Have you ever cried for your country?
- Ban Whi Min
(A thought-provoking view on Nepal of a 15-year-old Korean boy)

Nepalis complain about the caste system and corrupt officers. They openly vent their anger against the government. But have they ever thought about Nepal's real problems? I believe that they have not. I want to say that Nepal's real problems are lack of patriotism among the people and lack of love for one another. This is the conclusion I have reached during my stay.

This summer, I did voluntary work from July 5 to July 30 at FHI Ever Vision School, Matatirtha, Kathmandu.

Let me first tell you about my country, Korea. This might help you understand my point. Just after the Korean War, which claimed lives of more than 5 million Koreans, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Without natural resources, Korea had no choice but to desperately struggle for its survival by all means. Under this gloomy situation, Koreans envied other Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, and Nepal.

Korean government officials were horribly corrupt. With the dual classes of Yangban (nobles) and Sangnom (peasants), Korean society was sickening day by day. However, Koreans, having determination to become rich, overcame the unfair social structure and put the country onto the track of development.

When the former president Park Jung Hee took over the government, there were few factories in Korea. Korea could not attract loans or expect foreign investments. Under these circumstances, President Park 'exported' miners and nurses to then West Germany. The salaries that they earned were used to building factories and promoting industrialization of Korea.

In 1964, when President Park visited then West Germany, the miners and nurses asked the president when the Koreans would become rich. The president replied, crying with the miners and nurses that someday the Koreans would become rich.

Many of Korean scientists and engineers, who could just enjoy comfortable lives in the United States, returned to Korea with only one thing in their mind: the determination to make Korea the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. They did their best even though their salaries were much less than what they would have received in other countries. The Koreans believed that they have the ability to change their desperate situation and that they must make the country better, not only for themselves but also for the future generations yet to come.

My parents' generation sacrificed themselves for their families and the country. They worked 14 hours a day, and risked their lives working under inhumane conditions. The mothers, who went to work in factories, fed their babies while operating machines in dangerous environments. They always tried to teach their children the true value of 'hard work'. Finally, all of these hard works and sacrifices made the prosperous Korea that you see now.

Nepalis, have you ever cried for your country? I heard that many Nepali youths do not love their Nepal. I also heard that they want to leave Nepal because they don't like caste system, or because they want to escape the severe poverty.

However, they should be the first ones to voluntarily work for Nepal's development, not the first ones to complain and speak against their country.

I have a dream that someday I would be able to free the souls from suffering from the underdeveloped countries, anachronistic customs and the desperate hunger. My belief has become stronger than ever after seeing the reality in Nepal.

A child with a fatal disease who doesn't have enough money to buy a pill; a child living in what seems like a pre-historic dwelling and not having the opportunity to receive education; and a student who cannot succeed, no matter how hard he studies, just because of the class he comes from.

A society, in which wives not only take care of children but also work in the fields, while their husbands waste their time doing nothing; a society in which a five-year-old must labour in a brick factory to feed herself.

Looking at the reality of Nepal, I was despaired, yet this sense of despair strengthened my belief. I already know that many of the Nepalis are devout Hindus. However, nothing happens if you just pray to hundreds of thousands of gods while doing nothing. It is the action that you and Nepal need for the better future.

For Nepal and yourselves, you have to show your love to your neighbours and country just as you do to Gods. You know that your Gods will be pleased when you work for the development of your country and improvement of your lives.

Therefore, please, love your neighbours and country. Teach your children to love their country. And love the working itself.

Who do you think will cry for your Nepal? Who do you think will be able to respect the spirit of Himalayas and to keep the lonely flag representing it?

You are the ones responsible for leading this beautiful country to a much brighter future. This responsibility lies on you.

