Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 3 | Page 56

Exchanging Culture for a Concrete Future

“We are planning to make this village into a
‘Plastic Free’ village. We are not complaining
that people are making our village untidy, but we
just want to set an example. We can influence
other towns and villages and we are educating
our students to minimize the use of plastics.
classes up to 12 but the government only helps us up to class
8. The rest is supported by RMT.”
When I asked him that why the school was supporting the
homestay program, he replied that as it is a very small village
where most of the people depend upon farming (which in
turn is dependent on the rain), then these homestays will help
bring economic benefits among the villagers. If the community
becomes stronger then inevitably, the school will perform better.
The principal then continued to tell me how the local community,
RMT and the school discussed how by receiving funds, they
could start something that would be sustainable for a long time
and benefit the whole community. This was the idea initiated by
Royal Mountain Travel.
I asked, “Does any of the revenue generated from the homestays
go to Royal Mountain?”
“No. See, RMT finances us to maintain the toilets for the
convenience of the guests. Up until recently, building a toilet
with a bathroom was the biggest issue for us. We, the villagers,
hope that we have done our best to make our guests and donors
happy.”
Meeting the students. Photo: Sudan Budhathoki..

More questions started to come from the local students. They
asked about the culture of America, if the visitors liked Nepal or
not and why were they visiting this school. To help make things
easier, some of the Nepalese teachers translated their students’
questions into English. The American students then answered
questions, one after the other. They discussed how American
food compared with Nepalese food. The visiting students said
that Nepalese foods were served in big portions and that the
food was quite delicious. They expressed their surprise and
showed delight by the unexpected but magnificent hospitality
from the school and the whole village. The purpose of their visit
was to experience Y