Nepal - Snowland children | DW Documentary

[Music] the high himalayas in nepal the world's most spectacular scenery and highest inhabited place on earth [Music] its people have learnt to survive in this beautiful but unforgiving landscape but families wanting more than survival for their children face a cruel dilemma with no good schools in the mountains parents wanting their child to be educated must send them to study and live in the capital far away [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] snowland school in kathmandu it's home to 150 children from the most remote areas and the highest villages in nepal here they live and study from age 4 until their high school exams at 16 but because their homes are so far away for many contact with their families is impossible [Music] and i have been a story here nearly 11 years [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] my name is srindiki i'm 16 years old when i came here i was four years old at first in snow line school i feel very lonely and i cry a lot i thought my why my mother sent me far away [Music] sometimes i feel sad i thought they doesn't love me [Music] [Music] good morning everybody sit down how are you [Music] the school was established in 2002 by a buddhist monk from the dolph region in the upper himalayas as a solution to the lack of schools or qualified teachers in the region but with limited resources he can only offer places to the brightest children from the poorest families [Music] [Music] is once the children arrive there's no going back the journey home is too far and too expensive for most parents and children to see one another i am jiwan mahathira and i'm 16 years old i came this school at the age of six [Music] i was sad that i was apart from my mom and dad i thought that why they sent me away from them i thought like they don't love me snorland is like a family for me but uh i really miss my mom nima serendeki and jiwan have taken their final exams and their 12 years at snow land is coming to an end but while they await their results they receive other news that they've all been longing for you are going back to meet your relatives your parents your villagers thanks to a sponsor snowland school leavers have been offered the chance to make a three-month trip to the mountains before returning to begin their adult life here in the city we've given three of the students cameras equipment and training so that they can document their journeys home [Music] this is nima i'm very excited about the journey i'm going to meet my father brother and sisters i never have been to my village since i came here i have never seen since uh 10 years so you know very exciting and surprising is everything there from four years i didn't saw my mother face so i think i will take a big hug with her and i think i will cry a lot i'm going home to see my parents that time will be one of the best memories of my life [Music] in kathmandu you can get many facilities electricity transportation communication facebook on whatsapp we chat to keep in touch with my friends what a city area lifestyle and bless area livestreams different uh foreign i'm very excited to go i had got new shoes i got a new jacket i had two bags here tower toothpaste i'm ready to go i'm taking for my father because i love my father more than myself that's why i'm taking a boot for him [Music] the students accompanied by a local guide will travel back to their villages in the upper himalayas the journey will be the most physically and emotionally demanding experience of their lives [Music] this school is my second home so they are also my family to me i feel very sad to leave them but in my heart i'm saying that i will meet them again i have to be strong [Music] journey begins with an overnight bus ride on notoriously dangerous roads to the small airport that flies to the himalayas until today they've never left the city stayed overnight or even eaten a meal away from school every day we are going near to our home making me very excited [Music] [Applause] [Music] now getting inside a plan it's the first time that i travel in the airplane [Music] the pilot gave us instruction that if anything happens there is two dirt for the safety then i i got more scared [Music] it was very beautiful memorable and enjoyable when i saw the mountains i think like that well i have to walk through the big mountains it will be very painful for me because i never worked such a long journey before i feel like literally scared am i going to die or not yeah we are landing [Music] [Music] now the rail journeys begin the flights have taken the children to landing strips that serve as travel hubs in the high himalayas from there they each must trek on foot over some of the world's most challenging terrain to reach their homes those that live in the highest villages face the longest and most grueling tracks [Music] so the journey to my home is very dangerous nima's journey is risky many people have lost their footing and their lives on this treacherous route hey this is a very reward one of the fast flowing river of nepal we have to cross that [Music] it's my first time to work like this which i i'm confused which way [Music] it was very difficult to walk but uh in our heart we have the excited men to meet our parents so that excited it meant was giving us the energy to wall wild walk [Music] jiwan's journey has come to a halt the path has been swept away by a landslide uh so it's very hard to walk from here so uh so they are making the way so the donkey ken and the men can also walk through this path [Music] having rejoined the path jiwan is able to reach his first overnight stop at the house of his grandmother [Music] after working maybe 10 hours or 11 hours finally i reached my grandmother's home quite difficult for me to walk but i also feel very excited to see my relatives to my grandmother [Music] she's my grandma [Music] [Laughter] hi everyone i am here at my grand smaller home i had lunch it was delicious after 10 years i taste blissful it was very delicious it's too spicy [Music] after 10 years long i'm very happy to see my grandmas i love her [Music] foreign hello everyone it's me juan i'm inside the room there is no any electricity but in kathmandu there is electricity and the life was very comfortable i felt a little difficult this is my first night here hope i have some good sleep and sweet dreams good night to me [Music] [Music] i was shocked to see the bliss compared to cities uh i just feel like oh estonia's they don't have any technologies to make their life easier so it depends on the nature there is no proper sanitation like toilet like that it's a open toilet also from due to cold water like that the people bath like once a month i just thought like how they live in such condition they might fall sick i'm worried about my parents uh actually i don't know how they live like how if there is proper sanitation or not like by seeing the migrants my village condition so i'm a little bit worried about my parents too [Music] i thought the village will be same like the town but i was wrong [Music] i was thinking like oh how am i going to survive in these three months [Music] 200 miles away in the himla region serendeki is now only a few hours from her family but with her long-awaited reunion just ahead it's also a moment to look back after three days of walking serendeki and jiwan are nearly home but nima's epic trek has barely begun [Music] foreign although nima's root is the most arduous he's not alone he's trekking and camping with a local guide and three other snow land boys who come from villages that are on route to stay safe and