Finance secretary Rameshwor Khanal has allegedly resigned due to differences with Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari. This is how it was reported:
According to his colleague at the ministry, Khanal on Monday informed that he would be going for trekking and left office on foot. “He also said that he won’t be returning,” the employee added.
tisdag 29 mars 2011
söndag 2 januari 2011
tisdag 28 december 2010
Normal vs not normal children
It struck me as I read the papers here this morning that the concept of political correctness is fluid. Reading how disabilities are descibed made me shoke down my coffee as I started laughing but crinching inwardly. Attitudes change slowly and the thought that a family has flawed children is a sad one.
Family with three disabled struggles
TEK NARAYAN BHATTARAI
SYANGJA, Dec 29: A house here in Waling Municipality-5 resembles a care center for the disabled as three of the four children in the family have multiple disabilities.
Basanta, the eldest son of Padam and Babita Pandey, suffers from mental problems, is lame and cannot speak.
The other son Bhesh Raj, 11, has problems similar to his 22-year-old brother while younger daughter Sita, who is 4, also has mental problems, is blind and cannot speak or get up from bed.
The three can´t even go to the toilet and they discharge bodily waste at their beds.
Luckily for the unfortunate couple, their other daughter Subhadra, 13, is a normal child and her mental abilities tend toward brilliance. She is the brightest student in grade eight at Sagarmatha Secondary School and always secures over 85 percent in her exams despite having to spend most of her time taking care of her siblings.
Both the male children lost their mental abilities at the age of five.
“Both were lame and could not speak but their mental balance was fine at first,” says Padam. “But they lost the mental balance when they were five and couldn´t complete first grade in school,” he adds. Youngest sibling Sita was born underweight due to malnutrition and doctors said she would not live, according to the father. “We took her to hospitals in Pokhara and to Kanti Children´s Hospital in Kathmandu and spent a lot on her treatment but to no avail. The doctors said she was incurable,” he says.
The Pandey couple and daughter Subhadra have to take care of the three disabled siblings round the clock. “We have to pay attention round the clock and at least one of us has to be always at home,” says mother Babita. “We have searched for care and rehabilitation centers but none of them agreed to take them in without money. We have kept them at home as we are unable to pay the huge amounts the care centers demand,” she adds.
Subhadra says she faces difficulty with her studies as her siblings tear her books and notebooks and she has to study at night when they are asleep. Padam says the family doesn´t even have time to work in the fields. “I don´t know how long we can survive without doing any work to earn money,” he wonders.
Family with three disabled struggles
TEK NARAYAN BHATTARAI
SYANGJA, Dec 29: A house here in Waling Municipality-5 resembles a care center for the disabled as three of the four children in the family have multiple disabilities.
Basanta, the eldest son of Padam and Babita Pandey, suffers from mental problems, is lame and cannot speak.
The other son Bhesh Raj, 11, has problems similar to his 22-year-old brother while younger daughter Sita, who is 4, also has mental problems, is blind and cannot speak or get up from bed.
The three can´t even go to the toilet and they discharge bodily waste at their beds.
Luckily for the unfortunate couple, their other daughter Subhadra, 13, is a normal child and her mental abilities tend toward brilliance. She is the brightest student in grade eight at Sagarmatha Secondary School and always secures over 85 percent in her exams despite having to spend most of her time taking care of her siblings.
Both the male children lost their mental abilities at the age of five.
“Both were lame and could not speak but their mental balance was fine at first,” says Padam. “But they lost the mental balance when they were five and couldn´t complete first grade in school,” he adds. Youngest sibling Sita was born underweight due to malnutrition and doctors said she would not live, according to the father. “We took her to hospitals in Pokhara and to Kanti Children´s Hospital in Kathmandu and spent a lot on her treatment but to no avail. The doctors said she was incurable,” he says.
