The United Nations Mission In Nepal (UNMIN) which has been monitoring and supporting the peace process in Nepal is due to wind down in a big way next month, but will maintain a reduced presence until the end of the year. Undoubtedly the Mission is to be congratulated upon achieving its aim but this has come at an unfortunate price. For to attract good staff the Mission offered salaries that were well above the local norms, stripping other aid organisations and the media of some of their best staff members. Now there are many former UNMIN staff looking for new jobs that cannot remotely offer the kind of salaries that these refugees had become used to. I was very aware of this yesterday as we interviewed 10 candidates (whittled down from 250 applicants) for two local jobs within the Trust. It would be all too easy to recruit a well qualified individual who would spend his time just feeling underpaid and undervalued to the detriment of their new-found aid organisations. I suppose this unfortunate risk is part of the price of peace.
Noting that I have put on a little weight recently I have resumed jogging - always a better alternative to abstention from food. This is quite an experience in the humidity of the monsoon but the most notable impediment is how the locals, either on foot or on bicycle, manage to get in the way so clumsily. I wonder if this is a feature of some of the locals:
Not understanding the subtleties of jogging and the value of a runner maintaining a constant rhythmLacking a sense of their awareness in space (as well as in time)Having a perverse sense of humour
This morning I reflected on an earlier post in which I noted how the fuel crisis in the UK had led to less use of cars and speculated if Nepal (which has had similar price hikes) could enjoy some unexpected and much-needed environmental benefit. This came to mind as within the space of a few minutes three vehicles drove past me on my run, belching black smoke into the atmosphere. This could well be a consequence of the vehicles being driven using cheaper but adulterated fuel.
Sometimes you never win in Nepal and if my running spares me some obesity-related illness maybe I will fall victim to a chronic respiratory disorder in its place.
