<figure><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7ee9c7e80680e08782ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption> There are nearly 2,000 Nepali nurses registered with the NHS in the UK, and the country needs more health workers.</figcaption></figure>Santosh Shah, the now famous Nepali who is a finalist in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mtf0" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mtf0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF7TXOI_L9k-3AhvbmN7_60pyCDtQ">Masterchef: The Professionals 2020</a>, knows how the right combination of effort and luck helped him to come such a long way from a village in Siraha to Britain and onto the world stage.This is an immigrant success story that proves talent is everywhere, opportunities are not, and migration can be an equaliser of sorts. Hard work, determination, and passion for his chosen profession made Shah one of the finalists in the coveted cookery competition.“If I can do it, so can others if they are given an opportunity – there is no shortage of talent in Nepal and I am no exception,” Shah told <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/you-inspire-others-by-learning-not-teaching-santosh-shah/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/you-inspire-others-by-learning-not-teaching-santosh-shah/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFpFsH-oYcei2EC9sjnh6rebJblHw">Nepali Times in an interview.</a>However, the less discussed, and perhaps less glamorous part of this globalisation of Nepali cuisine, is that the ‘chef’ occupation is one of the hard-to-fill occupations in the UK. The shortage of chefs in Asian restaurants across Britain led hundreds of them to close shop even before the Covid-19 crisis.South Asian restaurants in the UK prefer to hire migrants from the Subcontinent who are familiar with the cuisine, the flavour and the spices. But British immigration rules have made it difficult to hire chefs from non-EU countries. The minimum threshold salary and other recruitment expenses are too high for an employer to be able to sponsor South Asian migrants, says Ravi Thapaliya at City Cleaning, a placement agency.But all this is set to change from 11pm on 31 December, 2020 when the Brexit transition period expires, and the free movement of EU citizens to the UK will come to an end. <figure><img width="666" height="837" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7f19c7e80680e08782fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Non-EU and EU citizens will now be treated equally and be subject to the same set of rules,” explains UK-based solicitor Deepak Bhattarai. A point-based immigration system favouring skilled workers will require both EU and non-EU applicants to obtain at least 70 points, which depends on different criteria including job offers that meets salary threshold, English proficiency, education background, minimum salary and whether or not the occupation is in the Shortage Occupational List (SOL), which lists jobs facing a shortage and where it is ‘sensible’ to fill those with migrant workers. Now, the threshold salaries for skilled workers, including chefs, has been slightly reduced, and the point-based system has been made more flexible so the UK government can revise the criteria based on labour market requirements. Chefs have been included in the SOL which rewards additional points to the applicant, but many restaurants find the salary threshold is too high, especially with the pandemic crisis. “The incentive in the near future will be to mobilise workers who are already in the UK,” says Thapaliya.Easier immigration rules to recruit non-EU staff was one of the reasons why many in the South Asian Britons voted for the Leave option. But the inaction post-referendum has left the ‘curry industry’ that employs over 100,000 people, feeling misled by pro-Leave politicians. Hiring both EU and non-EU staff is now more difficult.“Businesses will continue to lobby with the government to further reduce the salary threshold. But there is a lot of uncertainty regarding immigration at present both because of Brexit and Covid,” Thapaliya addsThings are different in the medical sector, where there is an acute shortage of health workers and there are opportunities for nurses, including from Nepal. Both Covid-19 and the end of free movement have further amplified the demand for health workers, including from outside the EU. Britain has introduced a fast-track entry system with certain waivers including reduced fees for doctors and nurses, while visas for current healthcare workers was automatically extended for one year.  Nirmala Simkhada has been working in the UK for the last 12 years and has seen a demographic shift among her colleagues. She says, “Many of my friends from Eastern European countries like Romania and Bulgaria are returning to their countries because of the Brexit uncertainty, added paperwork, lack of access to the same benefits as British nationals.”Rising wages in their own countries and the fall in the value of the British pound after Brexit also mean that staying on in Britain is no longer as attractive as it used to be. Simkhada thinks newcomers from EU countries will also drop because of added complications like the new requirement to take IELTS language tests just as non-EU migrants have to.As a result, the proportion of health workers in Britain from the Philippines and India are on the rise. The share of European joiners to the National Health Service (NHS) since 2015/16 has decreased from 10.9% to 7.2% while non-EU/EEA nationals have increased from 8.7% to 14.5%. Some 22,000 EU nationals have reportedly quit the NHS since 2016, of which 8,800 were nurses.This could be an opportunity for Nepal, which can offer skilled migration in the global labour market, especially in the health sector.  “We have many unemployed nurses in Nepal as the health sector has not been able to absorb all graduates, so emigration is a financially safe alternate,” says Bikash Simkhada of the Nepali Nursing Association in the UK.He says English proficiency is a major obstacle, and Nepal’s nursing curriculum could be further strengthened to address geriatric care and other issues, and Nepal must prepare with better policies and partnerships with destination countries.But there are concerns about the impact of an exodus of health-workers on the health systems of developing countries. There are currently 1,988 Nepali nurses registered with the NHS in the UK. With the added demand for healthcare workers from the UK and elsewhere, Nepal will see a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/home-health-care-during-a-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/home-health-care-during-a-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF1CV67RG_SAPgCreT6du_H3g4oJg">depletion of its own nursing workforce</a>. <img width="1398" height="892" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be7f39c7e80680e087830jpeg.jpg" alt="">Already, an increasing number of students are joining nursing schools in Nepal because it is a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/overseas-nepalis-on-the-covid-19-frontlines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/overseas-nepalis-on-the-covid-19-frontlines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEV0ec6CHuU-P1qi8dA9eTmmjHgig">path to migration.</a> But even those who stay <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/caring-for-those-who-cared/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/caring-for-those-who-cared/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHL0uHvqHH5HIC32y1vxbRKop8h1g">become frustrated with the low salaries</a> and lack of respect, and end up emigrating, explains Tara Pokhrel, former president of the Nursing Association of Nepal. After spending at least Rs2.3 million for a nursing degree, they earn just Rs10,000 a month in private sector hospitals, she adds.“The government must strictly monitor the nurse-to-patient ratio in private hospitals in Nepal, and make proper salaries to health workers a criteria during license renewals. Our talent is recognised and absorbed abroad while our own hospitals especially outside the capital suffer from staff shortage. We lack health workers because we fail to reward them adequately,” Pokhrel adds.Skilled workers from Nepal are seeing an increased demand in non-traditional destination countries. Last year, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8ikowcr343XFrSW03L9ii5LLt7g">Nepal signed an agreement with Japan</a> for 16 job categories including nurses and chefs and the nursing exams took place in November in Kathmandu.This year, in the midst of the pandemic <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1zqyPCK3IFP6ApGGu9YirmI8udg">Nepal and Israel also signed an agreement</a> to source caregivers with backgrounds in nursing. The UAE and Oman have repeatedly expressed interest in hiring nurses from Nepal via bilateral cooperation.  There is no bilateral labour agreement between Nepal and countries like UK and Australia. In fact, due to the Code of Practice for International Recruitment, Britain’s NHS refrains from actively recruiting from countries including Nepal to prevent them from having a shortage of health workers. But the NHS has over 50,000 unfilled vacancies, and this is further complicated by the impending end of free movement of EU nationals on 31 December. Even without actively sourcing health workers from Nepal, therefore, Nepali nurses will be following the money, convenience and new opportunities abroad. Just as Santosh Shah of MasterChef has become a hero in Nepal, so has the Filipno-British nurse May Parsons who administered the first Covid-19 vaccine in the UK last week. Earlier this year, the Philippine government banned the migration of health workers because of the domestic demand during Covid-19, but the move backfired because few nurses agreed to take domestic jobs. The ban was lifted, but there is a cap of 5,000 nurses a year going abroad. Nepali Seema Pokhrel arrived in the UK two years ago and works as a nurse in Harrow. While most of her nursing friends opted for Australia, she chose UK because of the faster track to become a registered nurse.“The employer sponsored my second UK qualification exam and we could work alongside as health assistants and earn throughout,” she says. “While better salary was the primary motive for my decision to move, there is also better upward career mobility here unlike in Nepal where it was based on connections and not competence.”

