Anne Elisabeth in Nepal

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2007-12-21T10:55:00.009+05:45

www.DamascusNow.blogspot.com

Leaving Nepal

2007-12-21T10:55:00.000+05:45

My last weeks in Nepal has been spent on saying goodbye to colleagues and friends. Despite the fact that I am happy to leave and am looking forward to moving to Syria and the many new challenges that awaits, it is still sad having to say goodbye to life in Nepal. During the last 18 months I have had many good experiences and met many fantastic people.

In the two organisations where I worked big traditional parties were held with speeches, tika and mallah (flowers). Steve and I were then in charge of the more western way of parting; party with booze, barbeque and dancing.

Time for change

2007-12-19T11:41:00.000+05:45

As some of you might already know the time has come for me to leave Nepal and my job with MS Nepal. In November I got offered a position with UNDP in Syria. I will be based in Damascus working with the UNDP gender section focusing on gender mainstreaming of UNDPs programmes and women's empowerment.

I will leave Nepal in time for Christmas at home, spending most of January in Denmark attending Danida and UNDP courses. Before heading to Damascus in the end of January.

Unlike my other postings I will not be going alone this time but will go together with my boyfriend, Steve. This will be a new and interesting experience for both for us and we are extremely excited about spending the next two years in Syria.

And as always....friends and family are more than welcome to visit

Visit from back home

2007-12-07T11:41:00.000+05:45

October and November are known as some of the best months to visit Nepal and I certainly benefitted from this with visits from back home.

The first visitors were my parents who spent almost three weeks here before we all went to Thailand to meet up with my sister and her family.

We had three great weeks in Nepal with lots of good experiences. Though living here I seldom have the time to play tourist and I really enjoyed being able to enjoy the pleasures of Nepal with my parents.

We saw what is supposed to be seen in Kathmandu, went trekking in the Himalayas, saw the birth place of Buddha, went elephant riding and spent some time relaxing in my home in Nepalgunj.

Shortly after parting with my parents the next visitor arrived, my good friend Hans. We went on some crazy white water rafting in the cold waters coming from the mountains of Tibet! Hans turned out to be quite the extreme sport person with Canyon Swing, Paragliding and bike cycle safari followed by a more relaxed elephant ride in the jungle where we managed to disturb two rhinos in the middle of a mating ritual.

It has been great having visitors from back home and I hope for many more in the future….

Baseline survey

2007-10-18T21:20:00.000+05:45

At DWO we have been talking for a while about making a baseline survey. Since my colleagues have no previous experience with this I became the anchor women in this activity.

A baseline survey can be used for many different purposes. Normally, it is made when starting a new programme, which is also why we decided to conduct one. In the spring DWO signed a new partnership agreement with MS Nepal and as part of that agreement ten new women’s group were to be formed. The women in these groups will during the coming three years receive training and support from DWO. So before starting the programme it is therefore a good idea to conduct at baseline survey. It will show how the situation of the women is today and once the programme has ended a similar survey will be conducted and it will be possible to get an idea of the changes that has taken place.

MS works according to a principle of inclusion of people on all levels and in order to follow this beautiful principle we quickly decided that long, boring questionnaires would be worthless to us. Instead we decided to use participatory methods:

Household mapping:
Each woman got a piece of paper on which they could ”draw their home”. By using symbols or drawings the women could tell about the number of people in the house, if there were access to toilets, sufficient food, domestic violence, illness, etc. It was a good and fun exercise. The women had the opportunity to discuss with us and each other about the situation in their home and the village.

Daily responsibilities:
This exercise also focused on the daily life of these women. We had recorded all daily activities such as; domestic work, field work, participation in activities (training, meetings, etc), access to information and so on. Each activity was divided into two categories: male and female. The women would then have to place small beans on respectively male or female depending on who they thought did the work. This exercise also started a lively discussion and the women were very surprised to see how big their work load was compared to that of their men.

Venn diagram:
This last exercise focused on the institutions and organisations the women would contact in order to gain support or help. Depending on knowledge and awareness each organisation was awarded a small or large circle and placed close to or far from the women’s group. In one group a tiny little circle was placed as far away as possible from the group. It turned out it was the local police that was greatly feared by the women.

My colleagues and I spent a lot of time on this exercise. In the office hours were spent discussing and preparing the visit to the women’s group and in the village days were spent conducting the survey. We got an amazingly positive feed back and for me it has been a very interesting task to perform.

Weekend in India

2007-09-23T12:22:00.000+05:45

When living only 4 km. from the border I guess you have to go for a visit to the world’s biggest democracy. Luckily, I have a good friend, Laura, who lives in Delhi and we had arranged a weekend trip to Lucknow, a city situated about 200 km. from Nepalgunj.

The trip to Lucknow takes 5 hours in a taxi but before that you have to get past the Indian immigration officer. Those of you who have been to India can probably share a story or two about the Indian bureaucracy and the main character would most likely be a guy like the immigration officer at the Nepalgunj border. Once all my personal data has been recorded in different books and on forms, everything from age, family relations, politics and festival needs to be discussed over a cup of the. Until this often hour long ritual has been seen through you can forget about a stamp in your passport.

My theory is that since only about 500 foreigners cross this border each year, this poor immigration officer gets very lonely and therefore desperately tries to hold on to his “customers” as long as possible!

Still, I made it to Lucknow and met with my good friend. Laura and I lived and worked together in Guatemala in 2001 and have only met once since then, so there was a lot of catching up to do. However, we did also find time to do some sight seeing in Lucknow, which is a beautiful city with plenty of old buildings to visit. And except from the fact that the neighbour room in our hotel went up in flames threatening to take us with it (read more about this on Laura´s blog: http://www.magnificentindia.blogspot.com/), it was a wonderful weekend and great to see my good friend again.

Teej – women´s festival

2007-09-19T14:31:00.000+05:45

Every September the womens festival Teej is celebrated. Basically it is about women getting to dress up in their beautiful red sari (traditional custome) and dance and sing more or less non-stop in several days. However, women also have to fasten for the health of their husband and I have to admit I find it hard to understand the festival part in having your husband get drunk while you are not allowed to eat or drink anything (but of course you still have to cook for the family), and have to stay awake all night to dance in 30 degrees on empty stomach!

No matter what it is a big festival for women here and as adviser to two women organisations there is no way around it. So I fought my way through 4 days of programmes consisting of song- and dance competitions, visits to colleagues and lots of comments on why I had chosen not to wear a red Sari!!!
To start of Teej I had asked a dance instructor to come to my house and teach me and some colleagues from MS. I must admit that I will probably never learn Nepali dance, but it never hurts to try... and us girls were lucky enough to have Jakob on stand-by to make sure that there was plenty of cold beer to get us through the dance lesson.

Radio talk

2007-08-09T16:56:00.001+05:45

Last week my car was on national television and this week I am interviewed for a local radio station – the things one doesn´t do to promote MS Nepal.
It all started with a call from Herman, a guy from a local radio station asking me if I am interested in participating in a radio programme on women´s participation in the Constituency Assembly Election. Thinking this is just a random idea I said that it sounds like an interested programme. The next things I was told was to be in the studio for recording 20 min. later. So I had no choice than to jump on the motorbike and drive the 15 km. to the studio.

Despite limited vocabulary in Nepali I believe I did manage to say one or two things about women´s participation in democracy that did make a bit of sense. At least my colleague, Ishwori, who was with me and luckily did most of the talking, was just as excited about my performance as Herman. So who knows, maybe this wasn´t the last time I will be speaking my mind on Nepali radio.

Water and water and water and…..

2007-08-09T16:50:00.001+05:45

Finally, the rainy season came and with that lots of water. As you have probably seen on TV South Asia is severely affected and the Southern part of Nepal has also seen serious flooding. In Banke district, in which I live, 42,000 people (of a population of 150,000) are affected. Also the paddy fields have been emptied after the flooding most likely resulting in a shortage of food in the spring.

I got an extremely bad start to the flooding. On the first day of the flooding I managed to drive my car into a ditch that I simply couldn´t see due to the 40 cm. of water on the road. It turned out to be quiet a show with UN car and a tractor trying to get my car out. In the end it took a crane from the Department of Roads to save my car from drowning.

