Shows
Nepal NowVisual anthropologist turns long lens on Nepali migration to JapanSend us a textThe rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today’s migration to Japan is colonial Britain’s presence in Nepal’s neighbour, India. I’ll leave today’s guest, visual anthropologis...
2025-07-2232 minNepal NowWho will look after Nepal's returned gods and goddesses?Send us a textUndoubtedly the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign has been a success. In less than five years it has led the identification and return to Nepal of about 160 religious icons — statues, paintings, and more. These were stolen from this country and displayed or stored in public museums and private collections globally since Nepal opened to the world in the 1950s. Now what? The aim of the NHRC is to have these gods and goddesses (devi-devta in Nepali) returned to their communities, we learn in today’s chat with Alisha Sijapati, a founding member and f...
2025-07-0841 minNepal NowSetting aside migration dreams for a musical journeySend us a textTalking to Prakash Gurung made me realize that not all migrant workers from Nepal are leaving the country out of necessity. When I interviewed him last year the 26-year-old told me about his failed migration attempts – as both a student and a migrant worker – but I got the sense that he had options in-country as well; he just preferred the idea of leaving. I think there are many people in similar circumstances — they could find a job here at home, but believe that abroad they might be able to save more money, live in bett...
2025-06-1826 minNepal NowAre there still reasons to be optimistic about Nepal?Send us a textGyanu Adhikari is co-founder of The Record, the online news portal that published from 2014 to 2024. With 10 years’ experience running a media outlet that not only innovated in its content – offering long reads, history series, and podcasts, for example – but also experimented with funding—using a subscriber model—Gyanu has lots to share about media in Nepal. But surprisingly, he was most eager to talk about the state of the country—and more optimistic than most people I speak to about the future of Nepal. This episode was first published in 2024. I’m re-posting an...
2025-05-2729 minNepal NowShould students going abroad use education consultancies?Send us a textJust like coffee shops, it seems that education consultancies are multiplying faster than rabbits in Kathmandu. I’ve always wondered why prospective students spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of rupees to have someone fill out their overseas college and university applications for them. After all, if they've made it to Grade 12 or beyond, surely they must be able to do it themselves. So I was very happy to have nursing expert Radha Adhikari on the show to explain some of the reasons why it's not quite as simp...
2025-04-1527 minNepal NowNo-cost, or low-cost, labour migration is not just a dreamSend us a textKhakendra Khatri paid 7 lakh or 700,000 Nepali rupees (about 5,000 USD) for a job in Russia, but soon after arriving he realized that he was being sent to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war. Desperate, he bribed a commander, and then escaped by walking through a forest overnight with a group of other trafficked Nepalis. Needing work to feed her children, Sushma found a recruiter to send her to join her aunt working in Kuwait but got sick and returned to Nepal after three months. The recruiter’s calls began soon after she...
2025-02-2529 minNepal NowBeing a migrant in Trump's US - journalist Tanka DhakalSend us a textHi everyone. Today we're speaking with Tanka Dhakal, a journalist who’s currently doing a Master’s degree in the US. He’ll tell us about how the targeting of migrants in that country affected a city council meeting he was reporting on. But what I think is even more interesting is Tanka’s personal reaction to that meeting. But before we get to that, I want to let you know that you can now support Nepal Now with a monthly subscription. This is totally voluntary, but if you want to do it the...
2025-02-1130 minNepal NowNepal unprepared to reintegrate female migrant workersSend us a textHi everyone. I’m sorry for the delay in releasing this episode. In a minute, we’ll get to this week’s chat about how female migrant workers are treated after they return to Nepal, but first I want to share some personal news. My stepfather passed away in December, which changed everything. Like many of us he was a migrant. Born on a farm 90 years ago in northwestern Ontario, the centre of Canada, when he was a young man he moved 2,500 km away to Vancouver on the Pacific Ocean. Soon after...
2025-01-1433 minNepal NowOn the move from Kathmandu to Kabul: 2024's top episodeSend us a textHi everyone. Today we’re replaying our most popular episode of the year. Like every migration story, it is a unique one. Prem Awasthi moved to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, almost exactly one year ago to start a new job with the United Nations. We talked with him just hours before his plane left Kathmandu, to hear his expectations of this new stage in his life, and the life of his family.Welcome to Nepal Now: On the Move. My name is Marty Logan. This is...
2024-12-1728 minNepal NowPragati Nepali plans to further her design career by migrating to work in JordanSend us a textPragati Nepali is just 19 but already she has been married, migrated to work in neighbouring India, and then moved to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu for other opportunities. That’s where friends told her about a job in a garment factory in Jordan. When we talked last week she estimated that she might be finished her paperwork and winging toward the Middle Eastern country by mid-December. Jordan is one of very few Middle Eastern countries to which the Government of Nepal allows women to migrate for work. That’s because of past incide...
2024-12-0422 minNepal NowUPDATE: Nepal graduate in Canada desperately looking for a jobSend us a textToday we’re catching up with Aayush Pokharel, a graduate student in Canada who we first talked to in May. This year, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has severely cut the number of temporary residents it allows into the country, including international students. It also chopped the number of temporary work permits for grad students like Aayush, which are usually followed by a chance to apply for PR — permanent residency. Many temporary residents in Canada now worry that their PR dream is disappearing.While Canada’s new rules have led to...
