What is Nepalese society’s obsession?

America’s is looks and beauty and weight and money and, and, and… In Nepal it’s… not getting giardia? Having all one’s children live to adulthood? Living past 50-years-old oneself? Mark has a blog entry about a garish pink house in his neighborhood; perhaps life here is about the color and size of one’s house?

For some who visit the clinic, it seems to be all about health; like in America, they visit for the silliest reasons – the common cold and itching after not taking a shower for 20 days amongst them. But for so many others, healthcare seems to take second place to food, shelter, water… the things one would expect people from a developing country to be concerned with. So how do healthcare practitioners help folks see the importance of their physical well-being?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need, comes to mind in this situation. Maslow posited that people cannot worry about higher levels of needs, like education and self-realization until their basic needs of food, shelter, and water are met. If we break it down even further, people can’t worry about their health until their needs for food, shelter, and water are met. But it’s all connected, we say. But we say that from a middle- to upper class background, not from the corrugated steel shack on the side of the road. Thus, basic infrastructure, such as clean water and affordable food, needs to be acquired before people can start worrying about their health.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, but I’m hoping the elections 10 April go somewhere toward fixing this infrastructure. However, as I get further into Forget Kathmandu, which is a history of Nepal from the early 20th century to today, I lose more and more hope. Nepal has been here before – on the cusp of an election, which promises to finally bring democracy to the country, but ultimately fails and the country returns to a monarchy. It’s been here, oh, eight times, I think, and I’m only on page 141 of 260, so there’s time yet for more failure.

Knowing this, I’m not so sure that my original feeling that Nepali elections are more exciting than American elections is true; it seems both flavors have bad aftertastes no matter the sentiment going into it.