Tea...the universal healer... John Callaway 2012

The programme took place at the National Land Rights Forum headquarters, which is located on land owned by CSRC and a small number of other Nepali NGOs. The land is adjacent to a community forest, to which rights of use are granted for the collection of firewood. In short, an obvious location for the NLRF, relatively central, and with fairly easy access…and most importantly situated out of Kathmandu in a farming area. NLRF have only been here for a few months, but there is a vision which extends beyond the here and now. A vision for a centre which can generate revenue for the NLRF, which can in turn be used to assist landless tillers across Nepal.

NLRF training centre with accommodation behind. John Callaway 2012

The vision encompasses the following key areas:

• The development of a training/conference hall which can be rented out for use by other organisations.
• Increasing the amount of agricultural produce from the land owned for local sale and revenue generation. (The NLRF has recently bought two cows for milk production, but there is still further land which can be returned to agricultural use, and which can generate revenue for the work of the NLRF).
• Develop as a ‘centre of excellence’, which can provide concrete examples of sustainable agriculture.

But…as with any development, this requires additional revenue to realise the ambition. Infrastructure being paramount.

The training facilities are pretty basic at present, and it is a testament to all participants that work can be done in temperatures which require you to wrap up with several layers of clothing…particularly as none of the windows are at present glazed.

Glass not included... John Callaway 2012

The accommodation is dormitory style with seven or so to a room, and sleeping on the floor being obligatory for around half of the participants. The present accommodation can sleep around 40 people, but toilet facilities are limited, with two Nepali style toilets available for use by all participants.

Food is excellent, and typical Nepali fare, but better cooking facilities would make the process of catering for large numbers easier.

Nepali Chulo (Wood fired stove). John Callaway 2012

Returning more land back to agricultural use leads to a need for greater security, and the perimeter fencing is currently insecure to non-existent.

Part of my work with CSRC has been to assist in the writing of funding proposals, which will undoubtedly be something that I will be doing in the near future. But…as my time in Nepal comes to an end, my thoughts are turning to the possibility of setting up a UK based fund raising organisation, which can support these aims in some way.

More to follow….!!

Termite mound. John Callaway 2012

Footnote: I came across this termite mound whilst exploring the immediate vicinity of the centre. It seems perhaps a good metaphor…a monument to building something from the ground upwards in less than favourable conditions…

जय भुमि

From today’s Republica

No other comment necessary.

Hope. John Callaway 2011

“My fellow Nepali friends, First, I want to ask you one question: Who is your friend, or foe? Do you know? Whose vehicle was it that you torched down in the banda and whose is it that you plan to burn down next?

By the way, have you ever helped your mom light her stove? My friends, against whom are you raging or for whom? Any idea? Tomorrow, all of us have to walk up and down that same potholed road, ride the same buses and breathe the same air. 

Aren’t we all same, sharing one common fortune of being Nepali? Did you ever think that instead of swearing and screaming on roads for no apparent reason – apart from some fun – you could’ve taught a girl who’s never been to school how to read and write? Or even record the books for the blinds, like one of my friends has been doing. 

There are thousands of better things you can do to help build the house rather than going on a rampage of destroying it. Does this ever cross your mind of the good you can do?

My friends, I urge you to think deeply about what you believe in. Again, the same question, but have you now realized who is your friend or foe, because the only people you are hurting are fellow Nepalis and Nepal.

My friends, I want to remind you all that in these last 10 years, when the world leapt miles ahead, we were left far behind. Deep injuries sustained in the civil war still hurt……’        [Barsha Paudel]

Continues here

Yeh...this is irony!!

So much for travelling west yesterday. The bandh season has started early, with a strike called in the far west for today.

As Republica reports “normal life has been affected in the far-western region on Wednesday due to a two-day strike called by Hindu Bachau Abhiyan, an organization of Hindu activists, and Snehi Mahila Jagaran Nepal. Educational institutions, industries and marketplaces have remained closed while transportation on both short and long routes have come to a halt due to the strike.

The organizations have called the strike, saying the prime minister turned down their invitation to visit the region”.

It therefore makes absolutely no sense to travel, particularly as there’s also a General Strike scheduled for tomorrow, which will effectively shut significant parts of the country down!

Ghost Town. Banepa during the General Strike, May 2010. John Callaway 2010

There is a reasonably well orchestrated/organised distribution of known bandh’s amongst the various INGOs in the country, so at least the one tomorrow was not a last minute thing.

Here’s an extract from the most recent circular…

“The Central Struggle Committee of disqualified Maoist combatants has announced the following protest programmes demanding the  Government to fulfill their demand which includes removal of the term disqualified, timely drafting of the pro-people constitution, ending unemployment in the country, assurance of proper management of the martyrs & other PLA fighters who were injured or handicapped during the ten – year long Insurgency and make public the status of disappeared PLA fighters and provide relief package to their families”. 

