By Yassine El Jed , YES 2012-2013, Qatar

This month, my friends and I went on a student led school trip to Nepal in partnership with World Challenge, an organization that offers young people the chance to explore the world and experience different cultures. Throughout the entire 2013-14 academic year in Doha, we fundraised for this project. We needed to raise enough money for transportation, food, accommodations, and most importantly, for the project we worked to organize as a group.

We arrived at Shree Yagyanmati School, which is located in a small village 45 minutes away from Kathmandu, the country’s capital. After a very warm welcome, we started working right away; the plan was to finish construction of two classrooms. We needed to finish the foundation of the floor of the new section of the school and paint some of the early childhood classrooms. We had neither the time nor the skills to do everything, but we overcame this by hiring local skilled workers to help. This indirectly impacted the local economy, which was another positive outcome of the activity.

A lot of the local kids travel a long way every day to get to school. They arrived as early as 6:00 AM to help us finish work on their new classrooms. In a short amount of time, we were able to build life-long friendships with the people involved in the community, and by the end of our trip, we were able to finish two new classrooms, which meant education for another 100 students! We learned important lessons, acquired new skills, and best of all, we learned to appreciate and value the smallest things in life.

This was one of the most valuable experiences in my lifetime, and it opened my eyes to what life was all about. The big hearts of the people I met definitely influenced my life, my thinking and my attitude. The most memorable point was when a toddler from the community gave my friends and me all the biscuits he had just to show his appreciation. No matter how little he had, he was ready to give and share.