Nepal Now: On the Move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the Move
Right Now! 'Kafala' system still shackling women migrants working in Gulf countries; send us a text
What do you think? Send us a text
If you listen to the show on Buzzsprout, which happens to be the platform I use to host the podcast also, you can now send me a text message directly from the website. So what you do is, in the description of each episode, at the very top left, you'll see a link that says, send a text or send me a text. Click on that and your messaging app will open on your phone and you can write me a text message, which I think is pretty cool.
Also this week, uh, some news about migration. There was a really good article, depressing but good article, in The Guardian about the kafala system of labour that's used in the Gulf countries and some neighboring countries. And it's basically a way of employers to control their workforce. And particularly for our purposes, women who go there to work as domestic workers.
And you might have listened to the episode we did last month with Sushma, who went to Kuwait and had to come back early after three months. So this is the type of system that is used to control workers like Sushma, who had a pretty tough time considering the short amount of time that she was there. She, at different times, was locked in rooms without a phone. She was deprived of food. She witnessed another worker being physically abused. This system is apparently being reformed in some countries, but it's happening too slowly.
And this article in The Guardian is linked to an upcoming episode that we're going to have with an expert who's going to be talking about women migrant workers from Nepal going to the Gulf and other countries. So if you haven't yet subscribed or followed the show, you might want to do that right now so you don't miss that episode.
Coming up in our next full interview next week, we're going to be speaking to Soham. Soham first migrated from Nepal to the U. S. when he was 17 to study, and in the last couple decades he's been going back and forth working at various jobs in the U. S. and Nepal also. Has many experiences that he talks about as well as unique opinions about migration personally and about its impact on Nepal as a whole. So stay tuned for that one.
Resources
The Guardian article about the kafala system
Article about migrants from Tanahun District disappearing in Russia
CESLAM website with newsletter sign-up
Sushma episode
Send us feedback and ideas. We'll respond to every message:
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Music by audionautix.com.
Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.
Hi everyone. This is Marty. Welcome to Nepal. Now: Right now! I want to start this short episode by telling you that if you listen to the show on Buzzsprout, which happens to be the platform I use to host the podcast also, you can now send me a text message directly from the website. So what you do is, in the description of each episode, at the very top left, you'll see a link that says, send a text or send me a text. Click on that and your messaging app will open on your phone and you can write me a text message, which I think is pretty cool. And, if you're interested, by the way, about 15 percent of listeners use Buzzsprout, the same as Spotify and Google Podcasts. And, by far, the biggest chunk listen to this podcast through Apple Podcasts, which is not surprising. Also this week, uh, some news about migration. There was a really good article, depressing but good article, in The Guardian about the kafala system of labour that's used in the Gulf countries and some neighboring countries. And it's basically a way of employers to control their workforce. And particularly for our purposes, women who go there to work as domestic workers. And you might have listened to the episode we did last month with Sushma, who went to Kuwait and had to come back early after three months. So this is the type of system that is used to control workers like Sushma, who had a pretty tough time considering the short amount of time that she was there. She, at different times, was locked in rooms without a phone. She was deprived of food. She witnessed another worker being physically abused. This system is apparently being reformed in some countries, but it's happening too slowly. And this, um, article in The Guardian is linked to an upcoming episode that we're going to have with an expert who's going to be talking about women migrant workers from Nepal going to the Gulf and other countries. So if you haven't yet subscribed or followed the show, you might want to do that right now so you don't miss that episode. Another article in the news this week was from Radio Nepal about migrants from Tanahun District who have gone to Russia. And they described seven migrant workers, talked to their families, who have been out of touch now for more than four months. And, of course, they're just seven of many, many other workers who ended up going to Russia and being recruited, reportedly, in the Russian army. And also ongoing here are protests by the family members of many of those migrants happening in Kathmandu, trying to get the government to do more to bring back those migrant workers from Russia. And by the way, a lot of this news I get from a newsletter sent out by the Centre for Studies on Labour and Migration, CESLAM, which is with Social Science Baha. So I'll include a link to that newsletter, as well as to these various reports, in the description of this episode. Coming up in our next full interview next week, we're going to be speaking to Soham. Soham first migrated from Nepal to the U. S. when he was 17 to study, and in the last couple decades he's been going back and forth working at various jobs in the U. S. and Nepal also. Has many experiences that he talks about as well as unique opinions about migration personally and about its impact on Nepal as a whole. So stay tuned for that one. As always, you can write to me at nepalnowpod at gmail. com with any ideas you have for guests or to give me some feedback on anything you've heard, and you can also drop us a message on social media. We're on all the usual channels except for X. I'll talk to you again next week.
