Fruit bats

Just about the only attractive element of the Social Welfare Council building and grounds in the midst of Thamel, Kathmandu, was the rather attractive mature trees that lined either side of the entrance road. They were home to a large colony of fruit bats, no doubt providing just about the only safe haven to these lovely creatures in the midst of the clutter of Kathmandu. Driving past today, as has been my custom, I looked up to see the enchanting shapes of the fruit bats hanging from the trees to be horrified by the sight of bare trunks, reminiscent of the pictures of the battlefields of Ypres. I have seen this kind of behaviour before where it seems that many local people are averse to the sight of greenery and prefer trees to be brought firmly to heel quite needlessly.

By contrast in yesterday's Himalayan Times there was a front page headline trumpeting that the Kathmandu ring road was about to go green with a green belt to be developed either side of that filthy thoroughfare. No mention of controlling the disgusting vehicles that ply along the road churning out thick exhaust fumes that no one seems to bother much about. Oh, and the article said that there was no budget for this new scheme. That'll be the end of that then.

Nepal Tourism Year baloney

2011 has been declared as Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) by the Nepal Tourism Board, with its official launch due to happen on the 14th January. However everyone has been getting very excited by NTY months in advance and over the weekend we have seen pictures in the press of rather bemused, no doubt jet-lagged, tourists being greeted and garlanded at the airport as the first visitors of this auspicious year.

Nepal attracts around 600,000 tourists per year by air and by land although that baseline figure is far from clearly established. Some put the figure as high as 900,000, possibly - and most likely falsely - to give the impression that only another 100,000 tourists need to be attracted to reach the lofty 1,000,000 target. So how have the rhetoric and aspirations been translated into actions on the ground?

In the run up to NTY significant preparations have been hard to discern although political parties have stated that they will do their bit to make the initiative a success by, er, not calling protest strikes in 2011. If they hold to this that will provide some relief to a country that saw strikes on 125 days out of 365 last year. Over the past couple of weeks and rather belatedly (due to the delayed release of a budget for NTY) some tourist attractions have been getting a last minute face lift. These gestures overlook the fact that such dollying up has little or no impact on tourists who book what are expensive trips to Nepal months in advance and that many visitors from previous years, who could have been excellent prospects for revisiting the country, have probably vowed to never set foot in the country again having felt the inconvenience of previous strike actions.

Setting this aside, there are infrastructure problems to circumvent like the chronic failure of Nepal's one international airport to cope with existing throughput of tourists. Also, they will certainly not be ferried into the country in great numbers by the national flag carrier airline, Nepal Airlines Corporation with its one serviceable aircraft and 1,400 somewhat disgruntled staff. Once in country travellers between Kathmandu and Nepal's second main tourist city, Pokhara, have to contend with a deeply-rutted highway that is almost impassable. Alternatively they could fly but with three fatal domestic aircrashes in 2010 that carries a risk that some might baulk at.

So how will these ambitious targets be achieved and who can save the day? Step forward Mr Sunil Pant, Founder of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexes (LGBTI) organisation The Blue Diamond Society and Chairman of the Pink Mountain travel and tour agency. The admirable and normally very level Sunil has joined the frenzy and poppycock by suggesting that of the 1,000,000 no fewer than 200,000 will be made up of LGBTI visitors. It is hard to imagine what could attract so many tourists of this sexual orientation who are unlikely to be excited by a few spruced up temples. One wonders also how his claims could possibly be verified in due course unless the level of information that is sought on disembarkation documentation becomes unpleasantly intrusive.

Anyway, let's hope that this initiative makes Nepal a pleasanter, more fun place to be in 2011 in spite of the political clouds that are now hovering well above the horizon.

Spot the New Year resolution

Oh yes, I am back after a short silence. I abandoned this blog in late 2009 as the pressure of work had become just too intense for me to continue to write this and still enjoy it. I don't believe the workload is going to be any less this year but it seems likely that it will become more focussed on Nepal and India and I'll feel that bit less stretched. It feels great to be writing this journal again - I have really missed it.

I have a number of goals for this year, some personal, some public. One of the latter is to run the London Marathon on the 17th April. This will be my first marathon event, my greatest previous competitive distance being 10km. At 51 I am aiming to be more of a tortoise rather than a hare but I am sure I will complete the course even if lasting the full 26.2 miles is a matter of pride mentally or through resort to hands and knees physically. Training is well underway and today I passed the psychological barrier of running for over two hours for the first time when I ran two hours two minutes around the Bhaisepati planning area on the outskirts of Kathmandu. This is a perfect training area as it is flat, has clean(ish) air and very little traffic to contend with. The only downside is to reflect upon how Mother Nature is losing out to the "planning" with fields surrendering almost by the day to new - and rather grotesque - buildings that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. In just a few years time this last little patch of green just outside the ring road will have gone for ever.

