Change!

The election last week passed remarkably peacefully and very quickly it became apparent that the Maoists (who when we arrived 2 years ago were in a shooting and bombing war against the then government) had far more voter support than anyone had expected and will be the single largest party. I had believed that it would not be possible for one party to have outright control under a voting system that had more than half the seats decided under proportional representation, but the Maoists have got such overwhelming support in the results declared so far that I am having second thoughts. It will be another 2 weeks or so before final results are in (there will be re-polling at a small proportion of voting booths where there was found to be dodgy practices) so we have to wait and see.

From media reports and speaking to friends, it is clear that this is a vote for change. The public has had enough of the same old politics delivered by the same old politicians – many of whom have not been reelected. To their credit, leaders of the 2 other main parties have resigned - accepting the blame for policies that were obviously not what voters wanted - with little or no mud slinging at the Maoists. In turn, the Maoist leadership has been talking about including other parties in its government. All an amazing demonstration of grown up democracy at work that was unthinkable 2 years ago. Having witnessed a people's revolution in our first 2 months, it will be great to see a democratically elected government in place as we leave (albeit temporarily – as Sheila's last post mentioned, we're coming back in August).

I guess most foreign governments are waiting for final results to be declared before sending their messages of congratulations and support. The one from the US is the most significant as they have to remove the Maoists from their list of terrorists or cut off all aid to, and contact with, the new government. Foggy Bottom (what a great name for the home of the US State Dept!) has had at least 2 years to think about this possibility so hopefully they can do the right thing in the next few weeks and avoid causing major disruption to development work here.

Back to normal life: in the nick of time before my laptop battery ran out, my colleagues have managed to get some petrol for our generator. Petrol is now available but only for vehicles so 2 of my colleagues fill up their motorbikes, come back to the office and siphon it into a container before going back to refill their bikes. The petrol fumes hovering round the office is a good incentive for me not to smoke but it is slightly disconcerting to have the petrol container kept in our room.

Cheers

Roshan

An April update from Sheila

Finally, over two years on since our arrival and it looks as if the elections in Nepal really will happen on Thursday (for the first time since 1999!).

Government offices are mainly closed and although it means a weeks holiday for some, most of my education colleagues will spend the time being election officers and the majority seem very pleased that they are being deployed locally. So, a positive and cheerful atmosphere appears amongst those who are part of this. In the last few days they have gone to meetings about their election responsibilities and finally yesterday most heard where they would go today to begin duties. And others who now have the 8 days holiday are even more cheerful despite the ban on alcohol over this period!

So, for me this means that the education office is closed until next Tuesday at least and VSO will wait to see what the security position is before I can return. But still plenty of work to do as only a few weeks left for me now and there are many projects that I am part of - so good job I have good laptop!

However, instead of sitting at home and watching what is happening across the country (even without understanding the commentary at least we can watch if news is available) all of us from VSO are due to spend the next few days in a hotel in the centre of Kathmandu for the the annual conference - a well timed event which will ensure that everyone working throughout the country is in one place in case there are any security issues following poll day on Thursday. If the hotel does not have television, and I don't think it has internet access, then you are all more likely to know what is happening before we do!

An extra bonus on this very sunny morning is that we did not loose our power for the first time since er, December??? Maybe this is a sign that we will not have load shedding all this week - a bonus of the election procedure perhaps?! Although a bonus for us at the flat with our planned schedule, no power is only a very mild inconvenience. In comparison it is really difficult for small businesses and for offices as generators are of course only useful when fuel is available for them.

The weather has certaintly warmed up in the last few weeks since I got back from my brief stint in London. And it shows as everything is growing just outside the front door of our flat and looking bright and green after the last few evenings heavy thunderstorms.

And so, only a few more weeks to go as our visas run out and we will be returning back to the UK and only 10 days before Roshan and Ben make their big fundraising leap off the top of Guy's hospital!

http://www.justgiving.com/roshandescends
http://www.justgiving.com/bendescends

Recognising that I haven't got a replacement though, and that there is so much I can be part of with VSO and ECD (early childhood development) here it maybe that I am back for a few months in the winter. But who knows - first we have elections!

PS. And just for the opportunity to post the photo: when walking with friends though the centre of town, in between two houses we spotted this. I think it has been recently renovated. As ever Nepal offers never ending surprises!

Sport

Not very often that I show an interest in football (soccer) but I heard the news this morning that all the glamour clubs have been knocked out of the FA Cup leaving Portsmouth as the highest ranked survivor. Nice one 'Arry. Although they are my local team, I can't say I support or know anything about them but for all my other friends who have supported them through plenty of bad times, I hope you get to Wembley. For Steve in particular, I hope it soothed the pain of England's thrashing by New Zealand in cricket and the Scots sneaking a win in the rugby.

 

  

Eating well despite.....

…… being on my own for the last 6 days whilst Sheila is in London. Had dinner at the Radisson twice last week (twice more than in the last 2 years) as guest of a group from India that we are working with on a South Asia regional HIV & AIDS proposal. I'm sure they won't mind me saying that they are camp as you can get which, in addition to the food, made for a good couple of evenings. Last night's meal was courtesy of a wedding party at our associated oragnisation's office in Lalitpur. I was slightly worried about going to this as a couple of friends had said they were going to get me dancing. As some of you will know, I don't even shuffle on a UK dance floor (at least when I'm sober) let alone wiggle provocatively to Bollywood hits. So I kept well back from the dance floor and thankfully avoided making a fool of myself.

Bride & groom

Three times round, garland each other and you're married

Dancing's best left to the girls

For those of you currently being blown away in a stormy UK (I discovered a new term in the Shipping Forecast today, "phenomenal" referring to sea state – don't want to experience it), you might like to know that it was a lovely hot, sunny afternoon here today. I've even given up hot water bottles at night.

New volunteers, including my successor at BDS, arrive next week which is a reminder how scarily close we are to leaving. I really must look at the large pack labelled "Leavers Pack" that VSO gave us a month or so ago.

Enough of this, I must check the TV5 website to see if, and at what time, they are showing Wales v France next week.

Cheers

Roshan

P.S. 32 days to the election and things are remarkably quiet. Good thing I didn’t try to give you political updates 2 weeks ago – news on the talks to settle the strikes by political groups changed by the day, settled, not settled and finally an agreement that may or may not be implemented. So the strikes are over and Ktm is getting fuel again although the queues at the petrol stations suggest that people are stocking up in anticipation of future problems. Load shedding still a PITA despite Nepal Electricity Authority kindly reducing the hours of power cuts last week (we get an extra half day without cuts but as this is in the middle of the night for our area, its not much use. We still have 5 days with between 6.5 to 8 hours of cuts)

Very interested in all Commie parties - not!

In case you share the view of a friend who found my news about the number of Communist parties in Nepal less than riveting I thought I should pass on her exciting news from Bognor.

  
Somebody in Barnham was fined £155 for throwing a fag butt [for Americans I should explain that this is a cigarette end] out of a car window.
 
Rabbit baiting by the beach huts at Blakes road. [fantastic, maybe this will stop the little b****rs nesting under the floorboards of our house]
 
Ireland short of priests, and people enrolling as teachers for peace and quiet due to increased truancy. [maybe this item wasn't in the Bognor Observer]

 

Boy it's going to be hard to cope with all this excitement when we return. Anyway, thanks to Heather for keeping us up to date and standing in for me on Mothering Sunday.

Cheers

Roshan