Wedding days

I was very happy to be invited to a wedding of my coworker and I thought I would share this happy occasion with you.

On the first day I put on my new kurta and headed with my friend on the side of Ringroad – road surrounding Kathmandu- to wait for a ride to the wedding. After a while of waiting came our ride, motorcycles riding ahead of the wedding car.  The wedding car was decorated typically, with small flowers glued all around the car and a bigger flower piece in the front. And then we waited. The groom can’t come out of the car before the family of the bride gets him, and blesses him with flowers and other traditional ways.

And then we waited for the ceremony to start. The day was busy with many weddings - in Nepal it is the priest who sets the date and there usually is many other weddings on the same date. On this date there was also the wedding of the bride’s brother. Eventually the ritual started in the yard of the temple. First someone did some rituals, by putting rice on the shoulders of the bride and touching her forehead, then she sat down next to the priest in front of a kind of wedding altar, where was situated many ceremonial things: cups and pots and other artifacts. Then game the groom, who went through the same kind of rituals before sitting down beside the bride, who was covered in bright red sari and veil, from beneath you could see beautifully make upped face and jewels on her henna tattooed hands. The groom's outfit is not as traditional; nowadays usually a western looking suit, but with the traditional hat.   

The priest talked and chanted something giving the couple things to apparently sacrifice to a bowl. They sacrificed some plants, nuts, money etc. At one point the couple’s heads where put together and at other times they rouse up and joined hands. All the time the perfume from an incense swirled in the air. Important moment was, when first the bride and then the groom placed garlands of grass looking things around each other’s necks. Also the bride got a necklace and a headset of flowers and they even exchanged rings. And in the end also a small ritual within the temple.

The groom was unlucky because the bride’s side won the small competition about his shoes- if the brides side is able to steal the grooms shoes when he takes them off before the ritual he has to pay to get them back. So after the wedding ritual there was a bargaining about the shoes, but eventually he got them back and we could move on to enjoy the wedding feast - first drinks and some snacks and then dhal bhat in a colorful wedding tent.    

The next day was more of the groom’s party. For this occasion I tried on a sari, which was a fun experience. The outfit has a blouse, or a top and a petticoat, then a large long fabric – the sari – is rapped around the waist, then around your chest and of course a decoration for the forehead and some bangles for the wrists. The sari leaves your side visible, but when you get around that fact the outfit is actually quite comfortable. Though sitting on a motorcycle needed more concentration, to be able to sit only sideways.

The party was near the village of Khokana. First we were again served drinks and snacks and then dhal bhat and yoghurt and fruits for desert. People were chatting happily with each other. The party had around 100 quests. The day before, there had been several hundred people: an average wedding on the first day has around 400 quests. On this day we could also give presents for the couple and the bride gave few nuts as a return gift, which one is supposed to take home for good luck.

On this occasion we could also hit the dance floor! Again it was more the males who danced, but with time more and more of the females entered the dance floor. Was fun to dance after a long time and I could also try some of the more traditional Nepalese dancing styles, but most of the time it was Venga Boys or something similar on the background. We had a blast and I feel privileged to be invited to a such an interesting and a happy occasion. 

Some training perhaps

Welcome to the training of primary school teachers. Today’s theme is Child Friendly School. Why are these trainings needed, you might think. Well, the requirements for a teacher’s education to be able to teach at primary level are not huge in Nepal. The teacher has to finish high school, after this there is a three weeks training from the government, which ends to an exam. Not all get the opportunity to go to this training; there are not enough trainings for everyone. If you haven’t gone or passed this training you can still teach, but you are not a permanent teacher. So the teachers don’t get a very large education on child development, teaching methods or on much anything really. This doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be good teachers, I’m sure that they learn a lot in the job. But at the same time the culture and personal beliefs can affect their teaching. It is a widely known fact that corporal punishment is still used in schools, and one of the most used teaching method is repeating what the teacher says, and there is a lot of prejudice towards low cast members. Loo Niva wants to change the atmosphere of the society to a more child friendly direction, but also offer children a chance to finish their studies.  