The running effort will be all worthwhile though as I am now half way (when gift aid is included) towards achieving my fundraising goal of raising £20k in sponsorship for the charity I founded in 1999, The Esther Benjamins Trust. You can add to my total with ease through my online sponsorship form. Thanks for that in anticipation.

I wonder how long my New Year resolution will last for?

School mosaics

During my holiday on the Scilly Isles during July I couldn't help but notice the little school on the island of Tresco. The outside wall was covered with mosaic, and although the mosaic work wasn't technically so well executed it was very sweet indeed. The children had clearly had a lot of fun going hands on with the piece and embedding in the mosaic ceramic inserts that depicted various aspects of island life.

The concept is actually not so remarkable as mosaics are increasingly popular in schools in the UK. It got me thinking today about how we could be innovative in developing education and school development projects here in Nepal. I can see the potential for school-based fundraising in the UK (which is lucrative) being used to support named schools in Nepal. And a share of the funds raised could be dedicated towards making a mosaic at the schools which would not only give work to some of the Trust's beneficiaries but also provide an eyecatching feature at what would probably be otherwise very grim schools.

I am now in contact with a mosaic artist in the UK who has good links with a large number of UK schools and is willing to help. Nepal will be a more colourful place in future and some of its poorest children a little better educated.

ITC

When I first came to live in Nepal almost five years ago I attended a month long language course at the rather grandly named Intercultural Training and Research Institute in Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu. In spite of its two staff members it was a great course and my teacher, Parbati, was brilliant. The problem was that I forgot all my Nepali within a week or two of starting work here as English is the lingua franca within the development sector.

Today I returned to ITC for the first time since then and once again Parbati is my teacher. From now on I am determined to have a two hour session at lunchtime every other day until I have a working knowledge of the language. Hmmmm. Today, at my request, we started with the Nepali alphabet which consists of 11 vowels and 36 consonants. At the end of class I took a picture of Parbati's whiteboard. This in on the right.

Wish me luck.

Resignation

This afternoon the (Maoist) Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka "Prachanda", resigned in a televised address to the nation. This followed his attempted sacking of the Army chief yesterday (see yesterday's post) being overruled by the President, Ram Baran Yadav. I imagine other Maoist ministers will follow suit later on today.

I do have some empathy for Mr Dahal. Last year he stated that he'd found it easier to manage a conflict during the "People's War" than to run the country in peacetime. Nepal can be a very frustrating place to try and get positive results or to attempt to move quickly with any kind of initiative. It's a shame that there is such inertia as underneath it all the economic possibilities for this country are huge in spite of this being the world's fourteenth poorest nation.

Caterwauling in Kathmandu

Today the Maoist Prime leadership in the coalition government of Nepal decided to sack the head of the Nepalese Army, General Rookmangud Katawal.

This controversial move was the culmination of deliberations over the last couple of weeks as to what to do with a General who had, on the face of it, taken decisions in what he saw as being in the best interests of the Army but that went against the wishes of the government as the ultimate authority within a democracy. The dismissal has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons with Maoist opponents believing that the Maoists are pursuing an agenda of securing supreme control through the emasculation of the Army (along with the judiciary and the media).

These national concerns are reflected in India, whose ambassador to Nepal has been shuttling between Kathmandu and Delhi in a bid to convey the displeasure of the Indian government at the prospect of Katwal's removal. For India has its own Maoist insurgency and the authorities there are very concerned about a sympathetic regime in Nepal supporting that cause. The Nepalese army has been seen by the Indians as a bulwark against a Maoist takeover and they made it known that they would oppose the sacking of Katawal which they could not acknowledge as being an internal matter for Nepal. It remains to be seen how India will retaliate.

Meanwhile, the other main parties in Nepal have all objected to apparent Maoist high-handedness and this evening one of the coalition government partners, the mainstream communist party, pulled out of government. As for Katawal he has refused to accept his dismissal.

So this Sunday evening everything is up in the air. It is quite predictable that the coming week will see widespread protests and demonstrations both for and against the decision to fire Katawal. Of course I have no view one way or the other, but this kind of disruption doesn't help with us trying to get on with the task of making Nepal a better place for its children. This is the worst that the situation has been in Nepal for a very long time.