Nepalgunj was completely flooded for 5 days with very limited mobility unless walking in 4 feet high dirty, polluted water seemed appealing. We went for 8 days without electricity and clean water and I certainly came to realize just how dependant I have become on my mobile, laptop, refrigerator and taps with water coming out of….

Nepalipan

2007-06-28T11:52:00.001+05:45

I just saw this little article in a newspaper and found it worth sharing:

Nepalipan

To be Nepali, you need Nepalipan. But what constitutes nepalipan? What is this thing? Talking over with friends on evening we agreed that, in this age of globalization, cuisine, lifestyle and even dress code are becoming uniform, and so cannot hold the essence of nepalipan. We concluded the following: nepalipan is a set of unique characteristics that cannot be found in others. These are typical ways of being that do not change. These are some of the behaviours that we see as constituting nepalipanÆ

Hawking: Nepalis will noisily clear their throats at all times – while brushing, washing up, after a meal, and old time. No one can work their phlegm like a Nepali

Spitting: Everyone spits. But unlike all the rest, Nepalis do it in all places and at all times.

Smoking and riding: Lightning a cigarette and then zooming off on your motorcycle is definitely an indicator of nepalipan. But pedaling a bicycle and synchronously puffing away is an even more fundamental part of nepalipan.

Honking: Every vehicle has a horn that has to be used at times. But Nepali hand work a horn near-incessantly.

Queue-jumping: The English taught the world how to wait in line. But Nepal has never been colonized and we refuse to follow that English teach. To cut in line is not rudeness here, it´s a cunning move.

Overtaking: the free Nepali spirit does not care whether this is done from left or right

Hurrying: Who isn´t rushing about these days? But while others dash around with purpose, Nepalis, uniquely, do it with none. We shove other people while walking for example, and don´t even talk about motorbikes – ever seen on that can idle for a minute?

A year older...

2007-06-21T16:28:00.000+05:45

...and also this year it was celebrated outside Denmark and far from family and old friends. But luckily, I have a bunch of new friends who were more than willing to celebrate just the way I like it.

Saturday I had a big party on my roof top:

Monday I got Tika, cake and presents on MS country office in Kathmandu:

Monday evening I had dinner with friends on a really nice restaurant in Kathmandu:

And now I am a year older……which was felt Tuesday morning!!!

Memory lane

2007-06-20T19:19:00.001+05:45

This is not my first time in South Asia and my last two holidays were actually spent going down memory lane.

Annapurna Circuit
Now you cannot live in Nepal without a trip to the Himalayas. Last time I visited Nepal I went on the Annapurna Circuit – a 21 day trek crossing a mountain pass in 5.416 meters. This April I went on the Circuit once again. It was still a wonderful trip but a bit different this time partly because I was there late in the year and because road construction is taking place in many parts of the trek – yes, it is hard to stop that development. Still, an amazing trip that I really enjoyed – I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Dhaka round-trip
Due to an exceptionally cheap plane ticket and some friends left in town I went to Dhaka, Bangladesh for a few days of R & R. It was great to see the city and the friends again. People had gotten married – some willingly and others not – and babies had arrived. I also made it just in time for a going-away-party, so it seemed like last minute I came back. I will share only one (out of the three) pictures from my trip: one of a happy and long anticipated moment where I have some delicious sushi.

A week at DWO

2007-06-04T14:44:00.000+05:45

Though I spent much time behind the desk still, some time is spent on different activities with our women groups. Some of which can be quite long –especially in this heat and everything being in Nepali – but mostly it is just great to get to spent time with the women I work for and try to support in their battle for a better future for them and their family.

This week has been particularly full of meetings and programmes so much that it deserves a spot in the blog:

Nepals first Dalit women co-operative

DWO Bankes women groups have just formed and registered the first Dalit women co-operative in Nepal. In this connection, a General Assembly was in order with the 70 members and special guest (including me) participating. There was election for the board and lots of speeches followed by some fun, joking and snacks. It all ended with the mandatory group photo in front of the office. PMC meeting
I most development organisations in Nepal a PMC – Programme Management Committee – exists and of course DWO is no exception. Every quarter there is a meeting where the different activities are being discussed. The PMC consists of different representatives from staff and board as well as 4 members from our women groups. It is a good forum for them to influence our and it is part of their responsibility to visit the many women groups to get their comments on our work especially the training we provide to them. During this weeks meeting there were several things to be discussed amongst these the newly signed 3-year partnership agreement between DWO and MS Nepal. The PMC needed to be informed of the details of the agreement and the next years (2064) activities and budget. The agreement was thoroughly studied by the group members (see pix) and we received several comments. Since we just started ten new groups the "old" groups were a bit unhappy with the huge amount of training given to "the new ones". On top of this we were told not to arrange any training during June and July, since these are the months were the women are most busy in the paddy field planting rice.

After this discussion it was no time to elect new members for the PMC. It is a sough after spot for these women, since it gives prestige and influence on the work of DWO. There were many discussions and deal made here and there; some would only support ones, if promised their support in next years election etc. I tried to mediate the process but the women were doing just fine.

Visit to a women's group
I very often go to visit our women groups and the visit mostly follow the same pattern, so here are the main features:

Welcome Tika and discussion in the group

(you can read about Tika elsewhere on this blog)

Informal talk with villagers (I am not exactly

able to "disappear in the crowd" and just

leave after a visit)

Moving things from the road so the car

can get through....

Having snacks with the colleagues discussing the group visit

New year – new experiences

2007-04-22T08:02:00.000+05:45

Finally we entered a new year here in Nepal – more precisely the year 2064. And it seems to be a really exciting year.

Work has finally kicked off leaving me with plenty of exciting tasks. After a long time as an observer I now feel like I am able to contribute to the development of the two organisations and their work.

Also the language I am starting to master quite well, which certainly has made life a lot easier for me. I am still struggling with the alphabet but have accomplished to write small notes to my cleaning lady – some of which she actually understood.

Finally, my social life as taken an unexpected turn; as part of the peace process and upcoming election Nepal has asked the UN for assistance. And it certainly has arrived now. In my town around 40 new UN people have arrived. Some to support the election commission but most of them to monitor the arms management of the Maoist guerrilla army and the Nepali army as well. It is a mixed group from the Middle East, Afrika, Latin America and Europe. They spend a lot of time in the Maoist camps but whenever they are in Nepalgunj, they enjoy plenty of football and parties – some of my favorite hobbies as well.

Also on new years eve these festive guys arranged a BBQ prepared on the remains of a satellite disc by a guy from Paraguay – and what a party.

Yes, 2064 will for sure be an exciting new year.

My office – a typical Terai house

2007-04-11T09:27:00.000+05:45

My office at DWO looks like a typical house in city areas of the Terai. For reason that mostly are based on economy rather than logic the house is painted on the front only as if it is expected that any day a new house will be building in connection with the unpainted side of the house, so that the boring grey cement doesn’t show.

The office is in two stores with the district office on ground floor and the regional office on the first floor. My office is on the first floor with my desk right by the window you can see on the picture. In the summer the curtains are closed to keep the strong sun out, so we sit in the dark and work. During the monsoon it rains in through the window so we have to cover the window with plastic and once again we work in the dark. Only in the cold season do we get a bit of light for our work, since the office is so cold that we work on the roof top in order to get a bit of sun…..and that is how a typical Terai house is….

Weekend getaway

2007-03-31T11:35:00.000+05:45

It is starting to get warmer in Nepal and the perfect weather for weekend trips. I am lucky enough to live less than 2 hours drive from Bardiya national park – the perfect spot for weekend trips.
We were 12 friends leaving Nepalgunj early Saturday morning to get to the park in time for a full-day rafting trip on the Karnali river, the longest river of Nepal. 7 years ago I was on a 10-day rafting trip on the same river but further up north. It was a wild trip with lots of white water. This weekends rafting was quite different. The river was very calm and we could just float along enjoying the nature and the cold beer. However, there were other elements of excitement such as river dolphins, beautiful birds and a rhino with its baby. We stayed on the river to watch the sunset and reach our lodge just as it became dark. All in all a really beautiful trip.