The day starts with a ceremony, which introduces the trainers who are head teachers that have taken part in the training before. After this there is a game, where all of the participants, 28 of them, can introduce themselves. Then the day starts with child rights, the trainer goes through the idea of child rights, with information, practical examples and sometimes asking questions from the participants. This is an important issue, because in the culture children seem to be seen as something else that full humans. They are seen as little adults, with almost the same capacities, but less respect. The training tries to make the teachers see children as individuals, who have the same rights as adults and perhaps a bit more: they are the adults in making, and how we will treat them, will mold their thinking and them as a person. So it would seem that Loo Niva is changing the cultural picture of a child, towards something that is precious and to be protected and supported. Before the tea break we play a game.

The training is not like a lecture, where the trainer speaks and participants listen. But the day is full of speech, laughter, games, sharing ideas- kind of what the child friendly classroom should be like. The teachers are taught new methods, games that they can bring from the trainings to the classrooms. Their ideas are challenged – why do you need violence to get respect, in fact you are only creating fear. They are taught about equality and tolerance – gender or cast doesn’t define our skills or us. They are explained about child development and other very important things during the two-day training.

In the end of the training the teachers are asked for feedback and if they have learned something new. They all are very enthusiastic about the new ideas and say that they will use them in practice. They also hope for new trainings: they want to improve and be better teachers. And think how many children’s lives these trainings affect: on the public side, there can be more than 40 children per classroom and with around 30 teachers per training.. Well you do the math; you probably have been fortunate enough to get an education.  

News

Here are some news from today’s República, a local newspaper.

Schoolgirl abducted

A group of local youths abducted a schoolgirl, aged 18, on Monday while she was heading to her school. Police suspect that the girl was abducted after her parents refused a marriage proposal for her from a man residing in the same village.

Tourists told not to trek alone

Tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara have urged tourists not to go on trekking alone, following a series of robberies in different trekking routes. “Mostly those tourists have been robbed who trekked alone”, said president of Trekking Agents’ Association of Nepal. In some cases, tourists have been robbed of their belongings by those who accompany them in disguise of guides.

Swine flu medicine

With Nepal Homeopathic Doctors’ Association claiming that the pandemic H1N1, can be treated with the Influenzinum-200, the medicine is selling like a hotcake in Biratnagar. Association’s president Dr Jeevan Prakash had few day ago claimed that three doses of the medicine can cure the disease in a single day. The medicine costs only Rs 5 per dose.

Lack of proper abattoir puts public health at risk in Bardiya

In the absence of proper slaughterhouse, meat markets remain the most unorganized in Gulariya, Basgadi, Sanoshree and Rajapur areas in Bardiya. This has led to environmental pollution and has also negatively affected human health. The district supplies a lot of goats, buffaloes and chicken to major cities of the country.

From the You Say column – KFC, Pizza Hut

The entry of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut in Nepal is a milestone in our nation’s journey towards globalization. Though we cannot stop such entries from taking place, we should take care to understand the value of our cultural foods and preserve traditions related with them and not let them allow to widen social division by encouraging a lifestyle that is alien to our society.

And some of my own news in short

I had visitors from Finland, a bunch of my college friends. They liked Nepal and I liked seeing them, I also got some salmiakki- a typical Finnish candy. Their visit was slightly disturbed by Maoists demonstrations and an embargo in the valley. We saw few demonstrations, more polices on the streets, but otherwise for us it was life as usual.

I have had a slight flu, but this hasn’t stopped me wondering around Katmandu and the valley. Found a nice village and a temple the other day and also a collection of Asian movies- movie marathon here I come. And no worries, it is not the piggy flu. But I do worry for the children. When the influenza starts spreading how will the malnourished children, or domestic workers, or others cope..

And I got my visa extension- they are not throwing me out yet. So normal life continues, work during the week and other adventures during the weekends. Oh and during the evenings the Bollywood marathons.   

About differences and changes

We had a good laugh at the office the other day. I told, that there is a country in Europe that is planning to make it illegal for two males to hold hands or hug in public. Why is this, I was asked. And I replied that I suppose it is, because they think that it is a bad influence for children see two men holding hands, I suppose they don’t want to see it them selves, I suppose they are so scared of homosexuality.. My coworkers were silent for a moment and then said: they should come and see Nepal!

Here men hold hands in the public, hug and touch each other more than in “the West”. And no, this doesn’t mean this would be a refugee for gay people, quite the contrary. Homosexuality in Nepal seems to be a taboo, not seen nor talked about. Here the heterosexual family is still in the center of the society. If someone doesn’t marry, this is seen as odd or even as a failure, for the unmarried individual and for the family.  Homosexuality, or to be more exact, engaging in homosexual activity was a crime until 2007.

