We (Neil and I) travelled for the first time in November 2002, second time April 2003 and third time in November 2004.
Last time was not as big a surprise for us, as the first time to reach Nepal. This story is about the first time.

When we reached Nepal, it was also like we had been travelling back in time with years. Everything were so strange to us. Absolutely filthy and incredible beautiful in the same time. It was really difficult to imagine for us, before we actually saw it ourselves.
I had tried to organize these meetings with people with disabilities in Nepal for several months forehead. The plan was the first time, I was there in November 2002, that I should help them with some assistance for a workshop on accessibility for disabled in Nepal. And the second time in March 2003 was more direct organisation work for people with disabilities (PWD) in Nepal. November 2004 is about finishing this project and maybe start a new one with them for a period on four years.

It was really interesting for me to plan this workshop with (People With Disabilities)PWD in Nepal over the E-mail. I had never meet them, so it was a challenge to cooperates with them in this way. Sometimes I felt like we were having some culture problems between us. Every idea I came up with was “a perfect idea”. They never seemed to be unsatisfied. In my world that is a problem. It’s hard to cooperate with people that never gives you feedback. I also enjoy when people tell me what could be better.

I do not believe that all my ideas were perfect, so I spend a lot of time explaining that to them. In the end I didn’t trust they were honest with me, so I told them to choose some of the ideas and trust a little more on them self. That problem was even worse when I came to Nepal.
They were all over me. People travelled for hours in poor busses on poor roads to talk to me. Everything seemed so overwhelming for me. It took me many days to get use to this big interest. It was like they thought I would have all the answers to all their problems. But no one else but themselves can or should come up with the answers. I had no clue about anything in their country. How does things work there? When I don’t know those simple things, I can’t be able to do anything else then come with the ideas that works for us in Denmark.

It was really hard in the first days. It was a lot of work and frustration. It was difficult to see what I could do there. And it was frustrating to turn so many people down. There is a great need for some help in Nepal. As you might know, it is a very poor country with very difficult possibilities for especially people with disabilities (PWD).
After I started focusing on the people I COULD help, I got more energy and excitement. It was so fascinating to see the hardworking PWD. They claimed up on a top of a mountain, helping each others on the way every day in order to get their education. I was wondering why in the world they had an education centre for PWD up there. Unto I found that that was the cheapest area. In a poor country like Nepal it is either this or nothing. They were just so happy and proud of their education centre which for me looked like a bunker. In Denmark we would complain about this old buildings with all its stairs.
It was that day in the mountains, I felled in love with Nepal and its people and felt embarrassed for my complaining over (small?) things in Denmark.

For the people in Nepal, it seems, that it’s a huge thing that an European is coming to your country to help PWD out. For me it’s a normal thing that a country is helping another. I often thought about all the help we supply each other in IOYR, International Organisation of Youth with Rheumatism. For us it’s normal to share the knowledge. I had some knowledge about making workshops and some personal opinions about accessibility. And DSI – The Danish Council of Organisations of Disabled People is involved with this kind of work because we in Denmark have a long history of organization work.

Danish disability organisations have been involved in development assistance since the early 1990s. Organisations and individuals became committed to this field, new contacts and working relationships were established, a great deal of experimentation was undertaken and some important lessons have been learnt. DSI has succeeded in establishing an overall strategic framework for the mini-framework agreement, and has defined fundamental development issues in relation to disability work.

In short you can say that DSI wants to ensure full participation, equality and human dignity for disabled persons in developing countries on equal terms with their fellow citizens in society. DSI's principal focus is on support to the initiation, establishment and development of democratic organizations of disabled people in developing countries and on managing projects, mainly in cooperation with such organizations.

That main objectives and strategies are why we happily travelled to Nepal again in the fall 2003 and again fall 2004.

Nepal pictures

Read more about DSI's work in the Third World.

Make us happy/Gør os rigtig glade ;-)