Blogs from Hadigaon, Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia

My last full day in Kathmandu was probably one of my hardest emotionally. Sushila and I started the day off by doing the final 2 interviews with sex workers. Our first one was a 20 year old woman with a 7th grade education. She is working in a massage parlor where customers pay Rs 600 per hour for the massage (of which she got Rs 150), and then Rs 300+ for sex (of which she got Rs 150). She said she serviced as many as 5 or 6 customers a day, 7 days per week. This was a particularly heart breaking case because the girl had been trafficked there by her own female cousin, who is the owner. She told us how she was arrested and jailed once for 24 hours. Although she wasn’t physically hurt ... read more

I stopped to watch a woman dancing in front of a small temple this afternoon, right in the middle of town near Bhat Bhateni. It was beautiful, and my love for Nepal came rushing back again. This afternoon Sita came to collect money for the electric and phone. She asked how many days before I leave, and said that she wants to take a photo with me before then so that she can frame it and hang it on her wall. To think that I have affected this woman’s life in such a short amount of time made my eyes tear up. She then asked if I had any female condoms left. I was shocked. “You know what this is?” I asked in Nepali, pointing to the open one sitting on my kitchen table. She went ... read more

My didi is coming over to watch The L Word with me tonight. She was looking at a DVD I have called, “The Best 2007 Bluck African Movies Seuson,” which is a collection of 16 movies about or staring black men. On the cover are some African men dressed only in loin clothes, so she was laughing about that. So I showed her the cover of the The L Word, which has all of the female characters naked but strategically hidden by the title. I could see the mischief in her eyes. Turns out her and her husband have a tiny DVD player, so she wanted to borrow some DVDs. At first she was interested in the collection of black films, but once I showed her The L Word she wanted that one. I explained to ... read more

What an historic time to be in Nepal! Election results are trickling in already, and it looks like the Maoists are taking lots of seats, much to the surprise of everyone. I knew there was something going on when earlier today as I was walking home everyone had their radios on and the broadcaster was saying, “Blah blah blah Maobadhi blah blah blah Maobadhi blah blah.” There have been parades all day throughout the city—Maoist candidates and their supporters marching, chanting, singing, and dancing. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take photos, but I heard them in the streets near my flat at various times throughout the day. Several districts had to postpone voting because people were setting fire or pouring water over the ballot baskets, or submitting dozens of votes for one person. But ... read more

I have been busy! And good thing, because offices are closed for the next 8 days for the election, the Nepali new year, and some other Hindu holiday. So after today I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of sitting around again. Saturday was spent with a couple of new Canadian friends. One of them found my blog while reading up on Nepal, and we’ve been “e-pals” for the past 5 months. So I hung out with them and showed them around a bit. We visited a small orphanage near Lazimpat at which their Nepali friend’s sister volunteers. We spent a little while touring the place and playing with the kids, who were adorable. They also looked a lot healthier and happier than the children at Bal Mandir, the large orphanage I ... read more