But things are changing! As said, homosexuality is no more a crime and a law allowing samesex marriages has been formed, though not approved. Maybe the attitudes towards homosexuality will follow, but as we know, change in the attitudes is always slower. But perhaps soon Europe will turn towards the East to learn about tolerance..

We continued about talking the handholding and my co-workers pointed out that in Nepal it’s the males and females who can’t hold hands in public. This would be seen as indecent, though sometimes I see young adults enjoying a moment hand in hand in the deserted streets. I still am pondering the idea, why a woman and a man holding hands is indecent? I understand this is a society relying on the traditional values, which take partly their power from religion, but rely strongly on the community. In the traditions and in religion sex is preserved between man and wife. And the woman is seen somewhat with the destructive power, for example in the Hinduism the god of destruction, Durga, is female. So as in every society, especially women’s sexuality is protected, maybe because the destructiveness of femaleness is connected to the sexuality. So sexuality or anything suggesting in that direction should not be seen in public, not even holding hands, let alone a kiss! But the males hold hands you might say, but you must see that there is nothing sexual about people who are the same sex touching in a country where homosexuality doesn’t exist.

Once I was enjoying a evening with my Finnish and Nepalese friends, all females. We were out listening to some music, when a Nepalese youngster, a young man, came and talked with us. He had had something to drink and was somewhat flirting. For a Finnish girl the situation was normal and after a short chitchat the guy went away. One of the Nepalese girls said out loud: I was so scared, how did you know what to say! In Nepal the situation was not normal and girls and boys should in many peoples opinion keep a bit of a distance. But then again, many younger people don’t choose their friends according to gender and their parents are ready to honor this view.

A lot is changing in Nepal. Recently I red from the newspaper how people are trying to change the law so that women would have the chance to inherit land and property. This is not possible now, only in the case when the woman doesn’t have a man to take care of her.

But only time will tell what changes, how things are molded by the traditions and what is denied all together. But I hope that the change doesn’t bring with it the fear of homosexuality, put the understanding. I hope that males continue showing their friendship on the streets, though this could be seen as a form of brotherhood, which makes it difficult for example the women to get their right to inheritance. But time will tell what changes and how. 

A day with Didi

Didi’ s real name is Kalpana, which means imagination. I know, all Nepalese have so beautiful names! At the office she is the one cleaning, cooking, serving beverages, always with a beautiful smile. I thought I would show you what her day is like.

Kalpana wakes up at 5 am. After bathing she cleans her house. And makes morning rituals by worshipping all the Hindu gods and goddesses. It is also a morning ritual for her to put the tika, the red dot, on her forehead, which tells that she is a married woman. Her parents arranged her marriage 18 years ago. Though love marriages have become popular nowadays, especially in the cities, arranged marriages are an option as well. Nepalese believe, that parents might be better in choosing a spouse for you, because of their life experience. Divorces are rare, and bit of a taboo.

Before Kalpana leaves to do some fieldwork, she makes tea for her family. She has one son and three daughters. Her son, the eldest, is seventeen-years-old and on his ninth grade. Her two daughters, aged seven and fourteen go also to school, but youngest is only four, so she stays at home. Kalpanas husband doesn’t have a job, so he looks after the youngest daughter during the day. Sometimes he might work at someone else’s field earning a bit of money. But most of the time he doesn’t do anything, because the community is quite old fashioned and thinks it’s the woman’s job to do the housework and work on the field.

Kalpana returns from the field around 8 am to prepare food for the family. After this she leaves for the office. Work starts at 9.30. She has been working for Loo Niva for almost a year now. She got to know Loo Niva and Loo Niva her because her son is one of the sponsor children of Loo Niva. Two of our office workers, Gyan and Krishna, visited her house and learned about her life. Short time after this Loo Niva needed a didi for the office and thought of Kalpana. She cried of joy when she heard the news and is very grateful and proud of her job. It is also a very important add to her family’s income.

