Posted by Tenzing Tekan
Having lived most of my life in South Asia and seeing desperately poor people all the time, I thought I understood what it meant to be poor. But being from a middle class family in Kathmandu, my understanding of the poor is not fundamentally different from that of the average person living in the rich world. We might see and think about the poor, but our physical lives are largely disconnected from what the poor experience on a daily basis.
Although I live in one of the poorest countries in the world, I have access to electricity and running water, my food and my washing is taken care of, and I have a car to take me wherever I need to go. Thankfully my time in Accham has helped me break out a little from the cocoon of wealth and privilege. For one thing, we bring all our water – for drinking, bathing, cooking – from a natural spring a couple of hundred feet down the hill.
Carrying 20 liters of water uphill (I found out 20 liters/5 gallons of water weighs ~40 pounds), my unsteady gait causing it to slosh all over me, has inspired newfound appreciation for having running water. Every morning I see women and girls (some half my size) carrying water jugs that I would struggle with. While I will have to do this for maybe a few weeks till we get install a pump, these women will trudge up and down with their loads into old age. Much of the backbreaking work in these parts is done by the women, for which efforts they are rewarded with all sorts of indignities, including eating only after all the males in the house have eaten. I asked someone why his brother had married so young, and his reply was basically, well my mother got old and couldn’t do all the chores we had, so he got married.
Another thing that has struck me is how difficult it is to get around these parts. If I need to get anywhere in Kathmandu, I get into a vehicle. Here people walk. The hilly terrain and the lack of roads (like most parts of Nepal) makes already difficult lives even harder. A week back I went with some of the clinic folks to check out an abandoned government hospital that was supposed to be nearby. I learned `nearby’ for locals is someplace 2 hours walk uphill. I am still amazed that many of our patients have walked several hours for medical care. The other day a girl walked up non-chalantly with a broken arm in an improvised sling. Imagine that. You break your hand and instead of popping some painkillers and dialing 911 or hopping in a car, you need to walk a few hours for a doctor.
I find the strength and resilience of many of the locals humbling and inspiring. But it is also depressing how difficult their lives are and how it is unlikely economic conditions will improve significantly anytime soon.