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As the chaos of moving to the other side of the world dies down, I can get back to covering the stories I’ll be looking into over the next few weeks. First up is a feature on the children at the Early Childhood Development Center, run by CNN Hero of the Year 2012 finalist Pushpa Basnet. Who also happens to be one of the most light-hearted and humble people I’ve met. Expect an in-depth comics treatment of some of the kids’ stories soon.
The view from my desk in Jhamsikhel, Kathmandu. Himalayas on the right and Swayambhunath (aka the monkey temple) to the left of the window pane on the hillside.
I’m now a week into my stay in Kathmandu, have sorted out and furnished (well, I have a bed, chair and desk) an apartment and started doing interviews for my graphic novel on human trafficking in Nepal. Next weds I leave for my first trip outside of the city, where I’ll be participating in outreach workshops for survivors and gathering their stories.
In case you missed it, I just launched a Kickstarter campaign for the project: , or check out the widget in the left sidebar.
Breaking news: I just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund my comics journalism project to investigate human trafficking in Nepal. and read about how you can contribute.
If you’re joining the story late, c to start from the beginning. And whatever you do, don’t eat with your left hand now will you.
Shout outs to Knight Fellow/Media legends/Lovely folks Madhu Acharya and Jaya Luintel for their generous hospitality in helping me get settled in Kathmandu. As for driving, I’ve heard more motorbike horns in the last 24 hours than I have in my entire life. The roads here make London’s look like they belong in a ghost town.
Episode 9 of my nepal comic continues. The asterisk from the first panel was to say that the lady in question was undoubtedly a local, who spent equal parts of the flight looking panic stricken and staring in wonder at my in-flight entertainment mini tv screen. So my hunch is that the tears were ones of relief that her ordeal was coming to an end. Remember, you can help support my trip (which focuses on using visual storytelling to help trafficking survivors give their testimonies to their communities in comics form) by buying a print or original of these here webcomics. Unsurprisingly, all you have to do is click the “Buy Print” button below the comic.
Updates three times a week as of today. I’ll leave the exposition to the panels so you’ll just have to keep coming back. News updates are below the comics posts, so you’ll have to scroll down to see a preview of my latest comic’s cover, and learn about APE this weekend.
Update: for those of you interested, Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-bourne virus prevalent in domestic pigs (apparently more outdoor-bound ones aren’t at risk) and herons. And the lower-lying areas of Nepal (along the southern part of the country) known as the Terai. A ton of threads on various traveller forums suggest that for the huge cost and minimal risk, it’s not worth it, but given the symptoms and low probability of recovery once infected, I thought I’d not risk it:
severe rigors mark the onset of this disease in humans. Fever, headache and malaise are other non-specific symptoms of this disease which may last for a period of between 1 and 6 days. Signs which develop during the acute encephalitic stage include neck rigidity, cachexia, hemiparesis, convulsions and a raised body temperature between 38 and 41 degrees Celsius. Mental retardation developed from this disease usually leads to coma.
I love the reassuring use of “usually” in that last sentence.
