About a boy

There is always a fun array of visitors to any gathering in a village, and yesterday was no exception.  Myself, Jeny my research assistant, as well as my friend Srijana were attending to learn and carry out our research duties, and later on Anamika arrived with the major funder for the women's training.  This woman founded her own NGO about 11 years ago and has been funding the women's training for about five years.  She is from the UK, and is in Nepal for three weeks to ensure her investments are being implemented properly.  So with them came a small entourage, and a load of questions.

Jeny and I arrived early so we could interview a few women before things go underway, and a man with a folio, seeing the gathering invited himself in to listen, and comment, and even give us a speech on the dangers of fertilizer.  It turns out he is "running a campaign" called Save the Bamboo. Bamboo stalks are used in the small 'tunnels' greenhouse like covers many vegetables farmers us.  Once you read his pamphlet, you learn you can support the campaign by buying his alternative bamboo product.  How novel.

If the door to the temple is left open an opportunistic dog usually wanders in hoping that he's in time to lick the plates from lunch.  Interestingly, the lunch is always spicy and the dogs always love it.  We also had a few repeats customers, some elderly people peeking in and listening to the lecture as the go for morning walk, mid morning walk and after lunch walk.  People who don't come in are those quietly shuffling along carrying big loads of hay on their back.  As they are hunched over, it's hard to see the person, so from our vantage point inside it looks like a giant muppet creature is slowly lumbering by every half hour or so.

We also had the boy featured below join us for a spell. He sat down to happily munch on some treats for a little while and see what his mom was up to.  Many women cite during the interview that they work hard for their family. Elderly ladies have said they ignore the families' pleas to stop working so hard, so they can build something that will sustain the family even after they are gone. 

All of these women are members of the Women's Cooperative Society, and when they meet, members have to recite 12 promises, and included in them is the promise to keep their children, house and yard clean, and to send their children to school without discrimination against their gender.  While the training can be seen as learning to cure plant diseases and learning better techniques to grow more and make more money, at the end of the day, the women toil in the fields knowing they are supporting a better life for themselves and their families which in many cases means a better life by helping boys and girls to go to school and get jobs outside the agriculture realm.