尼泊爾打工者用生命換取富裕生活

尼泊爾打工者用生命換取富裕生活

KATMANDU, Nepal — Picking up coffins at Tribhuvan International Airport here was once part-time work. Only a few arrived each week, not enough for a hearse driver to make a decent living.

尼泊爾加德滿都——從前，在這里的特里布萬國際機(jī)場(Tribhuvan International Airport)運(yùn)送靈柩只是一份兼職工作。一個(gè)星期也沒幾單活，不足以讓一位靈車司機(jī)過上體面的生活。

Now, at least five turn up daily, the bodies shoehorned into white plastic-wrapped boxes. So, in 2009, Dipendra Prasad Acharya quit his job driving trucks to work full time in one of Nepal’s few growing industries — transporting the bodies of emigrant workers.

現(xiàn)在，每天至少有五副靈柩被送到這里——尸體都被塞在包裹著塑料膜的白色箱子里。于是，迪彭德拉·普拉薩德·阿查里雅(Dipendra Prasad Acharya)在2009年辭去開卡車的工作，開始全職運(yùn)送出國務(wù)工者的尸體——在尼泊爾，這是為數(shù)不多的保持著增長勢頭的行業(yè)。

Mr. Acharya knows that his job is assured. At each pickup, he navigates around hordes of rangy young Nepali men and a growing number of women who mob the second-class departure terminal — some of whom are bound to return shrink-wrapped.

阿查里雅明白，他的工作是有保障的。每當(dāng)運(yùn)送尸體時(shí)，他都要繞開大群身形消瘦的尼泊爾年輕男人，以及越來越多的女人。這些人蜂擁著進(jìn)入二等出港候機(jī)廳，但總有一部分會(huì)裹著塑料膜重返故土。

“The number of dead bodies keeps increasing,” he said, waiting for another coffin. “We ferry the dead to their home villages free of cost. The government pays me for my work.”

“尸體一直在增多，”他在等待另一副靈柩時(shí)表示。“我們免費(fèi)把死者運(yùn)回他們的家鄉(xiāng)，政府會(huì)付給我們報(bào)酬。”

Nepal is a political and economic mess. A 10-year Maoist insurgency ended in 2006, but political leaders have since been unable to agree on a constitution. Despite vast hydropower potential, electricity is in such short supply that lights are extinguished for up to 14 hours each day. Manufacturing has declined for years, and now represents a paltry 6 percent of the country’s economy. Poverty is endemic, air pollution is choking, and health statistics are terrible.

尼泊爾的政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)都是一團(tuán)糟。一場持續(xù)了10年的毛派叛亂已于2006年結(jié)束，但該國政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人至今未能就制憲事宜達(dá)成一致。這里蘊(yùn)藏著巨大的水電潛能，電力供應(yīng)卻極端短缺，每天最多只能供電14個(gè)小時(shí)。制造業(yè)連續(xù)衰落多年，目前在國民經(jīng)濟(jì)中所占的比重只有區(qū)區(qū)6%。貧窮是當(dāng)?shù)氐耐ú?，空氣污染令人窒息，衛(wèi)生數(shù)據(jù)也很糟糕。

With few jobs at home, the country’s youths have responded by leaving. The scale of emigration has astonished development economists, yet it continues to grow, increasing 37 percent in just the past two years.

由于在家鄉(xiāng)幾乎找不到工作，尼泊爾的年輕人紛紛選擇離開故土。移民潮的規(guī)模大到讓發(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家感到吃驚，而且還在繼續(xù)增長——僅僅在過去兩年間就增加了37%。

On average, about 1,500 Nepalis officially left for jobs abroad each day in the 2014 fiscal year, up from six in 1996. Even more are thought to have left unofficially for India, though because the border is unchecked no one knows the precise figure. In some seasons, one-quarter of the country’s population may be working beyond the border, economists and manpower officials estimate.

在2014財(cái)年，為了到國外找工作，平均每天有1500名尼泊爾人經(jīng)由正式渠道出國;而在1996年，平均每天只有六人。據(jù)信還有更多尼泊爾人經(jīng)由非正式渠道前往印度，由于邊境檢查松懈，沒人知道確切數(shù)字。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和人力資源官員估計(jì)，在某些季節(jié)，全國有四分之一人口可能在國外務(wù)工。

No country in the world with at least 10 million people earns a greater share of its wealth from emigrant workers. Nepal has long been a destination for tourists eager to see the world’s highest mountains. But increasingly, even young Nepalis just visit.

