“Stunned I was” would be an understatement for any first timer to the far-western regions of Nepal, more so to the person who has lived all his life in the capital city. First and foremost, one would be struck by its remoteness. God! It’s far, geographically, economically, socially, communication-wise and awareness-wise, to name a few. You will feel that the situation is appalling and lives are in dire-straits. You will be petrified for your country and succumb to frustration. It’s not unexpected. But then, you stay in these areas for a few days and the place grows in you and you start having second thoughts. You see the potential in people there. You see the zeal, honesty and simplicity. You will find the enthusiasm infectious and their hard-work laudable. Most amazingly, you will realize how knowledgeable they are and how much you can learn from them. You will see them with new eyes realizing how much of a difference an opportunity or the lack of it can make. Then you say to yourself, maybe the situation is not that abysmal after all and there is hope.
Call it a culture or a way of life but one would be amazed to see adolescents fathering a child. It’s like watching children having children.
One’s initial encounter while visiting the far-west would be with, of course, roads and transport mediums or rather, the lack of it. Walking for hours everyday, that too in rocky hills, is normal. Save for a few bazaar areas, there is no electricity. Internet access, phones, televisions and other amenities are bitter jokes. People are in dark here, quite literally. These places abound natural resources and fertile lands but people are deprived of food and safe drinking water. A cruel irony it is. People have to strive for basic needs, at this day and age. It’s a brutal mockery at its best; callous; heartbreaking for a privileged by-stander. And there is more to it than just meets the eye.
The most tear-jerking of it all is the stolen childhood due to poverty. You see child laborers everywhere. You go to hotels and young kids serve you. You are acquainted with them, you feel a bond forming and out of pure interest you ask them if they go to a school. Then, in response you see the look in their beautiful innocent eyes and you want to kick yourself for being so insensitive. Right there, in front of you, you see the ruining of a potential, shattering of dreams and waste of talent. You realize what big a word “opportunity” is and how the lack of it can clip their wings. Your heart wrenches and you wish for a miracle; you tell yourself you would give a world to change things for them despite all logic and rationales, knowing all along reality attests otherwise.
And the systems there are! You see “chaupadi” being actually practiced there as though the women are nothing more than contagious animals which are better kept outside and caged. A slur. A curse to development. Also, inevitably, you will learn about the over-whelming cases of HIV/AIDS. Even more harrowing is the fact that infected sex-workers continue their work knowingly. It’s a homicide; a murder. Still you can not find it in your heart to blame them because the true culprits are the circumstances, poverty and ignorance. Health posts here are close to useless; a futile excuse. And this is a place where 25 percent women have uterine prolapse, if recent study is to be believed. One cannot help wondering what happens in case of emergencies and fatal accidents.
Another prominent drift from privileged world is how young these people marry here. Call it a culture or a way of life but one would be amazed to see adolescents fathering a child. It’s like watching children having children. They should have been playing, learning and cared-for by the parents and not withstanding the burden of family at that small an age. You might even stumble upon incidences of polygamy and, weirdly enough, even ‘wife-selling’. Certain truths are timeless no matter how strange they are. You see enthusiastic old people, their eyes gleaming and informed yet tired and regretful of missed opportunities. You talk to them and realize they are no-less knowledgeable than any PhD holder. You will learn that experience and adverse conditions can be equally good teachers. You will be absorbed with ‘what-ifs’. You wish you could turn back the hands of time and give them opportunities they deserve. But there are no second-chances, no retakes and no time-machines.
A person informs about a village meeting or mass gatherings by yelling from a hill-top manifesting the primitive world they live in. But one must confess, it’s as effective as microphones. And then there are flies. Flies are omnipresent here. No matter how cautious you are, flies will get to your food before you do; you would be eating with one hand and shooing them with another. Another aspect is the height of the houses there. You keep hitting your head in the ceiling and curse yourself for not being careful enough. You cannot stand or even bath stretching to your full height. The farther you go to the settlements, deeper woes you will find. You will realize how better your last stop was. You wait for the hardship to end but in vain.
After all said and done, you will come away with a life lesson. Things won’t be same ever again. You will be a better and stronger person. The place teaches you so much. You will never take anything for granted and value what you have. You will stop grimacing while comparing Kathmandu with other ‘prosperous’ cities of the world. You will see how fortunate you are. And you will never forget the faces, the smiles and those kind gullible eyes. The place affects you the way nothing ever will. It has that kind of attachment. You see hope for them and for you. Given half the chance, they will make a difference. With little opportunity and awareness they will change for better. Just because things are the way they are doesn’t mean they should be. They have the potential and they can change. They are more than just a statistic and a casualty.
(Writer is monitoring and documentation officer at CARE Nepal’s WATSAN program run in Achham district.)
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