At the office, she starts her day by cleaning. She dusts the desks, gets newspapers for us to read, and cleans the floor and yard. If I have left my desk in a messy state, when I left from work, my papers are in a nice pile when I come back. She goes around asking what would we like to drink: coffee, juice, tea, always with a smile on her face. Sometimes she comes to our room for a small chitchat, unfortunately we don’t have a joint language, and so I can only communicate with her through others. I would love to understand what she has to say! And then she cooks our lunch, noodles, beaten rice with sauce, roti-bread with sauce – depending on the day. And I think she is an excellent cook, I’m always waiting forward for the time of the day when she comes to my room saying “khaja khane”, meaning lunch.

Kalpana doesn’t eat with us. But serves us our lunch and is eager to put a bit of extra on our plates, so we surely have our bellies full. Sometimes she is sneaky about it and puts an extra portion on your plate when you are not looking, getting people to cry out “pugnu” – “it’s enough”! After we have finished she takes her lunch and cleans all the dishes. Then she serves us drinks again and it’s almost her time to go home, because it’s 3.30 pm.

At home she might clean again or do the dishes, if her daughter hasn’t had the time to do so. She also has to cut some grass for the cow.  And of course she needs to prepare dinner for her family. She doesn’t have a stove, so everything is made on the fire, which means that she also spends a lot of time collecting firewood. To make life a bit easier she buys some electricity from her neighbor, because there is no direct line of electricity to her house. The house is very simple one, with only one room, but they are thinking building other rooms for it as well. But there have been problems; her father-in-law owns the land the house is on, so her husband and brother-in-laws have a disagreement whether her family has the right to live there. This year also a storm took the roof of her house, but luckily some of her neighbors helped her and took her family in for a while.

When I try to ask what she does on her free time, she doesn’t understand the question. But she tells me, that during weekends, when she is not working at the office, she might work on some neighbor’s field, to earn a bit of extra money. It seems, that free time, just to kick back and lay around, doesn’t exist as such to this brave and positive 36-year-old woman.  

Things that on my bad days irritate me and some on the good ones humor me

Me first!

This applies in many places, for example in the que in the store almost every time someone at least tries to cut in line. Some times, if I’m in good mood, I just take step back and think well I wasn’t in hurry anyway, other times- oh if looks could kill..

It applies also in the traffic. In a traffic jam there is sure to be few cars and motorbikes who think they have the right and the hurry to drive past all others and try to be the first ones to get through the jam. I don’t even need to tell you what does this means to the driving culture, the traffic jams etc..

In buses not much hope for the elderly to be able to sit. It’s rare when I witness someone giving their seat to others. It’s also very hard to make way to others in the bus; you will not move from your seat even if next to you would be a free seat, if someone wants it, they have to crawl over you.

No, a penis doesn’t define me! In my opinion anyway.

When meeting new people, for example strangers on the bus, they usually want to know what are you doing in Nepal. After this they move to more important things:

-          Do you have a husband?

-          No.

-          Well do you have a brother?

-          No, if you don’t consider my parent’s dog as such… But I do have a human sister. (But this is not interesting to them.)

-          What do your parents do? (Which actually means, what is your fathers occupation.)

 

I do find it frustrating how for example my own education doesn’t seem to define me, but the ideas of the men in my life does. But in all fairness, not all people ask these questions. And I’m known to complain about a similar thing in Finland, where one of the most important thing to know about a person, especially a woman, seems to be weather she is in a relationship or not… 

You’re white so you must have big pockets!

I don’t like to go to any shops without fixed prices, because of my skin color and lack of language skills I’m usually asked a double or even triple price of things.  The idea seems to be, that because you are a westerner you must have money. Which in a way is understandable, because the prizes here are low for a tourist, even if they would be charged a bit extra. But I find this idea of all westerner looking people frustrating, because not all of us have money and I’m tired of bargaining. I just hope that the extra prices I’ve paid have gone to supporting a family and not to something in vain.

The world is my garbage bin!

One can through their rubbish everywhere, beside the street, out of a car and what does recycling mean anyway?

Hey, lets get hit by a car!

People drive on the different side than Finland here, which is not a problem. Also on the side walks (where you can find one) it is usual walk on the left side, which is not a problem. But when you are walking beside the car road it is also preferable to walk on the left, which means that the passing cars come behind you and you don’t see them, so you can’t for example jump out of the way… Though my friend gave a good explanation for this: if you could see what is approaching you – all the interesting passes, the speeding etc – you would be too scared to walk at all…

Didn’t you mama tell you it’s rude to stare!