FOR KOREAN WHO WROTE THIS::
So We Nepalese lack patriotism huh!!!...Okies, so thats the point of yours...But all the comment u have given lacks insight I think!!!...have u ever know about the history of nepal...I don't think u have,
lemme tell u some background....
Nepalese people had never got to rule by themselves till now. History tells us that most of time they are ruled by the Kings and Ranas, who are either busy in building Mahals for themselves or either killing each other for Power and what else MONEY!!!!
and after so many years, then come the famous 2007, But then also Kings had took power away by 2009, and had it formally by themselves by 2017....
Now come the year 2047, where we were given chance to rule....But there were lots of politicians who had sacrificed earlier, but now became corrupt after seeing so much money around them...Mahadev ko trinetra bhayeko jasto...But the developments and funds that came around in these years were higher than that happened in more than 300 years of RAJA rules...Yeah, Corruption happened, But hadn't that happened in Panchayet rule...hadn't the jungles in terai vandalized during 2036 elections, hadn't the royal family memeber caught redhanded stealing a ancient statue, hadn't Namita Sumita( I don't exactly rmember names) rape scandal happened.....Well But they were all forgotten....
Now yeah I agree that some leaders had ruled like the dictator kings did in between these 13 years, but at least we had chance to speak against it...We people at least had POWER...and GOOD things doesn' happen just like that, it takes Decades of practice to have a good system...But again The KING stepped in to HELP NEPAL ....
Now King again is helping Nepal by ordering Jaguars and Rolls royce, Harleys, and appointing most corrupt and criminals in his cabinet...and His son is on verge to become a drug lord of Region....
So When has Nepalese actually got chance to rule themselve and say that this country belongs to us also???....I think NEVER....But still We nepalese love our country by all our heart...and there are loads of people having harvard and MIT degrees working in our country....But as u have said, Remittance helped ur country in development, don't u think Nepalese working abroad are helping the doomed Nepalese economy of these days....
and talking about A society, in which wives not only take care of children but also work in the fields, while their husbands waste their time doing nothing;....I think u also have these in your society also...there is always good and bad things in every society....
Well also, I agree that we ourselves should act for our country...But at least government must be responsible for making a environment...BUT WHERE IS ENVIRONMENT THESE DAYS???...
If you go to work in cities, armies will be pondering, and if u go villages Maoists will be bargaining...and keeping all the war alive doesn't make environment for any developments.....
Thanks,
Nirman

Nirman Bro, glad to hear your thoughts. I am sure there are so many of you out there who want to let your thoughts be heard here at sajah.com. Lets hear them !

I am just tired of Nepalis who act like a bhijeko lutey kukkur and give so much credence to anything a foreigner has to say, even if that foreigner is some half-assed, arrogant, fifteen year old kid.

C'mon people, have some self dignity.

Sure, some of the stuff the kid may ring true. But don't let a teenager walk all over you. Are we so "gaye-gujreko" that we believe every insult, slander, slap on the face by a foreigner, that too a kid who looks down upon us based only on his 1 month stay in Nepal, and still we "lurukka parera" admit and say " yes, we are pretty much the maggots."

Yes, we have to be able to take constructive criticisms positively, but is this essay really that? If an official World Bank report states that these are the points that Nepalis should work on based on that and that statistics, then that would be different. But a kid who has not even finished high school dares to slap us around, and some of us are still thankful to him.

Wake Up People. Have some self respect.

Exactly! I wanted to post something here earlier but just didnt want this crazy thread to climb up. So was restraining myself.

Now, whoeer posted it here, for yr information, this same piece of sh** was posted in Sajha few days back and lots of discussion ensued.

Have heard enough on how to develop this and that and the last thing we need to hear from is a kid or whoever. Do u guys think that we are so brain-dead that we need follow instructions from a 15 yr old foreigner. Go on then.....invite some kids from Bangladesh, Sudan, Ethiopia and let them share their views. Bring some more from Afganistan, Ghana, Zanzibar and Eritriea and ask for their expert knowledge, u clinically-deads. Tyo south korean ko gu khaye huncha timiharu mu** haru le.

You seem to forget the fact that we dont need a rocket scientist or a proven theory to develop a contry. Few words like honesty, hard work may lead u to it.

I am also fed up with freaking aliens taking piss on us. I believe the majority of Nepalese love Nepal. We are just waiting on some good leaders to take an initiative.

We gotta get over this mentality where we think the foreigners are goody goody and genius. They will not give a fuc* to Nepal and Nepalese. We need to stand up for our rights.

damn.... sabai jana aba tyo korean kid ko pachi... he is RIGHT.. and i, being a nepali.. honor what he says....
"Under this gloomy situation, Koreans envied other Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, and Nepal"
he DID mention how korea got developed.
"Many of Korean scientists and engineers, who could just enjoy comfortable lives in the United States, returned to Korea with only one thing in their mind: the determination to make Korea the most powerful and prosperous country in the world."

aight.. so if you ppl living in the states aint trying to go back to nepal and help it, then.. i dont think that you have the right to say anything against the kid.....
anyways.. my ass is going back home.. home sweet home..

