Piles of Bricks’ Priests: The Ex-Shaman

Part of our four-part blog series Piles of Bricks’ Priests: The Hindu, the Anglican, and the Ex-Shaman in which we talk about the film through the eyes of the priests in the film in their non-clerical roles  - as survivors of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. We are looking forward to introducing Pastor Lilam and his inspiring story in our upcoming Piles of Bricks (Revisited) being streamed for the first time on Saturday, April 25th from Lalitpur at 6 PM, and again that evening at 8 PM NYC time.
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The Ex-Shaman - Ps. Lilam Bahadur Rana Magar, Gorkha. Perhaps the most intriguing for folks that have grown up in American Christendom is the example of Pastor Lilam in Gorkha, ground zero of the 2015 'quakes. He is a former shaman/witchdoctor who converted to Christianity when his spells no longer worked, once upon a time.

By Steve Richards

​We first meet up with the Pastor in our mini-documentary Piles of Bricks – Villages shot in 2015 when we treked to Gorkha, the epicenter of the earthquake. Using a combination of vans, 4WD vehicles, and leg power, we survey damage in his village ranging from cracks to cave-ins. 

The film, shot in the midst of the fuel shortage caused by the Indian blockade, we see long lines queued up for petrol, packed buses with passengers riding on the roof, and commercial trucks giving passengers a ride at no charge. 

In 2015 the pastor was not expecting much from the government. By the end of the film we are pleasantly surprised that he had received his promised three Lakh (300,000 rupees, or about $3,000) from the government and was much recovered. This is not a universal story amongst the villagers we talked with including those in Lele and Harisiddhi. 

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Our footage shows significant improvements and much new building though many of the dilapidated houses are still standing and still in use, as dangerous as they still are. Instead, many have used the money to build small new homes alongside the old ones. Pastor Lilam demonstrates this very clearly when we visited him earlier in 2020. Many older buildings are weak and mostly made of mud and stones as is documented with inside-out tours.

Gorkha has always been a dangerous place and is so now. It is also the birthplace of the Gurkhas, revered as perhaps the best soldiers in the world and close allies to the USA in wars from WWI to Afghanistan. For more about them click here.

The scenery is, as expected, awesome with flowers blooming and terraced farming.

We are looking forward to introducing Pastor Lilam and his inspiring story in our upcoming Piles of Bricks (Revisited) being streamed for the first time on Saturday, April 25th from Lalitpur at 6 PM, and again that evening at 8 PM NYC time.

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Click here for the previous instalment in this four part series: Piles of Bricks' Priests - The Anglican