Such is the life depicted in the 2008 documentary Frames of War. Although the insurgency in Nepal has technically come to a close, for those who have family members who disappeared or passed away during the ten years of turmoil, the conflict is far from over.
“Over 1,350 people are still missing of whom 90% are men,” says Monica Upadhyay, Communications Officer at International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). There are families who don’t know what has come of their loved ones; and as they live in ambiguity, they suffer on many levels.
“There are many implications of having a missing family member.
There are psychological issues like anxiety and depression, as well as psychosocial traumas that include economic, financial, and legal matters as well,” she says.
Having carried out several projects, ICRC has been involved with families of the missing since the conflict, and since last year, they have been conducting a pilot intervention program in Bardiya to address and minimize the damage of psychosocial issues.
As ICRC’s Psycho Social Support Program: A Fact Sheet says, “The ICRC approach is developed within a comprehensive framework called Accompaniment Program to help the families of missing persons to cope with the consequences of the ambiguous loss due to disappearance of their loved ones.
The ICRC approach takes into consideration the various needs of the families of the Missing.”
Some of what this program has done entails emotionally, psychologically and economically supporting mothers and wives of missing persons.
ICRC provided livestock to pave a way for economic stability, and Heifer International was also involved in training women to manage animals, fodder and small vegetable gardens to generate income.
Beyond that, ICRC also took a stance on the local level to reduce stigma and discrimination.
The organization even went as far as linking families of the missing to legal counselors like Advocacy Forum for advice on matters such as obtaining the Rs 100,000 government compensation to property laws that don’t favor women.
In a two-part program, ICRC held a discussion on Wednesday to bring to light the psychosocial issues that Nepalis are currently facing.
Moderated by Kunda Dixit, Editor of Nepali Times, the panel also had Dr Harihar Wasti, M.D., M.Sc. F.M., B.L., and Associate Professor in Forensic Medicine at the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, as well as Ram Kumar Bhandari, founder of the Committee for Social Justice (CSJ) in Lamjung.
Another panelist, Simon Robins, is pursuing his Ph D at the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit at the University of York, UK. Robins conducted a study for ICRC regarding the families of the missing in Nepal.
In asking open-ended questions to families in Bardiya, Robins discovered that demanding justice was not a priority, “The biggest desire of the families is to know what happened to their loved ones,” he says.
The final panelist, Bhava Poudyal, a psychologist currently working for the ICRC believes, “Low-income countries are not a society of psycho-babble.
” He is concerned that trying to combat psychosocial needs might lead to further stigmas, making the situation even more difficult. “We need to educate the general population, not just the areas of conflict,” he said.
And so in an attempt to bring awareness, the second component is an art exhibition displaying the works of students from class six to 10 from 25 schools in Bardiya who have drawn on the topic of loss.
The works touch on various subjects ranging from discrimination, conflict, loneliness and anxiety.
As of February 26, a total of 25 pictures will be on display for 15 days at the Yalamaya Kendra, Patan Dhoka.
Currently, ICRC is expanding the program in nine additional districts; namely, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Chitwan, Nawal Parasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Banke, and Dang.
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