Pheri betaula Nepal

As expected the last few weeks did become manic and hence no blogging...

Work was busy with redrafting of documentation, still working around load shedding and Nepal once again sliding into crisis.

A particularly memorable day, when unable to use power in office or at home I was once again working on laptop in the embassy club, sitting with the manager as Prachanda the Maoist Prime-minister made his resignation speech. "So sad" my friend said quietly as he translated "when we had all had so much hope for change … but when the president just over-rules him …. they just do not want an integrated army. This will not be an easy time again for Nepal".

A week later and clearing and packing up the flat proved far less stressful than I had anticipated mainly due to the help of my replacement. Thanks go to volunteer friends who took most of the contents to furnish their own deras and to the helpful, well organised www.packersmovers.com recommended by VSO, and later to Sharon who made it so easy for us the UK end.





My last evening was with my Nepali colleagues, ending up with a typical dahl baat. Then having said goodbye to my landlord and family, I finished my time in Nepal in Hotel Manaslu, warmly welcomed by the staff and treated to a beautiful, newly renovated room with many volunteers calling in to share a drink in the sunny garden.

Pheri betaula Nepal and to all my very special Nepali friends who allowed me to be alongside them and share in their lives as they work towards their vision of the future for Nepal's children.




Love Sheila xx

Breaking news!

Well it's done! Flight is booked and 3 weeks today I expect to be back in Felpham - scary! But I won’t be able to just sit and sew cushions, shop, eat and lie on the balcony watching the sea for all the summer as I plan to go back to Singapore at some time in June. There, I'll let Roshan work whilst I further explore the city filling my self with spicy seafood and cold white wine – both much missed whilst in KTM! Well, maybe…I’m not sure I will have finished enough to step completely away from our task here of writing the standards and already my boss has said "Sheila-ji you will continue by email?"

During the past week I have had my replacement staying with me at the flat so we have been able to chatter away about work. I am not sure which one of us talks the most - me probably! Although she was not able to go on "the village stay", a memorable time for Roshan and I three years ago, she and I have really been able to use the time to catch-up and start the process of handover.

Much of the time these days I go to and from the office sitting with window seat on a government bus, with colleagues from other offices chatting, whilst I switch off for 40/50 minutes trusting the driver to take me though all the jams and queues for fuel until safely back in KTM, when I then walk for 10 minutes home. However, this evening was different. Firstly my bus was not in its usual place (fuel shortages again apparently) so joined those on the only government bus (usually 3 large and 2 micra) that was running. Before we left our office it was full with three people to a double seat and aisle full but then it continued to fill up at two more sites!

So a cheerful but noisy ride back into the north of the city where I transferred onto a white micra (mini) bus, only to find that a couple of hundred yards down the road traffic police stopped us and sent us into a small side street. All those going to my area got off and began to walk home. As so often here, I was immediately joined by a young man from the bus concerned that I knew where I was going, keen to talk about his family, studies and job and with an invite to call in for tea and meet the family. Later someone suggested the traffic stoppage was not related to this week's fuel problems but was very localised, connected to the ongoing dispute between Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff, whose "fate was (yet again) to be decided today", and interventions from supporters of the chief from the Radisson casino!!

Wednesday 29th

Having agreed that I should work from home today at 2pm I took a break and walked past the British Embassy expecting to see retired Gurkhas outside and thinking I would stand for few minutes in solidarity for the ongoing fight for staying in the UK, but all had gone by the time I walked by. So, I went inside to ask Ramesh, the ex-Gurkha who manages the Stirling Club in the Embassy.

He said that two groups had been outside earlier, I assume with petitions. He stressed that all had been calm and dignified and I suspect from the way he spoke, also very moving. Unlike, he reflected sadly, so many now in Nepal who demonstrate and get noticed by damage and hurting people and throwing stones. A depressing but unfortunately reality. Whilst the the club was empty he was watching BBC World News and I was very glad I had gone in and talked with him.

And even more pleased when on Thursday morning I woke up to email from Josie:

breaking news - MPs just voted against govt settlement plan for Gurkhas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8023882.stm

Hooray!

Right, I’d better get on with work - home again today as probable traffic bandh and threats of demos later (but I might pop back to see Ramesh again to reflect on announcement and time lunch with a quick charge on laptop battery!).

Best wishes to all and I'll see some of you soon!
Sheila

A bit of a break

Sorry for the lack of updates, all left to me now and I’ve been away from Nepal as Josie and I met up for a few days holiday. We met in Kochi and spent time with Roshan's step mother Pauline, who has lived there many years. As her house is not in centre of the town we stayed in a hotel where we had great views. Pauline joined us each day and we spent most of the time chatting and enjoying being together in Kerala. Girlie fun – lovely!


