Today we trekked in Pokhra with four female guides from the Three Sisters trekking company. As we went through different villages we were approached by children from all sides. What was interesting about the kids was how they approached us.  From the smallest to tallest they all wanted either chocolate, sweets or money, which I can imagine is a normal thing to expect when going through poor villages, but what struck me odd was when we were resting one kid came up to me and gave me a notebook which wrote, in perfect English, that the kids in the village are very poor and they need money to buy a basketball and a volleyball. When I asked him if he wrote this he answered,       basketball, volleyball!    On the other page of the notebook were all signatures of people who contributed towards the “basketball fund”.

We were told not to give out any candy or money, since that would only enhance their poverty and make them dependent on trekkers that pass by. Just for the fun of it, I started looking to see if I could find a court where they could actually dribble that ball to see if this was about a ball or something else. Needless to say, I didn’t find one.

It made me wonder who was the person that wrote the note and what went through their head. I had a restless feeling that most villagers that we met on the trek were expecting something from us. At one point they would even push their little kids towards us to give them something. I took a picture of a little boy and as soon as he saw it he asked me for money. What was funny is the fact that in middle of Nepal a seven-year-old boy is aware of royalties and copyrights – not necessarily as we understand them, but he knew his face had value on that photo. It would be interesting to know if someone taught him that or if it was his own shrewd business sense.

I guess one could look at it from a more familiar angle –as capitalism at work. Wherever there is an opportunity to make money, a shrewd businessman will make the most of it, just as those kids in the mountains do.