The following day we went on a jungle walk hoping to see a glimpse of a tiger. However, being 12 tourists walking around between the trees makes more than enough noise to warn any tiger with a kilometer. Still, the nature was great, the monkey funny and the “bambis” adorable.

It was a wonderful weekend and far from the last weekend spent in Bardiya – actually I have already planned a trip in 10 days with my colleague, Jeppe, and his family. Now is the perfect time to spot tigers so I will try again – this time in a smaller group ;-)

News from Nepal - and Anne

2007-03-15T16:20:00.000+05:45

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote on this blog, but the routine of every-day-life is getting to me. Still, here is a small update from my life:

MS’s annual meeting
In the beginning of February I went to MS annual meeting in Kathmandu. Representatives from all of our partner organisations were there as well as all development workers. Besides from this we also had prominent guests from Denmark namely, our general secretary, Frans Mikael (see the pix) and the vice chair of the MS board. It was an extremely interesting 3 day meeting and also a great opportunity to get to know many members of the MS family.

My bike
My motorcycle has finally arrived to Nepalgunj. Because of the many bandas it has been useful whenever cars are not allowed to drive on the roads. However, we have had a week of tropical storms and I learned the hard way that my North Fake rain trousers bought in Nepal 7 years ago no longer are water proof – so now the bike stays at home on rainy days.

My home
I have finally managed to furnish my apartment to a degree that I would actually call it a home. Still, I need to find lamps, plants and stuff to hang on the wall, which is quite challenging, since there is no IKEA in Nepalgunj. I have put a few pix for you.

Work
At work my colleagues and I have just produced an action plan for me for the coming year. There plan contains many different assignments such as revision of monitoring system, baseline study of new Dalit groups, producing a new documentation system just to mention a few. There are plenty of things to do and lots of challenges which is how I like it. Unfortunately, the many bandas and fighting on the streets has made it difficult to go to the office so I have spent a lot of time at home lately.

Weddings
It seems that everyone is getting married these days that I am to be involved in these festivities one way or another. Either through sleepless nights due to celebrations through big speakers blasting Indian music all over town or through invitiations to wedding of people I have never heard of. I have, however, only participated in one where I knew the brides brother. The others I have avoided since I still haven’t gotten used to going to weddings of total strangers. There is one wedding, though, that I regret haven’t attended namely, that wedding of a 12 year old girl and a fruit!!! A tradition belonging to the Newar people, which seems rather odd. It would have been extremely interesting to witness this ceremony but unfortunately I had an important meeting at the time of the wedding. Still, I hope that the happy couple - a girl and a fruit – will have a long and happy marriage.

The King of Nepal

2007-02-28T18:18:00.000+05:45

Nepal has always been known as the Worlds only Hindu Kingdom and it was believed that the King was in a direct line from the Gods. Previously this was something the Nepalese were very proud of but today the attitude towards the royal family is different. Everything changed the night of the 1st June, the date of the royal massacre. A drunk and upset crown prince (his parents wouldn’t allow the marriage between him and the woman he loved) shot and killed 9 members of the royal family including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya before shooting himself dying 2 days later.

Though this is the official version there are plenty of conspiracy theories involving both CIA and India. Most theories do point toward the current King Gyanendra (brother of the old King) since he gained the most from the tragic night. Most Nepalese believe that the direct line to the Gods have been broken and when the King in February 2005 through a military coup took power from the parliament to stop the Maoists and the 10 year long conflict, he lost most sympathy with the population.

In April 2006 the political parties alongside with the Maoist went to the streets and after several days of mass demonstrations in all of Nepal – and 16 dead – the King was forced to give up power and make space for the democratic process that Nepal currently is in.

Once of the first things done by the reinstated parliament was to strip the King of all power thereby reducing him to a ceremonial figure. In the upcoming election the population will then be asked to decide the fate of the monarchy and already now the Maoists and other political parties are asking to have him removed completely claiming that he and his supporters are behind the unrest in the country today in an attempt to stop the democratic process.

It will be interesting to see what will happen to the King but one thing is for sure; the King has lost his status in Nepal. These pictures shows; a roundabout in the West where the statue of an old King has been destroyed and replaced by posters of Prachanda – the Maoist leader. The other is from the centre of Nepalgunj where a statue of King Tribhuvan has been renamed Madhesis Chowk decorated with Madhesi flags.

News from Nepal - the political situation

2007-02-09T07:51:00.000+05:45

News from Nepal – the political situation

As you probably know a peace agreement was signed by the Maoists and the government in November 2006. Since a lot of work has been put into writing an interim constitution and appoint an interim parliament including both Maoist, politicians and representatives from the civil society. This has happened and this parliament will function until second week of June where elections for a constituent assembly, who will be in charge of writing the final constitution, will take place. After this another and final election will take place.

It all sounds very simple but there are many things that has to fall into place before the elections in four months. First of all the peace process needs to be finalized. The Maoists have agreed to place their soldiers in 7 camps different places in the country and at the same time have their arms locked up (keeping the key themselves) under the supervision of the UN.

Besides from this government officials are also busy giving citizenship to the 6 mill Nepalese who have never been recognized as citizens of Nepal (yes, 6 mill of the 24 mill Nepalese). The rules have now been changed so you now can get citizenship based on your mothers documents and not as before only on your fathers documents.

But the process of creating peace and a democracy is never easy and there is a long way to go. The Eastern Terai has just been through 2 weeks of street fighting and curfew. The result is 27 killed, many injured and lots of burned down shops, cars and busses. The demand from the Madhesi-people was simple: more seats in the parliament. And thanks to the riots the Premier Minister G.P. Koirala late last night promised the people in the Terai 49 % of all seats in the parliament. And since 49 % of the population lives in the Terai is makes sense. This means that 10 days of general strike/banda have just been cancelled and the roads have been opened again. Unfortunately, it is quite sad that it has to go to these extremes to ensure a representative democracy.

Almost certainly there will be other groups trying to make demands for a place in the parliament – and most of the demands will be legit – but never as big a group a the Madhesi, so even though “Banda-season” probably has not ended the effect on the country will be less. Besides from that several groups have no interest in a democratic Nepal and most likely there will be further attempt to stop the process the closer we get to the election.

I will try to keep you posted.

To kill a cow....

2007-01-26T11:30:00.000+05:45

Though Nepal no longer is the world’s only Hindi Kingdom, now that the King has lost power, the parliament has still just decided to keep the cow as the national animal – despite strong protests from the Maoists.
If you kill this holy animal it will by the law be considered manslaughter and you can end up spending many years in jail. However, mostly it will be enough to pay a huge fine. For many people here it is not possible to pay and instead the “killer” will run away from the crime scene.

This was exactly what happened today on my way to work. In the middle of the road was a half dead cow laying and around it many excited people, who told me, that a jeep had hit the cow and then driven off.

With a huge cow in the middle of the cow a long line of cars was quickly formed on both sides of the road. Had the police stepped in and done their job it would not have been a problem, but it is not that easy in Nepal. I several times told a police officer to do his job, but he obviously did not what it was.

When a Nepali bus driver sees a line of cars in the road he does not stop but instead he goes to the opposite lane and drives to the beginning of the line to see, what is going on. This happened on both sides of the cow and created a big traffic chaos. I sat for a while looking at the madness having a laugh, but also realised that I would have to get into the game - otherwise I would have been stuck there for several hours.

Well, there certainly isn’t much logic on the roads of Nepal. In this situation I do not understand why they didn’t kill the cow (who was in so much pain) and pulled it to the side, so that the traffic could move on – but in this country there are many unanswered questions. Despite the madness and the fact that I came to work late, it is episodes like this that makes Nepal an interesting country to live in – you never know what is around the corner!

Maghi – yet another festival

2007-01-22T20:55:00.000+05:45

In Nepal we follow a different calender, which means that I am actually living in the year 2063. We have just entered the 10th month of the year, Magh.