Great to see the sea again too!



From Kochi, Josie and I went to Singapore. Easy direct flight and Silkair had promised good service and we got it and Roshan was waiting for us at Changi Airport with a wheelchair-friendly black cab to take us into the city. A bit surreal but the best accessible vehicles there apparently!

And then a week of lots of walking, exploring, socialising and for me fish eating. All very enjoyable although poor Roshan was up to his neck in work.

A funny old world

So there I was in Kathmandu just getting to know the new VSO partner organisation I was going to work with and I get this e-mail from an old friend. "Need a Finance & Ops person in Singapore for 3 months, can you start next week?" Really difficult decision to leave VSO early but delaying until May, when we were due to finish, was not an option. Sheila thought I would need a new adventure post-VSO so encouraged me to say yes - I think the prospect of some time in Singapore blinded her to the reality of being on her own in Ktm and having to pack up the flat with no assistance from me (what's new she said). My bosses at VSO said they would be sad to see me go - although the Country Director's first question was "Will Sheila be staying?" - but understood that there is life after volunteering. A crazy 2 weeks finishing up in Kathmandu then 2 weeks ago today I arrived in Singapore.

As this is an interim job (the guy they thought they had recruited decided not to take up the offer), no gentle introduction back into the corporate world, I have been thrown in at the deep end including 2 days last week in Vietnam. Although I have no idea whether my new employer has a policy on blogs, it's probably not appropriate to tell you more about the job than it's finance & ops back in my old world of private equity (but not with 3i). After the first week staying with my friend/boss and his family, I'm now in a serviced apartment just 20 mins walk (pretty steamy even at 8am) from the office and close to plenty of late opening food courts. I'm on the 28th floor with a great view of the Padang and ships at anchor in the bay, I'll try and get some photos up soon.

My rapid departure from Nepal saved there being too many emotional farewells. There is no time now for reflection on 3 years in Nepal but I'm sure when I've finished 3 months in this dramatically different world, my memories of the place, the people, the work, the whole experience will remain hugely positive and continue to have an impact on how I view life - thank you Nepal, thank you VSO. I'll leave Sheila (with help from Josie) to keep up the great stories and pictures - and coping with load shedding, bandhs and packing up the flat, I'm sure she'll make me pay for this in due course!. For me, its not goodbye Nepal just pheri betaula (see you again).

Cheers
Roshan

Changes

Looking back I realise it is over a month since we last posted and lots has happened since then.

Whilst we were enjoying Srijana and Etienne's wedding party, Roshan took a call from Singapore which led him leaving Nepal two weeks later to take up very different work there. I'll leave him to fill in on this at another point.

So back to the wedding...

Etienne and Srijana met through VSO whilst Etienne was working as a volunteer and we wish them well as now wedding ceremonies and honeymoon over they are settling down to their new life together here in KTM.

And I'm still here too! I am staying on for a few more months as originally planned as there are still lots of things I want to be part of before leaving in May, such as working on standards for learning and development for children as they come to the end of the ECD stage. Nonetheless I am also very keen to visit Singapore again so will go for a few days in April with Josie, once we have spent a few days with Pauline, Roshan's stepmother, in Kerala. Then I will return for another month of work and the clearing and packing up of our Lazimpat flat.

There are other changes here too. A new six lane highway is being built, from the ring road to the east of Kathmandu, and each morning as I sit on the bus in a traffic jam I watch men in hard hats with a huge crane, piling machine and diggers only a few yards from where women are sitting on the ground selling a few peanuts, girls are washing carrots in the river and women and children are collecting water from a tap. And when I buy carrots in the little kiosk/shop behind our flat I remind myself of the filthy water they have been cleaned in and boil thoroughly or wash again with added iodine!

Another change is the renovation of the ground in front of the Ministry of Education - this is central KTM, 10 minutes walk from the flat and I am able to take a government bus from here to my office in Bhaktapur. As the rubbish was cleared this statue was uncovered and subsequently turf put down and paths laid.

Unsurprisingly the area has become an interesting place for this little girl to explore each morning.

And she has become very entertaining for some of the guards and me! Yesterday I was treated to her new word, "Welcome" and today to a salute and a dance.

Once again, with children my limited Nepali poses no problem and we communicate with gestures and the odd word or two!

Fuel shortage are reoccuring: "As the government fails to impress agitators...to guarantee proportional representation of indigenous and excluded communities...a fresh wave of national agitation is likely" states yesterday's Kathmandu Post.

