SFCG Feature Story: Nepal

Summer 2007

Nestled high in the Himalayas, the popular Western imagination sees Nepal as a land of monks and Mount Everest, a spiritual nirvana removed from the frenetic pace of urban life. This image is merely fantasy: Nepal is just coming out of a decade-long conflict between Maoist insurgents and the government that resulted in the signing of a peace agreement last year and in the emergence of a newly democratic government.

The democratic coalition and the Maoist insurgents are currently in negotiations over such hot-button issues as the role of the King, a representative assembly and weapons management. As a result of the ceasefire, civil society and media are developing. People are beginning to find their individual and collective roles in rebuilding their country as the root causes of the conflict are addressed.

Youth have played a fundamental role in every aspect of the armed conflict in Nepal, both as combatants and as key players in organising the recent democracy movement. Although they lack opportunities to be engaged in positive peace building activities, it is clear that they are well positioned to address the root causes of conflict at a community level, and should be integral to conflict mitigation activities.

Search for Common Ground recently organized a three-day workshop for twenty-five community youth leaders on the role that young people can play in peacebuilding in Nepal. The workshop took place in Rolpa District overlooking the Himalayas, in a rural area where the Maoist insurgency began. Rolpa was one of the most conflict-affected areas in the country, and until recently it was closed to visitors.

Serena Tripathee, SFCG Nepal Country Director, spoke about the participants in the workshop. As children growing up in the midst of armed conflict, the participants very familiar with aspects of violence. They know about guns, combat, the key concepts of interests vs. positions, they are wary of strangers, and are always ready for bad things to happen.

Tripathee remarked that she saw an amazing transformation occur during the three days. The youth began to understand that they had a role to play and that they could make a difference. As she described it, “the lights went on.”

Tripathee particularly noticed one participant. On the first day, a small wide-eyed boy arrived, asking to participate. Although Tripathee suspected that he was not yet fourteen (the minimum age for participation), his application form said that he was fourteen and he was allowed in. “I thought maybe he was malnourished,” Tripathee explained. He sat in the front row for all three days, taking copious notes, wanting to answer every question, and remained engaged throughout the workshop. Tripathee said that when she mentioned the role of younger children in peacebuilding, “the boy’s eyes lit right up.”

After the course, Tripathee decided to learn more about the boy and found out that he was from a neighboring village that had been heavily involved in the conflict. The boy admitted that he was only twelve years old and that he had lied about his age because he wanted to attend the workshop. “Twelve-year-olds can have just as much of a role in making peace as fourteen-year-olds!” he explained.

SFCG in Nepal empowers youth to make a difference in their communities. This twelve-year-old boy understood that he can make a difference, and SFCG continues to work with him and with others like him throughout the country.

It is sometimes difficult to find out what impact our radio programs have on individuals and communities where they are broadcast. But recently, our staff in Katmandu received a letter from a young teenager from a remote area in west Nepal that had been heavily involved in the conflict:

Click to enlarge letter. Some names have been censored.

Nepal & Nepalese are facing dreadful situation since 1994 & have lost many things. We can see that from our history too. I also had faced a very unbearable incident on April 2002. On that day, I was coming back to home from (name removed) finishing my SLC exam. That was the worst day of my whole life, when my father was killed by Maoist. Then me & my brother displaced from our native (name removed) went to (name removed). At that time I was thinking of taking revenge with Maoist by betraying them. My desire was to kill them in the same way, how they killed my father.

But unfortunately, when I started listening 'Naya Bato, Naya Paila' from Radio Nepal, it has changed my mind. After listening it, removing negative thoughts, I've developed positive thinking on me. Now because of this program, forgetting the wrong things of past, I want to give them chance to correct themselves.

The teenager wrote that he would like to become involved with one of the SFCG regional youth leader groups to learn how to engage with the local rebel groups so that he could honor, rather than avenge, the memory of his father.

One of the youth field staff traveled to the western region and met with the young man to hear his story. The young man continues to stay engaged as a youth leader in rebuilding his community as an agent of transformation and renewal, not merely a victim of conflict. Tripathee says that although this is only one story, hearing it made her and the Nepal staff know how valuable and worthwhile their work is.

We know there are countless more stories to be told.

Please click here to visit the Search for Common Ground in Nepal webpage.