The first day of Magh, known as Maghi, is one of many holidays in Nepal. But for many young Tharu girls this day is met with mixed feelings. These young girls, known as Kamalari, live like slaves; there parents are very poor and often forced to “sell” their daughters as maids in other families. Already from the age of 5 are they sold. Their working conditions are poor with 12-14 hours work a day, a bed in the kitchen and a yearly salary of 35 US – yes, a year!

The parents negotiates one-year contracts for the girls and according to customs this always happens on Maghi. This means that every Maghi the girls leave their work place to meet up with their parents. Often this is the one day a year where the family is together. However, Maghi is also the day that a new contract is being negotiated and the Kamalari will leave on that very day to work for a new family in a new area. It is with a lot of insecurity that the girls move to the new household, since they do not know what to expect regarding work conditions, physical and psychological violence might be part of their new life as well as sexual abuse.

The tradition with Kamalari is practiced in all of Terai. Often the negotiation is done privately but in the Dang district there is an actual market for this. Marcus, Sara and I spent this Maghi visiting that market.
In the beginning it looked like an ordinary marked with plenty of food stalls and junk. Rather quickly we realized though that there also were Kamalari and not only that but entire families looking for work carrying around their small bundles with their few private belonging. Most likely that was ex-kamaras – free bounded labours – looking for a way to survive.

Since some locale organization has started to work against this tradition nothing was done out in the open and it was difficult to get people to talk. I did manage to talk to an Indian farmer, that had come to the market to purchase 10 workers for the farm in India. He told me, that a good worker would cost him 5.000 Indian Rupees a year – roughly 100 US.

This kind of slave trading cannot be classificed as human rights violations (as Sara and Marcus told me), since the people freely enter into this one-year contract. For many people the market in Dang is their only opportunity to find work and ensure the survival of the family. Still, it is sad to see these people sitting in groups with all their belongs waiting for a buyer. The Dang market gives a clear picture of the extreme poverty that a great part of the population of Nepal lives in.

There was, however, one good story to tell from that day. On the way to the market our driver “unfortunately” hit a chicken on the road. He and the photographer went running after it into the forest and came back proudly carrying a dead chicken – a great contribution to the Maghi feast at their homes.

Nepalgunj Riots

2007-01-22T20:53:00.000+05:45

After a lovely Christmas holiday in Denmark I am now back in Nepalgunj. Though having read about the riots in Nepalgunj during Christmas, I had actually completely forgotten about them again. However, the many burnt down shops and furniture and motorcycles on Surkhet Road drew a clear picture of a town that had been through 2 days riots. End result was 150 looted and burnt down shops, one dead and 20 wounded.

Since then I have participated in meetings about the riots and it seems that everybody is confusing about what had happened. Most people seem to believe that royalists were behind it. These are people very much against the democratic process that is taking place in Nepal in these days. It is also believe that the people doing the actual looting were outsiders paid to start the riots. At the same time the authorities didn’t act at all!

Video recordings show 200 police officers watching a handful of people looting a tv-store and carrying the goods pass the police. This happened on the 26th of December – a day there was curfew in Nepalgunj, which the police – obviously – was unable/unwilling to enforce.

To motive for starting the riots was the many different groups of people living in town. There is a big difference between Madhesi – the original Terai people with great affiliations to India and their own language – and the Pahadi people, who have moved to Terai from the hills and are now holding all important positions in the area.
Also between the large group of Muslims in town and the Hindis have there been conflicts. However, it is believe that there conflicts were merely used as an excuse to start the Nepalgunj riots.

It is worring to know that it takes so little to start a riot of this nature. In the moment everybody is working on finding out what happened, why it happened, why it wasn’t stopped and most importantly how to ensure that it won’t happen again in a town with so great differences in politics, economy, religion and life conditions.

Pictures will come later!

Christmas in Denmark

2007-01-13T12:19:00.000+05:45

Christmas at home was just as nice and relaxing as expected. Naturally, I ate too much food and candy joined by too many beers and glasses of wine and too little exercise – but since it is once Christmas once a year, so it is allowed…..

It was great to see the entire family especially my niece and nephew, Simon and Sara, how have gotten so big. After spending about a week in Horsens with the family, I went to Copenhagen to see the friends and celebrate new years. Those of you who know me can probably guess how my days in Copenhagen were spent…and that I now need an extra vacation just to get over my vacation ;-)

Pre-Christmas in Nepal

2007-01-13T11:25:00.000+05:45

Though coming home for Christmas there was still time for some Christmas traditions in Nepal.
Having enjoyed several glasses of Glögg here and there (hot red wine with some good stuff in it!) I did have the best one served at my Nepalgunj colleagues, Robin and Nanna, house for the Santa Lucia celebration - following the nice Glögg there was a mini Lucia-parade performed by Nanna and Sara followed by dancing in the living room. A lovely night in Nepalgunj that ended with Greg momentarily losing his car keys and waking up the entire neighbourhood with the help of his car alarm.....

No Christmas without a very wet Christmas-lunch/dinner. Since all the MS Development Workers were gathered in Kathmandu for first aid training, this was a golden opportunity to have a Christmas party. And where else to go than Baryo Fiesta, a restaurant owed by a Danish chef, to eat wonderful Danish Christmas food. Unfortunately, there was no snaps to go with the food and there was plenty of Vodka – check out the picture of Sara demonstrating how the Swedes manage to get drunk as fast as they do.
After several bottles of Vodka we also felt comfortable enough to follow Sørens numerous Karaoke performances – not a pretty sight but a very fun night!

And then is was off to Denmark….

Kathmandu Blues

2006-11-26T16:20:00.000+05:45

It has been awhile since I last wrote and you are probably wondering what I am doing… so let me share with you: after two weeks of language training in Nepalgunj I am now in Kathmandu for three weeks of language and lots of meetings.

When living in a small isolated town it is great to arrive at a civilised place, however, it isn’t all good: it is cold here, I miss my colleagues and friends in Nepalgunj, I miss my apartment, it is extremely expensive here and most of all it is just too cold!!! Yet not everything is bad – just to mention a few good things:

Exciting meetings and workshop
Being a member of the MS Policy Advisory Board I attended a meeting last week in that board. We have had two MS DK people visiting and with them we have discussed the new democracy focus of MS and how to operationalise this focus. It was a really interesting 2-day meeting.
At the moment we have yet another two MS DK people visiting monitoring how MS Nepal works with gender mainstreaming. We had an interesting one-day workshop and now it will be interesting to see whether the discussed ideas will be implemented.

Get on the bike

Since I am here for three weeks there is enough time for training – not only in language but also in how to ride a motorcycle. My transportation officer has from the beginning claimed that a bike would be useful for my work – and I tend to agree with him, so he has started training me. After two lessons on a very bad field I have now been given the keys and permission to drive in the MS parking lot….oh yes, I am learning! Luckily, the police authorities had already foreseen that I would need a license to ride a motorcycle, so they were nice enough to issue this when I had my license for the car made 3 months ago, which means that I won’t have to worry about taking a test…..hurrah for incompetent Nepalese.

Goodbye and thank you

I made it to Kathmandu just in time to say goodbye and thank you to a colleague and friend, Sussie. I met her during my first days in Kathmandu and since she has been a big part of my visits to Kathmandu – it will not be the same visiting Kathmandu without her being there and I am glad to be in Kathmandu to see her off.

Thank you for everything, Sussie, and good luck with everything back in Denmark.

Good food and drinks
Though I don’t exactly starve in Nepalgunj I do enjoy being in Kathmandu where delicious steaks, exotic cocktails and Danish food is available. Yesterday I attended the Grand opening of a new restaurant owned by a Danish guy, Soren Cook. Not only does he make delicious food he also bakes amazing rugbrød (Danish ryebread). I think there is little doubt that I will be a frequent visitor there for the next two years.
Besides from that it is just great being able to go to a bar – one thing that is missing in Nepalgunj. At the moment it is high season and the town is full of tourists, so the nightlife is busy. I try to take an active part in it, but am still affected by the fact that normal bedtime in Nepalgunj is 10 p.m.

