Monday 2 February is the first Global day of prayer for KISC. We are asking friends and supporters of KISC around the world and in Kathmandu to pray for KISC on that day. We'd like as many people as possible to sign up for a 15 minute slot. For more details and to sign up go to our website. If you'd like to pray in your churches for KISC then feel free to start the prayer on Sunday 1st!
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Constitution
Nearly 7 years ago Nepal elected a Constitutional Assembly,
in the first democratic elections for several years, the task of the assembly was
to produce a constitution for Nepal, and they were given 2 years to do so.
Nepal, newly democratic and no longer a Hindu kingdom but a secular state.
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| Picture from www.thehindu.com |
After 4 years of trying the sticking points proved too
sticky and no constitution was forthcoming so the assembly was disbanded. 18
months later in November 2013 fresh elections brought about the second Constitutional
Assembly. The deadline for that assembly to produce a constitution is this
week, Thursday 22nd January 2015.
Reading the papers and following the news there is not a lot
of hope that this time will see success. There has been lots of talks of
Bandhas (strikes) by various opposition parties, to push for particular
demands, for a constitution, or against a constitution that is pushed through
by vote (as opposed to the desired consensus). So far though we have only seen
one nationwide bandh last week, but there is likely to be
disruption this week. This is a lot more peaceful and with much less disruptionthan previous years. Although, one group has already announced that they will
strike on Friday to burn the constitution if one emerges on Thursday.
As we have said before the strikes and protests and
political to and fro’s hit the poorest worst as they are forced to shut up shop
or have vehicles vandalised. Please remember Nepal this week and if you pray,
pray for a peace filled week and for politicians to come together for the good
of this nation.
Friday, 9 January 2015
It was 7 years ago today
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| 7 years ago |
Wednesday 9 January 2008. We arrived in the dark, just as
the scheduled load shedding (power cut) was kicking in. Our friends who had picked us up at the airport helped us
carry our bags up to the 2nd floor flat. The floors were cold and it
lacked hot water. There was no internet and no way to let our family know we
had arrived safe and sound. The next morning we awoke and looked out of our
window, surprised by the number of white faces we saw passing our little
temporary flat and not knowing that the tall wall opposite was the wall of the
tiger enclosure at the zoo.
Seven years later and these first few memories are still
strong, but so much water and so many people have passed by. We stayed in that
first flat for just a few weeks and our second flat for just over a year. We
have spent 21 months of the 7 years back in the UK, what with studying and
children – oh yes we’ve had two children too! We have started our own family
and created our first family home.
We’ve made great friendships and said goodbye to many of
those friends as they’ve returned to countries around the world, but we now have
friends all over the globe. We’ve even been able to welcome some of those
friends back to Nepal after years away. We’ve learnt to adapt to all the
oddities of life that occur when living in a country and culture that are not
your own, so much so that we don’t notice that they are oddities anymore and
much of UK culture appears strange.
We’ve faced fantastic challenges and much change in our
work, as well as increased responsibility in parenting and, for Dan, at KISC.
Students who were in Primary school when we arrived are preparing to complete
high school and go to University this summer. We have outlived nearly every
single foreigner on staff at KISC.
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| More recent additions to the family |
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