I have spent much of my summer engaged in various meetings and discussions aimed at planning programs and strategies for Nepali NGOs. On each occasion that an advocacy campaign was desired someone would bring up the possibility of a street drama to raise awareness. Once I finally found a good opportunity to inquire into exactly what a street drama entailed, I received the extremely helpful answer “It is a drama performed on the streets.” While I cannot dispute the validity of this answer, it was not exactly what I was looking for.

Eventually I found someone who explained to me that groups of traveling actors used to go from village to village performing stories about both factual and fictional events. This tradition has evolved into street dramas being used by political parties and now NGOs even though the practice by professional groups has mostly stopped. Once I heard the full explanation I was very eager to actually see such a drama for myself. It was actually in Mahendranagar that this finally happed and it was COCAP volunteers who provided the opportunity.

I have mentioned in earlier journals that one of COCAPs current campaigns is a push to encourage the government to ratify the Rome Statute. During the first week of July COCAP held a week of conferences, meetings and information sessions in Kathmandu to raise awareness about the International Criminal Court and its potential importance to Nepal. Included in the program was a street drama created and performed by the COCAP volunteers. After the week of activities in Kathmandu, discussions began on how to spread the campaign outside of the capital. At that time they decided to take the street drama on tour. My trip to Mahendranagar coincided perfectly with the volunteers’ arrival and subsequent performance; in fact I was staying in the same hotel as them.

Jeff, Songyee and I had dinner at the hotel on the day of the volunteers’ arrival to wait and see them. At around 9pm their long bus journey from Kathmandu ended in Mahendranagar. Some of the volunteers we had become good friends with during our time in Kathmandu, but there was also a host of new volunteers to meet and chat with. The volunteers ranged in age from about 18 to 21, and most are University students. Some have been with COCAP for a few years and some are brand new, but all of them were extremely excited to be participating in this tour of Nepal. Some of them told me that this was the first time they had ever left the Kathmandu valley. Upon their arrival the atmosphere at the hotel turned from empty hotel in a quiet and remote town to a college dorm. Doors were slamming, people shouted down the hallways, kids were chasing each other, shouting and enjoying the excitement of being in a hotel with a group of friends instead of home with their families. Eventually the reality of the next morning’s 5 am wake up call dawned on some of the volunteers and they started heading towards their beds to get a few hours of sleep, and save some energy for the next day’s four performances.