Year 9 & 10 cultural-exchange tour, with help from Innocents Relief

Posted on February 11, 2023 by Angus Mccoll - news bites

Sixty students and six teachers from the Batase School had an inspirational and privileged opportunity to go on a cultural-exchange adventure around central Nepal.
Batase is a small village in regional Nepal, located high in the Himalayan Ranges. An opportunity for school children to go on a school excursion is rare, especially a multi-day trip around central Nepal. This excursion broadened the older student’s education by providing an invaluable insight into the other cultures and histories of their own country.

They travelled via Kathmandu and Chitwan to Janakpur where they visited Janaki Mandir (top photo), a famous Hindu temple and destination for faith pilgrims. They also visited two schools where the students were honoured with the traditional foods and hospitality of the Maithali culture. They then went on to the amazing Lumbini, considered the birth place of the man who later became Lord Buddha. Lumbini is World Heritage Listed and is a destination for pilgrims of both Buddhist and Hindu faiths. Buddhists from around the world have built temples in their own traditional styles on grounds that follow a Master Plan designed by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. This place would have been of particular interest to our students, who are ethnically Tamang and followers of Buddhism.

From Lumbini the students went north to Pokhara, visiting Bindhyabasini Temple, Mahendra Caves, boated on the lake and visited Davis Falls before busing back to Kathmandu. Here they visited the theatre where they got to speak with the actors, went to the Aviation Museum where they met Bed Upreti, a commercial pilot and owner of the museum, and explored the botanical gardens.
These valuable experiences can only excite and inspire our students to think of possibilities that were previously, most likely, beyond their imaginations. No class room can do the same.

The students worked hard to provide their own funding for this excursion and Innocents Relief contributed the rest. A big adventure for little Batase village.