Meeting new and old friends
Four new Development Workers and two spouses have arrived in Nepal and are staying in Kathmandu for language training. Amongst them is Karen, my good friend from University. It is great – not only to see her again – but also to meet the many new people who will be my future colleague. We all stay at the MS Guest House and are having a great time, especially since the table tennis table has been installed right next to the pool table. We have also gotten a few children here, which is great. Just last Saturday we held little Christians 1-year birthday.
I have also had time to meet friends from other organizations, who have been working in Nepalgunj for longer or shorter periods and are now living in Kathmandu. I do try to socialise every chance I get….

That was a short update on what I am doing these days. Unfortunately, I have also gotten a bit of a cold because of this horrible climate, but hopefully the two hours massage I am going to now will help on that….

….bringing the toothbrush to work!

2006-10-30T20:59:00.000+05:45

Since the great festival month is over there now seems to be time for the many conflict creating activities that this country suffers under.

The new trend in Nepal is to make Banda. The Maoists have been using this method during the entire armed conflict, but now the local population also has developed a taste for it. These days a Banda is normally started because of a road accident where one or several person dies. Banda means closed and that is what happens when a Banda takes places. The people in the area of the accident simply close down the road thereby stopping al traffic. If an accident happens the family of the victims demands compensation from the bus- or transportation company involved. Until this compensation is paid no one are allowed to use the roads.

Neither politicians nor police interfere with these Bandas. Actually it seems like the local police rather enjoys having a change to wander around talking to the many travellers being held hostage on the highways.

At the moment Nepalgunj is paralysed by a huge Banda, which has made life difficult for many people. Lucky for me my colleague Sara lives in the northern part of town, where I can safely park my car and bicycle the rest of the way home – after lifting my bike through the Banda of course. The morning I was expecting to go all the way to work – 20 km. – on bike, since the transportation company involved in the accident that killed a small girl had decided to make a contra-Banda. However, I did manage to get the car on the road and get to work. Now it will be exciting to see whether I will be able to get back home. I have just been told that a new Banda between my work and Nepalgunj is being made…..so it will be with a bit of nervousness that I will drive the 20 km. home from work this afternoon – I might have to turn the car around and sleep in the office tonight….

Sara - my colleague

2006-10-25T09:37:00.000+05:45

I guess I never did introduce my colleague Sara so I better do that now.

Sara is a real Swedish girl better known as one of the many “Wanna-be-Danish”. Like me she is 30 years old. She is a human rights lawyer and in Nepalgunj she works with a human rights organization, HURON.

Sara and I met each other at a MS-seminar in Helsingør in April. We were together on the course in Tanzania and during the introduction period in Kathmandu. We moved to Nepalgunj and started working at the same time.

Though our work and everyday life is quite different it is incredibly nice to have a good friend and colleague to share it all with - and someone to help putting on the sari…..

Tihar - yet another festival

2006-10-25T08:45:00.000+05:45

Nepal certainly is the land of festivals and October is the festival month. Tihar is the second big festival in October and is basically about honoring sisters and brothers, who give each other tika and exchange gifts.

However, the festival is also an opportunity for improvised song and dance groups to make extra money. Scores of these groups – especially children – go from door to door and perform singing the same monotone song before plugging in the small stereo to dance to Nepali music.

The children expect a bit of candy and 5-10 rupees for their performance, whilst the adults demands 200-500 rupees to their uninvited appearance. Since this is a great chance to make money these groups work around the clock during Tihar. We lock our gate pretty early, but the neighbour keeps it open all night, so thanks to the loud Nepali music coming from their front yard I haven’t been able to get much sleep during this festival.

Since Tihar is a family festival I have been invited to join my families in the celebration (my family in Nepal is my colleagues). This naturally requires that I show up in Sari and dance Nepali dance in front of the entire village. I do enjoy this part of the festival though. The hard part comes when dinner is served. You are expected to eat ½ kg. of rice and an equal amount of vegetables and meat. If you are not able to finish this and ask for extra rice your host will be extremely disappointed and unhappy. Yes, it is not always easy to be a foreigner in the land of festivals and dal bhat…..

The honeymooner!

2006-10-15T18:50:00.000+05:45

As some of you might have noticed I am extremely happy with my life at the moment – Nepal is an exciting place to be, the job and colleagues are great, my apartment is nice and the weather is hot and humid just as I like it!

According to the literature on expats I am going through the first phase of a long cycle during my stay here. This phase is called “The Honeymoon”. Often when I talk to people how has lived long they shake their head, look at me with a knowing smile and tell me that the honeymoon period will not least…

Well, that might be but for now I am planning on making the most of it. My idea of honeymoon has something to do with nice beaches and cocktails and where better to get that than in Thailand. So during Dashain – the biggest festival in Nepal – I used my 9 day forced holiday to go on my honeymoon in Thailand.

The good thing about Thailand is that I have been there so many times now that I don’t have to worry about sight-seeing, I can just relax and hang out – so that I did!

My first day in Thailand I met up with Hans, one of my oldest friends from Denmark, he and his friend were at the end of their holiday flying home the same evening. But there was time for a lovely lunch drinking beer out of cups (apparently there is a law against serving alcohol between 2 and 5 pm!).

Later that night I met up with another wonderful friend, Akbar. He lives in Bangkok and through him I experienced some of the many great restaurants, bars and clubs in the city.
I also went with Akbar to Koh Samet for some quality time on the beach. Akbar could only stay for a few days though. Being by myself on the beach – with my cocktails and books - just made my honeymoon even more special and it was some of the must relaxing days I have had for years. The last days of my honeymoon was spent in Bangkok; shopping during the day and hanging out with Akbar in the evenings - absolutely lovely!

Now I am back in Nepal with lots of new energy. I am still happy as can be, so I guess the honeymoon will continue for a bit. According to the literature on expats I should be getting close to the so-called half-year crises – maybe this blog will reflect that; time will tell!

My first dinner party

2006-09-18T17:49:00.001+05:45

After living as a student for many years I am finally able to live in a place big enough for parties. And being a sucker for parties I decided to throw one right away.

The first people to invite into my new place was naturally my Nepali family; my colleagues. Since they all live far away it had to be in the daytime, so I invited everybody for Dal Bhat (the national dish here) for 11 a.m. Most of them showed up 2 hours late, but that is Nepali culture!

Having next to nothing in my kitchen I had ordered food from my favourite restaurant and it was great – especially since it was 90 rps. pr. person (a bit more than US$1). There was also plenty of it, so I was looking at living on Dal Bhat the next weeks, but luckily they took all the left-over with them……

This being my first real dinner party for 25 people I must say that is all went very well, but then again my guest where very easy to please. Most of them live in houses constructed of mud and the fact that I had no furniture was no problem to them – the floor was easily accepted. The only thing I did not regard was the fact that when it is as hot as it is here 25 people can consume an enormous amount of water – without the water pump outside my house I would probably have had people fainting all over the house.

The real reason for this little get-together was actually a small meeting – about me. As you know I work in two different organisations and it has been a big problem to figure out when to work where. So this meeting sorted it all out – at least I think so…strange participating in a meeting about me without knowing what is being said – I really need to learn this language.

After this very quick meeting it was time to dance – despite of the heat – and everybody had a great time. Unfortunately, people had to travel a bit to get home, so the party ended early – maybe next time I should arrange a sleep-over....

Driving in Nepal

2006-09-06T08:09:00.000+05:45

Before coming here I had a lot of ideas of what it would be like to be driving in Nepal, but for once I was wrong:

In Nepal you drive in the left-hand side
According to the law that is true, but I found out that in Nepal you drive where there is room! Sometimes that is on the left side of the road other times on the right side. Mostly you simply drive in the middle of the road!

The roads are made for vehicles
No, actually there are very few cars on the road in the Terai. In stead there seems to be everything else; the roads serve as big pedestrian streets where people cheerfully wander around stopping to chat with friends and street vendors. On top of that there are horse carriages, bicycle rickshaws, donkeys, buffalos and cows lying in the middle of the road.

