Orla Ni Eidhin, accountancy management adviser, Nepal
Orla Ni Eidhin an accountant originally from Limerick, worked with a large consulting firm in Dublin before volunteering with VSO in 2008. She now works as an accountant and management adviser with a human rights programme in Kathmandu, Nepal. Below Orla details an average day as a VSO volunteer in Nepal.
How the day begins
I get up with just enough time to get myself washed and dressed and make the one minute walk to my office for 9am. My Nepalese friends and colleagues find this amusing if a bit inconceivable, in particular the females who are up hours before me to get the morning meal cooked.
How my placement works
I have been placed as a management advisor with an organisation called Blue Diamond Society (BDS). It is a HIV and AIDS and human rights programme for sexual and gender minorities in Nepal. BDS are a VSO partner through the HIV and AIDS programme. It is a very dynamic organisation that has achieved amazing results since it began in 2001.
I am placed with the finance team of a large HIV and AIDS prevention project. I am an accountant and the placement outline indicated that I would be supporting the development of the finance function. However, a lot of the work has been around proposal writing/editing and donor reporting as the organisation receives funding from various international donor agencies. The work really is what you make of it and the success of a placement seems to depend a lot on how well you build relationships with the people in the organisation.
Where my role takes me
My work does not require that I travel outside of Kathmandu very much. I do get out and about around the city for various meetings but the majority of the time, I am based in our office in central Kathmandu. Getting about in Kathmandu is easy – there are an abundance of taxis, rickshaws, buses and tuk-tuks.
What's on the menu
Food is a major topic of conversation in Nepal based on my experience and one of the topics I can join in with having grasped the basics of Nepali, the national language. A frequent greeting is “khanna khannu bhayo?” which literally translates as “have you eaten food?”. You cannot speak of food in Nepal without mentioning Daal Bhaat. This is the traditional food of Nepal than is eaten twice daily. Daal is a lentil broth and Bhaat is simply boiled rice.
The changes I have encountered
Before joining VSO I was the manager of a client reporting team in a large consulting firm in Dublin. It was a pressurised, deadline focused environment. Here in Nepal, there are deadlines imposed by donors and other stakeholders and they are usually met but there is not the same build up of pressure to meet them.
How to relax in Nepal
Most weekends I get together with other volunteers living in Kathmandu so that is a good way to wind down after a week in work. On Saturdays, I usually go outside the city for a walk with the Himalayan Hash House Harriers. It has been a great way to meet people that are not connected with work and escape the pollution of Kathmandu. I also watch a lot of movies on my computer. When it is hot and sunny, I sometimes pay to use the pool facilities in one of the local hotels and pretend I am on holiday.
Things I miss about home
I feel very lucky to be placed in Kathmandu as a lot of the things I might have missed from home are available here. I do miss spending time with my family and the friends back home but we keep in touch via email and Skype and I have made one trip back so far to visit.
What I love about Nepal
I love the chaos and how it has changed the way I approach life and living. They recommend that you prepare yourself to be flexible when you become a volunteer and this is the best advice I could give anyone considering it. I think the experience here means that I am better equipped to deal with change in my life both personally and professionally. I have really enjoyed learning a new language and making lots of new friends both with my fellow volunteers and my Nepalese colleagues and neighbours.
