No place for old man
21 February 2009
OLD AND LOST: Memay Nim Dorji.
Memay Nim Dorji, in his 70s, was moving around the Paro valley trying to find his house, which is in Lhuentse, on February 14.
Karma Choki, a spa therapist from Aman Kora, saw him coming to her house at around 5 pm. Thinking that he was a beggar, she invited him inside but he declined. After a while, when she came out, she saw the man still waiting outside.
It was only after she fed him and talked with him that she came to know that he was lost. He is from Menbi in Lhuentse. “He told me that he has lost his way home,” said Karma Choki. “When I told him that he was not in his village but in Paro, he began to cry.”
He handed over some money to Karma Choki and said that he must go to a goenpa in Lhuentse to pray with a lama. Karma said he had Nu 1356 on him, which he said was given by people. Memay carried an old, green rucksack containing a plate, a mug, some biscuits, two old coats, and a pair of old snickers.
Memay Nim Dorji speaks only Kurtoepkha. He had been in Paro for almost 20 days when Karma met him.
How he reached Paro is unknown.
On Monday, Karma and her sisters brought Memay to Thimphu to be handed over to a non-governmental organisation.
In Thimphu, there are many women’s organisations but no place for the lost old man to go.
Memay Nim Dorji was taken to Respect Educate Nurture and Empower Women (RENEW). The women’s organisation assured that it will find out more details of the man and reach him home. But there is no place for him there.
“We do not have a shelter for men so I requested Karma Choki and her sister to keep Memay with them,” said Chimi Wangmo, the Executive Director of RENEW.
According to RENEW, Memay appears to have been neglected by his family and traumatised.
Meanwhile, some of Karma’s friends agreed to keep the old man with them.
Memay thinks that Thimphu is also Lhuentse. Asked where his home is, he only points at a direction. He says he does not have a family.
Karma Choki says she has given up hope of finding help from individuals. “I have seen religious people talking of helping others but when their help is needed, they are not there,” she said, adding that it is sad.
Memay Nim Dorji has been moved to yet another house in Thimphu where he gets all the attention and care he needs.
Meanwhile, one of his distant relative living in Thimphu contacted RENEW on Wednesday. He told The relative told RENEW that Memay had a son who might have illtreated him. The relative assured RENEW that he will take care of Memay. “We are convinced that Memay will be taken care of but we will keep following up on him,” said the Executive Director of RENEW.
BY TANDIN PEM
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I read this artical and was apalled by the fact that there was no place for the meme in the charitable homes. Why is this hapenning?
Kudos to Karma Choki for having taken care of the old man. It is people like you who matters and not the so called fashionable charities. It just do not make sense for the ED of RENEW to declare that she would like to keep track of the meme. Track for what?
This is bad. Real bad.
It was apalling to know that the meme has no place to go. What is more surprising is the fact that our charitable organisation has no place for him.
Kudos to Karma Choki for having taken care of the meme and for trying to find a place for him. This show of humane compassion is what really matters in times of need. I don’t understand why ED of RENEW wants to follow up the meme after denying help when he most needed.
in the land of GNH and highly Buddhist country, i am surprised that there are no philantropists to accpet this lost old father. Bhutanese are therefore, good at barking or preaching but fails miserably in practice.