Maya is a 25 year old Nepali woman who loves to laugh and does not love to practice her English. She has a 3 year old son named Palbit, who is the product of an unhappy marriage to an abusive and neglectful man 12 years her senior. She has had the courage and foresight to divorce, and consequently the good fortune to come into contact with the 3 Sisters: Nicky, Dicky and Lucky Chhetri who run the 3 Sisters Trekking Company along with a guest house, restaurant and orphanage. They have created opportunities for young women in Nepal to work, travel and pursue options other than arranged marriages which, if unsuccessful can leave them destitute, dependent and possibly outcasts in society.
The following is taken from www.3sisteradventure.com:
In the early ninety's no one would have dreamed of a Nepalese women guiding a trek. Nepalese society is ruled by the Orthodox Hindu religion where women are considered second-class citizens. Their role is to be a diligent wife, a loving mother, and an obedient daughter-in-law. Society dictates that a woman should not cross out of her home threshold. But the Chhetri sisters did just that.
3 Sisters employs women like Maya and by virtue of earning their own income enables them to make decisions for themselves and gain independence. They began recruiting women as porters and guides when they, themselves were leading treks through mountain villages. They would encounter young women along the way who's families had lent them to mountain guest house managers, under the false promise of educating and caring for them in exchange for assistance with daily guest house chores. In an isolated situation with no family and no education, the women would effectively be trapped for life. Their families, unaware of their situation and continuing to believe that they had been given a better life than they could have provided, did not search for them.
The sisters would meet these women with some regularity and made it their mission to employ them, thereby effecting an incredible change in their future and prospects.
The story of how the 3 Sisters Trekking Company came to be is no less impressive and inspiring. Born to loving parents near Pokhara, they grew up in a household with five brothers who, as tradition would dictate, would be expected to be educated while the girls were expected to marry. In the meantime, the girls would help with household and farming chores. As with any privilege obtained without effort, the boys took their education for granted and did not take it very seriously, pursuing leisure activities instead and performed quite poorly. Dicky recounts how her father likened his family to a garden, and his children to beautiful flowers. The boys behaviour made him feel that he had failed in keeping the garden thriving. Perhaps he had not watered it with enough love, support or guidance.
The girls were devastated to see that the years of hard work their parents endured to provide their children with the best possible educational opportunities were being squandered and decided to go to school themselves and work exceptionally hard to achieve top grades and reward their parents. Following successful completion of university for all three sisters, they decided to start a trekking company which would employ and cater to women.
They have overcome initial societal disapproval and have become incredibly successful, adding an orphanage and school, a hostel and training facility for staff, and a beautiful guest house from which I originally composed this journal entry.
Paul and I have just returned from an unforgettable 12-day trek, which was physically exhausting and spiritually uplifting. Often I was overwhelmed by the natural beauty surrounding me. Equally as often, I ached and complained about sore knees and shoulders until I would look over at Maya, 5-foot-nothing Maya, carrying two packs over all the same challenging terrain and in the same blistering heat that I was. But according to Maya, she was "excellent", "no problem" and "everything okay". And with the help of three sisters, she now is.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Trekking in Nepal
What takes 12 days to walk takes 20 minutes to fly!
For the last 12 days we have trekked 110 km through hillside strewn villages, across dry pre-monsoon riverbeds, past mystical waterfalls emerging through impressive boulders in the jungle-like forest, ascended into the Himalayan valley alongside the adorning snow-capped peaks of the world's biggest mountains, traversed the desert moonscape of northern Nepal, and finally ascended to Muktinath, a holy pilgrimage site for the world's Hindus, where we bathed in the 108 showers and 2 pools to cleanse our souls of all sins. The experience of trekking in Nepal has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Through speechless beauty, piercing physical pain and exhaustion at 4000m above sea level, we trekked through one of the most beautiful countries either of us has ever seen. With each passing day the landscape, people and culture were utterly transformed from traditional Nepali villages, through remote minority mountain peoples, to the northern Tibetan settlements and barren Buddhist districts.
We walked along 1000 year old mountain paths, linking the salt and grain trade route between Nepal and Tibet, down countless stone steps, past numerous mule caravans, along steep cliff side paths, up breathtakingly steep switch back trails, through deafeningly windy valleys, and through the Tibet-like barren moonscape of the north. As much as it was physically trying at times, it was exponentially more rewarding.