keep spirits high [Music] now we are near to my place and backside is my bliss i can see my phone from here and very excited i'm very happy to see my village again after many years [Music] finally i've reached my village i am so glad to see it looks very beautiful i gonna spend here more than two months [Music] this is the main gate of my house my family is my home it's like a door of heaven where i can see my father's mother after a long time [Music] the moment when i saw her for the first time it was like the best moment of my life she was also very happy to see me and she was oh is this my son yes yes i'm your son and she was so completely shocked [Music] when we arrived in our bliss i did tashi delay she was excited but not that much i expected [Music] i think she was hiding her feeling i don't know why [Music] the doctor i feel very happy i also want to cry or i feel like am i dreaming or not [Music] now i feel very happy to see my mother after 10 years and there is no any word to express my happiness so i'm very happy to see my mother hi here is my mother he is my father and here's my home take it yet my [Music] hello guys so this is my home uh i thought my room will be like a you know like dirty like that but when i reach here i find like there is proper sanitation well-cleaned kitchen rooms i'm happy to be [Music] this way is a very difficult way [Music] wow now i'm at foxumda lake finally i arrived at fox number lake and it's very nice blue in color so amazing heart watching it's my first time that i'm seeing such kind of lake [Music] very cold is it cold yeah very cold [Music] but beyond the tranquility of foxundo lake nema's route will take them through treacherous high-altitude mountain passes this year there's been heavy snow which will make it difficult to stop and rest neema's group must trek non-stop for 30 hours to reach safety [Music] the land here needs to be worked all day every day all the people would starve and in nearly every family here the farming is done by mothers and daughters the lifestyle in lifestyle of my place is very hard there is no earning from the field only for their survival and for their food for the whole year my mother is the one she is doing all the work of my family and all from inside of inside of home and outside of from all the work and she's doing [Music] miro brazen llama english member monko once a sunday most of the women are working very hard most of the men are doing little easier than the woman women are the one from morning to evening they are doing work they have to get up earlier clean the houses make a breakfast for the family make a lunch for family and also go to the field and walk and have to come to the home and make a snake to the husband and children and also dinner also men are just sitting and talking with the other people and just having a tea men are not doing the work [Music] i'm very happy that i'm cooking with my mother today she's also teaching me how to cook something and i'm also giving some suggestions how to make clean um food and english and they are not considering concentrating on the cleanness dog [Music] [Music] i have got the previous mom that's why i feel very happy and she's strong enough to work she works very hard she's doing such things for many many years so i feel little bit guilty [Music] i i asked my mom i will carry it then she said you don't need to carry the words i will carry by myself you are not too strong enough to carry i also tried myself to pull up and then it was too heavy when my studies will be finished then i will keep my mom like a queen in my beautiful home so i will study hard to fulfill her dreams [Music] today nima's group must cross three more high passes some of these peaks are as high as everest base camp it's the only way home and is only passable during these three summer months [Music] [Music] um um recipes [Music] [Music] today we are in which is my village [Music] i feel strange but in other sense it's very exciting it's been 11 years since i saw my father i love my father more than myself so it's going to be a most amazing and meaningful moment of my life [Music] so after reaching my home i met my brother and brother-in-law and we are having a tea traditionality to identity [Music] i met my uncle my sisters while greeting and doing such things i didn't serve my father [Music] hi finally i arrived at my home and it was very surprised that uh well meeting my brother [Music] [Music] um foreign [Music] feeling [Music] [Music] foreign despite the devastating disappointment of his absent father nima believes he still has a duty to help the rest of his family [Music] [Music] [Music] um foreign [Music] in bliss like heroes are hard for me but i can also see the see the nature and feel the nature so it's one of the advantage of not having any communication here hi guys you can see mountains forest trees [Music] you can also hear the singing of birds also the sounds of the rivers it's very like a heaven for me today serendeki is meeting another close family member for the first time in 12 years she's the one to carry me from bliss to karmandu when i was 4 years is finally told why her mother sent her away my father was sick that's why they sent me not to face that problem what they had faced that time so that my aunt told me that my mother is um only one person who is all beard the problems of my family too and that i don't i only has that much love to my mother after hearing after after hearing all the problems of my family from my aunt and in my mind i just want to meet my mother that that was i asked my mother why you sent me away from you [Music] her life is very hard very difficult so she said without education nothing is possible she doesn't want me to be life hard life i learned so many things on this journey my father got married four times he had three children from my mom my sisters and a brother and me [Music] after two days she died passed away and he grabbed me by feeding goats me cow milk i can take your legal mothers and fathers both for me [Music] on this journey my sister always every morning she bring a milk and card for me so by seeing that that kind of love and caring i realized that i found so many people who love me and care about me after three months it's time for the students to say goodbye and return to kathmandu however none of them know if they'll ever be able to visit their families in the mountains again m [Music] to achieve something you have to lose something now and i understand that [Music] my mother she is hiding her feelings [Music] she don't want to express her sadness towards me and she don't want to make me sad but after she cry a lot [Music] in the coming weeks nema serendeki and jiwan will need to find work or sponsorship to fund further study in the city but having been back home they're ready for their future now i'm i feel very happy what i have today you should be satisfied what do you have uh you should not ask it much more [Music] like when it is happiness [Music] children who go kathmandu for education shouldn't think bad about their relatives and parents there must be a reason to make [Music] before i was angry with my mother i think my mother doesn't love me but after knowing all those things why my mother sent me away why she hide her sadness and after knowing all those things i'm happy and i'm very thankful to her that is her love why she send me away [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 1,771,248

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2021, Nepal, Himalayas, Buddhism, schooling in Nepal

Id: py93nMBKFic

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 20 2021