Kamala Sarup: Children, Nepal and the Year 2006

Children deserve the food, security education and peace. It is the violence that has forced children in particular to pay a terrible price. Forceful recruitment of young children in the Maoist force is another serious issue. Children have suffered the loss of family and homes. The majority of internal refugees are children.

Conflict is very difficult to eradicate. Children are the predominant victims of war and/or terrorism. Lots of innocent children are in the way of the combatants or are deliberately targeted by terrorists. These include grown men and women as well as children, if they accompany parents. From Iraq to Afghanistan, Nepal to Kashmir where childrens are victims by terror.

However, like all human behavior, the environment is always there that has to be considered too when children survival is at stake. But fortunately the environmental influences seem to be prevailing generally around the world over peace influences, in part caused by more education about races and the promulgation of worldwide communications, both visual and aural that shows more of the similarities than differences in racial behavior towards children.

Since Nepal is sandwiched between mountains and has limited resources, it cannot become rich by producing goods for children's development. These require heavy capital investment and large transportation costs into other parts of the world. So, for children's development Nepal must produce children development program who can work through the Internet. Knowledge work does not require tranportation and large capital investments. However, children development program must be competitive in a world environment. This requires, in turn, world-class education in those subjects so that the graduates are able to compete around the world via the Internet.

Many underdeveloped countries today are doing what I described above. Therefore, I can't think of a better way for Nepal to spend its revenues toward the objective of making Nepal a richer country for our children. It is true, Nepal is committed to addressing the challenges of peace and development.

Nepal has become the workshop of the world, has very prosperous enclaves on its coast. Nepal too has seen a stunning change to its fortunes as the world has changed with rise. Nepal has matured to a completely independent actor in South Asia.

So what does this mean for the children of Nepal who are being born today? What will their world look like in 2006 and 2010?

To have a child can be looked at a number of ways. In adulthood, children are the expected result to approved building block of any civilization.

Planned or unplanned, children are the expected, not the unexpected. In middle age, children, once again, are often a pleasant surprise as two adults find God has decided they need some excitement in their lives. Children are often used to both bond and settle inheritance questions.

Regardless of how they are conceived and brought forth, children are a life-affirming act, the most hopeful thing human beings can do. They are also messy, time-demanding, and some say, the ultimate teachers of the parents. Women tend to look at children as destiny, which is not surprising. Birth is the act which defines most women and perpetuates the human race. Women give birth to create families, as well as to fulfill the dream states they have maintained since their own childhood. Men can only look on in awe, protect and earn, and eventually die. It's the way of things.

So what do these Nepali women with child in the year 2005 dream of in the year 2006? Peace and prosperity, certainly. Terrorism degrades both the doer and the tortured. It is a moral malignancy that is an illusion. It does not yield accurate peace, only jollies for sick and diseased minds. It just does not do so, and that has been proven time and time again.

In the collective dream-state of a nation, they probably harbor hopes that Nepal, their own "mother", will become even beautiful than they perceive it to be, which is very good indeed. These women nurture the fierce determination that their child will have a great say in these matters. That their child will discover the key to mystery that is the future.

Perhaps they dream of great wealth, great accomplishments, or great fame, peace and security? Or perhaps their dream is more humble: survival and perhaps some slight advancement? Precisely what these mothers-to-be dream of is known only to the gods who look down and ponder such requests.

One thing is for sure, no matter how these Nepali women conceive of their and their children's future, the rest of the world will be just as eager as they are to see how it all develops, for Nepal may well hold the key to many puzzles as it finds its own rightful place in the sun of tomorrow, in the year 2006.

Kamala Sarup can be reached at ksarup@yahoo.com

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