Like many foreigners who have come to Nepal I’ve fallen in love with the country. People say to me quite frequently, “you are American and you come from a great country, why are you here?” Yes America does offer quite a lot which I love, but there are some things about Nepal and Nepalis which one just can’t find in the US. For me this comes down to a certain degree of internal toughness, not at all in a negative way, but something naturally learned as youngsters, especially for those growing up and living in villages.
Although I’ve spent time in Nepal as a volunteer and also as an employee, most recently, I’ve found this toughness, resiliency if you want to call it that, as a natural reaction to the earthquake. There is just a need to go on, to rebuild no matter if help is offered or not. This instills in me a kind of toughness, something which I didn’t really learn until I started living overseas.
Recently I’ve been touring a bit, wanting to see and learn more about how people are reacting to the earthquake. There are many things that bother me. For example the buildings in Kathmandu which are just waiting to crumble, from possibly a strong wind, which I know will end the lives of those living in the vicinity. To me this is unacceptable as nobody will take responsibility for razing these buildings. People who might have had shops in these buildings, or lived nearby, without any alternatives, still remain next to these vulnerable structures. I know that they don’t have a death wish but what else can people do at this point. I wonder how long these situations will remain and think that unfortunately nothing will be done until the buildings do fall on their own. Another example are the CGI structures which have appeared everywhere as “temporary” housing. However I wonder what temporary actually means, how many years will it take to rebuild better as the UN cluster system focuses on?
But the other side of the coin is seeing people accept the temporary shelters as a place to call home. Again, what else can people do especially the majority who might have invested all of their savings in their homes? And what of those who havr been living in tents or “camps” how long will this be? I’m sure this grates on people’s psyches resulting in anger and grief but at least people have a place to cook and sleep.
As I’ve toured in places such as Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Dhading and Rasuwa I’ve witnessed a devastation to people’s lives. But yet people still are able to smile and somehow care for their families. They have to use outside temporary toilets, haul water from a distance from their “temporary” shelters, search for food and livelihoods but somehow, seemingly a will to get back to “normal” is what drives all. But there is also the aspect that “normal” was always a struggle just to make ends meet, depending upon the unpredictable environment.
I’ve talked to a number of people, in front of what was once their homes, as they try to clear the rubble and knock off cement from bricks so that they can be reused. I’m not sure how I would react to such destruction if I owned a home and everything inside lay encrusted in cement, bricks and wood, physical memories destroyed forever. On some level there is a great acceptance but on another level there are deep wounds which may never be healed. There is something about a “stiff upper lip” which pushes people but I also know there is great grief. At least this seems to be the case, although this doesn’t show up a lot on people’s exterior but is suggested by the number of people bringing psycho-social treatment to earthquake victims.
I recently hurt my right foot playing basketball, stepping into a rather large crack on the court which I didn’t see, resulting in a bad sprain and a hairline fracture. I was able to go to the Nepal International Clinic, get good treatment, crutches, medicine everything that I need to recover. I feel pain, but feel as if I have little to really complain about and so I keep pushing myself to the point of walking up and down stairs, walking down dirt paths in the places that I’m visiting.
I juxtapose this with the plight of many Nepalis, where from a western perspective so called “suffering” seems to be part of life. But this becomes a question of how we deal with and view this. I think about what I’ve seen in my three plus years living here people having the bare necessities but that being more than enough to live and I know that having grown up in the west I’m quite soft.
The fact of the matter is that Nepal will recover based upon the strength of its people. It’s all about attitude and yes there are reasons to feel sad, many lives were lost, schools and homes destroyed, individuals scarred for life. This also comes down to the many people I’ve seen living in places that are seemingly uninhabitable, threatened constantly by landslides and other natural disasters but staying because this is what they are used to.
It will take years to recover from this latest setback but in a disaster there is also great opportunity to bring more resources to problems that have lasted for years. Due to the toughness of the Nepali people, especially those living in places that many would never even consider as home, Nepal does have a great opportunity to come back even better. But it is up to all of us to make this happen and my hope is that we will work together as a global community to help Nepal become what Nepalis really want.
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