Police & Boy, Rally, Ratna Park.(May 2010). John Callaway 2010

Its difficult to find a reasonably coherent article online which provides an overview, but this is quite succinct. [Source: South Asia Institute, University Of Heidelberg]

The underlined bit in the quotation is by me. Irony or what? Continue to shut down the country with an ongoing programme of bandh’s, thereby preventing many people from getting to work, opening their businesses and earning a livelihood…..Go figure!

...and if all else fails, you can always set fire to something. John Callaway 2010

Anyway…rant over. Tomorrow’s another day…and it provides an opportunity to publish a couple of bandha related photos from earlier in my stay. Exciting huh?

And Bhattarai?  Nepal’s current prime minister. More here.

The game of life....? John Callaway 2011

I’ve got one more field trip to the far west of Nepal with CSRC, starting later on today, and lasting for 12 days. This trip will undoubtedly form the basis of some further narrative, but I suspect that after that point, this blog may become a little more self reflective for a while, as I start to answer some of the questions above. In truth I already have started this process, but committing to print is perhaps little harder.

What I do know is that having worked for the same organisation for 14 years before coming out to Nepal, I’m a little out of practice in the job application & interview process! In the last couple of weeks I’ve sent off a couple of speculative applications and CVs, just to test the water so to speak.

I’ve certainly had a lot of time to read, and Rabindranath Tagore is a South Asian voice that has a particular resonance. So here he is again…

The Journey Home

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long. 

I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my

voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet. 

It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, 

and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune. 

The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, 

and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. 

This Way Home. Aka. Maybe Spielberg was right... John Callaway 2011

Coming to the end of the year, and continuing to some degree the theme of the previous post, a few home thoughts from abroad. Living in a country riven with poverty, with a political system and infrastructure which at times seems almost non-existent and with a population which appears paralysed by decades of fatalism, its been difficult, (for me at least) to assess the impact of soaring inflation, a worldwide recession and lowering demand on Nepal.

Business as usual? John Callaway 2010

There’s been no high profile equivalent of the Occupy Wall Street campaign, or the riots in the UK which took up so much of the news reporting on the BBC World Service a couple of months ago. This is neither the time or place for debate about the motives of those who took part [!!], but woe betide anyone who dared to “… argue that government economic policy had helped create conditions for unrest. On no account must social context be permitted to dilute the orgy of self-gratifying condemnation, it appears…” [Dave Hill. Guardian 11/8/2011]

What is clear is that billions of people worldwide are in food and fuel poverty, with agriculture and land being the battleground. Arguably conflict is an inevitable and integral part of societies and indicator of the social change process. Conflict is fluid and ambiguous. Different people interpret it differently. It emerges from a difference in needs, goals, perspectives or values, feelings of unfairness, injustice, mistrust, misunderstandings, clashes of interest, rapid changes from new technologies, commercialisation of common property resources, privatisation of public services, growing consumerism, faulty government policies to name but a few. And yet those on the ground are not included in the debate, and are becoming increasingly marginalised.

Land is one of the main sources of conflict. It exists because land is an economic, social, cultural, psychological and political asset. Conflict can be articulated in simple terms such as access and control of land resources; competition or greed; lack of understanding of the land/people relationship; land as a political tool; development interventions and land disputes; ambiguity over ownership and contradictory legal arrangements; and increased interdependence over land (landscape and land use).

Land...the new battlefield? John Callaway 2010

There is a demographic pressure on land. The expected median projection of world population will be 9.1 billion by 2050. (UN, 2009). A rise in population leads to an increase in demand for food, space (land), water, energy and other scarce resources which ultimately triggers fierce competition. Scarcity-led competition may provide a breeding ground for violent conflict. There is much evidence that climate change and resource scarcity are closely linked. For the 70% of the world’s poor who live in rural areas, agriculture is the main source of income and employment. But depletion and degradation of land and water pose serious challenges to producing enough food and other agricultural products to sustain livelihoods here and meet the needs of urban populations. (Source: World Bank).

Land use. A question of balance? John Callaway 2011

The issue of land grabbing and its acquisition by foreign users,is becoming a major worldwide phenomenon, either through leases or purchases and/or investment, either by multinational companies or oil-rich but food-hungry countries. The UK isn’t entirely blameless in this, as yet more land gets taken away from those who can best use it to produce food for their fellow countrymen and women.  More fuel to the fire perhaps?

Enough food to go round... John Callaway 2010

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 25  states: “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food [...]”.

Within the South Asian region (link here, and yes I know this is the World Bank link, but maybe that debate’s for another day…), five countries are designated as Least Developed Countries, whilst three, (one of which is Nepal) are designated as Land Locked Least Developed Countries. These countries face key development challenges:- continued population growth; a high incidence of poverty; excessive dependance upon agriculture; an increasing degree of urbanisation; and degradation of the environment. Climate change likely to contribute to a reduction in agricultural yields; increased water stress due to changes in rainfall patterns and glacier melting (within the Himalayas); decline in fishery products; degradation of natural grassland and forest areas. South Asia as a region is already particularly susceptible to natural hazards such as cyclones and storms; droughts & heatwaves; floods; and landslides. Climate change can only serve to aggravate the situation.

