All these problems..

I wouldn't say, that Nepalese people are extreme whiners, or they would be lazy or limited compared to other nations. Most of Nepalese people are kind, friendly, positive and very hard-working. But despite that fact, Nepal faces so many serious problems nowadays - and although the solutions seem to be quite obvious (at least for "western world") - none of these solutions is successfully implemented.
Most critical problems which are - I believe - mentioned in every conversation in Nepal (and which I face in my everyday life as well):

• Lack of electricity
  The hydro-power capability of the country is said to be around 84000 MW, but out of this only 300 MW is produced. During the dry season the situation gets even worse, because the glacier fed rivers run dry. The very sad part is probably, that lack of electricity does not only affect the households, but also offices, industries, etc.. Could you imagine accomplishing your work tasks for given deadline, when there is sometimes 4hrs, sometimes 2hrs and sometimes 0hrs of electricity during the whole working day?! And although there are plenty of articles in newspapers about the problem - as far as I have understood, not much has changed lately. Well .. generator-selling businesses are doing good of course! :)


• Pollution
  When Nepalese talk about pollution, they usually mean polluted air. Many people wear masks (respirators) for protection, while walking on the streets of Kathmandu. Seems that the bad air is mainly caused by enormous amount of ancient vehicles driving around and small fires burning here and there (where plastic and other similar stuff is burnt). The newspapers write sometimes about "dust clouds" coming from Indian deserts, which - I believe - do not improve the situation either. In addition to bad air, the rivers look (and smell) rather like open sewage system and streets look (and smell) like one huge waste bin. Fortunately - there is much less trash laying around than in India, and I also have sometimes seen the trash being collected. So the situation is not completely hopeless!


• Lack of water
  Nepal has second largest water resources on earth - tells every Nepalese proudly. But unfortunately somehow they are not very good in managing it. According to one article, less than 30% of the households gets water on a regular basis. Not to mention, that the quality of this water is rather questionable. So - there are big trucks with water tanks standing sometimes somewhere - to provide the water. And yes - sometimes, somewhere - without any systematic approach, as usual in Nepal. Fortunately the area, where I live, is somehow in better condition. There is the water for washing/flushing most of the time available, and drinking water is brought from somewhere. So - once more - not completely hopeless situation.


• Problems with soil
  Not that it would influence my everyday life remarkably, but I read about it another day from one book about Nepal and was really shocked. The main problem is, that enormous usage of chemical fertilizers (in the 70-s the usage was around 494 metric tons and currently 50000 metric tons) has been exhausting the soil to the extent, that it is not productive anymore. When in 1975 the agriculture sector contributed 71.6% to the GDP, then in 1996 the contribution was decreased to the level of 40.5%. In the past Nepal was able to generate surplus of paddy, but now it has started to import paddy from other countries. And over 55 districts out of 75 have been declared as food deficit district by the government. When I was discussing mentioned problem with one local, he pointed out that the main problem here is lack of knowledge about the effect of such fertilizers as well as lack of willingness to think in long term perspective. Pity.

Of course - poverty, high unemployment rate, illiteracy and gender equality - are very critical problems as well, but on one hand - these problems do not influence my personal everyday life directly (egomaniac!). But on the other hand - these are the areas, where I can see (and I read from newspapers too), that something gets done in reality. I also see ERDCN (and many other organizations) working hard to improve the situation, I read the case studies where people gain from programs provided by ERDCN, I feel the positive changes and I really admire!