Yes, I’m not Nepalese it is quite clear, so how long do you have to stare. In my experience, usually half of the twenty minutes bus ride is enough. Also another fun thing is to check what I put in my basket in the supermarket!

 You dog!

Lots of stray dogs around here. I love dogs and love to have them around me, but I don’t love the condition of many of them: injured, malnourished, sick dogs.. And then people take it to their right to beat and through rocks and these creatures. In a way understandable, especially because rabies is a problem here, I also would probably defend myself with a rock against a raving dog. 

And just to be clear- this list tells more about my culture and me than about Nepal. It tells where my socialization is different than the one over here. And it’s not a list about things that are wrong or worse than in Finland, it’s a small list about differences.

And see how much goes on the buses!

Other things in short:

I moved to another room, one floor down. Now I have twice the space, a hot shower in the same floor and no more bugs! Well not the same ones at least..

I also got an Internet connection to my room!! Though it doesn’t work during power cuts, and sometimes after them, because the modem is in someone else’s flat, I can’t go and reboot it if there is a problem. But when it does work: an Internet connection at home, a luxury I would not have believed to come true! Woohoo!

Two of my co-workers visited Interpedia in Finland. I hear they had a great trip! At the office we have already amazed the cleanliness of Finland: no rubbish on the train trails and bathrooms are so clean you could sleep in one. Though the Finnish food didn’t impress, it doesn’t taste like anything- where’s the chili and add salt at least! And my co-workers couldn’t miss the Finnish silence; people are so silent in the metros and where is the chitchat? They also had a program with the sociology students at Helsinki University, which also went very well in the opinion of my co-workers and my friends at the university. 

And I must tell you about the concert me and my friend went: Jazzmando at the Patan museum. A night with western jazz infused with traditional Nepalese music (or the other way around), also musical quests from Africa and South-America. Was a great night, listening to music outdoors in the historical venue in the darkening night. A power cut even made the atmosphere better: suddenly lights go out, but the musician don’t mind and continue in the darkness giving their best. After maybe five minutes the backup generator turns the lights back on and show continues.   

And the winter time is beginning. Though during the day it might be warm, if the sun is shining, evenings and nights are starting to be quite chilly. And the darkness comes earlier, already at six..

Over the hills and far away

The Dashain festival gave my friend and me the time to go trekking to Annapurna conservation area for five days. Because of the limited time we didn’t have the chance to trek a very long route, so we decided with help from my co-worker the following way: Nayapul – Hille – Ghorepani and Poon Hill – Tadapani – New Bridge – Nayapul. Though the loop from Tadapani to New Bridge was decided on the route.

So what would you like to hear? About the sweat, the never ending stairs, the five am wake ups, the slimy leeches, the muscle aches, the rains in the afternoon, or perhaps about the moon stones, or the flirting porters (and no we didin’t have a porter or a sherpa, we wanted to carry our own stuff and find our own way).. 

Well here is something to share with you: one day the rain started earlier and we were exhausted by the altitude differences, the ups and downs, of that day. We were so happy to get to Tadapani and change to dry and warm clothes and just lay on the bed easing our tired muscles. That day we had descended for hours and then climbed the stairs back up again in a pouring rain. Though the coming up had been almost fun, because there where some porters climbing with us and cheering us up. After a bit of rest we went outside, where the darkness had already descended. The air was crisp and clear; no clouds in the sky so the stars had come out, and the almost full moon was so bright.  There in the light of the stars and the moon in front of us stood the snow peaks, so glorious and beautiful against the navy blue sky.  The sight made it feel as though the time had stopped and you were staring to eternity. The aching muscles, the tiredness and the cold were all forgotten.    

The whole trip was filled with these beautiful sceneries. It’s amazing how the nature around you changed from stony hills, to rain forests with small waterfalls, to fields, to northern scenery and all the time the tall mountains were staring down on you. But I must say it is rough, especially when your time line is limited, but you still want to see as much as you can. It’s all the time going up, descending and up again, with breaks of only few minutes to get your heart beat into a tolerable level. But it’s worth it for the scenery, but also for the feeling of outdoing yourself. Even though the monsoon time brings out the leeches in the forests and in some areas, mainly on the Jomsom route, there were so many tourists! Herds of Chinese walking in line. But then again it’s fun sometimes to chat with the other trekkers, but I do recommend try to avoid the trekking season, which hadn’t even started yet!

