“The toughest job you’ll ever love”
Carolyn Payton, Peace Corps Director 1977-78
Part II: Nepal
Part I soon to come….
Well, some days I loved it. And some days I hated it. But whichever day I was having, it was always a challenge.
After leaving Albania with my service unfinished, I returned to the Peace Corps. My next posting was in Nepal , where I served from 1997-1999, as a Community Forestry Extension Agent in His Majesty’s Government, District Forest Office of Makawanpur. My job was to work with my Nepali counterpart to help community groups establish, manage, and monitor their community forests. But what I spent most of my time on was women’s empowerment projects. Most notably women’s literacy classes.
I loved working with the women of Nepal. In these projects, I could feel the difference I was making. Women make up around two-thirds of the illiterate population worldwide (www.UNESCO.org). Increasing women’s literacy increases women’s confidence and self-reliance. It also improves maternal and child health outcomes, increases child enrollment in school, and reduces poverty in the family and community.
Roughly a year into our service, John (now my husband) had mouse problems. His landlord was storing corn on the floor above John’s rooms, which of course drew in the mice. I got John a kitten from the village I was posted in. We named him Tigger.
Our relationship with Tigger, and Tigger’s resulting behavior, perplexed people in Kulekhani. Rural Nepalis in particular, have a very different concept of animals than the average American. For Nepalis, animals serve a purpose - milk, meat, security, transportation. But an animal for companionship was very foreign.
So while John and I were learning Nepali customs and ways, Tigger was unintentionally teaching Nepalis about American ways and the joys of having a pet.
John and Tigger
My PC Nepal service site
My host family's bhainse (water buffalo)
Tigger's ticket from Kathmandu to LA
Buddha at the local stupa
Small village paisal in Nepal. Source: UNCDF
Crowded Nepali bus Source: The Express Tribune
Baby Tigger
Tigger's vaccination records from Nepal
John and I Peace Corps training
Roadside Hindu temple
Tigger in John's kitchen
Tigger sleeping after a hard day
Me eating with my clean hand at a small Nepali restaurant
Me carrying a doko full of compost for my garden
My house. The animals lived on the ground floor, I lived on the second floor, and the third floor was for storing corn.
Village of Simlang, Kulekhani Reservoir in the background
Laxmi and her son
John digging a hole for tree planting using a kuto (a small pick axe)
Me at the top of Gokyo Ri, 17,989'. Cho Oyu glacier and peak (26,864') in the distance.
Puja at a Nepali friends wedding