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Digital Postcards from Nepal   
CEDPA President Yolonda C. Richardson shares her thoughts from Nepal, visiting peace centers and joining hundreds of girls at the National Girls’ Congress there (Feb. 23–27). Building Communities for Peace.
Ten years have passed since a Maoist insurgency began and dramatically changed the social and political landscape of Nepal. The Nepalese long to welcome more visitors once again. And I long to return when I can see the mountains and witness the peace. For now, there is the work of peace that drew me to visit one of the centers where CEDPA is working with Nagarik Aawaz to provide a safe haven for young people who have been affected by the conflict. Support for this work comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Many of the young people at the peace centers have watched family members die or have themselves been victims of the brutality that always accompanies war. There is Krishna Gopal Shrestha who refused to be recruited to the Maoist cause and whose legs were broken as a result. He fled to Kathmandu to seek treatment and escape further retribution. Diwani Ghimmire’s family was caught in the middle of a violent clash between the Maoists and the government; they too fled their home. Together with others like them, they come to the peace centers for a respite from the violence and they come to plan for peace. With support, they learn that they are a part of the solution and that it is their action of bringing others to peace that will salvage their future and that of their country. These young people have formed Peace Action Groups, organizing efforts to engage the larger community in a collective call for peace. Peace vigils, peace rallies and signature campaigns have helped heighten the call for peace and urge the government, political parties and insurgents to come together to end the conflict. At first encountering fear and reluctance, these young people are now greeted warmly by the communities where they work and they have helped unleash a dialog that will no longer be contained. These young people have turned their misfortune into an opportunity. They are ambassadors of peace. After all, there is no greater longing in the human spirit than to live in peace and security. Alas, peace has not yet come to Nepal. But the light of Nepal will not be eclipsed by conflict and political unrest forever; Krishna Gopal, Diwani, and other young people like them will be the midwives of its delivery. ----------------------------- Being a Girl is Good, Too.
It is a small country even without such huge neighbors at its borders and the Nepalese are trying to find their way. Their efforts are thwarted as a result of the instability caused by the current conflict between the government and the Maoists insurgents. Nepalese young girls could easily be forgotten. But if you meet Sapana Lama you will not forget her. She radiates the promise of Nepal. She is orphaned, does not know how or why, and is unsure of her age. But she has come with nearly 150 other girls to the National Girls’ Congress to call for a government and community response to their issues and concerns. I watched as these girls worked intensely together in small groups, discussing and planning how they might spread what they have learned to others. These girls were selected from the nearly 3000 girls who have participated in a program that CEDPA has been leading in three conflict affected districts of Nepal: Baglung, Mahottari and Udayapur. Despite the added challenge of working in districts grappling with conflict, the project has achieved important results for these girls and for the peace process. Under this program, we have worked with communities, parents, teachers and local governments to ensure that girls have access to education and reproductive health information and services. We have used participatory approaches and helped to build the skills and confidence of girls participating in the program. We have taught and modeled the value of inclusion at every stage of the process. Not only are we developing the individual potential of young girls, we are also preparing the country’s future citizens—citizens that have been taught the value of inclusion and the importance of the full participation of everyone. Sapana is small, though I suspect she is about ten. Because she is so small, she played a young boy in a drama enacted by the girls in the final conference session. In the drama, an adolescent girl begs her parents to let her go to school like her younger brother played by Sapana. In the end, the family is convinced and the drama ends more happily than most real life stories of girls in Nepal. Later, I sat with Sapana at lunch and told her how much I liked the drama and how well she played her part. I asked Sapana how it felt to play a young boy and she answered, “I think that it’s fine that I am a girl.” I nodded in quiet agreement and thought, I think so to. |
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Thursday, February 23—Rain has not come to lift the clouds, so the snowcapped mountains of the Himalayans are hidden from my view. But Kathmandu has captured my heart nonetheless. Its people deserve peace and an end to the conflict that has claimed more than 11,000 lives in Nepal. 
Monday, February 27—Nepal is sandwiched between the world’s two most populous countries—China and India. I could see the influence of these two countries on Nepal as I looked into the faces of the Nepali, observed the architecture of the buildings, and wandered through the marketplace and the streets. 