And no, there was not really moon stones, but a lot of shining silvery stones, because of some minerals. And the porters and sherpas, well many of them are great, know a lot and are social. But at the same time some of them are interpreting the western culture through their own culture and sadly through the Hollywood movies. So the western culture and two alone travelling unmarried women can come off in a bit distorted way. The route was fairly simple, so we didn’t really need a sherpa, though we got a bit lost twice. But I would recommend a guide if you stray from the most travelled parts – the maps we could find weren’t very detailed. 

I can’t share with you all the beautiful scenaries, the funny moments, or the exhausting ones… I can just say that I would most definitely do it again, and I hope I have a chance to return to the area sometime in the future. Though the tourist area of Pokhara makes me want to think twice, but luckily you can try to escape the tourist atmosphere to the hills.  

Celebrating Jatra at Khokana

Many Nepalese have told me, that I am very lucky to be able to witness the Dashain festival, which is the biggest Hindu festival of the year. Dashain celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It is especially the festival of mother goddess Durgha, to whom thousands of animals are sacrificed during the festival. I didn’t actually celebrate Dashain, but I was honored to be invited to the village of Khokana, to celebrate Newari’s Jatra.  Jatra is also a religious festival celebrated by the Newaris, which lasts for three days.

The whole village was in festival mood: people laughing, music playing and different kind of happenings around the village. On the first night, in the villages square there was set up a stage, where young people performed songs and dances. These weren’t very traditional ones, but more like performances which one could witness in any European country. I was quite surprised about the bold nature of many of the dances. Not that I would have found them too outrageous, but this is a country where for example public displays of affections between a man and a woman are frowned upon. And I was very pleased to see young men performing some dances. Also later on it was mainly the young men that might start a dance on the streets. The boys are more encouraged to dance I was told.  

Some people stayed awake the whole night, we went to sleep at twelve, to be woken at three am, when the gods where meant to leave for the holy place called Sikali, a small hill 20 minutes walk from the village. An altar kind of thing, inside of which were statues symbolizing the gods, was carried around the central village three times, and after this it was carried to Sikali. After this smaller holy artifacts gathered from surrounding villages and temples to the villages center and were carried to Sikali as well. 

The next morning the villagers gathered to the field, where the holy artifacts had been taken. There was a small temple and the atmosphere was festive, a bit like a carnival or a fare. Many had new clothes on, salesmen where selling treats and people where chatting to friends and family. Then the mangods appeared: the moment people had came to witness. Mangods are specific men from the village, who are said to become the gods they represent during the ritual. They represent different gods, there are 14 of them in colorful clothes, jeweler, masks and wigs. I didn’t recognize them all, but there seemed to be the elephant headed Ganesh and his parents, Shiva and Parvati, and the monkey faced god. The mangods came through an isle formed by the spectators jumping with the assistance of some villagers. After this they performed a ritual dance.  During the ritual some boiled rice was thrown to the crowd, which people wanted to catch because eating this rice is said to bring good health. Along with the mangods travelled some holy men, dressed in white. Some of them carried a long horn and some other things. During all of this there where people playing the traditional Newari music, which meant a lot of percussion instruments.   

After this people returned to the village. Met friends and dined. We also had some Newari delicacies, with beaten rice of course. Beaten rice is flat and dry rice, it’s not boiled, but seems to be somewhat raw. With it are some meat and bean and lentil dishes. And I could also try the quite good home made rice beer, which has a sweet taste. When the evening came the mangods returned to the village and danced some more. After this we strolled around the village and also visited the Buddhist monastry of the village, where we were invited to have breakfast.

After the breakfast the next morning, the villagers had again gathered to wait fore the mangods in center of the village. Again we could hear the traditional music, and first came the holy men in white, then the mangods again jumping. People, mainly women, took some offerings to the holy men and to the mangods. The mangods made their way to the square of the village, where they would perform rituals and stories by dancing. We could for example see the story how Ganesh got his elephant head. After the dances was the time of the animal sacrifice. A bull was to be killed on the square and some of the gods would drink its blood. I couldn’t see much of this, because everybody gathered so tightly around the bull and the mangods. But a bull was killed, and the gods got their blood.