Oh no, it's the breeding season....

...for snakes. Our snake in the garden problem became worse today as we spotted two of them, writhing and intertwined in ecstasy. Soon we'll have a real infestation. All we need now is an outbreak of snake flu to compound the problem further.

Concerned by the possibility of the snakes being venomous I had bought a couple of days ago the definitive text on the subject "The Herpetology of Nepal" by Dr T K Shrestha.

It didn't help much as many of the pictures were in black and white and the descriptions included statements like "the females lay eggs" and "the pupils are round". I wasn't going close enough today to find out the shape of the pupils of the snake in question but I imagine that they were fairly dilated. My best guess is that this is a common rat snake which is only aggressive when attacked, so sooner or later my dog Bryher is in for a shock.

Today marked the start of my two year old's sex education - "what is those snakes doing?" she asked. This must be Nepal's variation on the birds and the bees.

Missing the point

One of our partner NGOs in Nepal, the Nepal Child Welfare Foundation (NCWF), is based in Bhairahawa which is just 20km from the birthplace of the Buddha at Lumbini. The Lumbini Garden, which measures 7.7 square kilometres, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been developed over the years by the Lumbini Development Trust. It includes the spot where the Buddha was born in 623 B.C. and incorporate within its large area a number of temples that reflect the differing temple architecture of Buddhist nations around the world.

As part of my charity fundraising this year, I had planned to complete my fourth 10km run at a new event we'd set up ourselves as "The Lumbini 10km". The concept was to have an early morning run one Saturday in November that would take sponsored runners through the park area (away from dangerous Nepali traffic) with the event all over and done with by 9 a.m. This would raise badly-needed funds for the NCWF's ongoing childcare and allow me to hit my personal £40k fundraising target. Initial approaches to the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) were encouraging and included discussions of possible routes with one Board member, Mr Hari Rai. However two days ago our team at last managed to arrange a meeting with Mr Parma Syangbo Sherpa, the Board Secretary. Dressed in his monk's yellow robes he flatly refused permission to allow the event to go ahead, saying that it would disturb the serenity of the place.

I have now written to the LDT, questioning Mr Sherpa's authority to take such a unilateral decision, that has such far reaching consequences, without consulting the Board. Moreover I have pointed out that his stance seems to be at variance with the remit of LDT to develop the site (sensitively and sustainably) as a national and international tourist site. We'll see what the Board says.

But sometimes I feel some of those who are central figures within organised religions are so immersed in their religious practices that they miss the point and forget the (almost universal) central calling to help the most needy members of society.

From a Kathmandu garden

Here's a picture I took this morning. The snake seems to be resident judging by the number of appearances that it makes in a day, each being accompanied by frantic barking from my two dogs. I don't think it's venomous (only 20 of Nepal's 80 snake species are in that category) but I will buy a book tomorrow so that I can identify the beast and be certain....

My year from Dental School

Thirty five of us graduated from Queen's University Belfast Dental School in 1982. I am only still in touch with one of the group who continues to serve in the British Army (which I resigned from in 1999). One of the 35 took his own life a couple of years' ago. This evening I picked up this story in the Northern Ireland newspapers about another one of my former fellows:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/accused-dentist-on-suicide-watch-in-jail-14283908.html

An earlier press report suggests Howell also faces charges of drugging and sexually abusing four women who where all former patients. I couldn't have imagined a more benign chap from my peers but I suppose that's what you hear so often said of the worst criminals after the event.

How not to compose a photograph

I love the imagery that appears in the largest English language paper in Nepal, The Himalayan Times. On the right you see a picture that appeared in today's edition of a presentation of a token of gratitude at a ceremony in Kathmandu yesterday. I love the stoical face of the security guard in the background who just looks like he's involved in someone else's photograph. Or participating in a magic trick.

Too honest

I've been eyeing up an interesting-looking Indian restaurant just off Pulchowk in Lalitpur called "Masala". But driving past it today I noticed that they are turning a necessity into a virtue with a sign on the door announcing "We care for your health. Closed for pest control". So that one has been dropped off my already very short list of suitable eating out spots in Kathmandu.

