Postgrad Women's Network Monthly Meeting

Postgrad Women's Coffee Club

Reflections: from the Nepalese Himalaya's, to India, to the United Nations.

My fascination with the Himalaya’s began when on a whim, my then fiancé and I decided to trek to Mount Everest Base Camp…for our honeymoon. Almost a year in planning, you cannot imagine the grave disappointment of arriving in Nepal with my new husband to what was actually quite typical weather conditions, which prevented us from flying up to the starting point for our adventure, Lukla. In hindsight, the disappointment I felt was undoubtedly selfish. There I was, in a land that I now long to return to, and I was unable to enjoy the sheer beauty of that which surrounded me. The beauty masked the pain and suffering of a Least Developed Country (LDC), a post conflict country. This was a beauty that existed not just among the mountains, but also among the people. Meanwhile, I was pissed off that I could not fly up to Lukla, the most dangerous airport in the world, because there was no visibility. It was an outrage! 

Driving along the Prithvy Highway there are frequent, but gentle reminders of Nepal's post conflict, least developed country status.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

I am forever disappointed in how I responded to the news we would not fly, and that my tour could not be refunded because of a breakdown in communication between the local operator and global adventure travel company. I will also be forever disappointed that instead I did not squeal with joy at the news that we were to travel along the infamous Prithvi Highway to Pokhara by bus, so we could trek one of the most famous mountain trails in the world; the ancient trade route between Nepal and Tibet. Hindsight is indeed a beautiful thing.   

 

It is not always recognised, what will become our greatest achievements.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

 I learned some lessons during my time in Nepal that I now carry with me each and every day. Our Sherpa was a Buddhist, his patience is something that I continue to admire when I reflect on those days that we walked with him along the Nepali ‘flat’ trail; a little bit up, a little bit down. We would hear stories about his family in Kathmandu and his life as a Sherpa in the mountains; the passion he has for his country despite all of its heartaches. Had I been able to embrace all of his philosophies about in the way I can now, my journey would have been quite different. But there is an importance to that which I could not understand on our days in the mountains. 

Moments of fear were met with an unwavering sense of accomplishment.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

 Not within a moment of leaving Nepal, I missed it. After almost three weeks there I had only just begun to relax, and I had started to piece together the meaning of everything that had happened in that time.  I had started to walk freely around the tourist centre of Thamel, though still somewhat scared of what was beyond the confines of that familiarity. When we flew into Hong Kong the civilisation was almost terrifying. It seemed boring, lifeless. But we were exhausted. We slept for almost ten hours on the ground of the airport as we waited for our connecting flight home, feeling out of place in our Nepali clothing that had become our comfortable daily attire. 

Full of colour, and beauty; such is life in Kathmandu.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

It must have only been a matter of a month or two before I started looking at how I could return to Nepal. I made contacts with people who work in the region and hoped that I could do an internship with the United Nations. The country had no constitution at the time and opportunities were scarce to non-existent; the Resident Head of the UN told me despite its importance, social development was far from on the agenda. Peace and security were what was and is still important.

Agriculture remains Nepals' primary economic activity.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

It was during my weekly search of the Internet that I came across the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) and that they were offering internships in their New Delhi office. This sub regional office represents the countries that comprised South and South West Asia; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey and Sri Lanka. This was my opportunity to travel back to the region, gain exposure to governance, politics and social development in the region. I was extraordinarily lucky to be selected, that I could fundraise enough money to take three months out of my PhD Scholarship and that my husband and family supported my decision to go away for three months and live in New Delhi. For that, I will forever be grateful.

A once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the United Nations Internship Programme.
New Delhi, 2012

 The work experience I gained while I was with UN ESCAP was invaluable. I made lifelong friends with other interns and staff, I was acknowledged in an annual report, I worked on a research project about women’s entrepreneurship in India and assisted with policy briefs. I saw first-hand how the United Nations Secretariat operates. I had the opportunity to meet the Human Resources Director from Bangkok and the most inspiring person of them all, the Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP and Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Noeleen Heyzer. 

 

Acknowledged in a United Nations publication. A proud moment.

Living in New Delhi I had many challenges. Many of which I was able to understand and accept from lessons learned during my time trekking the Himalaya’s, and my reflections on that time. After three months my patience with New Delhi had been worn thin, I was often scared and alone. I knew my way around my local streets of Saket and how to take a trip on my own to the depths of Old Delhi to do some shopping, followed by a little peace and quiet in Hauz Khas Village. I was living a normal life of a worker in New Delhi but I found myself questioning why I was so special that I should not have to take the public bus, and spend ten times that amount on an auto rickshaw. That is something that any Delhiite would do, if they had the cash. I looked at the (few) women I saw in civil society and wondered what their lives were really like, when they went home, when they walked at night, when they went to school. I knew that unlike me, they did not have a one way ticket out of India to a country where there was economic prosperity at all stages of the life course, clean water running from the taps, men who opened doors for us and were sent to prison if they raped us. Were these women grateful? Were they happy? Were they yearning for something else, an altruistic goal perhaps? Or were they simply surviving?

We are but the same.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

I returned from India thinking that on one hand, I never wanted to go back. I did not have the same peace within me that I felt when I left Nepal. I was confused, filled with more questions than answers. As time passes, and it has now been over four months since arriving home in Melbourne, I still struggle to come to terms with my journey there. I long for understanding and I long to know more about what I left behind. I also still long to return to Nepal. And most importantly, I long for understanding about the way women live their lives in these countries. 

 

Here I am wearing an 80 year old Rajasthani wedding dress, in Udaipur, 2012.
Photo credit: Peter Lynn

There are lessons to be learned; lessons we can learn from our vantage point of white western citizenship that without internal and external enquiry we will never know. I will go back but not to just serve my own inner needs, but to exchange lessons. The greatest gift we can give is to share.

Jodhpur, 2012.