Back to normal?

Started this just after the lights came back on after they'd been off for 2.5 hours of load shedding which we now have once a week until the power shortage gets worse and they make it longer. A couple of hours is no big deal and as it only constitutes 1.5% of weekly usage, I wonder whether it will make any difference or if its just to gently prepare us for much worse to come. A busy week for demonstrations which brought traffic to a halt for most of 1 day and bits of another 2. The Armed Police (who look like Army but wear blue camo instead of green - presumably so they merge in with the diesel fumes) are back on the streets apparently after a tip off that a Maoist Special Unit was in Kathmandu. So what if they were, the Maoist leader now attends public gatherings here and peace talks are vaguely under way. Putting men with guns back on the streets hardly demonstrates trust in the peace process. Anyway, after 4 months or so of having things pretty easy these two factors explain the heading and give me an excuse for getting back to presenting this as being a hardship posting. Not true of course but like the tabloids (in fact, all papers apart from the good 'ol FT) I  know that sensationalism gets readers. By the way, did I mention that Elvis is alive and well in a remote village in Nepal. OK, that's a lie but you might have seen that we do have the smallest man in the world, unfortunately the Guinness Book of Records won't ratify this for another 4 years just in case he shoots up (in height not the other sort) in the meantime.

 

Aside from the above, its been a busy but stimulating week. Sheila's really got herself stuck into the heart of Early Childhood Development planning which means she is writing notes, concept papers etc late into the night. At Blue Diamond, my Admin & Finance colleague and I are busy trying to do day to day accounting whilst re-working budgets for UNDP (UN Development Programme) who manage the funding provided by DFID (keep up, I've mentioned this one before, it's the UK's Dept for International Development) and chasing them for money to pay August's salaries which we finally got last Thursday. Tomorrow we start chasing all over again in the hope that we can finally catch up and pay September's salaries on time which is all the more important because it's the Dasain festival at the end of the month which is an expensive time for everyone. Last Thursday, there was meant to be a beauty contest "Miss Queen 2006" organised by the Care & Support team (who run a hospice and care centre for people living with HIV & AIDS) at BDS. Following demonstrations on Wednesday near where it was to to be held and warnings that there might be more on Thursday it sadly was postponed. Shame but hopefully it will be rearranged although it might not be for 6 months. Volunteer meeting on Friday evening, out to visit Bouddha (30 min microbus/tuk-tuk ride away - both forgot cameras so no pictures of the Buddhist stupa) yesterday and both of us working today (Sheila, almost a full day in the office for an important meeting and me just an hour or so largely to give moral support to my colleague who was in for most of the day) rounded off the week. As I said, stimulating and we are both buzzing if a little tired. This week should be a bit more relaxing as we have a variety of VSO workshops on Weds/Thurs/Fri which hopefully won't be too participatory.

 

This was intended to be a very quick note which has taken longer than planned and it's after 11pm so time for bed.

 

Cheers

Roshan

 

P.S. Apologies to  Simon, Heather and Richard who I did not mention in my last P.S. but have written with their news and to say they read the blog. If I've forgotten anyone else, send me a nice gossipy e-mail to let me know.

 

P.P.S. Big news of the week is that Josie and Ben haved booked to come and see us at the end of next month. Only a week but it will be great to see them and for them to see where we live, work and play.