A King's High School chemistry teacher is preparing for his return to Nepal as a volunteer teacher by raising funds to buy books for Nepalese children, and practising the pronunciation of important Nepalese words.
Anthony Rodger said the Kiwi accent could get unsuspecting New Zealanders into trouble overseas - particularly the word Nepal.
''I have to get used to saying 'Nepaal', not 'Nepal', because when you say 'Nepal', the locals think you're saying nipple.
''It's just our accent.''
So the 32-year-old is busy practising his pronunciation of the word before he returns there early next year.
Mr Rodger spent much of 2009 and 2010 volunteering in the country at an orphanage in Kathmandu City, a rural school at Sontang near Mt Everest, and working for the Australian Himalaya Foundation training primary school teachers in Nunthala, Chaurikharka and Nele.
And he continues to volunteer during the New Zealand school holidays.
He plans to return to the country for an undetermined amount of time, with money he has collected from King's High School pupils, which he will use to buy books for under-privileged children there.
''Nepalese schools see books as precious gifts and they keep them locked up in cupboards.
''They don't give them to the children to read.
''So we want to give each of the children their own book to take home and read and, hopefully, they will share it with their parents, many of whom are illiterate.
''Many of the children we see are first-generation learners.''
Mr Rodger has a small container on his desk for pupils to give loose change for his book project, and despite only asking for 10c and 20c pieces, the pupils have given considerably more.
''Some have given $5, $10 and $20 notes, and lots have given gold coins.''
Since he started the initiative three weeks ago, pupils have given more than $400, he said.
''I've been quite taken aback by how supportive they've been.
''I have no idea how much will be raised by the end of the year.
''The original idea was to raise enough for a couple of classes, but who knows how big this will get now.''
