Life is more of
a scale than a finish line. We weigh our actions and their consequences, our
relationships and personal intentions, and we engage with this world affected
by each other’s choices. Each blade of
grass we step on affects the ecosystem and each expression received by a
stranger affects their day. Some balancing acts are more inconsequential than
others and sometimes our small actions create large impacts that are not
calculated and unintentional.
The true scale that
measures what we do is not digital. It
is not a product of the modern world. You
do not step on it and it does not read your weight aloud in a robotic voice after
you insert a quarter in the machine. The scale I refer to is timeless. It is made of two platforms, and is balanced
on a fulcrum tensioned by chains, string, or raffia. On one side is the object
in question, the variable, and on the other is the constant. The constant is a standard of which we are
accustomed to. It can be relied upon
maintaining its shape and size as an unchanging weight. Since I have arrived in
Nepal, my constant is no longer reliable.
Before I begin
to elaborate on what I am weighing, I must provide some context, both historical
and personal. Some emotions, revelations, and special occurrences have occurred
for me where I exist in the moment and the world inside of each moment is like
a vacuum. It feels like an exception to this life, as if the laws of nature
behave differently and what has happened will never happen again. These events
are not meant for the scales. They are
greeted with happiness or sadness and accepted with gratitude. They are charged
by strong emotions, love and hatred, and strong changes in one's personal
world, highlighted primarily by birth and death, of a person, a relationship,
or an idea. These are critical points in one’s life, transitions that progress our
journey into its next stage of development.
These events occur similarly to people as they do places, with the only
distinction being on how they are reflected upon.
The rest of our
life, from past to present to future, does not happen overnight. Though we may wake up one day and we are thirteen,
and another find we are thirty, and then sixty. I have blinked and it has been
more than 7 years since I've lived in New York. I have blinked and I was in
Hawai'i for over 3 years. I have blinked and I left places and people behind physically,
though strong memories remain. Memories that have shaped me into who I am today
and continually grow to become. A combination of the steadiness of growth and significant
events and the energy (history of the people and geography) of an area we live in
all play their parts in this scale. I have done more than my fair share of
weighing since arriving in Nepal. Then I
blinked again and found myself four months having lived here and have accepted
that my path has altered and have chosen to extend my stay.
Here are a few
of the questions I asked before I arrived and am still searching out the
answers for. Who are we to help and why go abroad to serve
a foreign nation’s needs when one struggles with its own problems and identity?
Is it beneficial to integrate foreign
ideas and cultures into other nations (especially considering history has
already proven that many attempts of western nations to improve quality of life
in developing nations has brought adverse reactions of damaging both the environment and its local culture)? Is it a western nation’s burden to fix the
situation is has created after shifting the developing world’s history? Globalization has affected the world so
drastically and exponentially in a historical context, is my small pursuit as a
volunteer trying to engage and help in a foreign world worthwhile?
I do not have
substantial answers to these questions, but I can share some insights. Certainly the Jews have struggled throughout
history and have only recently emerged as a more significant player in international
politics and affairs. Even though the opportunity
exists, Israel is not without its own problems and is both constantly threatened
by external and internal ethical developmental conflicts. Jews are able to identify empathically with
other struggling societies and help others through the developing processes. Also, one can learn much from his or her
experience abroad and can bring this knowledge home. I do not believe it is our duty as Israelis or
Jews to work here. Though as humans we can identify and interact with the many
inherent problems in this nation, ranging from a corrupted government, to poor
educational systems, abuse of women and child laborers. We also can develop their critical thinking
and analytical processes to broaden their choices of leaving their families in
the village to work abroad or in the city.
The answers to
these questions are difficult and lead to more questions. The truth is we do not know the alternative
of what this world would look like in our absence. We can only hypothesize that the patterns and
tendencies of certain trends in this nation, if left alone, are very likely to
follow the same problematic road and possibly worsen.
The I-NGO that I
have joined, Tevel B’Tzedek (TBT), is engaged in "Holistic Sustainable
Development." With both Israeli and American Jews, we come to Nepal to partner
with a Nepali Run NGO, Nyayik Sansar.
The goals of the organization are to develop both the volunteers as
citizens of the world and the Jewish community, along with offering their
expertise to the villages and cities of Nepal.
We are encouraged to reflect upon the diversity of cultures and to build
and strengthen Nepali communities and our communities at home. With all the large and small miracles that
have made this program a reality and an opportunity available to all its Nepali,
Israeli, and International staff and volunteers, paired with its philosophy and
approach, I have arrived to the conclusion of yes, it is positive that we are
here.
What does it
mean to work holistically in the developing world
There are at
least 40,000 NGOs and INGOs in Nepal, that are trying to help. Ours is unique,
as we are partnered, work and function together with the a Nepali Staff. Some
NGOs are Human Needs Based, others are Human Rights based. Some deal with the
physical, giving money, building infrastructure, and some try to develop the
thinking and strengthening of communities, either for themselves or to fit in
with the larger world. The most important consideration that I have discovered
is why you are here, who are you trying to help, and are you doing it for them or
for you. To work within the needs of the foreign culture is not what the
western world is accustomed to. To say a bathroom is missing in this culture,
without asking them why or seeing if they actually need one or know how to use
one, is not a reason to build it just because you have traveled far to this
country and think you need a hole to poop in.
