A day in my life as a VSO volunteer
Follow Raj as he takes you through a day in his life as a VSO volunteer, working to tackle gender-based violence against women and girls in Nepal.
July's featured volunteer
Namaste! My name is Raj Karki. I’m volunteering as a Diffusion Advisor on VSO’s Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response project in Nepal. I’m looking forward to keeping you up to date with how we’re getting on and how your support is making a lasting difference to the lives of women and girls here.
I’m delighted to be volunteering with VSO and to have the opportunity to share my experiences with you all. I’ve been in my role of Diffusion Advisor for just over a year, which has given me loads of opportunities to learn and grow, as well as use the knowledge I’ve gained over the years. Thank you for standing with me and helping to make a positive impact in my home country.
It is unacceptable that more than one in four women in Nepal experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. With your support, my colleagues and I are leading a range of prevention activities to stop violence against women and girls here. We’re doing this by running interactive sessions with couples, families, community groups and leaders to challenge social norms that value men and boys over women and girls. Working alongside other organisations, we’re part of an incredible movement to create long-lasting change.
July '23 volunteer update
Every working day is different, but I hope you enjoy watching a little snippet of my life as a VSO volunteer.
In this video, I talk a bit about my responsibilities and give you more of an insight into the work that the project does, including a look into school group discussions and couples' sessions.
Please feel free to leave me a message below if you have any questions. I would also love to know what you thought of my video. I'll try my best to get back to everyone - I'd love to hear from you!
Raj
VSO Diffusion Advisor, national volunteer tackling gender-based violence, Nepal.
Want to ask a question?
VSO’s Sponsor a Volunteer team will share your message with the VSO volunteer and get back to you with a response. Your email address will not be used, disclosed or transferred to any VSO personnel, it will be stored securely in accordance with VSOs privacy policy. A sample of messages including display names will be published to the Sponsor a Volunteer homepage each month.
Your latest questions answered
Good luck in your exams and thank you for all your hard work with VSO.
Raj
Hello Joe and Avril,
Thank you very much for the wishes. I am glad we have supporters like you who are helping VSO to lift people up from difficult situations.
Thank you very much for the wishes. I am glad we have supporters like you who are helping VSO to lift people up from difficult situations.
With so many problems in the world, it’s a positive ray of light to hear of your good work.
Raj
Hello Mark,
Thank you very much for such motivating words. We can’t climb the whole mountain at once, we just need to take one step at a time. If we keep doing our best, I hope one day the positive ray of light will certainly spread throughout the world.
Thank you very much for such motivating words. We can’t climb the whole mountain at once, we just need to take one step at a time. If we keep doing our best, I hope one day the positive ray of light will certainly spread throughout the world.
I would like to know how you persuade others to be more accepting of the lower castes?
Raj
Hello Richard,
Thank you for asking that question. Currently, Nepal has law which strictly forbade discrimination based on caste. Similarly, there are agencies and advocate groups who are raising awareness against caste-based discrimination, and this has resulted more and more people being aware and (many so called lower caste people) fighting against the instances of injustice and discrimination.
In the case of youth like me, we try to lead by example, first we don’t discriminate based on caste and we don’t follow discriminatory traditions. In the community, we raise awareness among people about the strict laws against caste-based discrimination as well as try to make them reflective about their behavior (like how they would feel if they had been discriminated based on their castes?). I hope I answered your question.
Thank you for asking that question. Currently, Nepal has law which strictly forbade discrimination based on caste. Similarly, there are agencies and advocate groups who are raising awareness against caste-based discrimination, and this has resulted more and more people being aware and (many so called lower caste people) fighting against the instances of injustice and discrimination.
In the case of youth like me, we try to lead by example, first we don’t discriminate based on caste and we don’t follow discriminatory traditions. In the community, we raise awareness among people about the strict laws against caste-based discrimination as well as try to make them reflective about their behavior (like how they would feel if they had been discriminated based on their castes?). I hope I answered your question.
Did you know?
We bring about lasting change not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers to empower communities in some of the world’s poorest regions. You can read more about VSO’s areas of work and discover more about our projects here.
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