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New UK job options for Nepalis

<figure><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beeed4b0ad905ca02ef77jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption> There are nearly 2,000 Nepali nurses registered with the NHS in the UK, and the country needs more health workers.</figcaption></figure>Santosh Shah, the now famous Nepali who is a finalist in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mtf0" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mtf0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF7TXOI_L9k-3AhvbmN7_60pyCDtQ">Masterchef: The Professionals 2020</a>, knows how the right combination of effort and luck helped him to come such a long way from a village in Siraha to Britain and onto the world stage.This is an immigrant success story that proves talent is everywhere, opportunities are not, and migration can be an equaliser of sorts. Hard work, determination, and passion for his chosen profession made Shah one of the finalists in the coveted cookery competition.“If I can do it, so can others if they are given an opportunity – there is no shortage of talent in Nepal and I am no exception,” Shah told <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/you-inspire-others-by-learning-not-teaching-santosh-shah/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/you-inspire-others-by-learning-not-teaching-santosh-shah/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFpFsH-oYcei2EC9sjnh6rebJblHw">Nepali Times in an interview.</a>However, the less discussed, and perhaps less glamorous part of this globalisation of Nepali cuisine, is that the ‘chef’ occupation is one of the hard-to-fill occupations in the UK. The shortage of chefs in Asian restaurants across Britain led hundreds of them to close shop even before the Covid-19 crisis.South Asian restaurants in the UK prefer to hire migrants from the Subcontinent who are familiar with the cuisine, the flavour and the spices. But British immigration rules have made it difficult to hire chefs from non-EU countries. The minimum threshold salary and other recruitment expenses are too high for an employer to be able to sponsor South Asian migrants, says Ravi Thapaliya at City Cleaning, a placement agency.But all this is set to change from 11pm on 31 December, 2020 when the Brexit transition period expires, and the free movement of EU citizens to the UK will come to an end. <figure><img width="666" height="837" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beeef4b0ad905ca02ef78jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Non-EU and EU citizens will now be treated equally and be subject to the same set of rules,” explains UK-based solicitor Deepak Bhattarai. A point-based immigration system favouring skilled workers will require both EU and non-EU applicants to obtain at least 70 points, which depends on different criteria including job offers that meets salary threshold, English proficiency, education background, minimum salary and whether or not the occupation is in the Shortage Occupational List (SOL), which lists jobs facing a shortage and where it is ‘sensible’ to fill those with migrant workers. Now, the threshold salaries for skilled workers, including chefs, has been slightly reduced, and the point-based system has been made more flexible so the UK government can revise the criteria based on labour market requirements. Chefs have been included in the SOL which rewards additional points to the applicant, but many restaurants find the salary threshold is too high, especially with the pandemic crisis. “The incentive in the near future will be to mobilise workers who are already in the UK,” says Thapaliya.Easier immigration rules to recruit non-EU staff was one of the reasons why many in the South Asian Britons voted for the Leave option. But the inaction post-referendum has left the ‘curry industry’ that employs over 100,000 people, feeling misled by pro-Leave politicians. Hiring both EU and non-EU staff is now more difficult.“Businesses will continue to lobby with the government to further reduce the salary threshold. But there is a lot of uncertainty regarding immigration at present both because of Brexit and Covid,” Thapaliya addsThings are different in the medical sector, where there is an acute shortage of health workers and there are opportunities for nurses, including from Nepal. Both Covid-19 and the end of free movement have further amplified the demand for health workers, including from outside the EU. Britain has introduced a fast-track entry system with certain waivers including reduced fees for doctors and nurses, while visas for current healthcare workers was automatically extended for one year.  Nirmala Simkhada has been working in the UK for the last 12 years and has seen a demographic shift among her colleagues. She says, “Many of my friends from Eastern European countries like Romania and Bulgaria are returning to their countries because of the Brexit uncertainty, added paperwork, lack of access to the same benefits as British nationals.”Rising wages in their own countries and the fall in the value of the British pound after Brexit also mean that staying on in Britain is no longer as attractive as it used to be. Simkhada thinks newcomers from EU countries will also drop because of added complications like the new requirement to take IELTS language tests just as non-EU migrants have to.As a result, the proportion of health workers in Britain from the Philippines and India are on the rise. The share of European joiners to the National Health Service (NHS) since 2015/16 has decreased from 10.9% to 7.2% while non-EU/EEA nationals have increased from 8.7% to 14.5%. Some 22,000 EU nationals have reportedly quit the NHS since 2016, of which 8,800 were nurses.This could be an opportunity for Nepal, which can offer skilled migration in the global labour market, especially in the health sector.  “We have many unemployed nurses in Nepal as the health sector has not been able to absorb all graduates, so emigration is a financially safe alternate,” says Bikash Simkhada of the Nepali Nursing Association in the UK.He says English proficiency is a major obstacle, and Nepal’s nursing curriculum could be further strengthened to address geriatric care and other issues, and Nepal must prepare with better policies and partnerships with destination countries.But there are concerns about the impact of an exodus of health-workers on the health systems of developing countries. There are currently 1,988 Nepali nurses registered with the NHS in the UK. With the added demand for healthcare workers from the UK and elsewhere, Nepal will see a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/home-health-care-during-a-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/home-health-care-during-a-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF1CV67RG_SAPgCreT6du_H3g4oJg">depletion of its own nursing workforce</a>. <img width="1398" height="892" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beef14b0ad905ca02ef79jpeg.jpg" alt="">Already, an increasing number of students are joining nursing schools in Nepal because it is a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/overseas-nepalis-on-the-covid-19-frontlines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/overseas-nepalis-on-the-covid-19-frontlines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEV0ec6CHuU-P1qi8dA9eTmmjHgig">path to migration.</a> But even those who stay <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/caring-for-those-who-cared/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/caring-for-those-who-cared/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHL0uHvqHH5HIC32y1vxbRKop8h1g">become frustrated with the low salaries</a> and lack of respect, and end up emigrating, explains Tara Pokhrel, former president of the Nursing Association of Nepal. After spending at least Rs2.3 million for a nursing degree, they earn just Rs10,000 a month in private sector hospitals, she adds.“The government must strictly monitor the nurse-to-patient ratio in private hospitals in Nepal, and make proper salaries to health workers a criteria during license renewals. Our talent is recognised and absorbed abroad while our own hospitals especially outside the capital suffer from staff shortage. We lack health workers because we fail to reward them adequately,” Pokhrel adds.Skilled workers from Nepal are seeing an increased demand in non-traditional destination countries. Last year, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8ikowcr343XFrSW03L9ii5LLt7g">Nepal signed an agreement with Japan</a> for 16 job categories including nurses and chefs and the nursing exams took place in November in Kathmandu.This year, in the midst of the pandemic <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607952191831000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1zqyPCK3IFP6ApGGu9YirmI8udg">Nepal and Israel also signed an agreement</a> to source caregivers with backgrounds in nursing. The UAE and Oman have repeatedly expressed interest in hiring nurses from Nepal via bilateral cooperation.  There is no bilateral labour agreement between Nepal and countries like UK and Australia. In fact, due to the Code of Practice for International Recruitment, Britain’s NHS refrains from actively recruiting from countries including Nepal to prevent them from having a shortage of health workers. But the NHS has over 50,000 unfilled vacancies, and this is further complicated by the impending end of free movement of EU nationals on 31 December. Even without actively sourcing health workers from Nepal, therefore, Nepali nurses will be following the money, convenience and new opportunities abroad. Just as Santosh Shah of MasterChef has become a hero in Nepal, so has the Filipno-British nurse May Parsons who administered the first Covid-19 vaccine in the UK last week. Earlier this year, the Philippine government banned the migration of health workers because of the domestic demand during Covid-19, but the move backfired because few nurses agreed to take domestic jobs. The ban was lifted, but there is a cap of 5,000 nurses a year going abroad. Nepali Seema Pokhrel arrived in the UK two years ago and works as a nurse in Harrow. While most of her nursing friends opted for Australia, she chose UK because of the faster track to become a registered nurse.“The employer sponsored my second UK qualification exam and we could work alongside as health assistants and earn throughout,” she says. “While better salary was the primary motive for my decision to move, there is also better upward career mobility here unlike in Nepal where it was based on connections and not competence.”

