nepal

an excerpt from my experience living in Nepal working with Wine To Water for a year

for more stories, check out my personal blog jaleighjensen.exposure.co and Wine To Water’s blog winetowater.org/blog

When I think back on this past year, all I have are visceral, full circle feelings of gratitude.

Gratitude for slow mornings on this porch where I drank coffee and put mindful intentionality in creating moments of peace before I began everyday. These quiet stillness gave me the opportunity to know and love myself more this year.

Gratitude for true and genuine people who wore love and support or their sleeves and allowed me to make a home here. Roshani, Kaushal and Bhumika especially but also Emma, Jasmine, Kiran, Neejan and Ram, And every other volunteer who allowed space for vulnerability and connection.

Gratitude for my support system that proved to transcend all corners of this world. My parents, Liz, Nat, Colt, and so many others who just picked up the phone when I needed them. They made the world seem a little smaller.

Gratitude for getting hit numerous times by other bikes, cars and buses. It taught me physical resilience and how strong my body and mind are if I treat them well.

Gratitude for testing my comfort zone. It taught me emotional resilience and how not to be afraid of the dark.

Gratitude for learning how to be intentional with the presence I cultivate. There is a difference in being with someone and being there for someone and there is a time and place for both.

Gratitude for the ability to speak the little bit of Nepali I can. Language is important and the ability to connect with someone with the words they feel is one of the most visceral feelings of understanding that we can give each other.

Gratitude for all the times I saw the world be hard here. It taught me how to be soft.

This experience grew me, shaped me, changed me— and I will always be grateful.

---

Before I left, The Water Committee in Kalyanpur gave me this “Token of Love” as a thank you for being a part of their project this year… but I told them that I’m only taking this back home to share with the thousands of people they couldn’t see but who were supporting them just as fervently every step of the way. And I want you to know that if you are reading this— just in giving your support this past year— YOU had a fundamental impact on me and the project there.

The most important thing I learned this year is that one of the most sacred parts of being human is our ability to connect. People really aren’t all that different, although we make look different and talk different and eat different and think different things and have different views— we’re all human and we have power in the way that we can relate to each other.

When I left in August, Ambassador David Miller, Chair of The Special Operations Fund, sent me an email saying, “Be kind, for this world has been hard for so many already," and I heard his words echo throughout my entire time in Nepal.

The value of this experience in Nepal lives in my processing and how I allow it to shape the trajectory of the rest of my life. Because even in all of the moments of learning in, I’m just now beginning the journey of where this experience is going to take me.

I am currently somewhere over the Gulf, making my way south to the Dominican Republic to capture W|W's Year End Campaign content. As I transition into this new role at W|W as a "Storyteller," I can’t help but be thankful for the opportunity to continue . This deep-rooted passion I have for this water stems from the notion that with it, change in every single capacity of life is possible. Health, poverty, gender equality, economic growth, education, food security, sustainable energy and so much more… Water is the one factor that can undermine or enable the progress of every other Sustainable Development Goal outlined by the United Nations.

I am beyond excited for another year spent learning and growing with both W|W and The SOF. Together, we are all going to continue to build off of this experience and transform the ways these stories are shared and how change is ensued.

My full blog on my time in Nepal: jaleighjensen.exposure.co