I fully enjoyed the Jatra and the atmosphere of the Khokana village. Eventhough I couldn’t understand the meaning of the rituals, it was interesting to watch and see how alive and how practical forms religion can take. On the other hand these kinds of rituals and traditions tell you how much of an outsider you are, cause everything is so unfamiliar and in a way meaningless to you, cause you are not socialized to the traditions. But as said I enjoyed the Jatra on many levels, even though I could only understand parts of it.     

A day with me

How does my normal day go? Well, it start’s 5 am, when I’m woken up to this music down from the streets. I assume this is some kind of religious ritual that has something to do with the temple near by. This is the wake up call for some of the Nepalese, but not to me. So I continue sleeping, occasionally waking up to the noises of the city waking up: motorcycles honking, people talking and what I guess to be a corn salesman shouting, when he moves along the street.  And then finally after seven, usually closer to eight I get up and start to get ready for work.

After breakfast and possible a cold morning shower I head towards the office, which is situated in a near by village.  I get to begin my journey with extreme sports, which is called: crossing the road. Car roads seldom have zebra crossings, so you need to weave in between the cars and the motorcycles. Or this is what the locals do, I try to wait for a small break between the waves of cars. In this time at least one taxi stops in hope of to get some money from the westerner.

After few crossings I get to my bus stop, where I try to check from the bus boy: Wai wai? And on to the minibus, which is usually quite crowded, and hot. The bus takes me over the Ringroad, which is a big road forming a circle around Kathmandu. Time from time the bus boy, usually hanging partly out of the open door, shouts out the destinations of the bus to check if someone wants to get in, and also shouts the passing stop names, if someone would like to get out. It’s always fun, when someone from the backseat reaches their destination and pushes their way through the full bus. I like to look at the different houses on the way, some very new and fancy, most a bit run-down and there is even a small pine tree occurrence along the way. Usually after 20 minutes of the bumby ride I reach the office.

At the office after greeting co-workers I head to my office room, which I share with two others.  If it would be a field day, now someone would come and ask if I would like to go along, sometimes I even know before hand.  If it is a day at the office I write some reports or search for information or do what ever you do at an office. Didi ("sister"), brings us juice and when it’s lunchtime, she comes to tell us that lunch is ready. We usually just exchange smiles, cause she doesn’t speak English and my Nepalese is quite restricted. Lunch can be noodles, soup, or beaten rice with some vegetables. And usually the foods are a bit spicy, cause the Newaris like it hot.  Sometimes I go and bother Tej, our office assistant, with some questions. And in late afternoon it’s time to head home.

So the bus again and back to Patan or I should say to Jawakhel. Sometimes I curve to the Supermarket on my way home. After a hot day I cannot resist the idea of a soda. At the time I get home, or bit after it, starts the power cut, which usually lasts 1 to 3 hours. At home I might read or watch series on my computer or write emails to be sent tomorrow from work. Yes, it’s all excitement here! The darkness comes so early, so there is no point going out. Sometimes I socialize with Ronjon, a boy from down stairs who takes care of the flat I live in. I have a room to myself and a shared kitchen and a semi shared bathroom, with a cold water shower and a balcony, where we do the laundry. From the balcony you can watch a near by building to be built, or women working in a small patch of field or children playing. Because the big festival is coming, the Dashain, many of the children are flying kites, this is apparently the thing to do over Dashain. Around nine I start the bugwatch. These nice little friends of mine usually come out around this time. There are nowadays just few of them, and then we have a confrontation. Yes I know: poor little western girl, can’t take a few bugs. But I rather keep my eyes open a bit, than become an all you can eat buffet during the night. When the city has quieted down the dogs start their choir. I like to listen to their howling from near and far while I start looking for some dreams.  

Loo Niva

Loo Niva means the dawn or the break of day.  It is a NGO (non governmental organization) working in the field of children’s holistic development. The story of Loo Niva dates back in mid nineties, when a group of students started a library for children with support from CWIN.  Their vision is a nation where children can enjoy their rights in a friendly environment. To reach this goal, they have numerous programs and grass root activities in order to raise awareness of children’s rights, to prevent exploitation and marginalization of underprivileged children, and to promote high quality education.   They work with the surrounding communities and schools. They also give education support and have sponsor children, who probably would drop out of school without Loo Niva’s help. And the library is still working!  Loo Niva has also Finnish partners: ETVO and Interpedia, and they also get funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I have now worked with Loo Niva for a week and what a week it has been! The office consists of nine full time employees and four part time employees and a huge group of local volunteers.  All of the staff is motivated and all of them have been eager to make me feel welcome. I was also happy to learn how many sociology students I have around me!  The week has been busy with getting used to a new environment and orientating to the new job, I also had few field trips and we celebrated the National Children’s Day with a big event, wherein Loo Niva published a DVD with children’s songs. 