Donkeys

Much has been written in the Nepali press in recent weeks about how NGOs and INGOs may soon to be brought into line by the Government, with greater transparency and contribution towards the "national agenda". No one can challenge the desirability of NGOs showing clearly their sources of income and expenditure; many if not most don't measure up in this regard. I know of one or two NGOs out there who source their funds by withdrawing cash directly from their overseas' donor accounts through an ATM card that they've been given by their funder. That can scarcely be considered to be best practice. I do have problems though with any suggestion that NGO funds, non-governmental funds, might be harnessed towards the greater good as determined by a local governmental agency that might take precedence in decision-making over donor charity Boards and NGO committees. These suggestions - which seem to be strongest in "letters to the editor" sections of the papers - reflect an ignorance of the nature of public giving abroad and that any attempt to hijack funds that are given for a specific purpose, entrusted to Trustees, would undermine the ethos of charitable giving. It is the individual member of the public's right to give their own hard-earned cash towards whatever cause that is dear to their hearts, be it children, animals, the arts, medical research etc. If a donor country doesn't want to receive funds towards what might be seen as fringe issues then all that has by national government is to decline the charity's proposal. The funds can go to another country where the perceived need is as great or greater and where the contribution is welcome even if it doesn't go towards meeting development priorities.

Also, one of the tasks of a charity can be to identify and highlight something that isn't already on "the national agenda" but that most definitely should be. For example, six years ago when The Esther Benjamins Trust began working with the problem of trafficking of children to circuses no one knew anything about this particular problem. Had our modest resources been channelled into paying for other worthy things like providing rehabilitation and training facilities for trafficking survivors (this is high on the national agenda) then Nepali children would still be languishing, abused in the circuses. Instead we were able to get on with the challenge of sorting the problem out and now that child trafficking route is closed down.

Other causes like animal welfare seem to be of only academic interest to many of the decision makers within Nepalese society. Thank goodness for those few good people out there, Westerners and Nepalis, who have made stray dogs and working donkeys issues that need addressing and thank goodness for those overseas who give money that supports the animals' relief. I hope nothing is done in the future that will restrict the activities of such people who may be seen as "eccentric". It is such people that are the bedrock of charities.

Pictured right is a donkey that was rescued from a brick kiln last week by my friend Kit Spencer, Managing Director of the Summit Hotel.

How a two year old sees the world

Last week I showed my two and three quarter year old daughter, Alisha, this newspaper picture of the Nepalese Prime Minister emerging from a conference. "He's blowing out candles" she declared having enjoyed her parents' birthday celebrations that fell within recent weeks. I sometimes test her on what things are for. One day I took her through body parts - what are ears for? (A. hearing), what are teeth for? (A. eating) etc. When I asked her what fingers are for she answered "noses". She also told me on another occasion that the fridge was "for taking the white wine out of". Hmmm.

She's also become a great animal lover and can identify an amazing range of animals through her visits to the zoos and study of books. But she floored Bev the other day when she asked if she could have some "armadillo crisps" as a snack. Then she pointed to the packet of tortilla chips.

Kusum (see previous post) has just arrived at my house ready to be taken off to a toddlers' library group by Bev and an adoring Alisha. She's coming along really well since she arrived at the Esther Benjamins Trust children's refuge and is now starting to talk and smile. Heaven knows what vocabulary Alisha is going to teach her.

Martin Cheek

One of the big names in the international mosaic scene, Martin Cheek, has agreed to come out and give us some consultancy between the 5th and 13th May. I got to hear about Martin first through my wife Bev who attended one of his weekend courses about fifteen years ago. I ended up going to his summer course in Greece five years ago and then the following year, with Bev, to another of his courses in Florence. As you can see from his website his work is not only very artistic but full of humour. But be warned that if you attend one of his classes you'll have to endure the other side of Martin's humour - his really grim, very old jokes. You'll find one or two pictures of me looking remarkably cheerful under the circumstances on his website's courses page.

Anyway, Martin will be providing training support to the trainers who are running the integrated art workshop in Bhairahawa and helping with design input. He'll also be helping us to prepare for a photographic/mosaic exhibition that we'll be running at several venues later on this year to mark the Trust's 10th birthday.

One of Martin's other students is leading British journalist Libby Purves who has shown some interest in following up his visit and our work. And I discovered last week that one of the charity's Trustees, Sue Duncan, has also been on a Cheek weekend course. Small world!

London Marathon

Yesterday was the London Marathon and this year The Esther Benjamins Trust fielded a record 15 runners. Most were made up of two teams from two of our leading corporate supporters Ramboll Ltd and Joules Clothing Ltd. One of the individual runners was James Caulfield, the youngest participant of the day, who was celebrating his 18th birthday in fine style. I am still awaiting news on the times but I gather from one runner that, as usual for the Marathon, it was a scorcher in London so the times are likely to be on the slow side.

