Notes from the Field

Education food family

The Daily Life Worlds of Out-of-School Children in Urban Informal Settlements

By Shreesha Bista

July 11, 2026

Hari (12 years old, never attended school) mentioned in one of our conversations that his father was very proud the day he handed him his first earning. “I will never forget how proud Baba looked when he took that money and he said I have now become a man. That was the best day of my life.”

family Gender Violence

The Door Phoolmaya Never Opened

By Tsering Tsomo Gurung

July 01, 2026

This morning, she saw her husband crouched near the alcohol room. His scars around the knees were healing. Cindera was ashamed of what she did, but still it didn’t change the way she felt about him. She had really wished if he had rather died.

Gender health

Thriving Within Empathy's Fracture: Nursing, Gender and Precarity in Nepali Hospital

By Yukta Sunuwar

June 23, 2026

It was 2 pm when his monitor rang an alarm. The plateau of his heart line was falling flat quickly, without a pause or regard for the efforts that had been made till then. His family had consented to a DNR, Do Not Resuscitate, beforehand and did not allow us to revive him.

Gender Violence family

Scars you leave behind

By Tsering Tsomo Gurung

June 15, 2026

Wangmo’s father loves playing sho (dice). People say he has luck in his hands. His opponents sometimes complain that his constant winning feels unreal. But Wangmo’s father makes the funniest, most shameless jokes when he plays.

Gender family

A life of choice and care

By Jyoti Maharjan

June 05, 2026

“The mother goat,” she said, her voice soft and low, “fed only two of her babies. The third one was left out and followed me everywhere I went.” Her lips showed a soft smile as she said it.

food family

Who gets the credit?

By Pallavi Shrestha

May 29, 2026

However, Mamu still insisted that I deserved full credit. I even asked her specifically, “So the one who puts the masala gets the credit, ho?” “Ho ni,” she said [of course]. Then lunch commenced.

health loneliness

Waiting

By Samikshya Bhattarai

May 18, 2026

Hospital is the last place I want to be at. It brings all the unpleasant memories of the endless hours that I have spent in the past in waiting lines, laden with anxiety about what the doctor might say, and coming out of the place with no definite answers

Gender family Education

First Day of School

By Sabhyata Timsina

August 14, 2025

Sabina washes her waist length hair and is letting it dry in the sun. She pops inside, vanishes for five minutes, comes back outside with her hair combed and clipped at the back. She has a tika between her eyebrows, and a thick red potey around her neck. She’s