I was recently very privileged to be invited to assist a colleague in delivering a training program in Nepal and this experience has really made me think about how we define happiness and the very nature of the human spirit.
We Australians often say we come from the lucky country but what does that actually mean?
Are we happy?
We complain bitterly about the slightest disruption of our expectations and sigh impatiently if we have to wait for anything,….a red light or a slow lift!
We share our First World Problems with our friends over a latte or wine.
We look sideways at neighbours and colleagues who earn more than us and drive the new sports car we really wanted.
We make politically correct responses to the news grab which shows us some tragic international incident, natural or man made, and then flick to watch the next episode of Master Chef.
But do we really ever think about how people in 3rd world countries actually live?
Have you ever asked yourself the question about their happiness?
I don’t know about you, but I had never really thought about it except that it was like a parallel universe and I couldn’t begin to fathom such a reality.
So here was this opportunity, not only to share in the training experience, but to visit one of the poorest countries in the world.
The impact of arrival in Katmandu was dramatic and confronting – poverty is reality, evidence of the earthquake is still everywhere, roads are barely passable, the air is thick with smoke and dust, running water is a luxury, electricity cuts in and out, wifi is rare, petrol is rationed due to the fuel blockade by India, beggars are the norm and the hotels, restaurants and shops are empty as there as no tourists.
…and yet there is something endearing about Katmandu…..something that despite the severity of conditions, makes you want to stay and be a part of the community….
It is the people!
Nepali are the most welcoming people I have met anywhere in the world …despite their living conditions they are really happy and being with them makes me happy!
They have the most contagious laughter I have ever heard and they laugh a lot and somehow you find yourself laughing as well.
They are very tactile and holding hands or touching is part of the natural order. A handshake is a little more than a formal greeting that we have in Australia – it is a handshake with a connection.
Namaste (I salute the divine in you) to say hello, thank you or goodbye with the palms placed together and a slight bow of the head and then a huge smile – from the taxi driver, the guard in the street, the shop keeper…even the lady who hangs out her washing on the roof of the building opposite the little balcony where I have my morning tea (Nepali coffee – well that is another story)
Everyone you meet just feels like someone you have known for ever
friendly tour guides…
I was wandering through the main city market and of course I was lost ( Read the Art of Getting Lost). I asked a young man to direct me to a particular temple and suddenly I had a tour guide.
Now having had the camel experience in Egypt ( remember – Jackie don’t get on the camel behind the pyramids ), I was wary but this lovely young man spent over 3 hours with me showing me a number of sacred places, telling me wonderful stories about the religious culture of Nepal, showing me how to cross roads and avoid being hit by a car or scooter, (actually much more challenging than it sounds as there are no lights or road rules ), helping me find an ATM, and finally getting me safely to my destination.
Did he expect payment?……he took me to his local store for me to buy some food for his family…. Did I pay above the going hourly rate? – probably but I didn’t feel as if I had been taken advantage of – I had had a truly happy experience with a local and shown places in the bowels of the city that I would not have otherwise have seen and I felt extremely happy.
being invited to participate in a Festival at the home of a Nepali community leader…
embraced upon arrival and made to feel like I belonged and then being asked to participate in the actual religious ceremony. I followed the others in my actions such as taking my shoes off ( bloody hell they turned into icicles after 30 seconds ) and I was blessed by the priest in exactly the same ways as the worshipers – no questions asked about my personal religious convictions – made to feel like I was part of a happy community and then invited to share a most incredible meal.
the training program…
15 consecutive days – 9 to 4, classroom conditions that in Australia would not pass muster, 2 trainers that didn’t speak Nepali, a group of participants who mostly didn’t speak English, an informal translator (no fancy headphones with simultaneous translation), rationed electricity, intense cold, noisy generator, no 21st century integrated multi media teaching aids and yet the atmosphere in the room – was happy – loads of laughter and you could actually feel not only energy and positive outcomes but happiness.
attending a local Rotary meeting…
didn’t know a soul and was a little apprehensive about what we would talk about….my apprehension lasted all of 1 minute after I walked in…they were just so happy to see me, to share their meal and to have a drink and by the end of the evening I felt that I had made real new friends and genuinely can’t wait for the next meeting and working with them in the rural community to help those most effected by the earthquake.
So why are they happy?
I tried to understand the reason, I asked questions, I observed, I did some research but in the end I realised that the answer was actually staring at me
…it is their easy acceptance of life as it is, the gratitude for what you do have rather than the focus on what you don’t have, might want, expect to get, that allows them to be happy !
I finally understood I didn’t need to analyse this phenomena – they are happy and being with them makes me happy – it is seriously contagious!
Maybe Australia is the lucky country but Nepal in the happy country.
you decide ….lucky or happy?
Happy Bumbering!
