacher training for the faculty of the school today. I worked with 15 teachers and administrators on basic computer usage. Of those 15, only 3 had any significant experience ever using a computer. We just take so much for granted in our country, don't we? Anyway, the training went very well and we'll continue with it each day, except Saturdays, for the rest of our stay.
I've posted a few pictures on the photo pages of this website and if you'd like to follow my journey more closely, you could also take a peek at the blog I'm keeping on my school's website by clicking here. Then click on the link that says "Peck Blog".
Thank you all for your support and love. I'll try to make a few more entries on this website while I'm here. See you in April.
Kopila Valley Home and School
Surkhet, Nepal
I can't believe that my time at the Kopila Valley Home is drawing to a close soon. This week has been an exhaustive, but rewarding time with many challenges and rewards. It's a challenge to teach technology when 9 out of my 12 adult students (teachers at the school) have never touched a computer before. Simple things that we take for granted, like basic computer terminology, are another foreign language for the teachers to learn. Words like "scroll" and "click" and "hard drive" are simply not part of their vocabulary and it's not easy to use the tracking pad on a laptop for even experienced computer users, but these brave student/teachers have persevered. At the end of this week, they will have set up an email account, opened and saved files, used a browser to search for lesson plans, and saved files to their own personal flash drive. Pretty amazing, I think.
The best part of my trip, however, is working with the children. They are so sweet, respectful, and happy souls. Who knows where these children may have been, had it not been for Maggie Doyne, the young lady from NJ who opened this lovely home for orphans and street children. I truly feel blessed to have had this opportunity to be around her and all the positive energy in this place.
Sister Suzy Becker - Live from the Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal
I'm finally here at the Kopila Valley School in western Nepal. The journey was a bit arduous, beginning with a 14 hour flight to Delhi, India. After a couple of nights there and two more nights in Kathmandu, I was off to Surkhet on a tiny 2-propeller plane with breathtaking vistas of the Himalayan Mountains. What a blessing to have the opportunity to make this trip.
The principal from my school, Nina Sharma, is traveling with me and we began our teacher training for the faculty of the school today. I worked with 15 teachers and administrators on basic computer usage. Of those 15, only 3 had any significant experience ever using a computer. We just take so much for granted in our country, don't we? Anyway, the training went very well and we'll continue with it each day, except Saturdays, for the rest of our stay.
I've posted a few pictures on the photo pages of this website and if you'd like to follow my journey more closely, you could also take a peek at the blog I'm keeping on my school's website by clicking here. Then click on the link that says "Peck Blog".
Thank you all for your support and love. I'll try to make a few more entries on this website while I'm here. See you in April.
