Interviews in Paradise

Yesterday the data collection really got its start.  I have done a few key informant interviews (interviews with ‘experts’ in the field of your choosing) but I finally got to implement the survey with a few farmers involved in Women’s Cooperative Society (WCS) training that is funded by Shenpen.  This does not mean however that the time spent building relationships and setting up meetings and whatnot is not as important. I am still working on really solidifying the other two locations I am travelling to. The original group I was going to meet with in Pokhara has been a little absent so my classmate Rajan has really been helping me out to fill in the gap.  I knew going into this things would change and I’d need to be flexible.  I am very much feeling the flex these days, but that’s what makes it a good growing experience, right? (Please tell me this is making me a better student!)

WCS is a micro loan institute as well as the organizer for training that happens each fall for women. During these interviews it came out that women and men wan to share labour and responsibilities equally and work in harmony, so I asked the question as to why only women get the training and doesn’t this cause division?  Generally it is felt that women are far less educated and less empowered to be actors in their farm business because of a lack of skills among other things.  Once they receive either basic or advanced training women are essentially given the license to operate.  They are laborers on their own farm and so if the men leave for work or otherwise, the farm is left idle or produces much less than potential.  These are early days so analysis and further thinking on the interviews will probably reveal a more subtle insight into this topic.

The story was different for each of the 3 farms but basically women were far more engaged in the business end as well as the production end than before the training. In one case the husband works far away so the wife is able to have full entrepreneurial leeway to make the farm make money.  Near the end of the interview she held my hand and looked very sincerely into my eyes and explained that sometimes it’s hard though, so this is why they need a bit of help from organisations like WCS.

One of my questions is about food security, and whether they experience any periods during the year when it is difficult to feed the household.  Each house said yes, at some point for one or two or even three months they have a hard time because all their capital is sunk into inputs and the harvest is months away.  These farmers are considered ‘middle class’ and perhaps more commercialized than others.  One can only imagine how much of a struggle it is for ‘subsistence’ farmers to feed themselves all year long, in addition to the costs of school, housing, sickness, emergencies and the inevitable retirement because of old age.

Anyhow, that was my first day in the farmer’s fields, where as most of you know I really enjoy being. It was stunningly beautiful and I feel my photos do not do the area justice.  The farms were also remote though, and the roads getting there were incredibly hilly and rutted and during the rains are impassable.  Just a short 45 minute drive outside the main city there are few if any medical facilities and the water quality is questionable. An article in the Kathmandu Post yesterday detailed two simultaneous burnings of women in villages outside the Kathmandu valley.  It took until the next day to get the women to the hospital, each of whom indicated that the burning wasn’t accidental. 

I’ll also take a moment to acknowledge that there was an avalanche in the far north mountainous region where many trekkers including two Canadian girls died.  Emergency helicopters have been flying in and out of Kathmandu all morning.  My condolences to the families of all the victims.  

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/2-ottawa-area-women-among-those-missing-in-nepal-1.2799646

Lalitpur (the closets town) outside of Kathmandu proper

Rice paddies, harvest season is on!

Mushroom huts. By initial account, mushrooms is
a very profitable vegetable to grow.

At one point, we had 9 people in this tiny old wreck. I am developing what
I'll call the Kathmandu cough from all the fumes.

Anamika on the far left, the family (Dad, mom, son).
The taller men are with WCS.

You know its hilly when the cow looks down on you.