Nomad Girl
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
This is the life of a nomad girl. This particular group comes down to Surkhet from up in the snowy Himalayas for 2-3 months of the year during the winter. My dad and I stumbled upon this particular family while we were out one day looking at rice paddies for sale in the valley. We stopped and chatted with the women who told us about the ponies their families raise and how although they, as a family are happy and fine to live up in the mountains year round, it gets too cold up there for the animals. So they walk them down for days on end, a 20-30 day trek down to Surkhet with their children, the ponies, and their few belongings and they build a house out of hay with a little hole on the top for the cooking smoke to vent out of. It wasn't until we got up close that we realized there were 5-7 family members living inside each hut.
Sometimes I can't believe how easily I can go from living in Nepal to NJ, (to Miami to Vegas to Portland to New York City.) I feel lucky to be able to travel and I really try to see and feel the good in each place and of the people I meet and no matter where I am I can almost always find kindness and good. I've stopped trying to compare or judge places and people and see the world as a whole based on the reality that surrounds us. When I really stop and think about it, I guess it's all kind of crazy; the differences. But I don't want to try to make sense of it when really, it just doesn't make sense. The fact that I can go from standing in the middle of a field with these huts to staring up at the towering sky scrapers in New York City and still be on the same planet is pretty neat. I wouldn't want to live in a world with just a rice paddy and I wouldn't want to live in a world with just sky scrapers either. I really just want us all to understand and take care of each other. That's the world I want to live in, one with more love and understanding than judgement and hate.
This nomad family was happy. Their ponies and their children and the food they were cooking up for their next meal... that was their reality. What I've learned more than anything is that everyone experiences hardship and suffering no matter where you are or who you are. Our pain is the same and we all love the same. And ultimately that's what makes us human, even though we can all live so differently.
Before this gets any deeper I just want to say I appreciate more than anything how sensitive people have been to the fact that it all must be kind of strange, going from there to here. I've been a nomad girl too as of late and I'm feeling really grateful for every good meal, every moment with a friend or my family, every smile from a stranger, every good conversation and the wonder of it all.