The Bhagwhati river, which runs through Kathmandu.

I left Kathmandu three weeks ago. It was hard leaving that beautiful, crazy, dirty, messed up and wonderful city. I miss it.

It taught me  and is still teaching me so much. I am still processing everything I saw and experienced there. I don’t quite have the words yet. But it was and is  a life changing experience that I am very grateful for. 

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who made following this dream of mine a reality. It is the first steps on a life long journey I feel.  I feel very blessed and grateful that so many people in my life are supporting me as I take one baby step at a time to understand and help raise awareness around poverty and the people affected by it.

Thank you!

I will be posting some more stories on my experiences and observations soon.

Living in Kathmandu your body becomes one with the dust or it rebels. My body has rebelled. The dust of burning plastic, car fumes, shit, a rubbish collection strike, manufacturing unchecked and unpaved roads has knocked me over in the last week.

I have been coughing and spluttering, wheezing like and old lady so today I succumbed and went to the traveler’s medical center. $100 US later and I have been told that basically all the dirt and fecal matter in the air here I am a allergic too – hence the spluttering  – but my nice doctor has given me drugs and an inhalers -so she’ll be right!

But my experience has got me to wondering about clean air as a human right issue.

Not having clean air in a country with user payers medicine creates  a furthering of the poverty framework.  Environmentally caused illness  and the inability to access health-care are a nasty combination.According to a recent issue of the Kathmandu Post heart conditions and breathing problems/illness are increasing at alarming rates in the Kathmandu Valley due to air pollution and “development”. Basically the air here is poison. A local doctor I know says on anecdotal evidence the increases are lessening life expectancy significantly in the valley.

Kathmandu is an amazing place but the water and air quality and access to clean water  is pretty appalling. I am concerned at the cost people living in this country are paying to meet Western expectations of living standards and development.

For a country that has only been open to the West since 1950 it appears to me, at least, the people of Nepal are paying a huge price environmentally to meet Western expectations of what a good life is.

After staying in a village here for a short period of time village life- living on less then $2 US a day is not poverty – these people can feed themselves, can support their families and can lead a good life. It may not be an easy life but it isn’t what I’d call poverty ,though by the United Nations and Non Government Organisation’s it is classified as such. My question is why? Who benefits from this definition of poverty? ( I will add in the city this definition of poverty and the hard task of accessing clean water etc  the definition makes more sense.)

Problems in countries like Nepal seem to occur when Western/ first world expectations and infrastructures are imposed. We make a business out of it. We place conditions on aid and help so the markets are opened up and their resources can be exploited by our companies – we create a poverty market and then exploit it and the population to meet our own needs. Not only of the market but our needs to make the world a “better place” to impose our understandings and ultimately control the populations of non Western nations to our expectations of living.

These behaviours  and expectations are killing and/or crippling countries like Nepal. ( For example look at Africa – all the aid in the world will probably not improve what is the dire straits of many African nations) Our interference ,our insistence of help is a hindrance to what would have been their natural path of development. This seems obvious in a country with over 40.000 NGO’s – the benefit of which sometimes is hard to see – with the exception of  the flash cars driven by the UN and Red Cross which they fly in-what a bloody travesty. It makes me angry and frustrated. We make a nation a victim when perhaps this is not the case, we make a culture reconfigure itself to met our expectations creating political and economic instability which plays into the business of poverty – to the first world’s economic and political advantage.

I do realise I am speaking a large generalisations here, and these are perspectives from my personal observations. I am not pretending to know and nor to I have any specific answers. But surely we can do better?

Novemeber 2010 -It has been quite a while since I wrote this, but evidence suggests, that though there are some holes in my argument this business of poverty and pushing developing nations towards western models of what “developed” is, is a real issue for nations like Nepal. Nations like Nepal should be able to develop at their own rate with our support and political stability should always come first. Markets being opened up to foreign investment should not be a condition of aid or development loans. Assisting access to clean water and regular power supply should be supported financially without a nation sacrificing the means to maintain political stability. The Guardian has started to cover this issue in depth if you are looking for more information.

