Simple Things Make Life

Last month, Wall Street Journal published a video titled ‘Food Crisis in Rural Nepal.’ The author of the video has done a tremendous job in addressing the food crisis especially in the rural part of the Himalayan country Nepal. But the two minute video is hardly enough to address all of the problems associated with the crisis. Especially, the people in Nepal are facing transportation difficulties. Nepal is a landlocked country and is still under the developing phase regarding transportation and other basic needs. Therefore, even though rich powers like the United States and Great Britain have showed their dignity towards the people who are living in crisis, the proper management of food aid is still lacking.

Nepal has gone through severe political turmoil in the past decade. While the ruling parties were busy holding their own posts, Nepalese people had to manage all their production and conservation of food themselves which is far beyond the capability of the rural farmers.

‘In the hilly region of the country where people depend upon rainfall for their crop production, the problem of food crisis grew much bigger because of the drought.’ One of the villagers told in an interview with the videographer of Reuters. As a resident of Nepal, I clearly know how difficult it can be to irrigate our farm especially during the time of drought. In the hilly region where farming equipments like tractors are not seen, people spend their labor to plough the field using ox driven plough. Some villagers even use water buffaloes to plough their farms. But the drought will completely hinder the production since the general farmers are not lucky enough to have access for artificial irrigation.

‘This is 21^st century and we cannot leave portions of society neglected’ said one of the persons in the video that the Wall Street Journal had published last week. Of course, we cannot avoid them and see them any different from any of us regarding the fundamental need of our life i.e. food. Although the United States and Great Britain had pledged about $40 million to help feed the people of rural Nepal, the problem is not going to extinct.

In the past, America was an arable land too. Europeans came into this land and started cultivation. With or without the help of the American Indians, the people of United States today have relatively less or no scarcity of food. Certainly, the United States has not been able to address the hunger issues as we can see job cuts and unstable family environments. But the fact is that, people here have access to quality education and healthcare which helps to reduce the poverty in a long run.

During the time of food crisis in the United States, government institutions like school, colleges, hospitals, and also the private individuals and institutions participate in food donation campaigns actively. The donation is incredibly supported by the local and federal agents and institutions. However, in a rural country like Nepal, the government has not been able to handle the food crisis in a timely and efficient manner. When asked, the local and central officers of Ministry of Agriculture in Nepal will show some statistics of certain hectors of farms being irrigated during the certain fiscal year which hardly include the hilly and mountainous regions of the country. Had them been able to address the food crisis properly, these kinds of videos showing poverty in rural Nepal would not emerge publicly.

People in the developed countries unite in the time of crisis. But surprisingly, people in the poor country Nepal do not unite during the time of crisis and scarcity. May be because of the war driven mentality, people in Nepal are more focused in preserving their personal wealth and cannot address these kinds of difficulties of the rural sector. Due to tremendous amount of loss in wealth and properties, people are not able to think globally in times of difficulties.

Efforts have been done internationally to reduce the food crisis in Nepal. In fact, according to a recent data published in a local newspaper in the United States, there are around 500 Nepal based non-profit organizations that are constantly helping people in Nepal though donations and necessary food supplies. In the times of need like the Haiti Earthquake, we just saw how sympathetic people were to contribute to the people of disaster stroked city of Port-au-Prince. Natural Disasters like this are not under our control and we cannot prevent them from occurring. However, the food crisis in Nepal can be resolved if people in Nepal carefully study the reason why people are not able to produce enough food, store them and sell them if necessary.

Like other countries, Nepal also produces some cash crops. Nepalese people can sell and use the cash generated from the trade and invest into construction of roads and bridges. This will not only be helpful in linking those villages to the other villages but villages can send their children to schools if they do not have a school of their own. Meanwhile, if the village gets drought this year, the district office can send food items to that particular village without any delay. If the village produces excessive amount of certain kinds of cash crop like potatoes, tomatoes, gingers, apples, oranges etc. they can sell those to the nearby villages or transport them to the cities where they can be sold for a higher amount.

In the past, Nepalese people have heard of stories like the villages being unfairly paid for their crops. This is disrespectful to the farmers and is discouraging as well. If possible, the government should regulate food distribution and trade. This will not only benefit the city and surrounding people from getting fresh food and produce but the farmers will not have the monopoly over their food production.

You can see that being optimistic and serious about this food crisis how we can change our scenario from low income people to the monopoly of the same farmers who were once dependent to outside NGO’s and donors for the food. Of course, the government should provide the farmers with loan to buy fertilizers and basic equipments of farming. In some villages where farming is not possible, villagers should be encouraged to raring the livestock.

The current government led by Prime Minister Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal should definitely highlight these issues and address the problems as well as the rights of the farmers while drafting the most anticipated newly drafted constitution of the Federal Republic of Nepal.

Poverty has hit hard not only to the poor nations. Developing countries are also facing equal challenges in the developmental process. Due to increasing crime and addiction to drugs and alcohol by parents, children are the most affected ones in the family. For this reason, there are millions of NGOs and governmental organizations in the United States alone such as Child Protection Services that are constantly working for the welfare of the children.

In Nepal, the situation is different. Nepal is still crawling towards the path of progress. Rural areas where transportation is not possible, many children die every year from simple causes like diarrhea and typhoid without even seeing the hospital. Children, who excel in their school, move to the city for further education, where personal hygiene and transportation is not a problem. It is the children living in the rural part of the country that has to suffer.

Nepal has always been a country of hope for sterile parents and couples. Several children have been adopted by foreign parents in recent years. Foreign parents do not look at the national origin but they are fascinated by the innocent children in the rural Nepal. This interest can be traced back to the missionaries who began to preach Christianity in the land of the Himalayas more than 50 years ago.

In Nepal, it is not a tradition for the children to move out after you reach adulthood. But in their late teens, when children start to feel their responsibilities towards their family, some children leave their parents’ home and migrate to cities. It may be surprising to some but you may not know the fact that parents in Nepal will easily let their children go and live with foreign parents. It is because parents have a hope that someday, their children will go back to them and take care of them during their old age.

While the male children migrate, females are vulnerable to trafficking by the smugglers to the neighboring countries. However, in a poor country where parents are unable to raise their children, there is always an option for their children—adoption.

Whether it’s a developed country or a poor, the government is not able to give complete care for all the children. All the basic needs like food, clothes and shelter, if provided, a child is not considered poor. But there is no ideal country which can provide all these needs to their children. If parents are not able to raise their children, there are adopters who are willing to raise them up and there are several organizations that are willing to help you to find out your future adoptees.

In the recent days, some people have claimed that their children have been missing and probably adopted by foreign parents. For this reason, adoption experts in Hague have recommended the foreign parents not to adopt Nepalese Children. In my little research, I found that many Hague accredited children adopting agencies have blocked adoptions of children from Nepal. Even the United States government has warned its citizens not to adopt children from Nepal.

If the parents can give enough care to their children they will not be listed in agencies websites for adoption. If they are, the adoption agencies should be held responsible for the complete adoption process. But one of two cases should not hinder the complete adoption trend that has been benefitting both adoptees and adopters since ages.