<img width="1584" height="1108" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a26569c7e80680e043a0djpeg.jpg" alt=""/>At <a href="https://www.international-alert.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Alert</a>, as a global peacebuilding organisation, we often point to Nepal alongside <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/%2520identical-political-trajectories-in-Nepal-and-South-Africa,4057&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj1r8WljLjgAhVBP48KHQScCPYQFggFMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;usg=AOvVaw2RTo4ewDKjXsEgz2vOJ76F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Africa</a> or Northern Ireland as a country working through a peace process successfully, proving that peace can be writ large.  Of course, all three countries are still beset by troubles and the peace is far from perfect. In Northern Ireland, for example, today <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/06/24/implications-of-brexit-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brexit</a> threatens the peace agreement, while in South Africa entrenched economic apartheid persists. But the guns have fallen silent, and stayed silent. Given that globally, half of all peace deals fall apart within 5 years, that is quite an achievement.Recently, International Alert and our partner <a href="http://fwld.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forum for Women, Law and Development</a> (FWLD) held a meeting in Nepalganj for victims to meet with the local service providers – local government, district administration, the hospitals, businesses and social services. The aim was to get practical help at the local level, while still pushing for a national solution.And <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-struggle-for-transitional-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the scars of war</a>, still unresolved, were still fresh: One man told us how on 8 July 2001, the Maoists cut off his leg, suspecting him of being an informer. Six times he has approached the government offices seeking medical support, but no-one listened to him. <img width="1949" height="777" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a265a9c7e80680e043a0ejpeg.jpg" alt="">The man sitting next to him told us that his leg was cut off the very next day on 9 July 2001: “My house was destroyed and I was tortured by the Maoists. I get interim relief but not adequate compensation. I registered my case with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/12-years-later-justice-is-a-mirage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> and so want to know what is going to happen next.” He wears an artificial leg, but has to treat himself.  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/12-years-later-justice-is-a-mirage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12 years later, justice is a mirage</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/justice-in-transition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice in transition</a>, David SeddonCalmly, patiently, a woman spoke up for all those waiting for men who have disappeared, calling simply for the truth, another for a lost son, another for a missing father. A woman said she was blindfolded and raped by security forces in the barracks. Severely traumatised and suffering from serious uterus problems to this day, she needs medical support and psychosocial counselling. But like too many others, she is left without support and justice.These victims and their families are struggling to be heard by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP), the two bodies in charge of pushing forward transitional justice in Nepal. Both have so far failed to deliver, despite having registered 63,000 complaints. This week, the four-year tenure of both <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/justice-in-transition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice commissions</a> were extended, and new Commissioners will be appointed.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">victims of sexual assault, rape</a> and torture, for example, have not received any support – no recognition that they are victims, no interim relief, no compensation. That is deeply demoralising for the victims and International Alert has been calling on the Nepal government to support a gender responsive <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/just-not-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice process</a>.  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No country for women</a>, Shreejana Shrestha <img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a265d9c7e80680e043a0fjpeg.jpg" alt="">These initiatives desperately need substantial funds with matching political will to ensure progress. The wounds of war cannot be left to fester and must be proactively addressed. If the Nepal government seems <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/state-of-impunity,2976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lacklustre to prioritise</a> these issues, the victims’ groups are full of gritty determination. People are more than ready to mobilise to find the truth, support victims to receive compensation and find new work or to mourn their loved, lost ones. To be more effective, the civil societies and victim groups must come under one common platform to take the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/justice-delayed-justice-denied-transitional-justice,3556" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional justice advocacy</a> ahead.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/just-not-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Just not justice</a>, Om Astha Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rocky-transition-to-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rocky transition to justice</a>, EditorialNepal still has an opportunity to move forward the transitional justice process constructively in the coming months and to address truth, justice and reparation for victims. But this work needs the Government of Nepal to step up, and it needs donors to commit. If we want peace to last (and who does not?) then it needs long term, patient investment.Which is why the long time frame of the US Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act is so vital. The bi-partisan Act was passed overwhelmingly through the House of Representatives on 28 November. If it passes the Senate, it commits the US Government to invest in 10 countries (five  already at war, five fragile) over 10 years, with coordination across all government departments from USAID to the military.Too often, governments lose interest in countries once the crises are past. NGOs are left with one or two-year projects sputtering to an end and no donors in sight to continue investing in building everyday peace. But that is to ignore the evidence and misread the public.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/state-of-impunity,2976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State of impunity</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/justice-delayed-justice-denied-transitional-justice,3556" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice delayed, justice denied</a>, EditorialEvidence shows that peacebuilding is effective, and also cost-effective. Every $1 spent on peacebuilding saves $16 in the costs of war, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace. A 2018 global poll undertaken by International Alert with the British Council found the public strongly favour ‘dealing with the reasons why people fight in the first place’ and ‘supporting societies to deal with conflict peacefully’, as effective means of creating long-term peace.So in 2019, the community of peacebuilding organisations will be pushing for the US Act to be passed into law, for other governments to adopt the approach, and for concrete progress for victims in Nepal as another building block of lasting peace.Harriet Lamb, CEO of International Alert and Rabina Shrestha, Manager of International Alert Nepal

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Nepal’s transition to peace needs justice

