A major milestone....

........in our life in Nepal today (sorry, I wrote this on Tuesday but did not manage to post it until Thursday), we finished our In Country Training and we moved into our flat. I'd like to say that the end of training was marked by certificates for fluency in Nepali but of course it wasn't and almost 2 weeks since our last language class the limited vocabulary I had got seems to be slipping away.  We've been delaying moving for 2 weeks due to curfews and the strike but now, with the Pacific Guest House finding it more difficult to buy food for everyone, it seems the right thing to do. The remaining new volunteers who are all still at the Guest House we've been in for the last 8 weeks are going stir crazy as for security reasons we are not allowed to use any form of public transport or venture out when there are demonstrations going on. Sheila is desperate to put her signature on the flat with some arty fabrics, cushions etc and is frustrated that shops are either closed or are too far away to walk to. My efforts to persuade her that this is a small sacrifice in the fight for democracy are unlikely to be successful until the shops run out of cigarettes and I have to make my sacrifice.

 

In my last post I talked about optimism that the King would announce changes in his New Year speech last Friday. Well he didn't and we are now in day 12 (or is it 13?) of a general strike which the political parties organising it seem intent on continuing until there is change. Although the scale of demonstrations grows daily, the protestors' behaviour seems to have become more peaceful which is remarkable considering the battering they are getting from the police. Apart from, via its tame media, denying that there is any problem, the government (i.e the King) shows no signs of backing down and I can only assume that their cunning plan is to wait for the population to turn against the opposition political parties when petrol/cooking gas/food runs out. There have been suggestions in the press that a state of emergency will be declared which is what happened last year when the King took control. Although this might provide a basis for an even greater clamp down on the demonstrators, the international community will kick up a storm if this happens and India may even take some action such as closing its borders and possibly asking the political opposition if they want "protection" from the Indian Army.

 

We have yet another security briefing tomorrow. Danny, the VSO Country Director, is getting loads of advice from other international agencies and the British Embassy and hopes to be able to give us a slightly longer (i.e. a month rather than the next couple of days) view of things. Although very little work is getting done I think VSO will stick with it as even a temporary withdrawal would have a long term impact in terms of perceived commitment to Nepal and difficulties in restarting projects. Many of the established volunteers are so well embedded in their local employers that I think they would have to be dragged out of the country.

 

I'm sorry I haven't posted any pictures for a while, the best I could do would be ones of the house so for some front line pictures see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4916046.stm.

 

I forgot to mention last time - an unexpected but very welcome side effect of the strike is that we haven't had any electricity load shedding since it began. I guess the bloke who switches off the power is on strike - good man!

 

Cheers

Roshan