These photo books were produced by MIDEQ Nepal team members: Swastika Ghimire, Anita Ghimire, Ipsha Poudel and Binita Karki and published by Apurba Press, Dillibazar.

Introduction

This book is a part of the Flexible Funding work under the Migration for Development and Equality Hub (MIDEQ). Funded by the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) (Grant Reference: ES/S007415/1), MIDEQ unpacks the complex and multi-dimensional relationships between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South. MIDEQ aims to transform understanding of the relationship between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South by decentering the production of knowledge about migration and its consequences away from the Global North towards those countries where most migration takes place. More at www.mideq.org

MIDEQ explores South-South migration in six ‘corridors’ that link migrants’ countries of origin and destination. Nepal-Malaysia migration is one of the corridors. The Nepal Institute for Social and Environmental Research (NISER) is MIDEQ’s partner for the Nepal- Malaysia Corridor. NISER, an independent Research Institute duly registered with the government of Nepal conducts research in different contemporary issues and impact-evaluation of interventions.

This book is an outcome of long-term engagement with migrants, returnees and their families in Saptari and a consequent desire to give voice to experience and emotions of families who are rarely accounted in the migration-development discourse. The paintings were made and stories shared in a painting workshop conducted with migrants and their families in 2023. Wives of migrants, children from migrant families, children from non-migrant families, and Nepali migrants participated in the workshop held in Nepal and Malaysia. Workshop for wives and children of migrants were conducted in Rajbiraj, Saptari for which the project partnered with Women, Children, and Community Development Centre (WCCDC).

A total of 105 wives, 76 children from migrant families, 38 children from non-migrant families participated in the workshop. The workshop for current migrants was carried out in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia with support of the North-South Initiatives (NSI), an NGO working for human rights of workers in Malaysia (for details see https://nsinitiative.net/). 31 Nepali migrants working in Malaysia between 9 months to 9.5 years participated in the painting workshop. In these workshops, they were asked to reflect on the migration and/or families who have stayed back in Nepal. Children from non-migrant families were asked to reflect on A single round of painting workshop was carried out with current migrants and children while two rounds of painting workshop was carried out with wives of migrants. The wives of migrants participated in a three day orientation workshop between the two rounds of paintings.

This book conveys the feelings and experiences of men who leave their homes and go for foreign employment from Nepal, of their wives and children who stay behind and bear the absence, through paintings. The stories in the book are derived from interviews with the participants. The paintings and the stories were used with their consent. Through the book, our objective is to work as intermediaries in taking voice of migrants and their family members to all the stakeholders who work in the space and have the power to influence positive outcomes in the lives of migrants, their families, children and spouse, to the home communities, Nepal and the destination countries.