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171152/636937b89c7e80680e03fe57jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1476"/>MADRID – Sadly, 2018 will not be remembered as a year of political and diplomatic success. Though the international order had already begun to erode in 2017, the global political environment became downright chaotic, combustible, and hostile this year. That is no coincidence, as these are perhaps the three adjectives that best describe the United States under President Donald Trump.Since January 2018, when the Trump administration announced tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines, the year has been marked by an escalating “trade war,” waged primarily – but not exclusively – by the US against China. The ongoing tariff disputes have seriously <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/19/the-trade-war-has-claimed-its-first-victim/">undermined</a> the World Trade Organization and deepened mutual distrust in Sino-American relations.For its part, China this year <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer.html">eliminated</a> presidential term limits, raising fears that President Xi Jinping’s so-called <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/18/i-mastered-xi-jinping-thought-and-i-have-the-certificate-to-prove-it/">new era</a> will end the period of collective leadership ushered in by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, which were themselves a corrective to Mao’s cult of personality. This move could also herald a further deviation from Deng’s trademark foreign-policy restraint.Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin was reelected in March, to no one’s surprise. Under Putin, Russia has been re-emerging as a geopolitical force. And yet, its economy is essentially stagnant, owing in part to its excessive dependence on hydrocarbons. In the absence of growth, Putin has relied on foreign policy to shore up his domestic popularity.For example, Putin’s campaign press secretary welcomed the British government’s response to the nerve-agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, because it may have <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/kremlin-thanks-britain-for-putin-s-landslide-victory-a3793546.html">mobilized</a> Putin’s supporters in the run-up to the presidential election. And the Kremlin’s recent decision to blockade Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov may also have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/11/26/is-there-link-between-putins-approval-rating-aggressive-russian-foreign-policy/?utm_term=.7f850b68f13d">designed</a> to boost Putin’s domestic approval rating, among other goals. The danger now is that both the US and Russia will cease to implement the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, posing a new and acute <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/12/13/will-europe-try-to-save-the-inf-treaty/">threat to Europe</a> in particular.Meanwhile, the Middle East has continued to serve as a battlefield for some of the world’s most violent conflicts. Though the Islamic State (ISIS) has continued to <a href="https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/22-months-of-war-condensed-in-a-1-minute-video">lose ground</a>, it is far from defeated – contrary to what Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1075528854402256896">has claimed</a> – and the death toll in Syria’s civil war continues to climb. Likewise, the humanitarian calamity in Yemen has deepened, though negotiations that ran aground in 2016 have at least resumed and made <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/yemen/making-yemens-hodeida-deal-stick">some progress</a>. In Afghanistan, what is widely regarded as the longest-running war in US history continues, and <a href="https://thenewsrep.com/109943/is-afghanistan-a-lost-cause-taliban-control-more-territory-since-2001/">it is estimated</a> that the Taliban now controls more territory than at any time since their government was overthrown in 2001.Despite some recent developments in the aforementioned conflicts, the underpinnings of the Trump administration’s general strategy in the Middle East remained intact in 2018. The US has reaffirmed its <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/18/donald-trumps-new-world-order">support</a> for the axis of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which it regards as a bulwark against Iran. In May, the Trump administration moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. That same month, it abandoned the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and announced an abusive re-imposition of extraterritorial sanctions, which reflects the increasing <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-secondary-sanctions-eu-iran-by-mark-leonard-2018-10">weaponization of the US dollar</a>.Moreover, by siding with the Saudi government over his own intelligence agencies in the <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/confronting-saudi-policies-free-speech-yemen-syria-by-leon-willems-2018-12">murder</a> of journalist <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/jamal-khashoggi">Jamal Khashoggi</a> in October, Trump has made clear that opposing Iran and purchasing US arms is one of the quickest ways to his heart. The result of his broad approach to the Middle East has been to empower military hardliners throughout the region. In fact, Israel and Iran this year engaged in their first-ever <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/iran-israel-little-incentive-hurry-down-path-war">direct military encounter</a>.Trump has also contributed, in one way or another, to the advance of populism around the world in 2018. In Latin America, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro have shown that “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/dec/03/what-is-populism-trump-farage-orban-bolsonaro">populism</a>” can encompass diverse ideologies. While both claim to speak for “the people” against “the elites,” the leftist AMLO was elected partly as a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/mexico-election-trump-populist-lopez-obrador-664243">rebuke</a> to Trump, whereas Bolsonaro embraces a Trump-like brand of right-wing nationalism, and enjoys the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/mexico-election-trump-populist-lopez-obrador-664243">support</a> of many Brazilian elites.The Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, often regarded as one of the Kremlin’s main ideologues, <a href="https://www.politicaexterior.com/actualidad/trump-paso-hacia-objetivo-insuficiente/">argues</a> that “populism should unite right-wing values with socialism, social justice, and anti-capitalism.” This “integral populism,” he believes, is perfectly illustrated by Italy’s current governing coalition, which comprises the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the nationalist League party.In October, Italy’s government instigated a conflict with the European Union (which has fortunately <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/19/italy-avoids-eu-sanctions-after-reaching-2019-budget-agreement">subsided</a>) by proposing a budget that defied EU fiscal rules. Italy’s leaders justified their policies in the name of an outdated interpretation of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/10/eu-rejected-italy-budget-populists/573742/">sovereignty</a>,” one similar to that of the United Kingdom’s Brexiteers, whose haphazardness has left the UK’s future shrouded in uncertainty.There were a few positive developments in 2018. Certainly, the easing of tensions between the US and North Korea, and the even deeper rapprochement between North and South Korea, should be welcomed. Much credit belongs to South Korean President <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/moon-jae-in">Moon Jae-in</a>, who used the occasion of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Trump’s subsequent turn toward diplomacy – which led to his historic summit with Kim – should also be applauded, though his administration has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-rejects-denuclearization-unless-us-nuclear-threat-is-eliminated/2018/12/20/fcf642a2-0438-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.c0a8c770d20f">yet to achieve</a> anything more than symbolic progress toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.The result of the US midterm elections was also good news. Democratic control of the House of Representatives means that, from January 2019, there will be more checks on Trump’s policies. And there have been welcome developments in the Republican-controlled Senate, where a recent resolution condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Khashoggi, and another to end US support for the Saudi campaign in Yemen, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/us/politics/yemen-saudi-war-pompeo-mattis.html?module=inline">passed</a> with bipartisan support.In Europe, the prospects for 2019 will depend primarily on three factors: Brexit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron’s push for <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/826a4986-f7ac-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c">EU reform</a>, and the European Parliament election in May. In each case, one hopes that the supporters of democracy, the rule of law, European integration, and multilateralism will prevail.Those who oppose these principles have had a rather good year. But they would be mistaken to think that those who uphold them have lost the will – and the ability – to cultivate a spirit of cooperation and harmony.     © Project SyndicateJavier Solana was EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of NATO, and Foreign Minister of Spain.

