Nepal

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I went straight to Nepal from Vietnam, although ‘straight’ isn’t the right word for the direct route of taking two flights and spending the night in Bangkok in order to get there. I was feeling the effects of my first trimester of pregnancy and was pretty exhausted by the time I got to Nepal, so I ended up staying in Kathmandu the whole time. I was a bit disappointed, as I really wanted to go on a trek, but I found that I could easily spend weeks absorbing Kathmandu.

Founded in the 12^th century, the city is a maze of alley-like backstreets and hidden squares, ancient temples and1000 year old statues on random street corners, monkeys hanging out on the side of the road and courtyards and carved wooden window terraces from the middle ages. It has this decaying museum-like quality that, combined with the polluted, concrete mish-mash ushered in by the modern era, makes the city a deluge of color and sights and sounds and smells. The old town, site of the royal palace and surrounding temples and shrines built in the 17^th century, is incredibly well preserved especially given that pigeons and monkeys and people all congregate on the buildings and monuments – it seems to function as more of a local hang-out spot than a tourist site. Only on my last day did I venture into Thamel, the nicer touristy area populated by western hikers and hippies, and found that I could easily have missed it altogether.

One of the most interesting sites I visited was the palace of the Kumari Dev, or the living goddess. At age 4, the goddess is selected from a specific ethnic group and caste based on which young girls meet 32 specific physical attributes and certain horoscope specifications. Those found suitable are taken to a dark room full of men in masks who try to frighten them. The least scared girl is chosen and then has to pass the final test of picking the correct jewelry and clothing from her predecessor to prove that she truly is the reincarnated goddess. She then moves to the temple in Durbar Square and lives there until her first period, at which time she reverts to the status of “normal mortal,” and the process for picking a new goddess begins again. As if being a teenage girl isn’t hard enough without being booted from the palace and having your goddess status removed!

I was surprised at the prevalence of Buddhist monks and monuments. I knew that although primarily Hindu, there were a fair amount of Buddhists in Nepal, but I wasn’t expecting such a strong presence, which is apparently due in part to the large Tibetan community in exile. There seemed to be almost as many stupas – Buddhist symbols of enlightenment – dotted throughout the city as there were Hindu temples and shrines. Interestingly, there are several sites of worship shared by both Buddhists and Hindus. On my last morning I went up to one of them – a huge stupa on the top of a hill overlooking the city. The site was packed with Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, with the Buddhists circling the stupa countless times and the Hindus praying and chanting. I don’t know if I can think of another place I’ve visited where I’ve witnessed two religious groups peacefully sharing a site of worship.

When I could find time away from sightseeing, I did have some actual work to do. I led a workshop helping our staff evaluate our work with the janjatis, one of the ‘endangered’ ethnic groups who are discriminated against and excluded from economic and educational opportunity. Nepal has identified about 70 such rural mountainous groups who are dying out, and CARE works with many of them. Similar to Vietnam, and many other countries where we work, the overall country and the majority population are experiencing economic growth, but the minority ethnic groups, often the indigenous ones, are being completely excluded from the process. It was exciting to work with the Nepali staff and hear about the large-scale work they’re doing to influence the government – one of the women I spent time with is serving as an advisor for the government team currently creating a country-wide health agenda.

The local work within the villages is just as vital – my favorite example was from Karuna, who explained very matter-of-factly, “The project I’m working on helps change harmful traditional practices. Many traditional practices are good, and it is important to encourage local groups to preserve them. But some are quite bad. In many villages, when women have their periods they are banned to a small hut in a remote area until they are finished bleeding. But you know, the tigers keep smelling the blood and coming to the huts and dragging the women away and eating them. I don’t care what they say about tradition, that’s just not a good thing.” I must say I tend to agree with her.