The timing of my visit to Kathmandu was perhaps unfortunate because the city is simultaneously recovering from an earthquake, and Nepal is in the middle of a constitutional crisis that has resulted in a de facto blockade at the Indian border, and a crippling resource shortage, (especially with shortages in fuel and medicine. Pretty good article here at NPR about it:
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/12/06/457269135/i-hope-the-hospital-has-enough-diesel-for-their-generator)
Perhaps the timing of my visit was fortunate in the sense that I had the opportunity to observe something about certain communities and individuals that can only be seen during times of hardship.
Here’s the background information:
On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 moment magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. On September 20, 2015, the 7th iteration of the Constitution of Nepal came into effect. Nepal is a resource poor and isolated place, particularly the Kathmandu valley region. The only practical channel where things like medicine and fuel can be brought into Nepal, is through the border with India. As far as I can tell, the folks who live in southern Nepal weren’t ok with the new constitution, so they’ve basically shut the India/Nepal border down. The flow of things like fuel and medicine have slowed to a trickle. Subsequently, earthquake recovery efforts have also slowed or stopped. (The whole situation a lot more complicated than that, but that’s pretty much the relevant information. The details get really confusing…)
I met a pretty remarkable person who started a nonprofit to rebuild schools in Pokhara. Pink Lee is from Hong Kong originally, but has been continuously traveling the world for over 7 years. Her story is also pretty remarkable. The short version is that she grew up in a single parent family with a father who was, from all appearances, abusive, and addicted to alcohol and gambling. She finished university, then cut all ties with her family to start a life on her own terms. After working for a few years in journalism, she just left to travel the world. Notably, she’s spent time as a disciple of the Hugging Mother, Mata Amritanandamayi, in Kerala, India. Recently she’s been working at an orphanage in Pokhara. After the earthquake, she decided to commit to helping rebuild schools. More info can be found here- https://www.facebook.com/lightonnepal/
We randomly met at a Japanese restaurant in Thamel. I was there cause I was craving ramen. We ended up talking about the nature and value of suffering, generosity and abundance vs. scarcity, faith, religion and how we make decisions about the future. (Basically, the same shit that I’ve been wrestling with and harping on for way too long probably.) A few things made impressions that I don’t want to forget…
An attitude of abundance (her word) (or generosity as I’ve adopted from Mike Dauphinee) as a foundation for a kind of courage and freedom to live without as much control or fear.
A reordering of priorities- (or “loves,” as described by David Brooks in The Road to Character, in the chapter on Augustine,) allows one to do good things that you can’t otherwise will yourself to do. This usually seems to follow a progression through experiences and self-examination that demonstrates that other things in life are unable to provide satisfaction or meaning. *It’s been interesting to read the David Brooks book- some of the biographies in the book, insofar as he’s constructed them, seem to have a common progression in this regard.
The process of letting go of old hurts to be free to live into a future that can be focused on serving others and being present in relationships.
It’s just interesting to meet someone who seems to be happy and giving, and all in spite of having a past that by a lot of indications, has been pretty unfair and hard, and a present that’s pretty unpredictable and lacks, (by my definition at least,) security.
I guess all that to say, the challenge of recovery in Nepal is pretty immense, but the circumstances also seem to really bring out some special qualities in some people. Nepali folks also seem to be able to keep a sense of balance and joy in spite of tremendous difficulty- I don’t think I’ve seen the same kind of thing in the US or more developed western countries generally…
The featured image is of potter’s square in Bhaktapur Potter’s Square. More pics below.
Be First to Comment