Good riddance to 2018

<img width="1131" height="1700" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/6369349d9c7e80680e03e006jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Game of Thrones actress Amrita Acharia has joined the online appeal for funds for the charity <a href="http://www.chorachori.org.uk/">ChoraChori</a> that has rescued 147 trafficked and displaced Nepali children from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/runaway-boys-brought-home-to-%20Nepal,2950">slavery and abuse</a> in India.The 31-year-old Nepali-Ukrainian actress is based in Norway and acted in HBO’s Game of Thrones, UK tv series The Good Karma Hospital, the Norwegian tv series Acquitted and in the forthcoming animation The Missing Link.Says Acharia: “My father was educated, and he made sure we were educated and taught self-respect. When we moved away from Nepal, it was that education that gave us stability and the chance to follow our dreams. I love it that ChoraChori works on empowering young girls after these experiences, and gives them tools rather than just rescuing and dumping them in an orphanage”.Acharia was born in Kathmandu but her family moved to England when she was seven and after spending some years in the Ukraine, attended High School in Norway where her father is an obstetrician. She is now looking forward to going back to Nepal after 16 years to visit ChoraChori’s facilities in Thaukel. <img width="750" height="744" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/6369349f9c7e80680e03e007jpeg.jpg" alt="">Most of the rescued children are boys whom ChoraChori has reunited with their families who hadn’t heard from the boys in years and had come to believe them to be dead. Most of the children had left home in search of work before being trafficked, were apprehended by the Indian authorities and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2478#.W_yxTy2ZMWp">later rescued</a> and brought back to Nepal.Some of the children were runaways from domestic abuse whom ChoraChori funds through vocational training and into good employment. ChoraChori last year <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nepali-children-rescued-from-India,3618">rescued Nepali girls</a> from a notorious children’s home in Muzaffarpur where at least 34 residents were gang raped by care home officials and outsiders. These girls are currently supported at ChoraChori’s child trauma management centre alongside a growing number of domestic child rape victims.“We’ve only just begun” says ChoraChori Founder Lt Col (retd.) <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17939#.W_yxeS2ZMWp">Philip Holmes</a>. “We know that there are still scores of Nepali children trapped in Indian institutions and the Muzaffarpur case has brought into sharp focus just how dangerous these centres are for children.”With Brexit, ChoraChori is feeling the effects of a financial squeeze in the UK charitable sector. Which is why it is launching ‘The Big Give’ online Christmas appeal. For one week only from noon GMT on Tuesday 27 November, all online donations are automatically being doubled in value in the charity’s main annual fundraising drive.Says Holmes: “The truth is that some of the rescued children are so young that they even lack the vocabulary to describe what has been done to them. That is heart-breaking, but I have been encouraged and inspired by how ChoraChori-Nepal has risen to the challenge.”To see Amrita’s video appeal and donate to ChoraChori through The Big Give visit <a href="http://www.chorachori.org/">www.chorachori.org</a>

