My Good School Retreat 2023 - Nishan Karki

I have got many great opportunities in my life. The excellent My Good School Retreat is one of the best opportunities, giving me many life lessons. This will be an unforgettable part of my life. I had never been so excited about many things, but this was the opposite. I have described below my experiences and what I learned during this retreat.

Day 1: 18th April 2023

Our trip was going to be great, and I was very excited. Excitedly, I left Pestalozzi, my four friends, and my escort teacher Minaxi Rawat. I was hoping my day would go well. On reaching The Doon Girls School, we first had our RT-PTR tests. The good result was that all of our reports came negative. We assembled at the basketball for the walk at Khalanga War Memorial, Nalapani.

Khalanga War Memorial: The day's first activity was visiting Khalanga War Memorial. The Memorial was located in a hilly region which I like. Now for sure, my day was going to be very significant. When I entered the memorial surrounding, I felt like I was in my hometown in Nepal. We gathered at one place where we had our introduction. We had a little introduction about that place by Col Vikram Thapa.

Along with him, there were three more people. They all were Nepali. I conversed with them and gathered a lot of information about that place. We had a nearly 1 km walk from where we gathered to the Memorial. 

We reached the Memorial and spent time talking, making friends and clicking pictures. After some time, we left the Memorial and went back. On our way back, we also visited the Chandrani Devi Temple. Both the Memorial and temple were incredible. The sal forest also added more beauty to them. We thanked all the people who supported us during this visit. We also presented them with some gifts.

Ice-Breaking Session: The ice-breaking session was conducted by Monisha Ma'am and other teachers of The Doon Girls School. In this session, we had many activities, such as our introduction, the secret fact about us and some fun games. The games were entertaining, which also continued hidden moral values.

Schools shared their PowerPoint Presentations: In this session, students from various schools presented the Presentation about the heritages of their places. It was a very effective learning source, and we learned about the heritage of different areas.

Fun Games: We played fun games during this session, including dodgeball and chasing games.

Cultural Program by The Doon Girls School: The school girls presented various cultural activities in this session. They included choir, dance, drama and yoga. They gave all of their actions very beautifully.

 Day 2: 19th April 2023

We all came to The Doon Girls School and assembled at Basketball Court for a visit to The Doon School.

The Doon School: One of the top 10 schools in India, The Doon School indeed needs appreciation for its level of education, environment and facilities. The students studying there are very hardworking and disciplined. Even the Headmaster, Dr Jagpreet Singh, was very friendly with everyone and knew every child's name. Indeed the visit to The Doon School was once in a lifetime opportunity.

The Khan Farm, Biharigarh: The Khan Farm in Biharigarh was beautiful. It was a mango farm with small fruits growing on the trees. We stayed here for a day and had a lot of fun. We also did many activities. They included team-building sessions, walking and exploring the farm and a talent show. During these sessions, we played various games containing moral values. Exploring the farm surrounded by beautiful mango trees was fun. Coming close to nature is a great experience. In the talent shows, every group shared their talent. We sang a Nepali, a Tibetan, an English and Peatalozzi song. The food here was also delicious. Even now, also I miss the food.

Day 3: 20th April 2023

Again there was another new day starting. We all woke up and got ready for a fresh start to the day. We had to do many activities this day. We had the activities like Understanding Farming and Leader in Me. Without farmers to produce the food we need daily, we would die of hunger. Farming is an essential source of livelihood. The Leader in Me session taught us about famous leaders and their characteristics. Each school had to choose two leaders and talk about them.

After all these activities, our trip to The Khan Farm ended. We thanked all the people on the farm who supported us during this trip.

We reached The Doon Girls School in the afternoon. We all were tired due to the travel by bus. Now it was time for us to take some rest. After our rest time, we had to share our trip experience. Each child from every school shared their experience of the past few days.

The session after this was very interesting. It was a friendly Basketball match between the retreat and The Doon Girls School teams. Both the teams played very well. I also participated in and played the game. The good news for us was we won the match by one point. The score was 19- 18. After the game, we all were praised for playing so well.

Day 4: 21st April 2023

This was the last day of our retreat. The activities today were only till the afternoon. On this day, the activities included workshops like needlework, art, craft, designing, bamboo works, music, etc. There was a music festival also.

I attended the needlework class and the bamboo work class. I found both of them very interesting and valuable. I enjoyed this time and learned new things.

The Music Festival - Music of Spheres was conducted by the Doon Girls School. Many other schools also participated in this event. We sang a song called Changer of Seasons. All the schools sang very beautifully. Indeed, music brings peace to mind.

After this session, we had some snacks and left for home. It was such a wonderful experience.

Nishan Karki is a great youth ambassador for Pestalozzi Children's Village India.