2024-11-1930 minNepal NowTricked into going to Russia, Khakendra fled before reaching the front linesSend us a textOf all the reasons I’ve heard for Nepalis migrating to work abroad, this one was the most shocking: to fight for the Russian Army in its invasion of Ukraine. The news first reached the mainstream media in mid-2023 but long before that, photos of young Nepali men posing in Russian Army uniforms had been circulating online. For the unemployed, or under-employed, Russia quickly became the newest, fastest way to earn foreign currency, topped up in some cases with the promise of an appealing foreign passport. But soon after, news of gr...
2024-11-0523 minNepal NowWhy are so many Nepalis leaving their country?Send us a textYou might know Nepal as home to the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, as the place where the Buddha was born, or as the location of many sites sacred to the world’s Hindus. This country is also a geopolitical hotspot, encircled by the world’s giants—China and India—eying one another warily over the Himalayan range. I’m Marty Logan. As a Canadian journalist who’s lived here going on 13 years, what astonishes me about Nepal is the ever rising number of people leaving the country to find work, or to stu...
2024-10-2204 minNepal NowAnother nurse leaves Nepal, despite prime minister's appealSend us a textNurses. I don’t know about you but when I think of people migrating for better opportunities one of the first groups that comes to mind is nurses. Not only in Nepal: I know that this is a huge issue for Caribbean countries and I read recently that in Nigeria, midwives too are being recruited to work in countries of the north.Back in Nepal, over a third of nurses have sought documents that would permit them to practise overseas, I read in one media report. I met Sudipa Po...
2024-10-1524 minNepal NowClimate change, floods, disaster, migrationSend us a textToday we’re doing something different. We’re devoting this episode to last weekend’s huge rain, the flooding and other disasters it spawned, and the climate migrants who will emerge from these incidents. And here I’d like to give my condolences to the family and friends of the more than 200 people confirmed killed in the devastation. I know: last week I guaranteed we would share the episode about the nurse migrating to Canada but I thought the topic of climate migration — which I’ve been wanting to discuss for a while — was...
2024-10-0132 minNepal NowAnother Nepali nurse on the moveSend us a textThis is a very short episode, basically to say that we are behind schedule so this week's episode is delayed until next week. We think that it will be worth the wait, as we'll be talking to one of many nurses from Nepal who are leaving the country for better opportunities abroad. In fact, this is not a trend only in Nepal; nurses throughout the global South are moving North for what they see as better working and living conditions. Please watch for the new episode to drop in yo...
2024-09-2401 minNepal NowKathmandu-Kabul-Kathmandu: Prem Awasthi feels his roots getting shallowerSend us a textFrom Kathmandu to Kabul is not really that far in this era of daily intercontinental flights. And today’s guest Prem Awasthi is also fortunate in that he gets to make the return trip home at least every six weeks. But still, he already feels that less than a year after migrating to work abroad, his roots in his homeland are somehow shallower. If you missed it, Prem was the first ever guest of the show after we relaunched earlier this year to focus solely on migration and Nepal. In...
2024-09-1134 minNepal NowNot a migration story: Dr Rojina ShilpakarSend us a textToday’s episode is not a migration story; you could even call it a non-migration story. I’m chatting with someone successful enough in her field that you could easily imagine her skills being in demand in many other countries, and that she could leave Nepal if she wished. But of course she hasn’t. Like many Nepalis, Dr Rojina Shilpakar went to Bangladesh to study medicine, then returned to Nepal. Searching for a niche, she found it quite fast at Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital, performing surgery...
2024-08-0633 minNepal NowWhy Japan is #1 for students; a new sound comingSend us a textUp until now I've been recording most of these episodes speaking into a half-empty clothes cupboard. It's sounded surprisingly good, at least to me, but from next week I will have a slightly more professional setup: a dedicated — though tiny — space, basic soundproofing on the walls, and a new mic. I hope we'll be able to hear the difference.In migration news this week, I came across an article featuring data on students going overseas to study in the past year. I must admit that my western bias shows when I say...
2024-07-3107 minNepal NowInvestigating mistreatment of migrant workers—journalist Pramod AcharyaSend us a textMistreatment of migrant workers, especially those forced to work in hot, dangerous conditions, created huge headlines in the run-up to the Qatar World Cup in 2022, thanks in part to the work of today’s guest—journalist Pramod Acharya. Pramod’s subsequent reporting also made the news globally. Also done in collaboration with journalists around the world, it spotlighted the conditions faced by Nepalis and others working in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia, and led to Amazon changing some of its work practices. For that reporting, Pramod and his colleagues have received numero...
2024-07-2329 minNepal Now2/3 of manpower agencies suspended; brain drain or brain circulation?Send us a textLast week the show reached 80 episodes. It's not a significant number, except that it brings us closer to what will be a milestone—100 episodes. I figure we'll reach that at around the end of the year, and will definitely want to mark it somehow. Maybe with T-shirts, other 'merch', or a Best Of episode? How about an online party? If you have any ideas to celebrate, send them along using the text message link at the top left of these notes. In migration news this week, Republica newspaper reported th...
