| Sanu Dumma Village Leader
February 10-12, 2001
Went with a friend of Dharma Banta named Jhiban Katuwal to his town about two hours downhill from Manedanda. Jhiban works on the community development committee of his village. They work to improve the village's school facilities, teach adults to read, infrstructure etc. with money from the NGO that Dharma works for. Jhiban really wants to practice English, is bugging Dharma all the time to teach him more English, and insisted that I come stay at his home for at least one or two nights.
Turns out Jhiban is a super- nice guy and his mom is a master cook. Last night she served me a wonderful twist on the standard Dal Bhat (lentils and rice) called Gundruk. Gundruk is a bitter green vegitable that is pickled, fermented, and then dried before being made into a chewy and flavorful curry with full-bodied dried red chili peppers.
Apparently Jhiban decided to teach himself English "by hook or by crook" (he often repeats) after dining with an uncle of his in another village. This uncle invites him to dinner then proceeds to talk the whole time with his wife in English in front of Jhiban. Jhiban is of course bored silly and a bit offended after a while (could be this uncle thinks Jhiban has a big head and wanted to humble him?). The uncle then turns to his wife and says in Nepali "Jhiban can't understand us - he is just an uneducated village boy." This sends Jhiban through the roof and he vows to not return again to the rude uncle's house until he can speak, read and write English fluently.
This was about six months ago and what Jhiban knows already is astounding (all self-taught). He can read, write and speak very well - only his listening skills are weak since there is not a single other person in the village who speaks English worth a damn.
Perhaps rather than a petty man Jhiban's rude uncle is in fact a genious people-motivator, knows what fires Jhiban up, and is looking out for his nephew's best interests!
I took a rest day in the village and was shown around to everyone Jhiban considered a respectable person. It was Saturday so I helped Jhiban prepare the english exams for 60 students in his class. The exams are copied by hand using carbon sheets that yeild 6 copies at one go (at best). Since there were twenty questions this took a while and we did our work on a blanket spread out on the sunbaked clay ground in between the two buildings, the only well-lit common area in the typical rural Nepali hillside farm house.
After the exams were over Jhiban called the children in to the teacher's building and asked some of them to sing and dance Nepali folk songs for me. They were very shy (especially the girls) and in most cases the song broke down midway and the teachers picked it up in falsetto voices with gusto, and a lot of smiling. Some of the kids even danced - a kind of whimsical circular movement with arms outstreched like a circling vulture while the wrists wind round and round for effect.
I made a date to meet Jhiban and his friend Tribikram in 15 days in Kathmandu to spend time there together (the fifteenth of Falgun on the Nepali calendar) and see if I can't introduce Jhiban to a few other native English speakers that he can practice on.
Jhiban's freind Tribikram speaks little English and what he knows is hidden in the face of Jhiban's fire (from the few moments we were alone toghether it was evident that his listening is in fact better than Jibhan's). Tribikram sings very well and is sensitive to people's reactions (Jhiban does not seem to notice people's reactions and plows ahead regardless). As Jhiban says: "Tribikram's skill in singING is VEry GREAT but since WEEE are in a SMALL villAGE his talent is hidden in the SHADE of the TREE."
On the 12th I left Jhiban's home at 11 AM and walked 2 down (to Adheri Ghat where they charged me 2 Rupees to cross the bridge) and 4 long, hard hours up to the town of Pakhribas, only one hour’s walk from the road at Hile.
This night I stayed at the house of a Peace Corps volunteer Virginia and her two VSO (like Biritish Peace Corps) roomates and thereby turned up empty on the hunt for quality female companionship (what an exciting idea!). I ate my dinner with the principle of the VSO volunteer's boarding school in the cafeteria of the Agricultural center (a fun guy who wanted to party all night long). | | | February 13-14, 2001
Stayed in the house of the Peace Corps Volunteer Virginia one more day in observation of the Maoist birthday.
I guess the town where they live in the Limbu-run apartments is oficially known as Param. Walked to the hilltop above Pakhribas to find fast moving clouds and English grafitti burned and trenched into the grassy slope up high. The grafitti read: "Aesetic for Peace of Mind" (peace sign) - D. Guru.
It is clear the Peace Corps Volunteer and the two English VSO girls are no fun at all - best thing we did together is have some veggie momos (steamed dumplings). All of them just looked overwhelmed by being here and may never have been that much fun at home to start with. Oh well! | |