Work and Nepal

 I can't believe they call this "work!"

For 3 days we are based in Patan, only 3.2 miles. from Kathmandu, but more than 30 minutes drive because of the insane traffic here.   One lane and no shoulders for cars, bikes, motorcycles, pedal cabs and pedestrians, all colliding as they maneuvre through the congestion.   Its every man (and woman) for himself.   My leg brushed up against several motorcycle exhaust fans and I walked into a car's side mirror, slamming it inward against the car's window.   Both the window and my arm survived intact.

Patan is the home base of ex-pats, NGO's (the acronym for non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International),  their employees and approximately 163,000 Nepalese.  There is little visible sign of the many tourists who come to Kathmandu to equip themselves and organize treks to the nearby Himalayan mountains, including the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest.

Patan's central square is an open air museum, filled with at least a half dozen or more temples, surrounded by shops, cafes, residences and a fabulous museum about the Hindu gods.  Non-residents (i.e. tourists) are required to pay $2.50 for the privilege of walking in the area.

Our first meeting was with UNFPA - the UN's population fund which works to improve the lives of women and children, in particular.    PROOF always partners with local and international partners in order to produce a custom exhibition and program suited for regional needs.

According to a report commissioned recently by UNFPA and others, one in five women in Nepal reported a lifetime experience of physical violence and one in ten reported a lifetime experience of sexual violence.   Trafficking of girls for sex in India is of particular  concern.  Other specific forms of violence in Nepal include dowry-related violence, widow abuse, polygamy and accusations of witchcraft.

There is a statute of limitations here of a mere 35 days for a victim of rape to report the crime.  Further, domestic violence is not considered a crime at all.  Its appalling but not surprising that seventy-five percent of  Nepalese women who have experienced sexual or physical violence did not report the crime.  Lack of trust in the police and judiciary, the failure to prosecute even the most egregious of crimes, and the potential stigma and social isolation from her community dis-incents survivors from reporting the rape.

UNFPA is particularly focused on changing the 35-day reporting limitation and in strengthening the domestic violence laws.

PROOF discussed providing a 2-day conference and workshop that would bring together policymakers, womens' rights NGO's and survivors during the 16 Days of Activism (Against Gender Violence), scheduled to take place globally from Nov. 25-Dec. 10, 2014.   In addition, an exhibition including photographs and oral testimonies taken from those women and girls brave enough to tell their stories, will travel to 16 regions during the 16 days of activism.   The goal is to educate survivors about where and how to obtain psychological, social and medical help;  get the policymakers to enact appropriate laws and to raise awareness in communities that the victim is not to blame.

Tomorrow we'll meet with a representative of the international Human Rights Watch as well as several local NGO's.   PROOF needs as many partners as possible to help with not just finding the participants but for funding as well.

Want to support PROOF's work here and elsewhere around the world?   click here
More about Nepal..............

After Delhi, Agra and Varanasi (more about crazy Varanasi in the next post), Kathmandu is positively civil. There's a desperation in Indian cities that is hard to take.  The madness of surviving the traffic, pollution, filthy streets, the mass of people, the homeless dogs, the wandering cows, and the beggars are no where to be seen here where the streets are paved and spotless and I've seen only 1 beggar 1 dog and no cows.  The extremes of poverty and wealth are not nearly as obvious or ubiquitous here as in India, where multi-million dollar apartment complexes overlook vast slums.  Here in Nepal's capital, the rich, I guess, are  hidden behind garden walls because I haven't seen anything that would give them away.

BUT while India has electricity and heat 24/7 (for those rich enough to afford it) electricity is only turned on from 1pm until about 7pm.  No lights (or heat) in our room.   We did somehow have intermittent hot water in our shower this morning which warmed us up a bit after a somewhat chilly night (just above freezing).

Tomorrow evening we leave for Kolkata (formally known as Calcutta)  to meet with partners on a project there.   I've never been to the city made famous by the work of Mother Theresa and the book, City of Joy, one of my all-time favorites.

  Its back to bedlam.

From Delhi to Agra

When I first came to India in 2006 it was a choking, suffocating, energy-zapping 116 degrees when I landed.  So much has changed here since then.  And yet so much is still the same.

A frigid, and drizzly 45 degrees welcomed me this time as I exited the airport.   So too did the familiar but oh so exotic  scent of burning wood mixed with cardamon, cumin and cinnamon, a scent, I think, that is unique to India, and which entered every pore of my body as  the memories of a friendly, open land came rushing back.   I am so happy to return.

The traffic is so much saner now than it was then:   there are traffic lights everywhere and the cows who wandered freely amid the Delhi traffic chaos are gone.   So too are the families living on the streets - banished, I suppose, to the slums around the city so as not to disturb the tourists and rising middle class.  The mass of human flesh is everywhere now as then,   So too are the homeless street dogs.

The Delhi highlight?  The subway of all things.   The third largest metro system in the world  (and, I'm guessing,  at only $.30 for a short ride, probably the cheapest as well).   It's far cleaner than the streets, modern, fast and efficient.  But the crown jewel of the underground system?  EVERY TRAIN HAS ONE CAR RESERVED EXCLUSIVELY FOR WOMEN!!   Imagine the fun we would have if such a car existed in the NY subway!  We could fix our stockings, change from work to party clothes and sit like guys with our legs spread, among other things not printable here.   Because of the bad rape rap here,  there are also women-only queues now at banks, movie theatres and other public places where lines tend to form.  Freedom from harassment and the immaturity of unknown men - for  even a  few brief moments- is a glimpse into heaven.