Amrita Acharia in charity drive

‘One early morning, we heard the ambassador’s wife cry out, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” A disaster has befallen Nepal!” She had heard on the radio that a fire had consumed Singha Durbar." This is not about the arson attack on 9 September 2025, but the one on 8 July, 1973. It started in the South Wing of the then single-largest building in all of Nepal. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, requiring the use of explosives to demolish one wing to protect the imposing western facade. As Bhekh Bahadur Thapa recalls in the English translation of his memoir A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy, he was then on leave from the Nepal government serving with the IDRC in Ottawa.&nbsp; He had already served as Nepal’s Finance Secretary at age 25, went on to be Finance Minister and Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was already younger than some of the GenZ ministers in Nepal’s present RSP government. Thapa, now 89, was at the launch of the book in February which was attended by former diplomats and bureaucrats. After speeches by panelists, there was a question from the audience about how Thapa had managed to be the diplomat he was, managing Nepal’s international relations on the world stage.&nbsp; Writer and journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, who was moderating the panel, responded by going into the section of the book where we see Thapa as an ambassador to the US, playing tennis with White House officials, cultivating a network of contacts to project the identity and welfare of Nepal, and making it possible for a state visit by King Birendra to Ronald Reagan’s America. The book is full of anecdotes that suggest Thapa was a clever and strategic diplomat, always calm and unruffled, easily making friends in high places with his maturity and engaging sense of humour. Thapa’s memoir is heavy on details about Nepal’s administrative history during the years he was active in public service, serving as minister and ambassador under three kings: Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, and alongside five prime ministers.&nbsp; Aside from an insider look on how certain treaties, development deals and research projects in Nepal came into fruition, Thapa goes into great detail about his personal and professional relationships with the kings, ministers, ambassadors, foreign leaders and politicians.&nbsp; As a reader, one is struck by the level of detail around the events that unfolded in Nepal over the years during Thapa’s tenure. Was Thapa recording a journal over the years of the events and the conversations that transpired, or were they committed to his phenomenal memory? Either way, the reader gets a glimpse of Nepal’s recent history from the early days of the Panchayat, through the People’s Movement and the democracy period, the Maoist insurgency, Royal Palace massacre of 2001, and Gyanendra’s coup of 2005.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1584" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="How to win friends and influence nations NT"> </figure>  Not enough is said about the political parties of the time whose presence led to the way Nepal’s multiparty democracy came to be shaped. The book keeps its focus on the administration and the key figures around it, mostly those in the Panchayat era. Towards the second half of the book, we do start to hear about political parties, but not in great depth. Another figure whose presence in the book is conspicuously less prominent is that of his wife, Rita Thapa — the person who seems to have rescued him every time financial quandary or family care became a challenge. Yet, we do not see her as a full person. Perhaps because of the personal tragedies in his life, the children are also barely mentioned.&nbsp; The book is therefore less personal and more technical. Throughout, we learn about Thapa’s thinking as he navigated the world of diplomacy to win him the trust of those who mattered. There are tips here for a new generation of Nepali officials and diplomats about how much commitment and focus is needed to be good at one’s job and serve the national interest. This book adds to tomes that have been written on Nepal’s fragile relationship with India. ‘India has always wished for Nepal to remain dependent on it,’ writes Thapa, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to India and later in the Eminent Persons Group &nbsp;on Indo-Nepal relations that has been allowed to languish. The book has several insights into the Indo-Nepal trysts with diplomacy and agency.&nbsp; China’s role is also recorded, viewed through conversations during a visit to Beijing, but all that was before Nepal’s neighbour to the north emerged as a world economic and military power. The book also has such sudden instances of quirkiness and humour. For instance, we see a young Thapa in America explaining to a government official why he would like to return to Nepal instead of settling down in the US. “Because, Nepal is beautiful,” he said. The text is immaculate and does not read much like a translation, credit for which clearly goes to the team that put the edition together: translator Prawin Adhikari, &nbsp;Anagha Neelakanthan and Bhekh Thapa’s daughter, Manjushree. As Nepal enters a new era of governance and diplomacy, A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy should be essential reading for students of political science, economics and foreign affairs who can gain a fresh perspective on the country’s trajectory.&nbsp; There are dozens of forgotten state secrets recorded in the book, but the reader must also remember this is a story told from one person’s perspective and there may be others.&nbsp; So, what really made Thapa the diplomat he was? I met him in 2004 at the Kantipur TV studio when he was serving as king Gyanendra’s foreign minister. He was there for a studio interview, and I was just done with my English newscast.&nbsp; He surprised me at the door: “Pratibha! I’ve been reading your articles in The Kathmandu Post. You must keep writing.” I thanked him, glad to have been noticed for my work by a stranger. That was perhaps one of the things that set Thapa apart — he excelled at staying close to those in power, while also noticing those who were not.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Book details"> </figure>

