To say I was nervous would have been a severe understatement as I stepped off the plane and was welcomed by 29 degrees and the dusty exterior of an airport with mountainous scenes in the background.

The nerves had been present for a while but especially in the last week or so. This combined with questionable airplane food and the lack of sleep after 6 flights in less than a week meant the enthusiasm was not strong. Nonetheless, I made my way through customs towards the gate.

Reading through my blogs from travels gone past reminded me exactly how different of an experience this would be - and in light of that how much I had changed.

Nearly 6 years ago, my beautiful high school best friend had told me about Change Action Nepal (CAN) - a non-profit woman’s organisation working in Kathmandu and one for which she is the Australian ambassador. It predominantly works with young women and girls who are at risk of or had been victims of sexual abuse, violence or trafficking in a variety of settings. As she told me about it’s story I found myself pining to experience it firsthand. But as is the nature of every millennial, my every summer and winter was taken up with work or travel as I went from an idealistic 18 year old to an overworked and under productive 22 year old. Finally, at the start of this year, I made a pledge to myself that at the end of this year - in light of it being before the last semester of my degree - I would not only go to meet the girls but also spend some time with my grandparents in India after 5 years of being near-absent in their lives.

So here I was - after my busiest semester yet - ready to take on everything that would be thrown at me. Little did I know the intensity of what I was about to experience.

Wonderful Shyra picked me up at the airport - after I profusely apologized for coming out near 4pm even though I was meant to land at 2.35 - and we began our 20 min journey to the CAN Safehouse in the area of Thashikel Chowk. We arrived at our destination after a car ride not unlike the ones I had taken in India (traffic for days).

My first impression of the place was a gorgeous white facade. Walking in, multiple friendly but shy faces peered around the doorway as I was introduced to whom I would soon call family. Only two days on, and already this was such a different experience to how I would eventually get to know them. I was shown to my room on the top most floor, with two comfortable beds and a Wifi password. As I sat down, I contemplated what the next 8 days alone here would bring.

As I started unpacking, a few of the girls came up to the room to bring me some ginger tea. “Niharika sister, do you speak Nepali?”, the boldest of the lot stepped forward to ask. When I shook my head, another followed. “How about Hindi? Like from bollywood?” A fit of giggles broke out as I nodded in earnest and laughed along with them. Thus began our friendship.

The evening was spent playing with them and getting to know them - especially the younger ones (who I managed to win over because of my ability to successfully act like an idiot which is endearing to kids but annoying to anyone older than 16).  The older ones were wary but welcoming and we all had dinner together for the first time - Dal bhat (rice and daal) being the staple of 2/3 meals in the day.

I started to get a glimpse of what my days here would be like as I started speaking with the girls. Talking about Bollywood movies, I asked 12-year-old S* what her favourite one was. She replied ‘Dangal’, telling me she had seen it 4 times. When I asked her why she liked it so much she told me quite frankly ‘I love that girls can do anything they want to.’ and then continued to play. The strength and integrity of these girls is something that comes through in spades, even in a day to day setting.

The next morning, I joined another one of the other volunteers, who had been here for 2 months already, on a walk into the centre of town. She told me a bit about her experiences here and then started telling me about some of the girls’ stories. Stories that have started making me intrinsically question how I see the privileged nature through which I have been bought up. Stories that, although some horrific and disheartening in nature, have lessons in them about how incredibly strong women - girls - can be. Stories that I want to share.