The Pandey couple and daughter Subhadra have to take care of the three disabled siblings round the clock. “We have to pay attention round the clock and at least one of us has to be always at home,” says mother Babita. “We have searched for care and rehabilitation centers but none of them agreed to take them in without money. We have kept them at home as we are unable to pay the huge amounts the care centers demand,” she adds.
Subhadra says she faces difficulty with her studies as her siblings tear her books and notebooks and she has to study at night when they are asleep. Padam says the family doesn´t even have time to work in the fields. “I don´t know how long we can survive without doing any work to earn money,” he wonders.
onsdag 8 december 2010
Vacation in Kathmandu
I don't care about the load shedding today. I don't care that it is so dark in the room right now that I have to fall back onto my high school skills as a typist becasue I can't see the letters on the computer. Bit like I said, I dn't care about that because I am enjoying the exercise options and arts here. Funny how that works, I just decided that I would get what I asked for and(seriously)I found in one day. A an contemporary art school/exhibition hall/awazing little library with book donated from the TATE gallery - that is completely underused. B Two inivitations to art openings, painintg and sculpure. C A fitness club who let you use the facilities in their old rustic castle of sorts "the international club" for the splendid price of £2 per visit. Sauna and squash are extra but still. D The possibility to use the completely luxerious Jasmin spa/fitness club who boasts jacuzzi and swimmin pool on the roof on top of a modern gym.
And, as if that was not enough. The poetry slam event arranged tqo nighta ago as a joint effort between the American Embassy and Nepali partners was brilliant, Nepali moon shine and all being passed around the audience when the poets perforemd their stuff.
I have also just been accepted to a creative writing work shop with a writer,professor and mounteneer. IN what order he likes to identify himself I don't know but I do know that I DO NOT CARE if you take my electricity today!
And, as if that was not enough. The poetry slam event arranged tqo nighta ago as a joint effort between the American Embassy and Nepali partners was brilliant, Nepali moon shine and all being passed around the audience when the poets perforemd their stuff.
I have also just been accepted to a creative writing work shop with a writer,professor and mounteneer. IN what order he likes to identify himself I don't know but I do know that I DO NOT CARE if you take my electricity today!
fredag 12 november 2010
Thoughts from the field
I feel a little removed from the more hard core political scene. Coming here after Palestine was restful at first. Now I do miss not being in Sheeijk Jarra *discreetly add a link here with an interesting short movie* interviews with both settlers and palestian families http://www.vjmovement/truth/834. Battleground zero indeed. Missed picking olives in Hebron this year but I don't miss the close enconters with the Israeli settlers.
Still, I also wanted to do some slow grassroot human rights work and here I am. Born ambivalent maybe? Or born with a mind that wants it all? Which I am still convinced that I can have, just not at the same time. :D
Absolutely beautiful morning here i Bardiya. November is the month to visit apparently. The fog that will envelope us for a couple of months is still just visible in the morning.
Oh, I am here:
http://www.un.org.np/maps/district-maps/mid-western/Bardiya.pdf
Still, I also wanted to do some slow grassroot human rights work and here I am. Born ambivalent maybe? Or born with a mind that wants it all? Which I am still convinced that I can have, just not at the same time. :D
Absolutely beautiful morning here i Bardiya. November is the month to visit apparently. The fog that will envelope us for a couple of months is still just visible in the morning.
Oh, I am here:
http://www.un.org.np/maps/district-maps/mid-western/Bardiya.pdf
torsdag 11 november 2010
After the water lilies are gone
Bardiya district is greying. Drying. The monsoon, late as it was with fewer days of rain than needed is long gone. The field officers from colder countries can breath a little easier and are now enjoying the cool evenings and nights.
Meetings on the roof are a nice change, with or without green parrotts flying by.
And we did spent the better part of our working day on the roof today, before me and J went out to SanosShree to do an introdution meeting with a political party representative. We were well received, partly I am sure because we are white and represent an INGO but probably also because going into the so-called remote areas(in our case the Midwest of Nepal) we are hardly in majority in the NGO world. Showing face and all that. It was a very visibly open meeting, plastic chairs were pulled up outside a shop and many local people showed up to listen and have a cup of chia. And this is very good for us. We do come here on invitation from the local human rights defenders, and sometimes it is just plain slow persistant work that change any human rights violations. People knowing about us helps, it is as simple as that.