How to win friends and influence nations

This is the 91st episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad. I have still not come to terms with the reality that my daughter Ruby Thakur is now the Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s Parliament. Sometimes, when I am walking, the thought hits me, and I cannot believe it.&nbsp; Things changed for my daughter in a very short time. I had dreamt that the best my daughter could achieve was a good engineering job. Fate had bigger plans for her. She is no longer just my daughter, she is the nation’s daughter. Nepal’s daughter.&nbsp; My children’s education was always my foremost priority. That is the main reason I went overseas for employment. I realised the value of education while working in Saudi Arabia. In my office, colleagues with good education earn $8,000 per month working on computers. Those with low education toil outdoors in the heat for much lower wages. A good education or skills can change everything. I am in Nepal on vacation and will soon return to my job. Ruby is all set now. But I still have to take care of my other children's education. As the eldest son, I myself never got a chance to prioritise my own education. I dropped out in Grade 7 because I had to take care of my ageing parents and younger siblings. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked in a landlord’s field for a share of the harvest. Even now my wife and I farm for the land owner and have to give away half of what we grow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> <figcaption>Sogarath Thakur during a break in Nepal with wife tending to his farm.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  Then I worked as a barber, my family’s line of occupation. I went door to door cutting people’s hair and later worked in a relative’s saloon. Hairstyles were simple back then, and I got to keep half the fee. I also worked in a brick factory where I was paid weekly. &nbsp; I married when I was 16, and my wife was a year younger. As my family and responsibilities grew, I had to migrate leaving behind my three children including Ruby who was just three months old.&nbsp; I went to Qatar where I continued working as a barber. It was a large saloon and the standards for cleanliness and professionalism were higher. I had to hand over 70% of my daily earnings to the employer. I had to rely on my colleague to translate what the customer wanted. But I slowly became fluent in Arabic. I used to jot down words in Nepali and Arabic and memorise them. In Qatar, customers even came at night for haircuts, and people stayed up late. I would work till 3AM.&nbsp; Communicating with my family was one-way. I would go to Bismillah and ask someone to type out questions to my family about their whereabouts, how the harvest was that season. I would offer very little information about my life in Qatar because it was not easy. What was the point of getting them all worried? What could they do? I never received a letter in return, so throughout my time in Qatar, I never knew how my family was faring. When I appeared in the village after five years without any advance notice, it was a bittersweet reunion, and I had no gifts. I still remember how unfamiliar my village felt when I came home after so many years. I had to ask for directions. When I came home, Ruby was already in school. I had left her in my wife’s arms five years prior. I missed her growing up, and did not even see her pictures. My wife had to introduce her to me as her father. But it took just 15 minutes for her to warm up to me.&nbsp; The Arabic skills I had picked up in Qatar came in handy when I remigrated two years later to Saudi Arabia. I worked as a labourer in the desert heat, but once my company found out I spoke Arabic, I was hired for an indoor job as an office boy. The struggle in Qatar had paid off. I worked in an air conditioned office serving tea or coffee, doing bank runs or getting documents signed and photocopied. I have worked in the same company for the past 20 years, sending money home.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="3213" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  My wife is not just my children’s guardian, but also mine throughout the two decades I was away. I trust her with all my earnings, and she manages our household finances well. She makes sure that the children’s school fees and other expenses are paid on time. These days, with video calls, things have become much easier for me to stay in touch with home.&nbsp; When Ruby told me she wanted to do an engineering diploma, I was happy. Later, her friends inspired her to join politics so she started getting involved with Shram Sanskriti Party. I first found out she got the proportional representation nomination through social media while on my work duty in Saudi Arabia. I was so excited, but even more so when she was elected Deputy Speaker. I was back home in Dhanusha on my vacation at the time.&nbsp; We are overjoyed and waiting for her to come back to the village for a visit when she gets a chance so we can celebrate properly with everyone. I plan to go back to Saudi Arabia as originally planned, I have a good job and will work for maybe five more years. Ruby has taken 75% of the load off my back. She can help take care of her siblings.&nbsp; I sleep at 8PM every day and wake up at 5AM to exercise before my day in Saudi Arabia begins – I have stuck to the same routine for the last two decades and it has worked well for me and my health. I have a good rapport with my boss who is an Egyptian. My requests to resign have often been met with counter-offers to stay on. My honesty and hard work have won me the company's trust. I will go back and resume working as I have, despite my daughter’s huge achievements. I am still a farmer’s son, a simple man who has to fulfil his family responsibilities. My colleagues in Saudi Arabia are aware that Ruby is Deputy Speaker in Nepal’s Parliament, they are all happy for me and have congratulated me. This time, when I go back, I have promised them that I will throw a bakhri party to celebrate my daughter’s achievement.

