Faces from other incarnations

Getting out of Kathmandu was needed this last weekend. Being unable to head to Ghorahi was a test of my emotional continence, but our trip to Pokhara has honestly fulfilled many of my hopes.
It was a time to relax, enjoy the restful feel of Lakeside – with a simple rooftop room for two nights, and seeing good friends again.

Seeing Carol, our friend from Toronto who will be working with INF for a year, was a highlight. Visiting her home and her work, and meeting her lovely roommate were great… She will be working as a biomedical engineer at Green Pastures (GP) Hospital – a very special hospital serving leprosy, spinal cord injury, and burn patients according to a profoundly Christian ethos. INF runs the hospital and I’ve transferred patients from Ghorahi to GP for their high quality care.

There were two people I was very touched to meet again at GP. First of all, this man who recognized me when I explained to him that I went to him to pray for my uncle Charlie when he was ill 4 years ago. He is a significant leader in the Christian church, mostly ministering to those who have lost much, such as he has from illness and seclusion. He was saddened to know that Charlie did eventually pass away, but I was encouraged to see and hear him tell me of all of the wonderful work he is doing.

The other special face is this lady – a blind and deaf woman who sang for my parents and me some 4 years ago – bringing tears to my mother’s eyes. When I asked her if she was good – she replied quickly ‘Bahini (little sister), I can’t hear, I can’t see… how can I be good?’ but then again, her smile was ever present and she sang as long as she remembered the words. I must say she is impressive at 85, in Nepal!

We also met up with Clive and Andrea, INF long-termers. In the past, they have diagnosed me of parasitical ills, they have supported me when my hospital was hit by Maoist/army clashes, they smuggled Emily and I into a grand hotel for some TLC around the pool… It was great to reconnect and to find that Clayton just clicked with them and it was simply a great visit.

P.S. The 225 tanks that were supposed to cross the border did NOT come... and the situation is getting bleaker. 48 hour waits at the petrol pumps... It's time to start thinking about stocking up...

Kathmandu under siege

The roads are a bit less crowded these last days. The taxi drivers are firm with their high prices. Many people have run out of cooking gas and I can't imagine living in Nepal without being able to cook rice! There are talks of food shortages if this is maintained.

Supposedly, about 80% of public transport vehicles are parked, unable to move. Our last taxi driver waited 12 hours to fill his tank. One of my friends "name-drops" to get the prized liquid for her car - there is sometimes no other way but to make them grovel because of the big names you know.

Last night, according to a Nepali minister, 225 fuel tankers crossed the Indian border, escorted by the army forces, and expected to start supplying gas and fuel today. Some ethnic groups are protesting all across the Terai, creating massive indefinite strikes all across the southern border. Wednesday was the Maoist 13 anniversary of the beginning of the war. Red flags were everywhere and big gatherings occurred.

Our plan was to head to Ghorahi for the weekend... but with the roads shut and everything closed off... we couldn't even get there. Instead, we're heading to Pokhara, after finding a bus company that still has fuel.

We were reflecting on the coming planned elections on April 10th. It seems that if Nepalis can't move around the valley due to the fuel shortages, are stuck in the valley due to massive strikes all across the country, can't access necessary food items because of shortages, and worst of all, can't cook rice... the country may well fall apart... We wait with bated breath.

Disempowering Husbandry

It's really all about power.

I had already noticed that people addressed Clayton more than me in our daily dealings, but it didn't get to me in the same way... probably because I could easily hold my own with my Nepali... but this weekend as we attended Nepali Church, my status as the wife of the interesting white man was clear.

I have come to realize that in some contexts, being a single white woman has more clout than being a white wife. Even though I was powerless in many ways in Ghorahi (being YOUNG and a NURSE were not to my advantage), at church, I was the interesting foreigner... and I probably got accustomed to being interesting.

This weekend, I was only but the wife of... It was troubling to me that I wasn't addressed and that my work was of limited interest... Imagine the interesting white man even works for the Bible Society... now that's a claim to fame! Now, let's not think I'm becoming bitter - it was just a bit of a shock...

But then again, I think back and realize that as the white wife, I've been given my fair share of power. Imagine the widow of low caste who has only produced daughters... imagine the leper with disfiguring signs of his illness... It is reassuring to me that, at times, the traditional power relations are being flattened out or even reversed. For example, my church in Ghorahi welcomes such disenfranchised people. When the preacher stands up and starts his message and you see he's the only one wearing shoes to cover his deformed feet and his hands are but stumps from leprosy, you realize that some things do change.

"Home Sweet Home"- The mosaic

Here is our little home...



Center picture: our home - we live in the bottom floor of this lovely house... We share the door with our neighbors upstairs.


From Top left clockwise:
1- Photo mosaic of our friends whom we miss
2- The kitchen of a gin-tonic fan
3- The gate - always kept safe by our guard
4- cuddling in our living room
5- hanging 'his' laundry yet again
6- trying to study Nepali - although this is a fake, since it's Clayton that is studying much more than I
7- Clayton's office window and the garden that he happily looks upon
8-office - the place where all his hard work happens

Newsy Bits

Some of the main stories in the news a few days back -

• Mass graves being unearthed with the help of a Finnish forensic investigator on the outskirts of Kathmandu. This supposedly contains the remains of many alleged Maoists that the army captured during the war.
• The Maoists have revived a former parallel structure that governed in certain regions during the war, the Revolutionary People’s Council… hummm
  Someone in Britain has asserted that they think Nepal’s elections planned on April 10th will go ahead…
• There was a raid on kidney traffickers in Nepal - as per the article, many poor Nepalis get either scammed into giving away their kidney, or get smuggled and drugged and wake up without one prized organ.
• The case of the missing Nepalis in Alabama
• Many notices about teacher’s strikes, bombs here and there, and political strike
  

I must say that the next few months will surely be interesting!

Liturgical Wednesday

Ash Wednesday always has a special Nepali feel for me. The act of smearing powder by someone in authority on one’s forehead resembles so much the Hindu tradition of tikka. As I was slowly heading back to Canada following my stay in Nepal 3 years ago, I attended the Ash Wednesday service at Notre-Dame-de-Paris. I remember how very profound it was for me to come out into the bustling streets of Paris with ash on my forehead, after having spent a year refusing to receive such marks… since it would have signified an affiliation with Hindu beliefs for Christians in Nepal’s Mid-Western Region.

Today, we attended a Catholic service near our home where we received this symbol of repentance and mortality. Clayton followed the service as any good Catholic would. Since I am less liturgically inclined, I tried to get its gist through the rather high religious vocabulary. At least I recognized the Lord’s Prayer!

Lent will be a little different than the last few years… no cutting out caffeine or chocolate… but instead of sacrifice, trying to add more… more time, more remembrance, more of Him.

American Life, Japanese Wife

Or so Nepalis often describe the ideal. The extended version is:

"American salary, Chinese food, Nepali life, Japanese wife"

But they have it all wrong.

"British salary, Thai food, San Diego weather, Canadian life, French-Canadian wife"

There we go. Much better.

Living next to the Jew

When I was describing the location of our flat to one of my ex-students, he said, “Oh! You live next to the Jew!” “The Jew?” “Yes, the Jew... Right next to you.”

Puzzled silence. “You know, the Jew. Where the animals are.”

“Ah! Right,” I said, finally clueing in.

But I’m still taken aback each time someone says it.