Once were glaciers...? John Callaway 2011

Agriculture remains the broad base of the Nepal economy. It is primarily of a subsistence nature, and not able to support and sustain food sufficiency. Grain production is largely driven by food sufficiency needs, and there has already been a stagnation in the level of production as a result of increased overseas labour migration, which is seen by many young Nepalis as a route out of poverty. Add to this the impact of climate change, with the reliability of glacial melt as a source of water being threatened, along with an increasingly unpredictable monsoon pattern, upon a water intensive cropping system, and almost exclusively rain fed agriculture and…yet another case of those with the least standing to lose the most if action isn’t forthcoming.

Food in abundance? John Callaway 2011

Footnote: Interesting study by Oxfam (May 2011) here entitled “Improving Food Security For Vulnerable Communities In Nepal”

Khopra. John Callaway 2011

So…Khopra to Chitre….mostly looks like this.

Can't see the wood for the trees... John Callaway 2011

Why sleep with the curtains drawn when you can wake up to this! (And for the photographers amongst you, this was taken ‘in the style of’ Uta Barth. Click here if you want to know what I’m on about, and draw your own conclusions… Warning. I was writing a load of pretentious crap a couple of years ago!! )

Room with a view... John Callaway 2011

Time for tea before heading off to Ramche.

Morning Tea...Chitre. John Callaway 2011

And once again the value of having a guide with local knowledge becomes apparent. This time for culinary purposes. As we travel through the forest, Amman collects around 2kg of mushrooms, which will end up as part of our evening meal. (When you consider that I’m paying around 400 rupees for ½ kg of these mushrooms in Kathmandu, you begin to appreciate the value of free food).

And then, suddenly the landscape changes, as we emerge from the woods. The hillside is a mass of terracing, interspersed with small settlements, with seemingly every available piece of land turned over to crops. Ramche is a Magur village, and we’re staying with a family, in a home stay. In addition to generating additional revenue for the family, it does enable us to experience ‘home cooking’, and watch the meal being prepared in the kitchen. Everything is grown locally, and prepared from scratch. The epitomy of ‘slow food’…something we appear to have lost along the way in the west.

“Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment.

A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world”.

For more information on Slow Food, click here 

Mushrooms... John Callaway 2011

And so to the final two days. Ramche to Lespar, and then to Patichaur, where we pick up a jeep back to Pokhara…until the next time!

Dhaulagiri Range. Early morning, Khopra. John Callaway 2011

1100 metres up and back in the same day…and why not? A 6 am start for just three of us, (Akke Antje, Amman and me), on what proves to be the toughest day of the trek. The effects of altitude start to kick in pretty quickly, and breathing is already starting to become laboured. Its not too bad on the earlier stages whilst the pathway is relatively ‘flat’, but from about 4000 metres, as the climb begins to get much steeper, its an effort. The latter part of the journey to our destination is punctuated by frequent stops to  breathe!

Dhaulagiri. John Callaway 2011

Heading up from Khopra the landscape is initially rough pasture but as the path begins to climb there are numerous boulder fields to pick our way through. We’re out of direct sunlight for a good deal of the climb. Frost, slippery grass and stones, and ice in between cracks makes for an ‘interesting’ and sometimes slightly precarious journey. There’s an incredible stillness and silence, punctuated only by the sound of streams, the occasional bird song and for the first part of the morning, the sound of small planes doing the “Everest Flight”.

More of the same.... John Callaway 2011

We’re blessed with an almost perfect view of the Dhaulagiri Himal for much of our climb. (Not so for the last hour or the descent, as the mist begins to roll in and obscure pretty much everything). The lake is already shrouded in mist as Akke Antje and I arrive, Amman having already gone on ahead to observe his own puja at the lakeside.

Khayar Barahi Lake. John Callaway 2011

Just another 4½ hours or so of descent left now which is marginally easier….and we arrive back at Khopra as the mist fails to lift and darkness begins to fall. (The previous post has a photograph here of Khopra as we arrived)

Desolation Row. John Callaway 2011

An evening meal of…you’ve guessed it….dal bhat, taken in front of a wood fire with the yak herders seems a fitting end to the day.

Its all downhill from now on!

Even if its still ‘further on up the road‘

Khopra. John Callaway 2011

 Mists that shroud

 Winds that chill

 Rains that soak men to the marrow

 Make them old before their time…                     JC Nov 2011

In memoriam. Jackie Leven (10 June 1950 to 14 November 2011) 

“There are spiritual story tellers and there are soulful story tellers. I hope to be a soulful story teller. I see the two kinds as two different directions. Spiritual is ascending. Sky, God and all that. I hope my story telling is going down into the earth, is wetter, has more moisture.” Jackie Leven