First off please excuse any dud spelling. I am using a keyboard circa 1997 and it and I – I also have a wondrous stomach bug right now that is proving rather challenging -are operating in opposition to one another.

Ten days ago in the Lamjung district of Central Nepal I had an experience that has become life changing for me.

A friend, a German doctor who has traveled and worked in Nepal since 2003, took myself and friend to the village of Katrechati.

Katrechati  village sits on a hill in the center of a valley 200 Km’s outside of Kathmandu Valley. The village overlooks paddy fields, dry this time of year, and a river. Fruit trees surround the humble thatched and low ceiling homes of clay and brick.

Everything these people need they source from the land or the surrounding jungle and rivers. It is a subsistence life. If a family is well off they may own their  land rather then rent, have a couple of buffalo, a goat and a bounty of chickens.(This is what some people and organisations define as living in poverty as they live on less then the United Nations poverty threshold of  $2US per day.)Bhagwhati and her wondrous family took me into their home and into their hearts and they have totally stolen mine.They live subsistence lives, no TV, no fridge, no automatic setting washing machine – they have soap , a river, rocks and woman power.
I am beginning to have doubts that how these people live is  as negative as rural poverty seems to be pitched these days in the media and by some NGO’s.These people generally speaking can support themselves and their families.They have shelter, food and Bhagwhati’s family is one of the most loving and open family’s I have had the pleasure of meeting.Yes it is a tough life and things can be improved (think access to medical care, clean water and education) but these people have something unique something I can’t quite put my finger on. This community have rich lives filled with love even if they are living without refrigeration.
Things seem to get more complicated for subsitance farmers etc when outside organisations come in and impose structures and economic plans to “develop” a country. There is a Western assumption, from my perspective, that a farm ( in a rural context)  needs to be profitable to be viable – despite the fact it may provide for 20 odd people year round.
I feel this might upset some people, as yes this is a politically unstable country and there is serious need here, but Nepal is  serviced by over 40,000 NGO’s. Technically this country should be environmentally pristine , poverty free – a golden child of the sub continent. But it’s not.Political infighting between Maoist’s, and the 23 other political parties cripples this place and the World Bank, IMF and the UN could do better.
This country has  a huge water supply but Mia, a Nepali friend of mine, used to have to catch a bus to the Coke factory every day to buy water for her family. Mia and her husband Bhagwan have since moved back to the village I visited to have a better life  -for themselves and their lovely hyperactive son Manor.
Water here is sold to India, as is electricity, so in the whole of Nepal there are power cuts  (load shedding as supply cannot meet demand) of up to 16 hours a day for parts of the year.We are currently sitting on ten hours a day. (Most of the country also has water issues of some description – be it access or sanitation.)

I have heard from a number of sources that this on selling of power is due to World Bank/IMF restrictions placed on the coalition govt which are conditional to on-going aid. This means that the World Bank is some ways is liable to the worsening political,environmental, electricity and water conditions in Nepal.

It might seem a bit of leap but if the population had a reliable electricity and water supply the political instability here would have a chance to settle. The population wouldn’t be constantly aggravated by what they don’t have. Or what  they should have and could have if water and power didn’t need to be on sold to outside competition to meet aid conditions for the country. It’s bunk!
Sorry, I got lost in a bit of a tangent here but I will continue my village story another time and continue my dialogue on Nepal and poverty at a later date.

In other news tomorrow I am off to deliver more Xmas presents to another group of children…yes a late Chrissie …but yay I get to have it twice!

Ok , so here is the latest folks.

Things here are starting to get a little bit edgy politically and yesterday the Maoist’s declared  Kathmandu  an autonomous state and  have seized public and private property to, It appears, set up and alternative governmental structure. Daily the military presence seems to be growing on the streets – if you pay attention – it is obvious the pressure of months of uncertainty is having it’s toll.. .you can feel the energy of the city changing.