Always use your rear-view mirror
No, there is so much happening on the road in front of you, that there simply is no time to look in the rear-view mirror. The road is often full of potholes and often a goat comes jumping out in front of the car. That is why you have to concentrate 100 % on looking ahead of you.

Only use the horn when absolutely necessary
Wrong again. You use the horn all the time. Since you don’t use the rear-view mirror, you have no chance of knowing whether or not somebody is about to overtake you – unless they use their horn. Besides from that people are very reluctant to move, if they have found a nice spot on the road. The horn can be your only weapon on the road.

Only overtaken when there is room
No, you overtake when the thing in front of you is moving too slow (bus, car, horse carriage, buffalo, etc.) whether or not there is room is not so important. Often you drive off-road when overtaking and should a car come towards you, well then, it just has to slow down or stop even, until you have passed.

My car is my work tool
Yes and no. Of course it is there to make my work easier but also to make life easier for everybody I know and their friends and acquaintances. So far I have managed to have ten passengers with my in the car; front- and backseat. This includes a music group who entertained with Nepali songs during the ride.

Well, you can say a lot about driving in Nepal, but it is never dull. I am in the lucky position that MS has provided me with a nice big Hi-Lux that never fails to bring me home safely. So I can just shake my head of the traffic culture here and take it all as a great experience….

Tika

2006-08-09T14:11:00.000+05:45

The universal symbol of Hinduism is the tika; a mark or dot placed in the middle of the forehead. A tika may be a small plastic dot, a smeared line of sindoor (red power), or a forehead-wide mixture of yogurt, rice, and sindoor.
The tike is a mark of blessing from the gods. It is also an acknowledgment of the divine within us all.

In many pictures of Shiva (one of the greatest Hindu gods), he is seen with a third eye placed in the middle of his forehead. The tika symbolises this third eye.

Receiving a tika is a common part of most ceremonies, an acknowledgment of the divine presence of the occasion and an invocation of divine protection for those receiving it. Receiving a tika on arrival or departure is an indication of the respect and affection of the people involved.

During my short time in Nepalgunj I have managed to receive numerous tikas from my future colleagues and women’s groups. I find it to be a beautiful ceremony and appreciate the symbolism of the tika. However, I have also learned the usefulness of caring a small mirror in your purse – and never wear white under a tika ceremony.

CWD – Centre for Women Development

2006-08-08T22:39:00.000+05:45

Besides from working with DWO half of my time will be spent with CWD, Centre for Women Development. CWD is a small community based organisation started by women from the area in 1997. The overall vision of the organisation is to improve the livelihood of women in Nepal. The organisation works with 40 women’s groups – established by CWD – in Banke, Bardiya and Surkhet districts. These groups receive training in everything from literacy, health and group formation to bookkeeping, human rights and domestic violence.

CWD gives these women the knowledge and self-esteem they need to be able to improve their life and the life of their family. CWD helps these women become independent women able to demand their rights on both local and national level.

During my visit with CWD we visited two of these women’s groups. It is clear that CWD have had great success with their work. One of the groups has functioned in almost 10 years and all the women are now able to make their own money – thanks to CWD. Not only does this mean that they are able to feed their family, but also that they can send all of their children to school. One of the women in this group has been elected as board member of CWD, while another woman has been offered a job with a national NGO. These progresses would have been unimaginable for these women only 10 years ago.

My work with CWD
As with DWO my role at CWD is as advisor. I will mainly work at the organisations office (see the picture) in Khajura about 4 miles from Nepalgunj. But naturally I will also be visiting the different women’s groups in order to form an impression of the work in the groups and asses in which areas CWD can improve their support to the groups.
Despite the fact that I will be working in the same areas as with DWO, the tasks are quite different. Especially one task sounds appealing to me; 6 of the groups have decided to get together and form a cooperative and thereby leave CWD. This decision is fully backed by CWD, but they are very much aware that the cooperative will need a lot of support and help in the initial start-up phase, where many important decisions need to be made. CWD has asked me to advise them in this process. It will be incredibly exciting to work with and follow the creation of this cooperative during the next two years.

My colleagues at CWD are all women. The vast majority are women who themselves started as member of a women’s group and now have worked their way up to organisational level. They are strong and committed women that feel really strongly about their work with CWD. I will be working closely with Khagi, project coordinator and Purnakala, the organisations secretary. Both are great women but unfortunately, they hardly speak any English, so the first couple of months will be hard.

CWD is an organisation that in only 10 years has worked its way up to being the leading women rights organisation in Mid-West Nepal and it will be incredibly exciting to work with such a dynamic organisation.

DWO Banke-Bardiya

2006-08-08T07:26:00.000+05:45

On my first visit to Nepalgunj I got the opportunity to meet the two organisations I will be working with, namely DWO and CWD. In this post I will tell you about DWO, where I will be working 50 % of my time – sorry about the length but there is a lot to tell.

Dalit Welfare Organisation
DWO – Dalit Welfare Organisation – is a Nepali organisation working for the rights of Dalit people on local and national level. The Dalits are the people in the bottom of the caste system. I have written a bit about the caste system at the end of this post.

DWO was founded in 1994 and works with the vision to create a justifiable by eliminating caste discrimination. DWO is an organisation founded by Dalits working solemnly to help other Dalits. The organisation focuses on raising the livelihood of the Dalit societies by raising the self-esteem of Dalits and build institutional capacities on grass-root level.

In the communities DWO works with women’s groups. The organisation helps the poor Dalit women to organise themselves in a group. This group then receives different kinds of training first and foremost in literacy and group formation process. Besides from that they are informed of their rights and DWO helps kill many myths about Dalits and how they are worth less than other people. Thanks to the efforts of DWO these women are beginning to see themselves as equal to their neighbours.

Through these groups the women also start a small saving scheme. The money they collect are given to women in the group, who uses them to start a small income-generating activity, so she in that way can support her family. After some month she will start to repay the loan and the money will be disbursed to other women.
During my visit in Terai I had the chance to visit two of these Dalit women groups and I was impressed with the work that DWO has done. Women, who previously was afraid to say their own name, now stood up and told me about their problems and the support that DWO had given them in order to take manners into own hands and improve their livelihood.

My work with DWO
Though DWO is a large national organisation I will only be working with the regional office covering the Mid-West region. The office is located in Kohalpur about 12 miles north of Nepalgunj. My work will be as advisor to DWO helping them become more efficient as an organisation. Amongst others I will help them improve their programme planning and implementation, revised their monitoring and evaluation system, strengthen their networking abilities and hopefully influence them with a bit of Danish working culture. There is enough work to do and it will be a very exciting job. The majority of my colleagues are Dalit women, who have worked their way from the women’s groups to the organisational level. Because of that very few of them speaks English. Ishwori (see the picture), the daily manager and one of the few men in the organisation, will be my counterpart and close colleague for the coming two years. Luckily, he speaks English, so in the beginning I will have to rely a lot on him. But he is a great guy who loves a good laugh, so I am sure that we will have fun working together. I am looking very much forward to getting started and will keep you posted on my work with DWO.

The caste system
The population of Nepal is, just like in India, divided into a caste system. The caste system is more than 1000 years old and at the time of its creation it divided people into groups depending on their profession. There are four main castes each with several 100 sub castes and it is almost impossible to keep track of the 3000 castes that exist in Nepal today. The top caste, Brahmin, deals with religious tasks (priest and teachers), the following caste, Kshatriya, takes care of the political issues (elite and warriors), trades – and craftsmen belong to the Vaishy caste and in the bottom of the hierarchy the Dalit people are – also known as casteless or untouchable.

Since the Dalits perform the “dirtiest” jobs in the country people from other castes do not wish to get into contact with these people. Despite the fact that caste discrimination was made illegal in 1990 the Dalits still suffers under the system. The untouchables, representing 20 % of the population, live under conditions similar to apartheid being discrimination against on all levels of society. They are not allowed to eat with people from higher castes or use the same water source. Almost daily I read about a Dalit being beaten up because he has been drinking from a public water tap. This not only applies to adults, last week I read about a 7 year old girl being beaten up by a teacher because she drank water from a public tap.
Because the Dalits do not have access to the same resources as the rest of the population the vast majority of them live in great poverty. Besides from this they also have a very low self-esteem because they were raised in a society that considers them as untouchable.