I am like any other ordinary Nepali. However, I dont think you need to cry in order to show your patriotism; leave it for politicians. Moreover, boys dont cry, comon.

Nirman Bro You are right. IN nepal Nepali people (Shah, Thapa, Rana and Koirala Not Included) never get chnace to rule country. We had chnace after 2047 but still king and royal mafia were there to make poltician corrupted to show people that we don't need democracy. They always play negative role on it.But here on thread what that 15 years kid is saying is right as well.he is telling what he has seen in nepal.

If you go city of Bhaktapur[some places : but 60%) (People are educated ) you can see dust and water throwing on road from top floor, just thing you are walking on street and the dust and water comes on your body what will you do?

If you go birgunj, kalaiya (any Madeshi Area:(by the way i am madeshi as well) (if you are not from Madesh) they will call you pahadia and on market there will different price for you on any product reason of pahadia.

First we don't love each other like Korean , he is right. We hate each other name of caste, name of politics(democratic and communist), reason of wealth(rich and poor),reason of city and village, reason of old and young, reason of educated and uneducated.

Who lives along indian border 40% of them doesn't have Nepali citizenship even though they are living there from last 100,122 years, Nither they can get job in Nepal (Except of jamindar) or they can buy and sell property. Nither poltician nor any humanrights group talk about them coz they are poor and uneducated. Jamindar make them slave.

Many of us have heard place called Thori. There is large nepali community but they need to depend on indian transport,or indian doctor. But they are still proud to be nepali but why government don't listen their voice. Why their people can't get same service like other nepali get.

Why one guys on rolpa turn to maoist? Do you think he knows maoist? 70% of maoist members don't know even what is maoist but they want to be maoist reason of their anger toward government and other nepali.

Do you know one district called mugu. According to nepali Government how they behave s towards it. Mister in government get million ruppes for their work but mugu hospital and school get thousands. Transport and highways are still a story for them. they wanna produce a good doctor , engineer, poltician . teacher but where is the infrastructure. Telephone its a dream for them to use.
(Sorry i am posting without readingt once so if there is any mistake please correct it when are u reading)

Notwithstanding the socio-poli-economic (SPE) situation a small number of semi-successful Nepalis do return; I say 'semi' because I haven't came across anyone who's well off or to be surreal, someone who is widely respected in their field (not many exist) and decided to return for good. Most returnees, I suspect, do it because of family reasons or after an unsuccessful attempt in integrating to their current habitat (lack of SPE power) in their respective foreign countries. That doesn't necessarily mean they are unskilled or lack patriotism.

I would be head over heels if some of our successful professionals (with 5+ yrs of experience in designated areas from Fortune 500 or good-tier Universities) return to muster their area of expertise. However, this is unlikely because I know what motivates them; patriotism won't be the only passion to fuel their fire obviously. A go-getter types who strive to put a mark on their career are pretty hard to persuade, but these are the ones Nepal needs- young, hard-working, skilled, energetic, well educated, etc.
In fact, the consensus is most westernized country want them (yes, Nepal has competition). Therefore, to me, unless I take a huge pay cut, put a glass ceiling on my learning curve and ready to face the current SPE, there are no other incentives (other than the fact that it proves my patriotism indirectly); I am sure all most of you feel the same way. This means we've just made a circle...


Case in point...

During last week's conference in Malaysia I had a chat with a fellow conference convenor who's a Malaysian Professor as well as a MIT grad. I won't go into all the details but I was moved by his sense of pride on how he's better off in Malaysia and what it means to conduct research from his own home country. Yes, there were times of turbulence and when George Soros devalued their Ringgit, etc. Yet, he was not shy to give me indirect hints as to why Malaysia may become the next Singapore, South Korea, etc.

This is his faculty: http://www.must.edu.my/faculty.html

As you can see the Professors come from all educational backgrounds- Cambridge, Melbourne, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc.

Of course, Malaysia has oil but that isn't the only factor for its growth spurts.

I give the kid a lot of credit for the advice, but what he's asking to do translates to nil at this point.


-JBeans

I agree with the insight provided by the JavaBeans.

I wanna add some of my views. The current situation of Nepal is just opposite of South Korea then. There they had a good leadership which promoted prosperity. But in Nepal, there is no way anybody can be successful being ethical. Ethical person is just eliminated or chased away from its repective field.

The current civil war does not help in this matter.

No. I have not cried for my country. But I certainly have laughed at it...