SUDDEN DEATH OF MY BROTHER

- Anita Lamichhane

Most of the people in Nepal live in a village. I was also born in a remote village - Mahankhal in the Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal. I spend 18 years of my childhood in that village. I want to write about one heart-wrenching incident that took place there about fourteen years ago.

Street Vendors: Struggle for Toilet & Existence

Toilet day is around the corner with the theme of toilet and jobs where, at the same time a street vendor is struggling to pack her stuff to rush for her home because she has to pee.  As a human being with anatomical function to cleanse the body, an urgency to run for a toilet is a common thing however, this common process should not affect our daily life activities especially when it is about earning bread for own self. Lack of money for higher investment in business and pay rent for space is what makes a person street vendor. Furthermore, they travel from place to place so, in this scenario what happens when they feel the need to use toilet?

Concern of a father

At the age of five, Nikesh Paswan came to Kathmandu for better life. Since then, he has been living in Bansighat as an urban squatter. He is now a 25 year old man with a wife and a son of 5 years old. He was born with leg deformity and had no other option but to beg in order to meet his family’s needs. Living in Bansighat is not easy, especially for someone with a disability. It becomes more challenging to cope with the stinging smell from the nearby river-dumping site, the acute shortage of water, and the irregular income to name few. Despite these difficulties, Nikesh cannot imagine living in another area.

Trans-men : Being more than a Gender

Consider it as an irony or an opportunity, one stereotype in our society for being labeled as female is that we have excuse for bleeding every month since it’s what supposed to make us female.  In our society where from hundreds of generation, morphological character has been the sole trademark for demarking our roles and responsibilities. Imagine being totally different from what we appear and not being able to express it. It is said that road to life is curved one, then why people have to be straight one? 

Let's talk about Toilet today!!

- Sushil Adhikari

Let's talk about Toilet today!! I am not going to talk about funny thing, but just trying to raise serious issue! Doctors often advise us to drink adequate water daily. But I am ashamed to admit that I drink less water while traveling in the city not because I have no enough water or pure drinking water in my home but because what we do not have here in the town is accessible & disabled friendly public toilets.

Public Toilets: Gender insensitive and inadequate

- Alex Lynch

A participatory workshop on gender issues in public toilets was held in Kathmandu by GUTHI in collaboration with Kathmandu Metropolitan City with the assistance of AEROSAN on 22 June.