In the Hindu religion people believe in karma and reincarnation. For this reason the caste system still exists since people believe that they were born into their caste because of actions in their previous lives. This also means that when an organisation like DWO are fighting to abolish all caste discrimination they are fighting against very old and strong traditions and beliefs – however, DWO are fighting hard and have done an amazing job.

Read more about DWO on: www.dwo.org.np

Nepalgunj – first impression

2006-08-05T09:12:00.000+05:45

After having waited for more than four months I finally arrived at Nepalgunj, the town I will be living in the next two years. The journey from Kathmandu to Terai is close to 600 km. (370 miles) and takes between 10 and 14 hours depending on road condition and weather. It is a really beautiful trip; through the mountains (though here they are called hills, being no more than a few thousand meters high) and down to the Terai, the most southern part of Nepal. Terai goes all the way from East to West and is totally flat. It is the most fertile part of the country which means that a great part of the population – including me – lives here.

Nepalgunj is supposed to be a big, dirty and uncharming town, so I had expected the worse. Luckily, I was positively surprised for several reasons. First of all, it doesn’t seem as big as expected. You don’t have to drive more than 10 min. either East or West before you find yourself in the paddy fields – however, if you go 10 min. South you will end up in India with a very chaotic border with lots of trade. Besides from that Nepalgunj has a very nice bazaar. There is a majority of Muslims living here and the small, narrow streets in the bazaar are reflecting that. You can get a great biryani (rice- and vegetable dish), lots of interesting spices and a bunch of other more or less exotic things.

Another surprise was the many street kitchens and small restaurants – the food here is really delicious including one of the many Nepalgunj specialties; BBQ mutton – yummy! Also there is a hotel owned by an American lady and rumour has it that she makes the best cheese burgers. So in case, you overdose on the Indian/Nepali food it is possible with a bit of junk food as well. And yes, there are other foreigners living here. So far I have met 10-12 bideshis, meaning that there are a few of use to share the great amount of attention given to us by the extremely curious locals. Like in Bangladesh it seems to be a hobby for people to stare at each other and strangers – preferably for several hours. Luckily, I have found a wonderful apartment away from the crowds. I have the entire roof top to myself and with its 3 story it is the highest house in the area, so hopefully I can find some peace there.

Of course there are less positive sides of Nepalgunj too such as the heat, the traffic, the many people and animals, the impossible internet- and Mobil connection and the many power cuts. But since I am not moving to the town for another two weeks those things haven’t started to bother me – yet! And when that time comes you can be sure to find a few entries on it on this blog.

My first weeks in Nepal

2006-07-13T17:35:00.000+05:45

I have now been in Nepal for three weeks and I have to admit that it has been difficult for me to decide on what to put on this blog. There simply have been too many impressions, so instead I will use this entry to write about what I have been doing and what I will do….

First of all it is so incredible amazing to be back in South Asia. I love this chaos that seems to control the place: the many people, the crazy traffic, the cows on the streets, the noise, the sweet tea, the heat, the many strange smells and this feeling of being 100 % alive. It is difficult for me to comprehend that I am lucky enough to be living here of the next two years.

I am staying at the MS guest house situated on the ground floor of the MS office in the heart of Kathmandu. This means that my trip to work every day consists of about 30 steps up the staircase to the office. My first 8 weeks in the country I will be participating in an introduction course. So far I have had 2 weeks of language training as well as one week introduction to the country and the MS programme here. It has been some exciting weeks.

Next week will be even more exciting since I will be leaving Kathmandu on a partner visit in Nepalgunj, the town I will be living and working in the next two years. It is a 10 day field trip including 4 days transportation leaving me with 6 days to visit the two organisations I will be working in, the communities they work in, finding a house and getting to know the town, so it will be a very busy schedule. Still, I am super thrilled about going – it will be so exciting. Once back in Kathmandu I will continue with another two weeks of language training before moving – in mid-August – to the hottest place in Nepal….the Terai.

To learn Nepali....

2006-07-10T20:48:00.000+05:45

One of my first tasks in Kathmandu is to learn to speak, understand, write and read Nepali – and yes, it is just as hard as it sounds! Luckily, I have always enjoyed learning languages and it has proven especially fun in a country as Nepal where everybody has the time and patience to be test dummies, while I stutter my way through the sentences and the grammar.

However, it is not all fun. I am constantly reminded of the importance of learning the language. First of all it seems that none of my future colleagues speak English – reasonably enough since most of them are extreme poor women – so if I am to work with them in any kind of productive way I need to learn the language. Besides from this it seems that without knowing the language you can easily find yourself in a situation where you might know where you are but not where you are going……

Because of the above mentioned reasons I have thrown myself into language training. To start with I only get 2 x 2 weeks before starting to work, so it is quite intensive training. Not only is the grammar incredible complicated and turned upside down, they also use totally different letters – pretty rude in a country where the only thing talked about is inclusiveness; currently I am feeling pretty excluded!

Lucky for me MS Nepal has two amazing language trainers who manage to make the training fun and the language understandable – partly. I have already learned 34 different letters so I am progressing, now I only need to learn another 26 letters – and then being able to tell the difference between them, naturally. So hopefully, I will be speaking Nepali in about 2 years when my contract expires…..

Just a few comments

2006-06-24T17:50:00.000+05:45

Namaste from Kathmandy where I have already spent five fantastic days. Since the next couple of weeks will be filled with new impression and knowledge – I will start learning Sanskrit – as well as a lot of late nights watching football, I fear that there will be little time for this log – I am sure we will all survive though ;-)

I just wanted to thank all of you who wrote me on mail, SMS, through this blog or telepathies to wish me a happy birthday. It really means a lot to me so thank you for that.

Besides from that I wish to answer a question/complaint I have had from a few of you: NO, there will be no dirt on this blog – my parents are reading it!!! Besides I must admit that I do expect to spent most of my time working and not chasing microscopic small Asian men ;-)

To those of you who have become addicted to news from my social life I have one thing to say: "Show me yours and I will show you mine!" – through e-mail, please!!!

Anne

The Birthday Girl!!!

2006-06-18T10:56:00.000+05:45

…and then I turned 30 – and I have to admit that it feels pretty good to become a grown-up!!!

My birthday was celebrated with a combined farewell/birthday party Friday night. The party was a big success – partly because of the way too strong (read: effective) welcome drink made by Per – thanks for that, Per!

The following day was spent saying goodbye to my colleagues, who are now spread all over Africa and Latin America – also I did spend some time recovering from the night before. Thanks to a days rest I was kinda okay Sunday morning, which was rather lucky since I was woken before 8 with morning singing! It was a nice surprise from Rikke and Sara and I was even more surprised when I opened the door and found it sealed with paper that I then had to jump through (see pix). Apparently it is a tradition somewhere (any knows from where – help me!) to jump into your birthday. A bit hard way to start a Sunday morning – especially the Sunday when you are turning 30!!!

The rest of the day was nice and relaxed; breakfast with Rikke, Sara and Renuka. Lunch in Moshi followed by beer and football at night. Sara was also nice enough to let me win a few games of pool – a game I never really learnt…..

Monday Sara and I went to Arusha to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where Sara previously worked as an intern. It was extremely interesting to witness a trial in court, looking at some of the generals who were behind the genocide in 1994.

Later that day we said goodbye to Africa and started our journey to Asia....so see you in Nepal!

Extracurricular activities

2006-06-17T20:43:00.000+05:45

Well, the three week long course in Tanzania has now come to an end. It has been a great course and I must admit, that I have learned more than expected. Especially the activities that took place outside of the class room were very interesting and educational. Let me share a few with you:

Car maintenance
Even though I have tried to convince MS that I will be fine with just a bicycle there is no way around it – I am getting a huge 4WD truck. At least MS has been smart enough to offer a 4-hour session in car maintenance. And I can now claim that there is nothing that I don’t know about a 4WD truck. We tried to change a wheel (and those are a lot heavier than normal wheels), check the oil both here and there including the oil filter (apparently the mechanic will tell that he has changed it, when actually he hasn’t), we also learned how to use the 4WD and went down to the pit to have a look and explanation about the bottom of the car – I almost became interested in mechanics!!! So now I am ready to become a driver in Nepal – how that turns out I will let you know...