My paltry contribution to running yesterday was an early morning 10km training run in Kathmandu which I completed in 50.5 minutes. That is seven and a half minutes faster than I ran in Hong Kong in February.

Kusum

In my post of 24th February, "Raw Poverty", I described my visit to a trafficking-prone community in Makwanpur District which had left me profoundly shaken. This followed my seeing a little four year old girl, Kusum, hiding under a quilt inside a grubby hut. Her mother had died three months previously and she was refusing to speak and hiding from all visitors. We had the dilemma of what to do with this acutely traumatised child. Many aid organisations would maintain that this child should be supported within her community and kept close to her remaining family. That's easier said than done in a Nepalese rural community. On top of that her father had little time to dedicate to his daughter; he had to labour during the day and Kusum was keeping company with a young couple who had their own children to look after.

We decided, with her father's blessing, to bring Kusum and her ten year old sister Anisha to our Kathmandu refuge and I saw her there on Friday, the day after she arrived. She's still not speaking but is in the loving care of the refuge staff, surrounded by curious and exuberant refuge children. This is the first traumatised child we've admitted to the refuge in a long time and her rehabilitation is going to be a challenge; my daughter Alisha is looking forward to doing her bit and plans to buy her a teddy before going to see her again on Monday. Within a month Kusum will be a totally different child. The cost of care for the two girls will be £1080 per year but that's a small price to pay.

Any sponsors out there?

2066 and all that

It's New Year's Day in Nepal, today being the first of 2066. There has been some controversy in recent months over a government proposal to reduce this calendar year from 12 months to 11 months to bring the year into line with astronomical realities but in the end it was decided to stick with a full year. I imagine if there had been any perception within the populace that their collective lifespans would have decreased by one month there could have been a wave of strikes and protests. Now let's hope for a bright 2066 and a less disruption to daily life than we experienced in 2065.

Happy New Year!

Dhanyabad

Around thirty of the children that The Esther Benjamins Trust is caring for at its refuges in Kathmandu and Bhairahawa in the southwest are the dependents of prisoners. I prefer to call our facilities "refuges" rather than "homes" as, in the ideal, they provide full time care only on a temporary basis. In the case of prisoners' children this is pending their parents' release. It's important to keep tabs on the prisoners as, in spite of what they agree at the time we admit their children, it is common for them to vanish into the ether after they are freed in the expectation that we will continue to care for their offspring. For our part we are proactive in reuniting the children with parents as soon as they have found work and can provide a family home but we give the releasees a little leeway after release to sort themselves out. Moreover we are happy to help with some short term financial support (e.g. for educational costs) to smooth the reunification path. This approach is in the best interests of the children and ensures that our refuge facilities can be extended to other, more needy, children.

Two brothers, Raju and Rajesh, came to us back in 2001 after their father was jailed in Tulsipur prison in the far west of Nepal. They have been staying at our Bhairahawa refuge ever since. Towards the end of last year the father was released and it was easy to see how keen the boys were to go home and resume family life. However, this had to be delayed as he needed to find work. Two days ago one of our field staff went with the older brother, Raju, to trace the father. On arrival in his village it transpired that he had remarried and was building a house. He was not at all keen to take the boys back - prisoners enjoy the prospect of a totally fresh start - and would have been more than happy for us to continue to look after the boys to a standard that's better than he could ever afford. But he will take them back; as I see it if he's sufficiently well off to build a house then his finances are good enough to fend for the children.

One of the disappointing things that I see about the parents that we have to deal with is a lack of responsibility (often fuelled by alcohol abuse) and an unwillingness to take ownership of their children. We have to be careful not to indulge these unhealthy sentiments. But the other thing that gets me is the lack of appreciation. Purely in monetary terms, the cost of daily care for Raju and Rajesh over the years has probably been in the region of £8.5k but dear old dad will never say thanks. Instead he clearly expects more off us. This thanklessness is not unique to him by any means. The word "dhanyabad" ("thank you") is a fairly recent addition to the Nepali language. This grates a bit but then you have to remind yourself that what we do we do for the children, not for the parents.

Shailaja has just phoned me to say that gymnast Aman Tamang, who was one of our two refuge children taking part in the National Games last week, has been named as one of the top nine athletes from the games. This means he has won a purse of 25,000 rupees (£210) which equates to six months' salary at the national minimum wage.