Yesterday on a day trip to Bhatakpur I counted 15 buses full of Maoists coming into Kathmandu. And on Saturday a supposed indefinite bhanda or general strike is starting. This means everything is closed and if a store opens open and discovered by the roving bands of Maoists patrolling the streets the owners are  dealt with harshly. Bicycles are set on fire if they are used, taxi’s as well, no cars at all are on the streets, no buses…nothing save for stray dogs and unknowing tourists.

Two weeks ago I saw a shop owner dragged from his store and beaten. All rather nasty. And the next day the odd rickshaw driver was sporting some significant bruising.

So whatever eventuates this should be an interesting week.

My personal feeling is it is going to get a bit heated….there is a vibe perculating under the surface of daily life here as the declared date of the bhanda gets closer. Also the number of Maoist’s coming into the city from the country means action of some sort is planned but who knows what.

Last week they took to the streets at night brandishing burning sticks. And this morning I woke to the sound of military drills…..”and fire.” All just a little disturbing to be sure.

In other news some clearer connections for looking at the situation of homeless children in Kathmandu are presenting themselves – thank you Jenny!!!

I think i have found the group of kids I would like to get to know, they are pretty tough, abuse glue and live on the edge of Thamel. The first time I saw them was in the early hours of the morning…around 8am…well ok not that early…huffing on plastic bags of glue, one passed out before my eyes. So the process now is to develop a relationship of sorts with these kids. Buy them some ciggerettes…and yes  I know these children are under 14 but they smoke and it is a way in on their level.

So i will keep you informed of developments as they present themselves. Thank you for helping me get here. I feel so blessed to be starting to live my dream even if at times it is a bit scary.

Neesha x

Yesterday with a dear friend I walked across a section of Kathmandu…and oh did I see things while breathing in air like petrol flavoured dust. Shit and dirt and rubbish  and oily flithy water ran past in the broken up road and gutter…the streets in Kathmandu are paved in dust and  the disinfranchised. I saw a boy with no feet and atrophied arms drag his body through the dirt and mayhem begging for food. A man with no legs floundering banging his metal bowl against the pavement while making a low musical howl.S uch was his desparation. But most disturbing is the children…young from the age of perhaps seven..even younger probably but I don’t really want to engage with that possibility…huffing on plastic bags of glue. These dead eyed children are horrific to witness, slacked jawed, glazed over fetid lives. These children,mostly boys walk the street like old men, carrying their smoking ciggerrettes with a notchlance I find chilling. (Homeless girls don’t really feature in street life as far as I can tell)

Walking along the edge of a public park space yesterday I noticed the park is teaming with young men passed out in the grass, sniffing glue and waving there arms in this flacid manner that can only be attributed to being completely wasted. I could feel the despair rolling from this place…as a mother sat selling peanuts and cloves with her young children by her side. This is life on the jagged sharp edge. Brutal and unforgiving.

But in a positive vain this afternoon I get to meet some children who once lived on the street but now live in a proper family home  and are financially supported by NZ organisation Orphans Aid International.  It should be a fun afternoon! Nice to have alittle hope after viewing the ravages of some of Kathmandu life in such rawness yesterday. But I do love this city, the people the country. I feel blessed to be here but also glad to be taking a few weeks in India in January as it is politically pretty tetchy at the moment with Bandha’s ( General strikes where everything in the country closes and you can’t leave your guest house) declared for  five of the next 10 days..so far. It is pretty harrowing to experience for the first time..shop owners that open get dealt with by the Maoist’s who declare the strikes… and things seem to be heating up as the 22 party coalition government struggles to function and the Maoist’s flext there people power…..blessings x

