One Final Visit to Rasuwa
Saying good-byes to people is especially difficult when you don’t know when you will see them again. Although I intend on coming back to Nepal I don’t know when. Since living in Nepal, Rasuwa has been one of my favorite places to visit. I really enjoy my work colleagues from Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), the hospitality, landscape, the people who I’ve come into contact with and the food.
The partnerships that have developed are another reason why I enjoy Rasuwa. The District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) has been so helpful not only in providing technical support to the farmers whom we are working with but also in collaborating in providing inputs to “kick-start” households into commercial growing. We’ve built solid relationships with many of the Rasuwa based DADO staff. However, this relationship very much came about due to the willingness of the DADO Chief Officer to show trust towards the CSRC staff. Although I know that some bureaucrats don’t put out a lot of effort the Rasuwa staff have performed admirably.
Another great example of partnering in Rasuwa, and many other places in Nepal, is sitting in circle with the community and staff. Most recently we spent a lot of time sitting with staff to talk about the budget and program for the second year of our livelihood work. The discussion was very deep in both Nepali and English and there were numerous points to consider. This type of partnership helps to build excellent relationships and trust.
Being in the field is another way of building trust and developing partnerships with the community. At least with the NGOs that I’ve been working with, Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), Friends Service Council Nepal (FSCN) and Nyayik Sansar (NS), living/being in the community is understood as the main modality for building partnerships. In order to provide more than cursory assistance and build sustainable projects this is vital.
On the day after arriving back to Kathmandu I realized how I’ve been building other types of partnerships/relationships. I typically play basketball at GAA on Saturday mornings and for the past few weeks, my friend Khusbu and her cousin Khushi have been coming with me for coaching. Today one of their friends also came along. When we arrived at GAA there were a number of other girls playing, which was very unusual. I went directly into coaching mode.
After this we went on to Momo Hut where we met my friend Nita, who a number of us are trying to help with her education and her mother. We also met Amrita who is from India but is a professor in New York. It was very inspiring for me to watch the interaction between Amrita, a very strong woman who has reached the pinnacle of her profession and the four girls who seemed to be a bit in awe. I made the point to the girls that if you study hard you can do whatever you want.
When we start seeing the connections and the possibilities we begin to see further the potential partnerships. As the girls left the restaurant Amrita gave them her card. This kind of opportunity may not often occur for younger people. But when we start to think of each other as part of a web, where we are all linked no matter where we come from or who we are, there is huge potential to bring about positive change especially at the individual level. For Nita and Khusbu meeting Amrita is a huge opportunity to become linked to a woman who has made it in the US.
As I left Rasuwa there were plenty of tears from all sides. I began to realize the connections that have been built through sitting in circle, showing how much we care for one another, hugs and smiles. I understand that I’ve lived most of my life in a very different reality from my friends in Rasuwa, in Kathmandu, throughout Nepal. But the larger realization is how through a willingness to relate we can build relationships and partnerships that transcend our cultural biases and perceived differences. Nepal has taught me a lot in the 4.5 years that I’ve been fortunate to live here, one of these being how to develop and maintain relationships and partnerships.
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