By Eva Manandar, 2014 Cohort

This little girl raises her hands amazed at everything she sees around her and says, “Hamro class 7 ma ta — esto scientist haru chhan, pachi gaera kati khatra huney hola hamro desh.” (Our grade 7 has such scientists, can’t imagine how amazing  is our country going to be in the future)

Those words, I just stood there for awhile and let that sink in, though there was so much excitement and joy in that class, the seriousness of what she had just said struck me.

Class 7 had a demo class of their Science practical, just like that little girl, I was amazed to see all that these little creative geniuses had made. I was so excited to see a handmade truck, dhikki, a fan and many many more. And of course The Excavator, and even more excited to see that the excavator actually lifted sand from the ground.

I could not believe that these kids could make such ‘masterpieces’.
I see an excitement, an energy, an inquisitiveness, a thrill that I have never seen in the students, classes, school.
Students in my class come with beautiful paper flowers in all shades, they come holding cars made of mud with flags in it and explain to me, “Miss yo car chahin tourist haru liera India bata Nepal aaeko ke, tyehi bhaera dubai desh ko jhanda chha esma.” (Miss, this car brought tourists from India to Nepal, therefore has the flags of both the countries).

It all started with a group of boys trying to get a car run by a balloon, they didn’t quite succeed the first time, but a few days later half the class had these classes running on their desks when I entered class 9 to see their demo session.
And all this seems to be really contagious, one after another, these days I see more and more ‘scientists’ among my kids.

Trainings ma hami lai core values khubai peliyo, at that time, I didn’t quite grasp it all though, somewhere down the line it sort of lost its true meaning, it was used more for times like when someone put in a little effort, rag khai hal thiyo, oho esto sarro commitment to excellence; someone did something a bit wayward then the words yehi ho integrity, dialogue khai hal thiyo.
Somehow, for me this is where I see it all come together – The core values of Teach For Nepal.
I see – A sense of Agency, Integrity, Continuous Learning, Commitment to Excellence, Urgency, Mutual Respect and Responsibility and of course the limitless Sense of Possibility among my kids, for my kids.
In each of these creations I see the boundless opportunities that lie ahead for them.

(Eva Manandhar (2014 TFN Fellow) teaches English. Amrit Puri (2015 TFN Fellow) who teaches Science organized science activities for the children. They teach at Terse Secondary School, Talamarang, Sindhupalchowk)