On my second day at work I was asked if I would like to take part on a field trip to nearby schools, in order to take invitations for a celebration and publication of children’s music DVD and to take reports to be filled about the sponsor children.  So in a few minutes I was sitting on a motorcycle and we were leaving the noise and pollution of the city behind and driving towards breathtaking views of the countryside and mountains. I like travelling by motorcycle; you can enjoy the scenery, the ventilation works and many of the places would be impossible to get to with a car. You also get to witness the goats beside the roads and women carrying their heavy loads in huge baskets on their backs. It is also usual to see a lot of dogs lying around. I saw one puppy so thin and sick that it probably had only few days to live and still it was wagging its tail. Of course this is normal life in places with a lot of stray dogs, but for an animal lover these aren’t very pleasant sights.

During the field trip it came obvious that Loo Niva is a respected partner with the schools.  The schools are eager to co-operate and want to change the attitudes towards child friendly atmosphere. For example in one of the school’s, there was someone visiting at the same time from another NGO, and the vice principal told her about Loo Niva with praise. Children are also excited to see visitors and got wild when I took out my camera. Unfortunately we were in a bit of a hurry to get to visit all the areas schools within a day, so we didn’t have time to see the sponsored children. We met with the principals, vice principals and head teachers who told us about their ongoing programs with Loo Niva and the sponsor children. In one of the schools, we were asked to meet with two of the sponsor children because they were failing some of their classes. The honesty of the children amazed me. One of the girls had just moved to the area so the new school might feel a bit unfamiliar still, but she also helped her parents to earn money by making carpets with them, which keeps her away from school from time to time. The other child told that she can’t always come to school or do her assignments because of family violence, caused by her fathers unemployment and alcohol problem. Loo Niva had already counseled the family, but sadly the ways to help children in her situation are limited, especially if they don’t have other family members to live with. Luckily there are some clubs after school where she can stay and have her own space to study.

Another day I took part in a field day in a near by village, where the theme of the day was the importance of children's education for the village’s women. Even though the communication was in Nepalese I enjoyed the day thoroughly. The day consisted of information and conversation and some games for the women. Even though I had many people around me kind enough to translate, I was sad not to understand everything that the women were saying, because I’m sure I could have learned a lot from them. 

Lets see what kind of challenges Loo Niva has in store for me for the months to come! If you want to learn more about Loo Niva Child Concern Group, you can visit their own web site, or the sites of ETVO and Interpedia. 

Namastee

So what is a Finnish sociology student doing in Patan, Nepal. This is the question I asked myself while flying over India. I had forgotten this during the last hectic months in Finland. But the answer started to dawn on me when I saw the beautiful mountains surrounding Kathmandu.

Let me explain how I got to be in Nepal. Last fall I saw a mail promoting volunter places through an organization called ETVO. I decided that now is the time to act on my dream to live and work somewhere else, somewhere different, and to learn through new experiences. I red through the available places and set my heart on Nepal. After the application process I was happy to hear that I would be working with Loo Niva Child Concern Group in Khokana, Nepal.

After only few days in Nepal I have only vague impressions to give to you. But here are some thoughts. The city feels alive and noisy in a good way. For example during my first night in Nepal, very early in the morning I woke up to music coming from the streets below. It sounded like cheerfull marching music which slowly fainted away. People I have met are very nice and helpful. I also got to taste delicious Nepalese cuisine when my co-workers took me to a lovely welcome dinner. I also got to have my first peek at the heartbeat of the city from the backseat of a motorcycle.

My flat, with a bamboo closet and pink curtains and a view to the mountains and to a temple of some sort is situated in the Patan area, near Khokana where I'll be working. Patan was described to me by someone as the Espoo of Nepal.. So everything has gone very well. Only one incident with my bed: on the first night I found it already taken by little creatures with more legs than me. I decided to occupy the floor instead for that night. The next day I insisted they would move, I hope they did.

Here it begins, my experience in Nepal.