German Volunteer Teacher Finds Stark Contrasts and Unique Joy in Remote Nepali Village Life

Germany. The highly developed society of Europe versus the difficult life in a remote Himalayan district of Nepal. 25-year-old Sina Eder is gathering beautiful experiences comparing these two worlds. Sina, working as a volunteer teacher at a school in Chachalung village of Solukhumbu, finds the lifestyle there uniquely striking.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, and raised in the German city of Bayern, Sina never imagined she would end up in a remote Himalayan village in Solukhumbu, Nepal. However, when an adventurous travel idea suddenly struck her mind, it led her towards Nepal. On her first visit, she traveled to Kathmandu and Poon Hill. That two-week journey further awakened her fascination with Nepal, leading her to choose Nepal again for practical voluntary practice as part of her studies. And so, she arrived in Chachalung village.

Chachalung has become special for her. Here, she is gathering unusual experiences like washing clothes by hand, bathing with very cold water, spending days easily even when electricity is out sometimes, and walking for two hours to go shopping.

Sina completed her primary and secondary education in Bayern. After finishing her higher secondary education in 2018, she served for six months in a German hospital under a federal volunteer service program. As part of that, she is currently teaching as a volunteer teacher at Shree Amarjyoti School in Chachalung village. She started teaching at this school in October 2024 and will remain until the end of February 2026.

During this time, she developed such an affection for Nepal and Nepalis that she feels sad as her departure date for Europe approaches. In a video conversation via WhatsApp, she said, 'I still want to stay in Nepal for a long time. But I have to return at the end of February.' This Himalayan village in Nepal feels like another world to her. She greatly admires the warmth, simplicity of the Nepalis, and their habit of taking any difficulty with ease.

She finds it strange to see practices in Nepali rural life like slaughtering a pig at home and singeing its hair, or slaughtering and roasting a chicken at home. In the society where she grew up, there is no custom of slaughtering and eating any animal at home, and the law does not permit it. She creates short videos of such scenes observed in village life and posts them on the social media platforms TikTok and Instagram. She has been making and posting such videos every day since the first day she arrived in Nepal. These videos capture her daily activities and moments teaching at school.

While enjoying Nepali rural life, she is saddened by a few things. She shares, 'Here, it seems normal for teachers to hit students in the name of discipline, and for parents to hit their children at home.' She adds, 'In our society, if something like this happens, the police would immediately show up at the door.' She questions, 'Can you accept this as normal? Whether it's a light slap on the cheek or not hitting hard enough, hitting is hitting. There is no place for discipline in it.'

Even in this cold weather, some of her students come to school without wearing socks. Thinking perhaps they lacked socks, she bought and distributed them to the students. But some refused to take them, saying, 'I don't need them.' This incident also seems strange to her.

She does not view favorably the practice of sending small children alone from villages to big cities or Kathmandu to live in hostels for better education. In the society where she grew up, young children have the right to live with their parents. However, she understands that in many remote villages in Nepal, sending children to the city is a compulsion due to the lack of good education.

She feels happy seeing the children who come to school despite the scarcity or hardship in the village. She plays with the children, makes them laugh, and teaches them in a European style. The students at the school also love her very much. They flock to her whenever they see her.

Sina is also a yoga teacher. She completed her yoga teacher training in Tenerife, Spain, in July 2024. She still practices yoga whenever she has free time from her school duties.

During her studies, Sina has done internships not only in Nepal but also in other countries. From February to June 2024, she completed a study abroad semester in Gran Canaria, Spain. The school does not pay her a salary for teaching as a volunteer teacher in Chachalung village for four months. However, she receives full expenses including travel, insurance, and accommodation from the Dr. Sigrid Schwarzenbacher Foundation under a scholarship.

Another thing that struck Sina as unusual in Nepal is the daily practice of eating Dal Bhat (lentil soup and rice). Having never tasted Dal Bhat in Europe, she now eats it daily. Lately, she finds Dal Bhat delicious. For snacks, she sometimes eats Momos, sometimes roti, or other Nepali dishes. She finds almost all Nepali dishes tasty. In between, she participated in village weddings and feasts and danced. She finds the customs of traditional weddings and feasts in Nepali villages enjoyable. She is also doing something she never did in Europe: washing clothes by hand. She washes clothes by hand twice a week.

In her free time, Sina is also studying the Nepali language at school. Just for fun, she even took and passed the Grade 1 and Grade 2 exams in Nepali. Now, she can understand a little Nepali and speak a little. Sina says, 'The children learn English words from me, and I learn Nepali words from them, but they laugh when they hear my Nepali pronunciation.'

The field she likes to work in is social service. Although she cannot say for sure where her future lies right now, she has a strong desire to do social work. Sina says, 'Perhaps after finishing my studies, I might come back to Nepal again to do social work!'