As we walked we learned of Nepali politics and royal family massacres conspiracy theories, of Hindu gods and their fantastical stories, of poverty and why it is often more valuable to keep children at home rather then sending them to school (which is free), and how it is possible for a group of socially minded trekking guides to rescue child labourers who had been sent to the mountain villages under the false promises of a better future and a good education. Nepal has as much to offer the mind as it does the eyes. And there is hope.
Nepal is in the midst of massive political change, with the Maoist insurgents and rebels being replaced with members of parliament and official political representation, to the national discussion on the future of the much maligned King and a royal family which is widely accused of lining their pockets with the nation's wealth, as the Nepali people have been left to struggle for decades, between the emerging powers of India and China. With elections in the fall, the fate of Nepal's future and monarchy lie in the balance. With less corruption the hope is that the Nepali masses will start to benefit more from the rich resources that Nepal has to offer. Maybe then it will not take 4L-of-cooking-oil-incentive to allow a family to let a child go to school (a government program, funded by international aid has begun which gives a family ~4L of cooking oil a month so that their children can go to school, an attempt to offset the additional money the child would earn for the family if they were to remain home and work.)
I would recommend Nepal to anyone, for its incredible richness of both culture and nature. With luck and leadership, hopefully Nepal will be able to ride the tides of success being experienced in India and China, and no longer feel like the forgotten kingdom sandwiched between two emerging behemoths. I will always remember Nepal the beautiful, Nepal and kind, and Nepal the hopeful of a bright and better future. I hope others will have the chance to experience this Nepal too.
For the last 12 days we have trekked 110 km through hillside strewn villages, across dry pre-monsoon riverbeds, past mystical waterfalls emerging through impressive boulders in the jungle-like forest, ascended into the Himalayan valley alongside the adorning snow-capped peaks of the world's biggest mountains, traversed the desert moonscape of northern Nepal, and finally ascended to Muktinath, a holy pilgrimage site for the world's Hindus, where we bathed in the 108 showers and 2 pools to cleanse our souls of all sins. The experience of trekking in Nepal has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Through speechless beauty, piercing physical pain and exhaustion at 4000m above sea level, we trekked through one of the most beautiful countries either of us has ever seen. With each passing day the landscape, people and culture were utterly transformed from traditional Nepali villages, through remote minority mountain peoples, to the northern Tibetan settlements and barren Buddhist districts.
We walked along 1000 year old mountain paths, linking the salt and grain trade route between Nepal and Tibet, down countless stone steps, past numerous mule caravans, along steep cliff side paths, up breathtakingly steep switch back trails, through deafeningly windy valleys, and through the Tibet-like barren moonscape of the north. As much as it was physically trying at times, it was exponentially more rewarding.
As we walked we learned of Nepali politics and royal family massacres conspiracy theories, of Hindu gods and their fantastical stories, of poverty and why it is often more valuable to keep children at home rather then sending them to school (which is free), and how it is possible for a group of socially minded trekking guides to rescue child labourers who had been sent to the mountain villages under the false promises of a better future and a good education. Nepal has as much to offer the mind as it does the eyes. And there is hope.
Nepal is in the midst of massive political change, with the Maoist insurgents and rebels being replaced with members of parliament and official political representation, to the national discussion on the future of the much maligned King and a royal family which is widely accused of lining their pockets with the nation's wealth, as the Nepali people have been left to struggle for decades, between the emerging powers of India and China. With elections in the fall, the fate of Nepal's future and monarchy lie in the balance. With less corruption the hope is that the Nepali masses will start to benefit more from the rich resources that Nepal has to offer. Maybe then it will not take 4L-of-cooking-oil-incentive to allow a family to let a child go to school (a government program, funded by international aid has begun which gives a family ~4L of cooking oil a month so that their children can go to school, an attempt to offset the additional money the child would earn for the family if they were to remain home and work.)
I would recommend Nepal to anyone, for its incredible richness of both culture and nature. With luck and leadership, hopefully Nepal will be able to ride the tides of success being experienced in India and China, and no longer feel like the forgotten kingdom sandwiched between two emerging behemoths. I will always remember Nepal the beautiful, Nepal and kind, and Nepal the hopeful of a bright and better future. I hope others will have the chance to experience this Nepal too.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Communism in China: A Personal Observation
I must admit that one of the intrigues of travelling to China was to witness, first had, a culture and country under communist control. After travelling in China for 6 weeks, I think I can fairly say that the communist control is not as evident as I had initially thought it might be.
