For the entirety of May this year, I spent a month living, eating, and teaching in an all girls orphanage in a small, extremely rural part of Nepal. When I first arrived there, with only one other English person, I wondered what I had signed myself up for. What struck me the most as the weeks progressed, and I know this sounds cliche, was how content, if not happy everyone was with their lives. I wouldn't be surprised if the things I had brought with me were worth more than the 18 girls collective wealth in terms of material possessions.
And yet, over the 4 weeks, I came to love these girls like they were my own sisters (no doubt helped by the fact that I was known as 'brother' to them), and saying goodbye to them was harder than I first thought. I was told not to get too attached to the kids so that the goodbye wouldn't be hard, but those are some high expectations to meet.