When I first arrived in Kathmandu I was eager to see the city but apprehensive and afraid. I had never visited a developing country before and my perception was one of poverty and crime. The three girls I was traveling with had been to many other countries before and were seemingly fearless when it came to exploration.They decided after dinner on our first night to find a local pub.
The whole time I thought I was the voice of reason and urged caution at every turn. We settled for a small place that was mixed with foreigners and locals. After a little while the crowd started to thin out and we found ourselves alone amidst a group of locals. Immediately I felt fearful.
The locals came over to talk with us and seemed very interested in who we were and what we were doing in Nepal. We talked about our trip to volunteer at a school and they were excited to hear we were educators. As the night went on we talked about each other’s cultures, experiences, sang songs and I even found out one of them was Jimi Hendrix’s tour guide in the 60’s!
At the end of the night, our new friends walked us back to our guest house, we said our goodbyes and we were all so pleased to have had this time together. If I had played into my fears, I would have never gone out beyond dinner or stayed at the pub after the crowed thinned, and I would have missed out on meeting these amazing and beautiful people. I also believe I would have continued to miss other opportunities on this particular trip out of apprehension. Seizing the opportunity to meet the wonderful people of Kathmandu gave me the confidence to know others and made this one of the most influential experiences of my life.
How did The Sharability Project impact Lisa?
“While participating in this activity, each one of us seemed so invested in one another’s experiences. Real empathy was happening, and from this an authentic depth was met in our friendships.”
“After completing our creative story, there was a strong sense of empowerment in the group, not just for ourselves and the reminder of what we accomplished as individuals, but also for our character in the story. Our common theme was the feeling of being a foreigner, and when our character reached his accomplishment we were truly all behind him. We understood what he perceivable felt because HE was an amalgamation of US.”