Nepal notebook

R E P O R T E R ’S N O T E B O O K

Himalayan peaks soar over terraced fields along the main highway in Nepal, which runs between the capital, Kathmandu, and the Chitwan District in the southern flatlands.

Common sense is not that common Nepal

China Kathmandu

India

Chitwan District

Jirouna

Parsa Wildlife Reserve

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MAP BY BRYAN ARENDT

Chitwan National Park

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To show you Nepal, I give you our guide and translator Puja Singh, communications officer for Heifer Nepal. At age 26, she's fluent in Nepali, Newari, Hindi and English. A Newari woman who embraces her family, culture and Hindu religion, Puja notes her role escorting two foreigners across her country—paying their tabs and keeping them from pitching off cliffs and into roadside buffalo dung—is a unique one for a woman here. Her grasp of American slang and music preferences (Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas) are all the more surprising as we get to know her. She says 99 percent of her schoolmates sought more lucrative jobs outside Nepal, but that her work with Heifer gives her hope for her own future, as well as her country’s. She is working to complete her master's degree in development studies while working full-time for Heifer Nepal. Her advice on negotiating the chaos of traffic on Kathmandu's crowded streets, where pedestrians intermix with speeding motorbikes and hulking trucks, illustrates how she approaches her daily life. “You just have to be confident and appear sturdy. If you look as if you'll put a large dent in their door if they hit you, they won't.”

WWW.H EI F ER .O R G

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By Puja Singh, Heifer Nepal

U

rmila Chaudhary of Belsi is a beacon of hope for me. A part-time college student and schoolteacher, her proper English is proof that she worked very hard for her achievements. Eleven years ago, Urmila’s mother, Panditni Chaudhary, could afford to send Urmila to school only because of the income from two goats she received from Heifer. Educating a girl who would eventually marry into another family was not a good investment for this stern Tharu woman. But the trainings she received said it was the right thing to do. Urmila was adamant and her mother, having some money to spare, gave in. Today Urmila, a slender young woman, gleams in her bronze skin and jet black hair as she shyly tells us that she hopes to start a family with a man who recognizes her as an equal. In our world, Urmila was the first shred of proof for me that the cycle of poverty could be broken with just two goats and some training. Walking hand in hand with Ganga Khanal in her banana field, playing hide and seek with the orange sunset along the rows of her leased land, I see the reason why girls like Urmila have a future they can look forward to. Ganga holds my hand tightly and pulls me strongly; there is too much to show. But it is not her banana plantations, her lentil shrubs in the moist, red soil, her Puja Singh (at left), communications officer for Heifer Nepal, talks with Ganga Khanal in the field behind her home. tiny but super-hot chilies, her healthy goats or her coop full of chickens that tell Ganga’s story. It’s the strength in her speech that stands out against the common after all. Heifer’s simple solution for poverty is ideal music of her clanging glass bangles, the lines in her face that for simple people, like those of Nepal. It’s these small soluform both the frowns and the smiles, and her children and tions that hold the secret to solving the big problems in my country. grandchildren for whom she has built strong foundations. A civil war, selfish politics, dysfunctional governments and The problem for poor families is that crucial decisions like paying for school and nutritious food depend on having brain drain have almost bled my country dry of hope. Too a little extra money to spare. One solution is a loan from the many young Nepalese see the lack of opportunity and stabilsavings fund created by pooling as little as 20 rupees (about ity as reason to leave the country. I see Ganga, the seed of 27 cents) per month over a period of time. The fund can pro- hope, and Urmila, the fruit of hope, as reasons to stay. Havvide enough capital for a small business. Another solution is ing lived and studied the world through words, I struggle to a meat goat that can sell for 5,000 rupees ($67) to provide an find the right ones powerful enough to tell the story of these women. The story of the women who make me, with my colentire year’s tuition for one child. After learning Heifer’s commonsense approach to devel- lege degree and reputable job, seem like an underachiever. opment, I saw that someone finally got what worked for my The story of how it only takes a small gift of hope and belief country and my people. I guess common sense is not that to change somebody’s life. ■

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