Becoming a Masai sister
During the course we also visited a Masai village. The Masai is a very well-known nomadic tribe living in Kenya and Tanzania. They have managed to “resist” influence from other cultures and therefore in many ways live as they did 100 years ago. We visited the village because a local organization, HiMS, worked with the community there – the following week we did a consultancy job for them.
It was an interesting experience where we had the chance of playing tourist getting really close to a Masai village and where they got a big donation from us – so everybody was happy. It caused great excitement when I told them that I was going to Nepal to work with similar women groups and when the official part of the visit was over I was giving a Masai necklace. I was told that this was a sign of me now being a Masai sister and that I would always be a part of them now. All together a great afternoon.

Working with HiMS
As mentioned we used the last days of the course trying out some of the technics we had learned. We were split into two teams who each visited a local help organisation. Our team was to work with HiMS (http://www.hims-tanzania.org/) who worked with local groups in the communities. For the two day workshop 15 very committed women participated and they really worked hard. They had asked us to come and help them develop a organizational assessment tool – that is a tool to gain a common understanding of their organization and identify in which areas special attention is needed (capacity building). It was an interesting assignment and very relevant since I most likely will be working with this in Nepal. The workshop was quite successful and everybody gained from it. After that experience I am really looking forward to start my work in Nepal, since I am convinced that the women I will be working with there will be equally committed.

A technical note on my job….

2006-06-10T18:04:00.000+05:45

As mentioned the holidays are over and work has started. I have to go through a longer introduction period, which starts with a 3 week course in Tanzania. In total we are 15 participants from different countries (Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Malawi and Zimbabwe), all employed by MS around the globe. It is extremely exciting with so many nationalities and so many different experiences and opinions – all reflecting in the long discussion we take once in a while.

The course is very intensive, since all aspects of the work as a DW need to be covered. We have received training in PPA, LFA, PM&E, policy advocacy, gender mainstreaming, intercultural co-operation, OD/OCB, conflict management, facilitation techniques, etc.
Those of you working within development have – hopefully – heard of these concepts. For the rest of you; it is all about the different tools/methods useful in different stages of development work such as:

How to identify – with the beneficiaries (in my case women), which problems
exist and what options there are to solve them
How to create a structure in a project
How to influence decision makers (politicians)
How to evaluate a project in co-operation with all stakeholders
And many, many more things……

My job title is: Organisational Capacity Building Advisor. This is naturally a very broad title, which is why my first task will be to sit down with the partner organisation and make an organisational analysis so that we together can identify the areas where the organisation needs capacity building, and where I can use my experience and expertise to help the organisation grow stronger. Confused? So am I, but hopefully that will change during the next couple of months…..

On safari

2006-06-05T19:50:00.000+05:45

Well, you can’t go to Africa without going on a safari – so naturally I went. This time of year the big migration in Serengeti National Park takes place; more than 1.2 million zebras and wilder beasts seek north in the search of food. It was an amazing sight to see the many animals in one joint movement towards the horizon. It kind of reminded me of my own migration towards east in search of new fields to play on.....

Well, back to the safari….I went on a five day camping safari with three other mzungu’s (that is what they call white people in these parts of the world). The decision to go was made on a bus and despite – and maybe because – I had no idea of what I had agreed to (and paid an extreme amount for) it became a fantastic tour. During the five days we managed to visit Tarangire National Park, the Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti National Park and Lake Myanara. All parks are unique because of their diverse nature and concentration of animals and I certainly got what I came for. I didn’t get to see all of “The big five” though I saw four of them: elephant, giraffe, water buffalo and the lion – the leopards were hiding well. I also got to seeplenty of baby animals - everywhere there were little giraffes, zebras, lion cubs and tiny elephant and of course a lot of mini monkeys….

To camp in the middle of the famous Serengeti National Park was an amazing experience. The surroundings were quite rustic but a few strong beers helped and also gave me the courage to visit the toilets at the edge of the camp. We had been told to turn around should we see red eyes near the toilets, since there were hyenas in the area. Fortunately, we never saw any hyenas but we heard both them and the lions during the night. It wasn’t all scary though, one of the things I will remember the most from my night in Serengeti was the absolutely amazing star sky, I don’t think I have ever seen anything as beautiful.

The following night we camped at the Ngorongoro crater. It was extremely cold and once again a few strong beers seemed to be the answer – of the brand Safari naturally. This time we had an elephant visiting. At first we were quite entertained by its attempting to drink out of the water tank, however, the atmosphere quickly changed when the elephant started heading towards the place we were sitting. I think the guides found it quite amusing to observe a group of mzungu’s running confused around in different directions.

But everything good must come to an end and my holiday ended the same day as the safari. Our guide was kind enough to take me directly to the MS center in Usa River. Already in the reception did I run into “the real world” in the shape of MS’s HR director Lars, who interviewed me for this position. It was a bit surreal to come directly from land of lions to land of work, to see familiar faces and to step into a small piece of Denmark in the middle of Tanzania with private baths, internet on the rooms and delicious food – but you will get no complaints from me! For the next three weeks I will be here “training” to become a good development worker, but more about that later….

First week in Tanzania

2006-05-23T11:24:00.000+05:45

My first week in Tanzania was fantastic; wonderful and relaxing. I started in Dar-es-salaam, where I visited Cille and Thomas. It was great seeing them again and I enjoyed some relaxing days in their lovely house. After having looked at bit at Dar I went to Zanzibar just a few hours by boat from Dar. Once again the main purpose was to relax….a holiday activity I greatly appreciate….so all my time on the island was used in Stonetown just walking around looking at old historical buildings.

Stonetown is one big maze of tiny alleys not more than a few meters wide. The streets are winding and the perfect place to lose oneself. As some of you might know I haven’t got the faintest idea of where north or south is, so the probability of me getting lost was rather big. For exactly that reason I had planned an entire afternoon just to get lost and was actually looking forward to the experience, since I had all the time in the world. But the world just doesn’t work that way; after only 15 min. in the maze I was back on the main street….totally against my will!!! And naturally, when I later that afternoon wanted to leave the maze to see the sunset it was completely impossible for me to find my way out. Luckily the friendly locals helped me and I made it in time for the mandatory sunset beer at the African house rooftop.

After a few days I went back to Dar. Cille and Vibe took me to South Beach for a fantastic day on the beach – contrary to everything that is Danish I managed to avoid total sunburn (mostly because it was too hot to be in the sun).

As written it was great to see Cille and Thomas again and at the same time get an insight into the expat life of Dar-es-salaam. I am sure that it is something I will longingly think back on once or twice during my two years in a small town in the western Nepal….
Now my journey continues north to the safari land of Tanzania….so guess I have to write: “to be continued…..”

The Call!

2006-02-28T23:17:00.000+05:45

Today I finally got the call!!!! A call I had been waiting for for a long time......A call offering me my first "real" job within development.......A call informing me that I was going with MS (A danish NGO) to Nepal for two years.

Now, everything hasn't been finalised yet, but it looks like I will be leaving on a jet-plane mid-May 2006. My first stop will be Arusha, Tanzania for three week MS-seminar - so all of you in Kenya and Tanzaniz should prepare yourselfes for a visit. After the three weeks in Africa I will be heading directly back to South Asia and three months in Kathmandu before reaching my final destination: Nepalganj, Banke, Nepal!!!!!

Oh, happy days!!!!

Welcome to my blog!

2006-02-28T23:11:00.000+05:45

The purpose of this blog is simply to keep you all informed of my whereabouts and adventures. Hopefully, I will be able to update it frequently with stories and photos.

If you would like to see the Danish version of this blog, please visit: http://nepalanne.blogspot.com

Enjoy!