I knew I was going to get culture shock when I arrived here  though i wasn’t prepared for how hard it hit me when I arrived here a week ago..I didn’t do heaps of reading etc on the situation(Though the Nepalese Society answered all my questions and then some) -before I got here as I wanted to it to speak for itself rather then me impose some construct of what the situation is here. The rawness of life really strikes you and how incredibly lucky we are in NZ… we really have no idea how good we’ve got it. Power cuts are a daily occurrence here  and in certain periods of the year these can be up to 18 hours a day. The dust and pollution  and water are all issues as is just existing for sections of the four million residents in Kathmandu. Homeless children as young as four or younger beg in the streets of Thamel at night..mothers ask you for milk while shoving their baby , who is crying in your face…it is quite confronting…and all done in English as the Nepalese are incredibly well educated.There have been tears..it is learning to observe and take it all in so I can write about it constructively..not be trite or condescending about it…I am still waiting to link in with some ex homeless children I have been linked into by an NZ NGO . One of the most telling things for me so far has  been watching these two little girls playing in this pile of rubbish and filth between two buildings…these children where covered in dirt, they found a rope and a started skipping….. it totally got to me. I am starting gather some nice images which i will share  ASAP…looking forward to meeting the ex homeless children looked after by Orphans Aid International. Sorry this is all a bit stream of consciousness but  I have Kathmandu pollution head…seriously the amount of stuff in the air  is mind boggling..like breathing through a fire place/car engine!It has to be said the Nepalese I have had the luck to meet so far are amazing. I love this city.

A big thanks to Roasted Addiqtion in Kingsland!!!!!!! The lovely hosts of our fundraising gig last month  just donated $50 to help cover my living expenses  while in Nepal!!!!!!! You little beauties!!!!!!!

So everyone in Auckland go to Roasted – support a rocking little cafe with a generous team! Thank you!!!

P.S Have also approached Vodafone and Kathmandu about contributing in someway . It would be fantastic to have them on board:)

All of a sudden it has just dawned on me – holy moly in three weeks I will be on a plane to Nepal!!!!!!!!!!!

This week I have a meeting with the Nepalese Society of New Zealand to learn more about Nepal, the culture, poverty and  all the other bits n’ pieces that will help me out when I get there. The group is also covering costs for a whole week in country!!!!! Wow! Thank you so much!!!

My volunteer job with Orphan Aid International is all lined up and ready to go and we are having a meeting before I go to firm up the working brief for gathering the stories of the children Orphan Aid supports in Kathmandu. And it looks like I have a stay at another orphanage in Kapan for my first couple of weeks – just sorting out the final details. Yippeeeee!

I am still doing some fundraising to cover my costs in country – if you want to contribute- you can donate to my account at PayPal – nomadik.al@gmail.com. 

So basically I am in the getting everything organised phase – moving out of my apartment, doing odd jobs here and there to raise as much money as I can before I go. I am really keen to do some yoga and mediation training while I am there alongside gathering stories and volunteering.

So it’s bring on the adventure!!! It still doesn’t feel real yet even though it is actually happening. All rather overwhelming and wonderful and humbling at the same time. Wow, I am so lucky to get to step out on the path of my  dreams!!

And thank all for your support in this- I don’t really have the words to express my gratitude -especially to my core group of supporters ,mentors, and  my Nepalese based network – you know who you are (Sarah,Anna, Sue, the Karen’s, Pete, Tamar, all the baking crew and the professionals I have gone to for advice – Rob Harley, Sarah Short, Karen St John, the Orphan Aid International crew and  my Nepalese crew)- you rock!  And a special huge thank you to my parents who are backing me 110 percent in this and seeing this is really what I want to do with my life. It has been quite the adventure just getting here so thank you Rosemary and Hans Grueber!!

Any advice or thoughts or places to visit when I have some down time will be gratefully accepted.

I am open to what happens when I get there so it going to be quite the adventure folks!!!

Neesha xx

Wow, what a wonderful evening! Much thanks must go to the wonderful Anna Kaye who organised the event and got heaps of amazing musicians and poets to donate their performances for a lovely night. And thank you Roasted Addiqtion for providing the venue for us!!!

Thanks to all those who played and read, who attended the event and brought raffle tickets ( also those of you who donated items for the raffle, and yummy things to eat etc – David , Miri, Anna and the lemon cupcake lady!!!!)

The event raised $180 which will cover a good ten days in Nepal!  

I am chuffed beyond belief with all the support and the amazing people coming into my life because I have this dream.

It is quite humbling and I feel very blessed. 

In gratitude,

Neesha

x

PS. The lovely Miri and Dan took some pictures of the evening which I will endeavor to post soon! 🙂