“Take me with you!”

I’ll begin by summarizing a conversation I had with a young Nepali man I met this afternoon. Similar conversations occur almost every day:

– – –

[I walked into a clothing shop to look around]

(Shopkeeper:) “Please sit! [I sat down.] What’s your name? Where are you from?”

“My Nepali naam is Aditi and I’m from the United States. I’m here working as an Agriculture volunteer.”

“Oh – to get to America is my dream! When are you going back? Take me with you!”

“I’m staying here for two years and I’m sorry, but I can’t take you back with me.”

“I’ll pay you money!”

“I’m sorry. I truly can’t do anything to help you. America is a very big country, so most people don’t have connections with the immigration department, including me. Money won’t help. A lot of foreigners want to go to America – it’s very competitive. I can’t help you.”

“You won’t help me. You American’s have no heart.”

“Excuse me sir. I LEFT my dear country where I had everything – all my friends and family, a culture I love, any food item I could possible desire and every possible comfort (hot showers, heating, comfortable beds and chairs, a car) – to live here, in your country, for two years, for next to no pay. Why? So I could help you to make your country better off. So don’t you tell me that I have no heart sir.”

– – –

As much as this isn’t unexpected, it never fails to hurt a little when someone presses the visa issue. The young man took it too far today – saying I had no heart. I usually don’t defend myself so thoroughly, but I always feel a little insulted when someone brings up the visa thing after I tell them I’m a volunteer living here for two years. There was a day in my office – my office of all places, the district agriculture development office – when several workers were sitting around bemoaning the fact that the United States “Diversity Visa” program ended this year, which apparently a lot of Nepalis obtained in the past. Talking about that alone may not have bothered me too much, but then one guy told the others about how someone could still obtain a Visa if his/her professional expertise was needed. That hit a button. I told them a concise version of how I felt their obsession with visas mocked my presence here and how frustrating it was to hear that people with expertise would try to leave – because those are exactly the people that this country needs in order to progress. Yes, I admit that a lot of new ideas and growth may be gained from a few years spent abroad (obviously, or I wouldn’t be here), but I can also tell you that most don’t intend to return (ahem, “brain drain” anyone?).

I know that they don’t realize nor intend the insult. And I know it’s a symptom of greater problems – that they are intelligent people responding to obvious economic incentives (and hollywood-inspired fantasies). I’ve got a whole lot more to say on this. In fact, I’ve had a piece on the REMITTANCE CULTURE drafted for a couple weeks now, but I just keep getting deeper and more fascinated by the issue. I’ll try to post it soon. When I tell you the numbers, you won’t blame them for wanting to leave – I certainly don’t. But I do wish more had the desire to stay here and contribute to the development of their own country. I’m positive I won’t be able to change the minds of a million youth here about wanting to go to America, but I do hope that our work (Peace Corps, and the work of other INGOs and NGOs) will help make Nepal a more attractive place for the upcoming generation to root their lives.