2024-07-1607 minNepal NowMountain district goes global to discourage youth migrationSend us a textIt’s amazing what you can find when curiosity is your guide.I was on a reporting trip in Taplejung district in northeast Nepal, bordering Tibet and India. I had an extra day so I thought I’d look for a school that provides meals to its students. It’s a topic I’ve been following for the past couple of years. I asked a guy I met at the hotel if he knew of a school principal in town— it turned out that he was the head of the committee of a local...
2024-07-0915 minNepal NowIsrael seeking workers for long-term care; your favourite episode?Send us a textI want to start this week with a shout out to Tanka, who shared our 3 latest episodes on LinkedIn, including his favourite. His top choice was our chat with Raj and Sunita, who met, online, while working in Gulf countries, got married in Nepal and are now living here again, at least temporarily. Although they’re now pregnant, they appear destined to be a migration family, as Raj is now trying to get a work visa for South Korea.Do you have a favourite episode of the show? If so, why no...
2024-07-0204 minNepal Now'Migrating from Nepal is a tradition'Send us a textIf you’ve been listening to this show since we re-launched in March to focus only on migration, I think, like me, you would have started to see that there is no one type of migration story. Yes, there are two large groups of migrants — people going abroad to work and others going to study. But within those are a vast number of sub-groups, for example, people going to work because they cannot imagine any other way to earn money (and then within that group are the people who walk across the border to I...
2024-06-2530 minNepal NowNepal Now: Right Now! Feedback from a sharp-eyed listener, Nepali youth in Hong KongSend us a textThank you to listener Trilok for pointing out a typo that was on the Nepal Now webpage for almost 4 years, from episode #1. I'm embarrassed but grateful to his sharp eyes. Please keep the feedback coming, via LinkedIn, as Trilok did, or at the other social channels listed below. You can also email: nepalnowpod(at)gmail.com, or text the show at the link at the top left. It's a US number so the usual messaging charges would apply. I don't think we have many listeners who use Google Podcasts b...
2024-06-1906 minNepal NowMigrant workers find love amidst strugglesSend us a textToday we’re back with another personal story—two in fact: those of Raj and Sunita. I gotta admit, what I like about this story is the romance element, which is something we haven’t heard from other guests so far. What they told us, when we recorded in the ACORAB studio in Chakupat, Patan, was that they were both working in Persian Gulf countries when a colleague suggested that they become Facebook friends. Sunita and Raj then chatted online for three years before finally meeting. You’ll have to keep listening to get the...
2024-06-1123 minNepal NowWomen migrant workers from Nepal: Lift the ban and get positiveSend us a textToday we’re taking a step back from the personal stories we’ve been hearing to get some perspective on migration and Nepal. Specifically, we’re talking about women who leave the country to work, including why a ban on them migrating as domestic workers is not a good idea. We’ll also hear – and this is the idea that jolted my brain during the interview – why we need to share positive news about women’s migration. My guest today, in the Himal Media studio in Patan Dhoka, is Sadikshya Bhatt...
2024-05-2834 minNepal NowA nomad from NepalSend us a textToday we’re speaking with Soham Dhakal, who first travelled to the US when he was 17 and has been back and forth between the two countries so many times he considers himself a nomad. But before we get to Soham’s story I want to correct something I said last week. Our new text messaging service is not limited: it’s for everyone listening to the show, on any app. Sneak a quick look now to confirm: at the top of the description to this episode – and every episode – you’ll see the words ‘Send u...
2024-05-1432 minNepal NowRight Now! 'Kafala' system still shackling women migrants working in Gulf countries; send us a textSend us a textHeard something you really liked, or disliked? You can now let us know by sending a text message directly from the website. In the description of each episode, at the very top left, you'll see a link that says, What do you think? Send a text. Click on that and your messaging app will open on your phone and you can write us a text message, which I think is pretty cool. Full disclosure: it's a US-based number so you won't pay anything if you're texting from the US or Canada; f...
2024-05-0704 minNepal Now"I'm moving for my future": From Nepal to CanadaSend us a textAayush Pokharel will soon be graduating from his diploma programme in Canada, and so his search for a full-time job has already started. He’ll have three years to work in the country before leaving or applying for permanent residency. For now he says he wants to come back to Nepal. Aayush was one of more than 20,000 young Nepalis officially studying in Canada in 2023, according to one report. That’s almost triple the 7,680 students in 2022, making Canada one of the most popular destinations for Nepali students. That is changing fast though: word...
2024-05-0133 minNepal NowRight Now! A migrant couple aims for South Korea; protests over Nepalis stuck in RussiaSend us a textWelcome to Nepal Now: Right Now, a weekly micro-episode where we share news about the show and what's happening in migration as it affects Nepal. First, I want to give a shout out to listener Sikhar for his persistence. He wrote and suggested a guest to me. And somehow I couldn't figure out how I could link that guest and their work with this, podcast on migration. And so I wrote back to him. He wrote back to me and very clearly spelled it out. And so I finally got it...
2024-04-2304 min