Load shedding is still 16 hours a day and for the past two weeks we have had rumours that this is very likely to increase to 20 or more. But at this stage it has only been a rumour and whilst the power goes to schedule it means at least you can prepare a bit to be without it - I can charge my laptop and phone and am fortunate in having an internet package that I can use even when the power is off, so I can Skype Roshan and the UK. It is very difficult for businesses though and for the Department of Education there are three days with two hours and three with none during work hours..

And now, tonight my laptop battery won't last much longer either so time to go...best wishes to all, Sheila xx

Another mad friday and picture books

Another good Friday and one I wish I could have videoed.

Going to Bhaktapur this morning on local bus, at bus park in street, I sat in seat near front. Instead of starting off, suddenly the driver backed bus across the road and then bus boy and another pushed it backwards into a petrol station. I assumed it was for fuel - buses do refuel with their passengers on here - but no, something to do with starting problem so we sat there until it was bump started. I had sat next to a woman probably a bit younger than me who spotted the picture books in my carrier bag, so for a while we looked together talking in my limited Nepali about the pictures - she couldn't read the text - and we were then joined by bus boy.He could read the short Nepali text as I could hear, and having taken a book was then standing on the bus step shouting for passengers and taking fares, whilst reading picture books! Suddenly a nudge on my leg and I had a very large goat tied up next to me. Later the woman next to me and the goat got off and I was joined for the rest of the journey by a woman, her husband and a girl of about 7 sat in front of us. Her mother explained quietly / sadly to me "my daughter is mentally retarded". (I think she probably has Downs Syndrome). I asked if she goes to school and was told no, her mother taught her at home. Then this mother also showed interest in the picture book in my bag, reading then turning it over and seeing the shop name and price on the back. A quick few words with her husband and I like to think that maybe sometime that little girl will be looking at picture books too.It was lovely to see the father holding and caring for this child on the bus, encouraging her to say Namaste to me, as here much of the lives of children with special needs is hidden away, shunned, in the home. All smiles as we went our own ways.

Then to the ECD facilitator training where I had a couple of hours again sharing picture books, puppets, feely bags and low cost materials to encourage curiosity and problem solving with young children. Rushing from there to try to get back here while power on, got on bus and then stuck in jams. Finally got off at ring road hoping to pick up another the other side. No, even more jam probably back into centre . I knew if I walked I would not get back whilst power on so gave in and got in cab to go round another way. 20 mins later, after hearing on the radio re jams in centre, my taxi driver shouted at a friend who said he was charging flat rate as jams so bad. My taxi driver turned off meter and said a ridiculous amount. I got out and paid what had been on meter and to his surprise walked off. Walked a bit and then got another cab, this time on meter rate but soon stuck in another jam. Got out again and walked and later picked up a third. He drove me most of the way home, but a bit put out when I got out, because I like most Nepalis generally do not tip, and would not round the fare up by a third! Home and had 2 hours of power and should get 2 more on battery to do some of the work on early learning standards that I have not managed to do all week.

So another good Friday, much warmer than yours and a day off tomorrow but masses of work to do. Then back to the training on Sunday.

Oh and have just paid Rs105 (£1) total for 3 dvds, Australia, Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire.

What will I do from late May?

Lots of love and keep warm

Sheila

Poesie & the Fags

A pleasant afternoon at a concert. I met these Dutch guys last year when they visited Blue Diamond Society; one is here teaching at the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, they are both talented singer/musicians. They have a band called "Poesie & the Fags" (Poesie is the nickname of the 3rd member of the band - a girl - pronounced "pussy" in Dutch). Apart from playing at various hip, trendy (and therefore ones that we don't go to) venues in Ktm, they have been coaching a choir from some transgender members of BDS. The concert this afternoon was the first public performance for the Transgender Choir (or as Sunil, my old boss, said the Queer Choir).

And a great success it was, particularly their rendition of Om Shanti Om, a big Bollywood hit from a couple of years ago.

And, by the look on their faces, they obviously all enjoyed it. A great confidence boost for some of them who are still on their journey of being "out".

Charlie Haviland, the Beebs man in Ktm (hijacked by Sunil from the leaving do of our top UN man which both of them were at) did a couple of interviews so if its been a quiet day for news, this might yet make it on BBC. My only fear is that any publicity will get the Performing Rights Society chasing the choir for royalties on the CD they have made.

Shouldn't be saying this seeing the weather forecast for London today, but the temperature here is gradually rising. Very pleasant during the day and not too cold at night. If it does snow in London tonight, I think my friend Sanjay, who is there on a short work trip, will be happy to have experienced it although he must be freezing. I did warn him that London in January could get very cold but he was probably not ready for -7 windchill.

Way past our normal bedtime (8pm) and the powers off until 4am so good night all.
Roshan

Update
It did make the BBC news, we heard a short piece on World Service radio news on Monday morning and its now on the BBC News website.
Nepalese choir with a difference

Happy Australia Day!