在全世界至少1000萬人口的國家當(dāng)中，要論出國務(wù)工者積聚的財(cái)富在國民財(cái)富中所占的比例，沒有誰能超過尼泊爾。長期以來，尼泊爾一直是一個(gè)旅游目的地，游客們前來這里探訪世界最高的山峰。但漸漸地，在國外務(wù)工的尼泊爾年輕人，回國時(shí)也仿佛成了游客。

The flood of foreign money — officially 25 percent of Nepal’s gross domestic product and unofficially as much as 40 percent — is rapidly transforming the country’s economy and culture. Sturdy brick homes now dot villages where only mud huts stood. Private schools flourish. With their husbands gone to work abroad, women venture from home more frequently, make more family decisions and have fewer babies.

潮水般涌入的外匯收入，迅速改變著這個(gè)國家的經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化。據(jù)官方統(tǒng)計(jì)，這部分收入在尼泊爾國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值中占比25%;據(jù)非官方統(tǒng)計(jì)，占比40%。鄉(xiāng)村里從前只有土坯房，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)星星點(diǎn)點(diǎn)地蓋起了堅(jiān)固的磚房。私立學(xué)校蓬勃發(fā)展。由于丈夫們都出國打工了，妻子們開始更頻繁地走出家門，更多地充當(dāng)家庭決策者的角色，生育的孩子也更少。

“People that have come from abroad are more punctual,” said Ganesh Gurung, a sociologist at the Nepal Institute of Development Studies. “They don’t spit as much in public places.”

“出國回來的人更為守時(shí)，”尼泊爾發(fā)展研究所(Nepal Institute of Development Studies)的社會(huì)學(xué)家加內(nèi)什·古隆(Ganesh Gurung)說，“他們也不太會(huì)在公共場合隨地吐痰。”

But backbreaking labor in Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the most popular destinations outside of neighboring India, has resulted in a troubling number of deaths. An investigation last year by the British newspaper The Guardian said that Nepalis were being used as slaves in Qatar to build facilities for the 2022 World Cup, and returnees have been found to have higher rates of H.I.V. and AIDS.

除了鄰國印度之外，最為熱門的出國務(wù)工目的地是科威特、馬來西亞、卡塔爾和沙特阿拉伯——在這些國家的繁重勞動(dòng)，導(dǎo)致許多人死亡，數(shù)字令人不安。英國《衛(wèi)報(bào)》(The Guardian)去年的調(diào)查顯示，在卡塔爾，為了建設(shè)2022年世界杯所需的設(shè)施，尼泊爾人被當(dāng)成奴隸般使喚著;而且歸國者當(dāng)中艾滋病毒攜帶者、艾滋病患者的比例也比較高。

No place has changed as much as the Dhanusha District, an agricultural region along the Indian border with low incomes and the highest share of emigrants’ families in the country. Much of the land is devoted to rice paddies, and yoked oxen are still the most common means of plowing.

變化最大的要數(shù)達(dá)努沙縣。這是一個(gè)靠近印度邊境的農(nóng)業(yè)區(qū)，人們的收入很低，出國務(wù)工者家庭的比例全國最高。該縣的很多土地都種著水稻;直到現(xiàn)在，耕田時(shí)最常用手段還是負(fù)軛的耕牛。

Janakpur, the district capital, is a fetid warren of potholed streets, with some piled so high with rubble that they resemble a war zone. Roads outside the capital are largely dirt tracks over which vehicles rarely travel more than 15 miles per hour and people defecate openly throughout the day.

達(dá)努沙縣首府賈納克布爾街道窄仄，惡臭逼人，路面坑坑洼洼，其中一些用碎石墊得很高，仿佛是戰(zhàn)地。在首府之外，道路大多是土路，車輛行使的速度很少能超過每小時(shí)15英里，人們整天當(dāng)眾便溺。

But hope has come to Dhanusha in the form of solid homes, a proliferation of radios and TVs, and good schools. There are also more bars for men who developed a taste for alcohol while abroad.

但希望已經(jīng)降臨達(dá)努沙：堅(jiān)固的房屋拔地而起，收音機(jī)和電視得到了普及，條件良好的學(xué)校也建了起來。這里甚至有了更多的酒吧，從而迎合在國外喜歡上喝酒的那些男人。

A few blocks away, Munesa Khatun lived in a half-built brick home that her husband planned to finish when he returned from Saudi Arabia. But he died in that country. Now, one of their two sons works in Qatar and the other is waiting for a visa to join him, she said.

穆尼莎·卡頓(Shahida Khatun)住在幾個(gè)街區(qū)之外一棟蓋了一半的磚房里。她丈夫本打算在從沙特阿拉伯回國之后，再蓋好另外一半，但卻在那里送了命。卡頓有兩個(gè)兒子，她說其中一個(gè)目前在卡塔爾工作，另一個(gè)也要過去，正等待簽證。

“I’m very frightened for my son because I don’t want him to die over there like his father,” Ms. Khatun said. “But we need money, and there is no other way to get it.”

“我為兒子擔(dān)驚受怕，我很害怕看到他像父親那樣死在異鄉(xiāng)，”卡頓說，“但我們需要錢，沒有其他辦法能掙到錢。”