What I like
about the organization I am working with
Constant
trainings and seminars are offered to provide a balance of where you are
working and how you engage. If you focus all your time on "being
professional" and "trying to help," you are working for yourself
and not in the context of sustainable development. This program builds oneself
too, in relationship to a community and to a world. We are taught the basics of
the Nepali language to engage in simple conversations, we are given examples of
failed attempts at development. We
receive information and experiences of previous volunteers. The specific
program I am in is here in the area for 4 months as volunteers, though Israeli
guides are here for minimally a year and the Nepali Staff working in these
areas is here for longer. We spend one month in Kathmandu and three months in
the village, living in the same houses and facilities, as a totally immersive
experience and to not distance ourselves from the cultural way of life here. We stay in each district for 3 to 5 years,
which include a phase out period where we encourage the maintenance and
continued development of the groups we have established by guiding the
community through choosing leaders. The program has its methods and its models,
but the volunteers keep questioning them, checking in as what is best in each
area relative to the community’s own needs.
There is an excellent strategic 5 year design that is utilized as a functioning
model for this organization.
With what
demographic do we work
We do not
discriminate as we work with the schools, the children, the elderly, the women,
the farmers, members of all castes. We try to build confidence, raise awareness
of health and environment, strengthen the community, provide trainings to establish
food security, and then work on income generation. These areas are poor,
segregated, and diverse. They face
issues such as water and food scarcity and limited education. Many family members go to work in the city,
in brick factories, or abroad just to support themselves to have enough food on
the table.
Each Nepali and
his family though is different. This nation has 27 million voices
and each has their own truth. The Nepali women that walk around in
constant pain from all the hard physical work, with a lack of access of medical
care, suffer from physical abuse, and struggle to feed their families, can
still wear a smile. They plow their field with ox, and they carry loads of
grass three times their size on a basket on their back (dhoko) that is attached
by rope around their forehead to feed their animals each day. Women are doing most of the work too, while
the men stand in large groups drinking Chia (Tea).
Working in Nepal.
Barriers of
language and culture and custom and religion and politics all exist. Every week
a new holiday seems to come up. Timeliness is not emphasized. Prices are never
fixed. Streets are not paved. Tires are not replaced, but 'repaired.' A meal that
will fill you up for 24 hours costs about fifty cents. Animals, alive and dead,
are being sold on every street in the city. To travel 60 kilometers can take 8
hours. Your neighbor may bring you vegetables very often and you wonder whether
is it best to accept her generosity or refuse because you do not know truly if
her family is hungry. You build infrastructure for agriculture, you know what
you are providing theoretically is positive for the future, but does the
political divide it has potentially created in its process outweigh its
positive traits. Is the beginning the easiest or the hardest?
Working and
living with Israelis
It is very
welcome for me to find myself again in a community environment. Especially with
such a strong and motivated culture as the Israeli’s possess. They are
assertive, they speak their mind, they argue, they question, they strive for
the best. They love what they do and do what they love. There are some culture
and language barriers, but 2 American and 6 Israelis have lived together under
the same roof for the last 3 months and we have grown strong as a working and
living group. The meals are very delicious and nutritious, and there are few
times that I have eaten better in my life. And when 6 people or more are
working until evening together on someone's project to help them achieve it,
you learn how much more can be achieved when you pursue the world together and
not alone.
What we have done
It is the first Cohort in this area for volunteers. We
have created groups in Agriculture and Women Groups in different communities in
each ward. We have created groups in schools to begin an already an existing
nation wide Youth Movement. We have
organized large events to create awareness on topics of environment and
education. We have built a small carnival. We have created many activities and
trainings. We have begun theatre club, chorus class, art class, sewing and
knitting club. We are building chimneys so the women do not need to inhale the
smoke from the fires they use to cook inside their homes. We have built a demo
farm consisting of digging a large water reservoir to enable farmers to
irrigate their crops during the dry season.
We have set up a plot of rows and installed drip irrigation and have
done different plantings of the same crop to demonstrate field trials. We have provided trainings on nutrition and crop
rotation, building compost pits, building small nurseries, planting 500 fruit
trees, building a chicken coop and goat shed, going over effective systems of
gray water and waste management, doing home visits to help farmers with design,
building, planting or specific plant disease questions and most recently, have
built a greenhouse to grow seedlings, tomatoes, cucumbers and offseason
vegetables.
And we are just one group in a short period of time and this organization is much larger than us, and the country is much larger than the organization, and the world much larger than that. Is any of what we have done been a positive impact to the community? To the world? To ourselves? I am still questioning it. And I do not have an answer. Only in the years to come will evidence of the scale tip to one side.
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