The nation’s daughter

Nepalis are insured but not covered

At 6 feet and one inch, Hira Bahadur Ghalan was exceptionally tall for a Nepali. In 1936, when people came to his Tamang village near Tistung looking for porters, they recruited him on the spot. This was no ordinary job, Hira Bahadur would lead gangs of 30 or more porters to carry cars bought by Rana rulers from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu.&nbsp; Those were the days when the only motorable roads in Nepal were in Kathmandu, but the capital was not connected to anywhere else by road. So, before cars could carry people, people had to carry cars. More Nepalis had carried cars than ridden in one. The porters were paid Rs5 for the job, and sometimes the Rana owners gave Hira Bahadur a Rs25 baksheesh. One of the cars his community helped carry was a 1939 Daimler Benz gifted by Adolf Hitler to King Tribhuvan to woo Nepal away from the British. The rusted dusty vehicle is now in the Narayanhiti Palace Museum.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur hauled cars for 25 years until his knees gave way, he died at age 90 eight years ago — the last surviving car porters of Nepal from Chitlang Valley.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur Ghalan had three sons and three daughters, one of them is Maila Kaji Lama, who at age 68, is a chauffeur in Kathmandu. His son, Manjil Lama is a pilot with Summit Air, flying to remote Himalayan airstrips. Three generations of one family worked in professions that followed a century of transportation history in Nepal. &nbsp; After the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-long-and-winding-road-to-india">Tribhuvan Rajpath was finished in 1957</a> and the ropeway upgraded, Hira Bahadur was out of a job. He tilled the family farm, watching trucks and buses headed to and from Kathmandu on the hairpins.&nbsp; As a child, Maila Kaji was fascinated by cars and wished one day to be able to drive one. After he failed Grade 8, he came to Kathmandu in 1975 and got a Rs20/month job at a petrol station in Maiti Devi. “I watched King Birendra’s coronation and was impressed by the glamour of Kathmandu, and decided to stay here,” Maila Kaji says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1974" height="1608" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Maila Kaji</figcaption> </figure>  Former minister Ramesh Nath Pandey used to bring his Volkswagen Beetle to the station, and Maila Kaji started taking care of his car. Later, he drove a Russian Jeep for former minister and geographer Harka Gurung. Along the way, he fell in love with the daughter of a Brahmin colleague, and married her. “My father back in Tistung did not approve of our inter-ethnic marriage, and not speak to me for five years,” Maila Kaji recalls. Manjil Lama grew up in Kathmandu, and did well in science in school. He had wanted to go the US to become a pilot like his friends, but was denied a visa.&nbsp; “The visa officer told him I did not earn enough,” says Maila Kaji, “so I sold some property and sent Manjil to flying school in the Philippines.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537" data-rendition-name="original" width="1434" height="1754" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Manjil Lama</figcaption> </figure>  After returning to Nepal, Manjil Lama now flies Let 410s of Summit Air to difficult air strips like Lukla and Simkot, and has logged over 2,000 hours. He has to go to the Czech Republic regularly for simulator training. Says Maila Kaji Lama: “My father worked hard carrying cars to raise us, I started from scratch to become a driver to support my family, and my son is now a pilot with experience in flying in the world’s toughest terrain.” &nbsp; Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvT3iTi8yw4" target="_blank">video clip from S Dillon Ripley here</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="1582" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> </figure>

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Grandfather carried cars, son drives cars, grandson flies planes