01/07/2025
๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐: ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐
Thereโs no such thing as retirement in the villages, work is life. Elders would walk into the clinic, beating their arm or knee, saying, โThis stupid arm, if I canโt work, I might as well be dead.โ Those words stuck with me.
It was hard to say goodbye after six weeks of treating these village folk. Their faces, their stories, their pure hearts...
One gentle, kind old man, though fully recovered and with no need to return, still walked 5 hours to the clinic on my last day, just to say goodbye.
Another man, with a fractured metatarsal, ignored my advice to stay home and rest. Instead, he hobbled 4 hours to the clinic just to say farewell, handing me a bunch of rhododendrons that he freshly picked from the forest along the way.
And one woman who had lost her home in the earthquake, insisted on cooking me a dish with her homegrown pumpkin. I didnโt want to trouble her, knowing how little she had. But she wept and said, โYou cared for me more than my own parents ever did. This is the least I can do.โ In the rural areas, where the caste system still divides (even though it has been legally outlawed), and many are treated as less than human, they treasured being seen and cared for simply as equals. Iโve never looked at a pumpkin the same way since.
And then there was the music, the singing, the dancing, and the shared laughter. We were bound together in joy, just as much as in struggle.
This volunteering experience has taught me that it is important:
To stay authentic,
To be kind,
To build resilience,
To remain active and useful for as long as I can,
To always have a sense of wonder and seeking spirit,
And to live with humility and gratitude,
No matter how much or how little I have, or how challenging life becomes.
Some journeys donโt take you far. They take you inward, to the place where you remember what it truly means to be human. And with that, this closes the Memoirs of Nepal series. Thank you for walking with me.