Other highlights of my day included "getting Junior in shape" activities. Junior is the neighborhood dog that somehow nesteled himself into my heart. But we take it slow, building up the relationship. Washing his ears(todays project)does not come under his favorite actitities. Generally we do do things that he likes, which is basically chasing anything fun, like buffalo, goats(the smaller are more fun), other dogs, a horse if it is not too scary, hens or the odd scared human without a stone in his hand. Cats would be great but there are very few of them so we have to make do with what there is.
And yes, the water lilies are now gone. The wetland that we use to pass on the mornings are now drying up and will shortly be planted on. And the cycle continues.
Meetings on the roof are a nice change, with or without green parrotts flying by.
And we did spent the better part of our working day on the roof today, before me and J went out to SanosShree to do an introdution meeting with a political party representative. We were well received, partly I am sure because we are white and represent an INGO but probably also because going into the so-called remote areas(in our case the Midwest of Nepal) we are hardly in majority in the NGO world. Showing face and all that. It was a very visibly open meeting, plastic chairs were pulled up outside a shop and many local people showed up to listen and have a cup of chia. And this is very good for us. We do come here on invitation from the local human rights defenders, and sometimes it is just plain slow persistant work that change any human rights violations. People knowing about us helps, it is as simple as that.
Other highlights of my day included "getting Junior in shape" activities. Junior is the neighborhood dog that somehow nesteled himself into my heart. But we take it slow, building up the relationship. Washing his ears(todays project)does not come under his favorite actitities. Generally we do do things that he likes, which is basically chasing anything fun, like buffalo, goats(the smaller are more fun), other dogs, a horse if it is not too scary, hens or the odd scared human without a stone in his hand. Cats would be great but there are very few of them so we have to make do with what there is.
And yes, the water lilies are now gone. The wetland that we use to pass on the mornings are now drying up and will shortly be planted on. And the cycle continues.
onsdag 10 november 2010
Communication is the key
The verb for want and need is the same in Nepali. There are ways around it but generally this creates confusion, especially for me as a bideshi(foreigner). Do you need to go see your sister and Do you want want to go see you sister might mean different things where I come from but I am beginning to see that there are situations here when the same two headed verb can be used. I find it interesting that the question are you married should be answered with "not yet" in order not be impolite and that do you want/need to get married is not really a very interesting question here. As almost everybody gets married and stay married for life.
These things were contemplated by me, J and S when we sat in the sun outside the DAFUO(Dalit Women Upliftment Center) office early this morning, eager to have a first language exchange with the Dalit women. We were joined by a guy/third gender s/he from the Blue Diamond Society. I am not intentionally trying to either make fun of an identity nor be funny but I honestly don't know what is a proper term for the members of BDS. Being referred to as her or didi(sister)often seem to be insulting. Probably because defining yourself in this manner means exactely what it says, nor man nor female. Or both. Or queer. Or whatever. Either way we were handed some information about BDS, including a small leaflet with very nice colour photos of what a STD can look like. Up close. Surely very....effective for its purposes but maybe not the best way to learn Nepali.
In the end the DAFUO women did not turn up but we had a nice cup up tea, and we did opened our books but decided after a while that the office probably needed us more and walked back through town. Found out later that the president had tried to get a hold of us but not suceeded. And we were told in a stern Nepali phone voice that her phone was switched off. Which may or may not be true. What is true is that mobile coverage is a constant struggle here, I am so use to it by now that I don't even think twice about having to call a person 15 times before I actually get through. I am also use to all kinds of interference on the line, hearing other people talking and receiving interesting messages such as "result unknown" when I send a sms. A part of me always wonder where these messages end up. The internet comes and goes, last week my computer told me it would take 21 days to down load a season of True Blood. :)
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