It was a big day in my life, after the earthquake here in Nepal. I didn’t have any expectations on what it will be like spending 24 hours in a spinal cord injury centre, a rehabilitation centre. Staying awake for that many hours was hard at first but slowly my motions and mind got adjusted to the ‘world’ within this walls.
I could see what I need to capture. It didn’t take long for me to understand the hardships of many here, mainly villagers who have lost the ability to walk or do anything on their own.
THE TEACHER
“I use to be a teacher, in a village up north, called Sindhupalchok. But I lost everything. I have this memories of them, painful once. It’s difficult to even sleep as I often dream about them, they come to me in my sleep and then I awake with this thoughts. I’m still recovering from my own back injury, mainly with pain killers and rehabilitation.
I still have this mental and physical issues today. I still think about my family. I don’t even have a picture of them, I lost everything to the earthquake, I only have their memories with me. It’s hard to accept they are both gone, my wife and my daughter.
I am an educated man, I even finish my masters but I am poor man, no one will hire me here. In Nepal you need to have high connections and money to get a good job. I left my home to be a teacher in a village, I took my wife and daughter with me, we had a good life there. But today it’s all gone and no one will hire me here in the city. I am all alone now.
Now I have been staying here for treatments. I am happy to stay in the centre. It’s easy for me to live here among the other patients as we have something in common, we can talk about similar problems. It’s comforting. We give each other mental support. But how long can I stay in here? I’m afraid to leave this place and go out there. I’m not strong enough. How would I survive?
I can’t even pay my rent. I can’t go back to my village and I can’t afford to live in the city. Where would I go now? I can’t even stand on my own two feet without going through this back pains. But I consider myself lucky as I only have minor injuries, how about those here who can’t walk again?
During my time here, I saw many volunteers come and go, they say they came to help. But who are they actually helping? They come here for a few weeks or months and give us all this help, this talks, they teach us how use wheelchairs and rehabilitation methods, that’s all great but it’s not enough. How about their lives in the villages after rehabilitation?
They can’t even go back to farming. Some children here can’t even go back to school. There should be a long term plan to sustain their livelihoods too. Not just a place for volunteers to come and go. We always hear a lot of inspiring talks from volunteers and doctors but words won’t help us out there. We need help to sustain ourselves. Inspiring words won’t help us get our lives back.”
(Sangha, Kavre | Nepal)
More stories Voices Of Nepal
Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre, SIRC. Over nearly a decade of work, the Spinal Center has developed a range of facilities to support the spinally injured of Nepal, who tend to come from the most marginalized bracket of society. The Center offers rehabilitation services to patients so that they are able to rebuild their lives within the limits of their ability. The Center is run by the non-profit Spinal Injury Sangha Nepal.
More info: http://www.sirc.org.np/