I did a double-take as I walked past the Radisson Hotel's storage house (next door to us) yesterday. I didn't register the kangaroo pictures but I did think the funny pink things looked like the Opera House and sure enough that's what they were meant to be. I guess they are having an Australia Day party - shame the Radi is too expensive for us!

Load shedding reduced - only 14 hours per day!

Cheers
Roshan

P.S. There's something for Mardi Gras - turn the Opera House pink.

More about my new job

Bit of a crazy week, dramas on the selection of organisations that will receive grants from a major donor in the HIV programme (Global Fund www.theglobalfund.org) so lots of lobbying which I get involved in to help write petitions/e-mails that say more than "We woz cheated, it's not fair!". We'll see what use this does, I'm not optimistic about the outcome and therefore pessimistic about the programmes being delivered well (if at all in the case of some) by the organisations that have been selected. But enough of that, it just gets me bitter and twisted about the way things work in development.

I promised to tell you more about Richmond Fellowship Nepal, the organisation I will spend most time with for my remaining 4 months here. It runs addiction programmes, mainly for drug users although there is one in Kathmandu for alcoholics as well. The drug programmes focus on rehabilitation and reintegration with the HIV angle covered by education and a Harm Reduction Programme (needle exchange – if a drug user does not want to give up, at least make sure s/he gets a clean syringe etc so the risk of transmitting HIV and/or Hepatitis is significantly reduced). The main office where I work is based at a rehab centre on the outskirts of Kathmandu – makes absconding more difficult – and there are about 35-40 clients in residence at any time. Almost all of my colleagues are alumni of the programme, i.e. they were drug users themselves, so they are teaching me about how rehab works and what it feels to be a client. So what am I going to do at Richmond? Still working this out but my main reason for being there is to discover what, if anything, they need from a long term volunteer so VSO can find someone with the right background (and I'm thinking that isn't an ex-Chartered Accountant with experience of private equity investing!). Admin work is really becoming a challenge with electricity and therefore computers off for at least half the day. As this means we adjourn from the extremely cold office to sit outside in the sunshine, I am not heartbroken when the power goes off. From this week, I'll be a lot warmer as our new load shedding timetable of 16 hours per day started today. On a good day we will get 4 hrs of power during office hours, on a bad one, 2 hrs.

A lighter moment this week was the draining of a pond – more like a mini-reservoir - at Richmond. Flopping around in the mud was a load of catfish which the guys bailing out the pond managed to catch by hand and we had fish (macchu) for lunch. Fun to watch and good to eat. Sorry I didn't take pictures of the fishermen at work

.

Being on the upslope of the hills that are the southern border of the Kathmandu valley, we get a good view back to the city and beyond. Its still a bit hazy at this time of year, I'm sure there will be better views in a couple of months time.

In case you are feeling sorry for us having to manage with such long power cuts, don't worry, we are managing fine. The problem is that the country is suffering badly; hospitals are grinding to a halt, factories are laying off staff and kids can't see to revise for exams. Even those with invertors (batteries that get charged whilst the power is on) can't escape as 4 hrs is not enough to charge the batteries. And the few places with generators are discovering how expensive it is to run them. Apparently the current demand for power is 500MW during the day and 800MW in the evenings with generating capacity only 300MW. If (and it has to be a big if!) a new hydro plant reaches full capacity and a transmission line from India is repaired, things are meant to improve next month. Meantime, although the government cannot magic up electricity, there have already been some demonstrations and I'm sure there will be more as the effects spread. To put this into perspective, something like 40% of Nepal has no access to electricity at all and the electricity usage per person in Nepal is one-eightieth that of the UK .

Time to go, only got just over an hour to get this and piccies uploaded.

Cheers

Roshan

A quick couple of photos

I'll tell you more about Richmond Fellowship Nepal, the organisation I am now working with, another time but a quick photo of our Christmas tree:

The centre I am based at runs a residential drug rehabilitation programme and my colleagues very thoughtfully found out when and where Christmas church services were for one of our Christian clients. He went but never came back.

Yesterday I stopped off at a Blue Diamond Society centre on the way home for their New Year's Eve party. It was load shedding when I arrived so singing and dancing was only accompanied by a small drum. This is called dhori (probably not spelt like that) where groups of men and women (or, it being BDS, metis) sit on opposite sides of the room and sing backwards and forwards to each other. I'm afraid I didn't stay long enough to see New Year in with them, I cycled home in the dark (always an adventure) and joined Sheila for a quiet night at home with a DVD on my laptop.

Powers gone off now (8pm to 2am then 8am to 2pm) and its cold so I'm off to bed.
Best wishes for 2009 to all.
Roshan