After three days of traveling on the road our group finally reached Simma, a remote village in Sankhuwasabha district of Nepal.
Our beaten vehicle and tired driver gave in to the unlit rough road. We had to walk a few hundred meters to reach the first house of Simma. A contrast to the darkness of the night, a bright wide smile welcomed us. It belonged to Sita, a mother of three, with her youngest wrapped in a colourful cloth slung around her body.
As soon as we slumped on wooden chairs, Sita gently placed her sleeping baby in a cradle and asked her other daughter to rock it. She then went to the kitchen where her husband had already started the fire and prepared our dinner in between conversations.
During our short stay, we learned a lot about village life in Simma from Sita. She taught us the differences in local wine varieties, the common source of income for the people, and the recent incidents in the village, one of which was the passing of a young boy who fell off a cliff and was left untreated due to lack of medical facilities.
On our last night in Simma, we asked Sita the question, “when do you feel at peace?” With the light from her firewood stove glowing on her face while breastfeeding her baby, Sita gave us her definition of peace. It was an honest and salient reply.
Peace is when my children are not sick. I am at peace when everything is fine in my household, when my friends and family visit me.
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