In Shanghai, where I spent my first 2 weeks, I would venture to say that is was not apparent at all, with the exception of the Mao statues and 'little red books' for sale by the hordes of street vendors, the new religion is capitalism and the deities, cold hard cash. Beijing was different. The wide, cold concrete expanses of Tiannamen Square and the neighboring streets adorned with government buildings were much more reflective of my preconceived notion of what a communist state would look and feel like. That being said, when you ducked into, and lost yourself in the labyrinthine hutongs, all sterility of Beijing soon evaporated in the hussle and bussle of daily life. In the lives of ordinary people, I have found the effects of communism hard to see, especially when passing shoeless, black-footed homeless people sleeping in the street, something I naively did not expect to witness in a socialist society. As time passed and I witnessed more subtleties of daily life, I noticed that the communism in China is often manifested in more elusive undertones of Chinese culture, rather than overt and demonstrative displays in daily life. One such source of observation is the Chinese media.
Of the 10 or so state-controlled Chinese cable television networks (CCTV), one broadcasts in English. Having the misfortune of being sick for a day I had the opportunity to watch the Chinese programming offered by the state. If I could summarize the programming with one statement, I would say that China was at the centre of it all. International news always involved China, sports highlights from around the world always featured Chinese athletes (I was momentarily excited to see highlights from the NBA, only to have them cease after reviewing the latest performance by Yao Ming). Arts programming featured young and promising artists working in the traditional Chinese methods. The common thread woven throughout was the primacy and sacrosanctity of Chinese culture.
Back in Shanghai, I was sitting in People's Park one afternoon and I overheard a discussion between 3 young Chinese students and a man from the UK. From what I gathered from the conversation (okay I was eavesdropping) was that the Chinese girls were trying to argue that China was in fact, the centre of the world because if you looked at a map of the world (from China), China is smack dab in the middle. Somewhat amused, the European man tried to point out that the position of a given country on a map is relative to how it is printed, stating that by that logic Europe would be at the centre of the world from a Western perspective. This debate did not go very far, as the group soon dispersed with every one's personal perceptions still firmly intact. Looking back at that conversation, I questions any one's ability to convince those girls otherwise.
China in Chinese is Zhongguo, directly translates to 'middle kingdom'. I have been told that it is extrapolated by popular Chinese belief to mean the centre of the world; if China continues to grow and prosper at its current rate, the same meaning might hold true for the rest of the world as well.
In Shanghai, where I spent my first 2 weeks, I would venture to say that is was not apparent at all, with the exception of the Mao statues and 'little red books' for sale by the hordes of street vendors, the new religion is capitalism and the deities, cold hard cash. Beijing was different. The wide, cold concrete expanses of Tiannamen Square and the neighboring streets adorned with government buildings were much more reflective of my preconceived notion of what a communist state would look and feel like. That being said, when you ducked into, and lost yourself in the labyrinthine hutongs, all sterility of Beijing soon evaporated in the hussle and bussle of daily life. In the lives of ordinary people, I have found the effects of communism hard to see, especially when passing shoeless, black-footed homeless people sleeping in the street, something I naively did not expect to witness in a socialist society. As time passed and I witnessed more subtleties of daily life, I noticed that the communism in China is often manifested in more elusive undertones of Chinese culture, rather than overt and demonstrative displays in daily life. One such source of observation is the Chinese media.
Of the 10 or so state-controlled Chinese cable television networks (CCTV), one broadcasts in English. Having the misfortune of being sick for a day I had the opportunity to watch the Chinese programming offered by the state. If I could summarize the programming with one statement, I would say that China was at the centre of it all. International news always involved China, sports highlights from around the world always featured Chinese athletes (I was momentarily excited to see highlights from the NBA, only to have them cease after reviewing the latest performance by Yao Ming). Arts programming featured young and promising artists working in the traditional Chinese methods. The common thread woven throughout was the primacy and sacrosanctity of Chinese culture.
Back in Shanghai, I was sitting in People's Park one afternoon and I overheard a discussion between 3 young Chinese students and a man from the UK. From what I gathered from the conversation (okay I was eavesdropping) was that the Chinese girls were trying to argue that China was in fact, the centre of the world because if you looked at a map of the world (from China), China is smack dab in the middle. Somewhat amused, the European man tried to point out that the position of a given country on a map is relative to how it is printed, stating that by that logic Europe would be at the centre of the world from a Western perspective. This debate did not go very far, as the group soon dispersed with every one's personal perceptions still firmly intact. Looking back at that conversation, I questions any one's ability to convince those girls otherwise.
China in Chinese is Zhongguo, directly translates to 'middle kingdom'. I have been told that it is extrapolated by popular Chinese belief to mean the centre of the world; if China continues to grow and prosper at its current rate, the same meaning might hold true for the rest of the world as well.
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