Seeing Hands Nepal

One of our first volunteer experiences will be with Seeing Hands Nepal, where we will be spending April and May 2009. Check out their excellent work at their website - http://www.seeinghandsnepal.org/.

When we visited Cambodia in 2006, we discovered and then repeatedly visited a charitable organization (Seeing Hands Cambodia) ... not really for any altruistic reasons, but because we were able to get hour long massages for $4.00. Yeah!!! The organization is really cool, because it trains visually impaired people in therapeutic massage, and then employs them in professional clinics where they can earn a decent living. These individuals would obviously have a hard time getting other forms of employment.

Anyway, as we started looking into different options to volunteer, Evan discovered a sister organization just getting started in Nepal - Seeing Hands Nepal. They were (and are) looking for massage/manual therapists to train visually impaired Nepalese. We applied, were accepted (the first volunteers from the USA) and are set to go in a few months. Evan will be teaching massage techniques, and Andy will be helping with anatomy instruction and with running the clinic.

We'll be in the clinic for 4 weeks, and then have some downtime to see Nepal .... Andy's top to do is an elephant safari in Royal Chitwan National Park to look for tigers and rhinos.

Evan is planning a trip to Bandipur - "Soak up the medieval atmosphere and the views in this living museum of Newari architecture" (Lonely Planet Nepal).

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead)