Pushpa Basnet interview 2012(English Subtitles) Part 3

respected viewers nameste!
I am thinking where to start the talk from and how to present the program...
the subject of our today's programme is pushpa basnet
29 years old social worker pushpa basnet
has come to news once again
after being awarded north korean international award
Those parents who are imprisoned in various prisons for various reasons,
whose children dont have anyone to look after them,
even those innocent kids because of the crimes committed by their father or mother
are compelled to live with their parents in jail.
in this sector, the organization of pushpa basnet has been working for the past 8 years.
about 2.5 years ago, i got the opportunity to meet pushpa basnet.
at that time, she was staying in a small house in maharajganj and was
busy feeding, sheltering, educating and taking care of few kids whose parents were in prisons.
this programme has become popular. we will first broadcast this program and in the second part we
will present to you the fresh interview we did with pushpa basnet.
i have a need to do something for them
they are for me
It's been a while i have been waiting for pritus
i am also waiting for sano kanchi and her friends
it hasnt been a long time since i met pritus and sano kanchi
i met her in the school of pushpa basnet the first time
today they are coming back from the school to in their own words "home"
for the 10 days winter holiday
their "home" are recognized as many as jail..so i am right now,
in the place which many consider as jail and which pritus considers as home.
pushpa hamal is in jail for the past 8 years.
She was convicted of drug smuggling.
she was sentenced 15-5. 15-5 is a language of prison.
15 meaning 15 years jail sentence and 5 meaning 5 lakh NRS fine.
if not being able to pay the fine, that translates to 5 more years in jail.
pushpa hamal has already spent 8 years in jail. she claims to be betrayed forcefully.
She says "no one will believe her no matter what she says"
one of the prison guards whispered to me in ear
"In this jail, there are people who had done wrong
as well as people who had been betrayed"
The unfortunate thing about womens in jail is that inside
there arent just prisoners.
In many situations, even the innocent kids are compelled to live
in the prison because of the fault of their mother.
In the world, at one side, there are parents who have filfilled all
desires and necessities of their children or at least are trying to achieve that.
At other side, there are these children
who because of their parent's faults are compelled to live in prison.
Thinking about them and seeing them, something happens inside your heart.
Meanwhile, The children started coming.
In their language they came home or to central women prison.
I recognized pritus and i asked him "where did you come?"
he said "home"..
kids have come home for the winter break of 10 days.
But in order to enter this home some administrative works need to be fulfilled first.
So, meanwhile the kids have to wait outside for a while.
So, meanwhile, we continued talking to kids.
is it fun? which is more fun? home or school?
home and school
are you sano kanchi?
yes
how are you sano kanchi? where did you come?
home
home...
how are you doing?
doing good
which is more fun? home or school?
sano kanchi couldnt differentiate between which is more fun, home or school.
In fact, in the case of sano kanchi, it's not that easy to differentiate between
which is more fun home or school
her mother santa maya tamang, was imprisoned for murder case against her husband.
her sentence isnt that long now. She might be free this year.
12-13 months left now.
pushpa hamal, who is sentenced 15 years and fined 5 lakh, also plays the role of
a teacher in prison.
She completed her SLC, IA and is preparing to complete her BA all from prison.
pushpa hamal who was sentenced 15-5 but who studied to become a teacher, told us that
the situation in jail is such that it is not good to put children after 15-16 months.
"it would be better to send kids out from here starting as young as 15-16 months.
we feel as the child grows, its not good to keep them here"
why?
they learn bad/negative things. Also, there are fights, quarrel sometimes.
So, that will have negative influence/impact on them.
Seeing people with handcuffs come in and out all the time, they will have mental torture..
isnt it?
The mothers did wrong and are justified to be in prison..but those kids have done nothing wrong. So, i think putting kids for a long time in jail we feel
they will feel mental torture if in prison for a long time.
mother of sano kanchi santa maya tamang cannot come out from her cell.
Its been a while she has been waiting for her daughter anxiously.
santa maya tamang has her own touching story
her husband was a drunkard. he would come home drunk and beat her.
One day when she hit his head with dhungro() in anger, he died.
The people in jail told me.
When she saw her daughter, a very sweet smile could be seen in her face.
ya, this is the same sano kanchi, who upon grabbing the cloth of pushpa basnet,
pushpa basnet couldnt forget her face the whole night and she made a determination in life
that she will do something for these kids trapped in prison.
we all know, the environment inside jail isn't easy.
we see different people and behaviors. Even fights break out often.
Children who grow up in such environment, what their future will be like,
you cannot even imagine.
There are many organizations working to help kids in these situations by taking them out
and providing them food, shelter and education. Piye nepal, setu nepal, bal mandir, parijat are some examples.
pushpa basnet when she started working in this sector, she was barely 20-21 years old.
pushpa basnet wasnt a bright student academically.
she failed SLC. people rumoured her of having disgraced her family.
by the way, she is from a financially sound family.
she studied social work in saint xavier college but was suspended for a year.
So, she wasnt a bright student. But, in her heart there was no scarcity of love and
affection towards children.
one day she came to sundhara jail for her college field work.
what surprised her in the prison was that there were prisoners obviously
inside them but with them also were small kids.
in jail, sano kanchi grabbed the cloth of pushpa basnet and didnt let it go.
So, pushpa too couldnt forget her face. After that changed her philosophy in life.
Dear viewers, you are watching disa nirdesh. In todays program our topic is
pushpa basnet who recently was awarded korean international prize.
In this program related to pushpa basnet we have been presenting the first part video
which was taken 2.5 years ago and after the completion of the video,
we will present fresh interview with pushpa basnet. For now, lets return to the old video.
i have a need to do something for them
they are for me
the first time i entered the jail, what happened was, i saw small small kids.
And seeing them, i felt "wow... even in prisons they put kids."
first time she went to jail, Puspa saw sano kanchi. Sano kanchi met pushpa
and in jail wherever pushpa went sano kanchi would follow her grabbing her cloth
when i went there, sano kanchi grabbed my cloth, when she grabbed my cloth what i
felt was "what is this little kid doing to me? "..
she was such that like she had a charm. she was different for me.
so i was thinking she grabbed my cloth.. why did she do that? what did she saw in me?
all these question hit me and while talking she would always follow me.
Having gone to jail for the first time, she couldnt even forget sano kanchi's face
after returning home.
time and again sano kanchi's eyes hit her heart. That night she made this decision
that in this life i will do something for these kids trapped in jail.
Dear viewers, these were old talks.. recorded 2.5 years ago.
After the program was broadcasted, her situation in life and her organization
have changed little bit.
Nowadays, what she is doing? to talk about these things, we had invited pushpa basnet
to kantipur television studio. we present you the video recording of that interview.
hello pushpa!
hello dai(brother)!
how are you doing?
i am doing good
i am remembering, 2.5 years ago, when i first saw you..do you remember that time?
yes!
i came to interview you for the program "mero jindagi mero biswas(my life, my belief)", right?
yes!
do you remember the program getting broadcasted that evening?
yes!
how was your experience after that?
That day it was late.... that day eveyone had sat in front of the tv and watched the program.
In the course of watching, everyone shed some tears. I watched myself as well as my children.
Things have changed now. Many things have changed.
After the program ended, we started receiving many calls,
many help started coming as well. people came
from a person who brought us 19 donuts from his donut shop to
person donating 1 lakh(100000 NRS) came to us
its been 2.5 years....so, in between many things have transformed, hasnt it?
yes, many things have changed
I also feel very happy to see you live in bigger house today from that small house.
are children more comfortable now?
right now, according to place, where we are living children are lot more comfortable now.
before there were 19 children. kathmandu focused. but now we have offices outside kathmandu
jajarkot, fidim different places we have offices
now, children have more spaces, they have good place to play, good water, ..so right now
children have more facilities
media seems to help in many things ... what seems to be the negative effect of being famous?
looking at my life, looking at my work, i feel media is a very important role.
When you took my interview, my life changed very much. At first people didnt know me
know what i did...people had a belief when they saw kids they said those kids
are children of jailed people.
media has played an important role...now, people dont say that
people say whats wrong?..the parents made mistakes, but the children are innocent and dont
have any fault.
media helped bring that messasge to people
do you feel its easier to work on some thing right now?
yes, its easier in many things right now.
Before, when i used to go to prisons for work, people didnt know me...
who is pushpa basnet? what is this organization?
but, now when i go somewhere or meet even government officials,
they take out the book from "mero jindagi mero biswas(my life, my belief)"
they say "this book, this episode changed your life."
you also changed lives of many people, didnt you?
yes, i too did but also from your interviews many people's lives have changed as well
thats one point of view, another point of view is that whenever we get the opportunity to
bring people like you in front of media...we also learn a great deal of things.
we learn so much from people like you
looking back my life, i may have done many interviews from different sectors but
people who do less for themselves yet give to others..meeting people like you, we also
feel we learn and i feel richer as a human being..so thank you for that.
how old is pushpa right now?
29, dai(brother)!
first interview you were 26, right?
yes!
i used to feel surprised at the age of 26 when people go to disco, durbar marg..
pushpa goes to jail, helping innocent kids in jail ....
Seeing the varieties in life, i used to get fascinated.
now, that time and now...in between, public exposure has increased greatly, isnt it?..
cnn also made a film about you, right?
yes
how do you feel?
i feel good.
looking at life, how do feel about life right now
looking back in my life, i feel like this life is the best life i have.
because i am not alone, i have my kids, i have my work, many things.
But, in somethings i feel bad also.
But, when i am around the children... thats my most beautiful life.
some people dont get this life. but i am very fortunate i got this life.
people say your life is comfortable..looking at that, it looks comfortable...
people say you are in cnn and media but i feel .. yes, its very good right now
but in many things there are difficulties as well
like?
i cannot stay with my family.. i have big commitment for my organization.
Also, you never know there is risk always. today i am here, doing interview with you, right..
there anything can happen i feel life is uncertain but there is slight worry in heart
what do you mean anything can happen?
like i am here, those kids might injure themselves, i feel anything can happen..
because i have this organization, those kids are everything.
it took 8 years to come to this stage but it doesnt even take 8 sec for this to fall down.
so i have that fear..i have many fears in this work
Once Sir Edmund Hillary told me, when i was just starting in television i got the opportunity
to interview him - he being the first person to climb mount everest.
i asked him "what is the most difficult thing about Mount Everest?"
he said climbing mount everest in itself isnt that difficult thing but staying in the peak
is very difficult because there is very little space and very little oxygen.
and he used to say in english "climbing everest is no big deal my boy, staying on the top is
because there is so little space and so little oxygen"
and he also used to say "it applies for mountaineering and it applies for any other walk of life"
you feel that, dont you?
yes
and what did you see as the benefits of being famous in young age?
umm..regarding beneifts, right now getting appreciated by nepali people, people say
everywhere politics is not working, things are not working out but in someway
things are working out for those who are working.
you know that we cant change everything but at least from our small efforts, we can bring change.
but, after being famous, there are more helping hands. Both positive and negative you have.
Right now, When we read newspaper, watch news about the country, we see negative news all around.
But, Once in a while here and there news of people doing good deeds those people who are sacrificing to change other
peoples' lives like you also come out.
do you feel if there was political stability in the country people doing positive
things like this will get more help or get more inspired. do you feel like that or not?
yes, i do feel that dai(brother) because even when i come from abroad there are so many
nepali who are abroad, even those who dont even know how to write....i feel really bad
because the political situation is like that. but i feel for young youth like us, there is more
opportutnity in our country. what i feel is that there are many opporutnities in my country
you dont get this opportunity by staying abroad.
but if you stay here, of course you will need hardwork
but you shouldnt feel disappointed...yes, there is no petrol, not many things...but this is what
life is, isnt it? you dont get everything..if there is no petrol, then you should walk. stop complaining
we dont have this, we dont have that! do it! even in our case, manytimes we didnt have gas to cook food
we have to search...whether to burn wood to make briket..we have to search for alternatives.
by saying i dont have gas, i shoudnt go in front of shop and demonstrate. you have to find alternative.
here, what i want to find out is that the youth we have, especially from cities, or village
they keep saying there are no opportunities in Nepal. what is your thought on that?
no, thats a mistake. here you have more opportunities. There is no where more opportunity than in your country.
even in my case, if i had gone to US 8-9 years ago, what would have happended?
but staying in own country, you need to look for opportunity but in that opportunity you have to
move ahead.. it doesnt have to be big...even by starting from something small , keep faith..it will happen
we say there are opportunities, is that in some sector or every sector?
its in every sector dai!(brother) even in poultry farming, vegetable, mushroom, every sector there is opportunity
before, when we did program, parents complained my daughter is spoiled, started doing this type of work, isnt it?
now, how is the situation?
Now, daddy is happy. But, he has fear as well..but now since people have started appreciating, this work is good. when they
say this work is good, your daughter is doing a good job, dad is very happy. mom is definately happy but
dad is happy now.
that time they were sad werent they?
yes, you shouldnt be doing this work..you should have done some personal business..they had this thought
anyway, this has been good for Pushpa.
yes!
so in this sector of social work, there might be educated famous people, like people like you who have come in CNN or
people who are doing work quietly in some far corner in village..at one point puspha was also a girl in the latter category, isnt it?
yes!
but not many people can do this work, isnt it? with this level of intensity. if i am an ordinary person in home, how can i serve?
here, what we see is that people have an understanding that service is only monetory service.
Even without money, you can contribute by teaching someone even the skills you have.
Even in our organization, people come and teach skills to our children even teaching tuition
for free. that is also a service, isnt it?
so you can do that!
so, you can do any type of social work. ..
many people think that i have my own person problems, what can i do to serve? isnt it? many people
yes, many people say that
they say whether to support my family or what to do
what is your response to that?
what i say is if you want to come to kathmandu(capital of nepal), plz come! you might have some skills from village..
show it to us, teach us...its not that we know everything . so, some people come
pushpa has been working on this for 8 years. right? people helping people tendency is growing or decreasing?
its growing..its growing right now dai!(brother)
also because of facebook ..if people want to help they post it in facebook
so, people are more helping now than before?
because maybe because of media, internet..
even when i go to buy vegetables...even if they have a little left, they pack it in a bag and
give me
there is one sister, she always does that. whenever i go on saturday she always does that
what type?
she usually sells cabbage, raddish..and she always gives it to me
the ones left?
yes the ones left
if she sees me
regarding the help you have received till now, which is the one that touched your heart the most?
the help that touched my heart the most, was there was one brother, after your interview came out
he came to me and gave 535 rs. he said this is my situation..i would like to donate 535 rs...
i said ...no brother, its ok! but he taught me something important.
he said if someone gave you 1 lakh, 10000 you would take it. but, why dont you take just 535 from me?
so, i couldnt even talk and i said no matter what happens i wont spend this 535 that you gave me.
so thats why that 535 is a big thing for me.
other? Any other help? do you remember? that touched your heart.... its true any help touches in some way
people sacrifice to give something
that was one and another one was just few days ago someone had a frame shop and
he came to me with a framed article about me.
that was also very touching... people doing small small things like that instead of big things, those little
things make me happy.
also there are people giving big help, right
yes
and also some people give help but dont disclose their names, isnt it?
yes, theres was one person who gave so big but didnt want his name disclosed.
someone gives little and says more
someone gives more and dont speak
but, anyways they give right
nowadays, regarding the trend of collecting funds online through electronic media, sometimes we hear complaints.
can there be people who collect funds in the name of some person or organization and commit fraud? Regarding that,
would you want to say something through this media to all the people watching this?
Yes, that happens. Even for our work, people might collect funds online and not give us. But, what i would like to say to people is
the funds you have collected, try to give it to person.
instead of the middle man, it will be better to give it directly to the person.
For example: the organization will have their private bank account definately. After learning the process, it would be better to deposit
it in their bank account. That way it would be tranparent. It would feel good to the donors as well as the recipient will know who
donated.
so, the organization you are trying to donate, you should contact them at least once? its better that way than using middle man, middle women ?
yes
pushpa is looking after kids from prison. right?
yes
kids from prison meaning those whose parents are in jail. we have already showed that in the first part of the program. regarding that all
viewers are already aware of
when meeting people like those...what view of life do you get?
i go to prison, i meet those brothers sisters. After meeting them, they are very positive towards me since i am looking after their kids
but hearring their cases, their stories makes me very sad.
just yesterday, i have a new kid. the father being convicted of sexual assualt even though he has a young daughter. so when
taking the kid, i asked him "what case did you get inside prison?" he confessed "sexual assualt"..
so for a moment, i was....when we hear that every person shivers for a second. how can a man do that? i feel that way.because
i dont know .. i get a feeling how can he do that. and i told him "whatever happened, in one side there is something you have to do but
look at your own daughter... if someone did something wrong to your young daughter, how would you feel? " "he said i would kill him"
but how the victim would have felt when he did that to her? so hearing that , as a third party, i felt very sad hearing that.
so, in one side there are such crimes, but in another case there are crimes related to drugs, alcohol..in those cases
what i feel is that "could it be because of illiteracy and ignorance?"
so, just yesterday, the kid you brought home, that is daughter of the person convicted of rape?
yes
how old is she?
she is 11 years old..one 6 years old and 2 years old son
the one brought home by pushpa is?
all three
you said their mother left home
so, the people inside jail...however they are like, what are their feelings regarding their children?
what i found is that all parents were concerned about the education of their children. They claimed since they
didnt study they ended up like that so their son daughters should study
so the things we didnt receive this organization has provided to these kids...whatever we went through
these kids dont have to go through these things. they have these feelings
so, regarding kids, before, they didnt have any idea why they parents were in prison? but now kids are starting to understaand
the reason.
so now, in the break , when we go to meet the parents..the children are at the point they now ask their parents, what did you do
that made you stay in here.
so right now the parents find it hard to conceal/hide those things
but, during the span of life, whatever one does - negative positive, there is always opportunity for one to improve. isnt it?
yes
those things, you also tell to children, isnt it?
yes i do. so even in our case, everything isnt perfect. even kids do make mistakes some time. but when they make mistakes we say,
look in life you cannot make misktakes like that. you should learn from your mistakes. you can make mistakes but you should learn from
it.
right, even in my case, at some point i was suspended from college. i learnt from that mistake. right. i cant repeat the same thing again.
i learnt a big mistake from that.
at some point, puspa while studying social work was suspended from class, isnt it?
but life doesnt end there, isnt it? man moves ahead
yes
today cnn is making a film, isnt it?
what film did cnn make?
cnn made me nominee for 2012
we have to vote, right?
yes, if i fall in the top 10
we will offer prayers for you to be in top 10
it doesnt matter if you fall in top 10, in our vision, you are already top 10
thank you dai(brother)
By looking after the kids of people in jail, obviously they are thankful for you. and the kids whom puspa looks after are the
kids of poor criminals, convicts isnt it? you dont see rich people's kids there..do you?
no
they will put those kids with their relatives in that case.
when showing appreciation, do you have any touching experience with the inmates?
when i meet parents father/mother what most say to me is that
even though we are biological father/mother you gave them their destiny
everyone mostly say this
how do you feel listening to that?
something to feel happy about...something to feel proud about...for me... we dont have any relationship by blood but we have been entangled in
such a relationship that i feel i have some responsibility to look after them
in such a young age, you saw so many things right?
but, maybe this was the reason for my birth.
Having suspended from social work class,Pushpa Basnet, today is in the CNN nomination for social work. God's plan is unfathomable!
just recently a news have come about that pushpa has been awarded north korean international prize. right?
how do you feel when you get prize like that?
when i get prizes like that, that strengthes my faith and further motivates me. I feel happy too. Its a good news.
getting my organization recognization i feel happy.
in the field of social work in this small age you have done so much work isnt it
do you have anything to say to the new generation of youth regarding what one feels when one does something good for others
so, for the coming generation what i want to say is that in this field of social work the joy of doing serving someone is
much greater than the joy of receiving the help. so, come to this field. do anything that is in your power. not only monetary
you can give your skills, time, whether it be in management, or administrative work or by giving ideas, plz do it
please care. right? give something
give something
we all have something to give, right
everyone has
yes dear viewers yes, just like what pushpa said everyone of us, no matter how rich, poor, sad or happy we are. , in order
to give/share those who are less fortunate than us we always have anything that we can provie no matter how small it is.
in this world we have numberous means of happiness, pleasure, but but but by sacrificing a little and helping those who are little sad or less
fortunate, that degree of joy and happiness, there is nothing else in this world.
Dear viewers, if you want to help pushpa basnet and her organization, then her contact address is as follows
early childhood development center
this center is located in budanilkantha in chappali
The telephone is 4370005 and her mobile no is 9851101747. For today our time for disanirdeash is almost expired. I including all the crew
would like to ask permission to leave...nameste! (thank u)
would like to ask permission to leave...nameste! (thank u)