Second highlight?  The Sikh Temple, where millionaires volunteer to cook for, and then eat together with thousands of the poor, regardless of religion, who are fed here EVERY DAY.  Prince and pauper alike take the food offerings with both hands open as a sign of respect and gratitude.  Live chanting, melodius and strong and joyful, supplies the backdrop to the devout who come to pay their respects.

Trivia Timeout:   Did you know that the Sikh religion has 5 main rules that apply to men and women alike?:   (1) never cut the hair (2) carry a comb to keep the hair shiny and obeisant (3) always carry your knife or sword wherever you go (4) wear big, loose fitting pantaloon-type underwear and (5) wear a bracelet.   The reason for the rules is fascinating, but I'll let you google that.

Infrastructure is vastly improved.  The trip from Delhi to Agra (home to the Taj Mahal) took only 3.5 hours over a 6-lane sparkling, new highway, rather than the 5- hour trip through small villages on 1-lane backroads, as it did on my last visit here.  While the progress is surely an improvement for transporting goods, the small business owners along the old route are absolutely the worse for it.

But the Taj Mahal, built as a mauseleom for the Moghul Emperor's beloved wife who died after giving birth to her 14th child, has not changed since 1648 when the building was completed.  It truly lives up to its billing as the most beautiful building in the world.  

It was a particularly foggy afternoon when we arrived and the white marvel appeared as a ghost in the milky grey/white distance.  Elegant, majestic, and timeless, it glimmers like the Emerald City in the Land of Oz, and is situated high on a platform beside the Yamunna River.  No image that I have ever seen of the Taj conveys its ethereal beauty. 

As you walk through a massive red limestone arch the Taj, quite a distance away, at the end of a long reflecting pond, appears to float in mid air.  The noisy, unruly crowd that enters is suddenly silenced and stunned by the white wonder and its perfect symmetry, purposely positioned so that the backdrop is only sky.  The movements of a mass of people come to a sudden halt upon first sight.

On either side of the massive structure stand twin red limestone mosques, exact mirror images of each other.  The  mosque on the left  was used by  the royal family.  The one on the right was never intended to be used for prayers, but was built as a "fake" mosque for the sole purpose of maintaining the symmetry of the entire complex.   These two mosques are rarely seen in photos of the Taj.  Four minarets at each corner of the Taj platform were built to lean outward so that in the event of an earthquake they would fall away from, rather than toward the tomb of the Emperor's favorite wife.  

It took 22 years  and 20,000 people to build the Taj, which is entirely built of white, translucent marble inlaid with precious and semi precious stones - rubies, emeralds, onyx, and diamonds, to name just a few.  Descendants of the original marble artisans still work their craft in Agra.  The formula for the special glue that's held the jewels in place for centuries is secret and known only to these descendants.   Not long after the building was completed, the Emperor was imprisoned by his son in a fort some 40 km away.   His room faced the Taj which towered in the distance.    He would never again visit either his wife's tomb or the monument he so lovingly created in her memory.

A word about the monkeys which hang out in the parking area:  Our guide told us that the monkeys enter the open windows and doors of local homes and head straight to the kitchen looking for food.  If no food is found they steal the laundry hanging outside and race to the rooftops.  There wthey remain with their bounty, guarding it ferociously, until the owner pays a ransom with food.  Smart monkeys.  

I have a very short video of the Sikh Temple but I can't figure out how to post it here.   Will post it to good ole' Facebook in a separate status update.

India and Nepal with PROOF:Media for Social Justice

Did you hear about the 16-year old Kolkata girl who was gang raped?   Hours after reporting the assault to the police the same gang raped her again as punishment.   Steadfast in her determination to report the crime, they came again a few days later, pulled her from her home, doused her in kerosene and set her aflame.   She died 8 days later on New Year's Day 2014, pregnant by one of her rapists.

After this pitstop in Doha, I am on my way to the heart of the "Rape Capital of the World" (after the Congo) with PROOF:Media for Social Justice and its Executive Director, Leora Kahn.  PROOF works at the request of, and in cooperation with local not-for-profits to educate populations around the world about the legacy of rape.  This legacy includes a second brutalization of the victim after the crime by a community and all-too-often a family who shun her as impure.  It also includes a government that fails to prosecute perpetrators who continue to operate with impunity.   And finally, of course, is the mental, emotional and physical state of the victim who is broken, alone, neglected, rejected and scorned by those around her.

Through the use of visual media and oral testimonies PROOF creates workshops and conferences to educate community leaders and policymakers to change their view of rape.  If the mindset can be changed then laws will be enacted that will bring rapists to justice, and female victims will be treated with the same sensitivity and understanding that is afforded any other innocent victim of a violent crime.

One of India's leading women's rights campaigners said the impunity displayed by the Kolkata rapists and killers reflected the lack of justice in parts of the country where criminals have political patronage.

The police who first took the 16-year-old's rape report tried to convince her to forget it.  Even though she could name her rapists the police did nothing.   Members of the gang were politically connected.   The girl's landlady heard her screams the night she was set on fire and ignored her cries for help.   Her son was one of the rapists.



PS:   This blog, which began with my first overland trip through Africa in 2010,  has been dormant for about 2 years now.     I am really happy to resurrect it.

PPS:   From India and Nepal I'll be traveling to Israel to see family and then its on to Ethiopia for a full 5 weeks.  I am beyond ecstatic to return to Africa.  I'll be blogging wherever I can find an internet connection because blogging makes me feel connected in very unconnected places.  Hopefully, I'll get some photos up too.