Land Grab

The New Basketball court

Last May we blogged about KISC's excitement at being able to finally rent land for play space and we included details in our prayer letter last Autumn when they opened the site. It included a Basketball court and a Futsal (small football) pitch which only opened earlier this month.

However, at the end of last month there was significant disappointment as the Landlord gave KISC notice to vacate the site at the end of this academic year. This obviously came as a staggering blow to the community, particularly the students who were just beginning to enjoy the extra space and especially those staff who had played a big role in bringing about the site.

If you saw an update on Facebook the school was encouraging everyone to pray for the future of the site. There was uncertainty about the landlords plans - he was hoping to build a hotel - that did give hope, but we wondered if our hope based more on what we'd like to happen than on reality.

The opening of the Futsal pitch

Well yesterday we heard the good news that the landlord has agreed to extend the notice period until December 2014. Of course this is only a small extension, but it is a massive answer to prayer. There are still question marks surrounding the proposed use of the site and we will continue to pray that the plans will be shelved and that KISC will be able to remain on the site for several more years.

But this whole process reminds us of the need for security. Our ultimate security comes from God and we trust in Him to always provide for the school, as He always has done. But as a school we are also hoping that we will be able to purchase a permanent site for the school in the not too distant future and we are asking God to provide. Either for the opportunity to purchase our existing sites or for a new site to become available and for the finances to do so.

Emergency

2014 has seen a relatively eventful start for our family with two events that could be described as emergencies overshadowing the first two weeks of the year.

In fact it all started a few hours before the New Year began when Dan ventured into the garden to get rid of rubbish and kind of got in a fight with a tree, a tree he didn’t see as it was pitch black. The tree won and inflicted one scratched pupil. Unable to see out of the eye he didn’t even make it to midnight before he gave up and went to bed. New Year’s Day involved a visit to A&E instead of the planned trip to the football.

Thankfully the eye was fully healed by the weekend – eyes do fix themselves very quickly, although it did make work on assignments due for college quite difficult for that week. He was awarded extensions to enable him to complete them successfully. Then just as he was back to full vision the next excitement began.

The second Wednesday morning of the new year a routine gas inspection revealed that there was a gas leak. It was a minor leak, hence we hadn’t noticed it before, but obviously a gas leak was not something to mess around with. The gas was promptly shut off and the process of getting it fixed began. In the meantime we had no heating or hot water and no hobs upon which to cook. Cue decamping to the in-laws. Becky’s parents very graciously opened their house to the four of us, and two friends we had staying that evening. Unfortunately it wasn’t fixed by the weekend and so we were with the grandparents for a longer than expected stay, finally returning on Tuesday after the house had warmed back up again after 65days without heating.

Now we haven’t written all this to elicit pity. These two experiences have given us the chance to reflect on the differences between our life here and our life and the lives of others in Nepal. Firstly, the hospital. Despite being New Year’s day and far from being the most urgent case in the waiting room we were in and out in just over 2 ½ hours without having to spend a penny or fill in a form. In Nepal we would have had to queue up for and then pay for any medicines as well as the services of the doctors before being discharged. The queue might well be a lot longer for the average Nepali, and while the costs might not sound a lot, probably less than £10 for a Nepali receiving the treatment I got this would be a lot for most Nepali’s. Enough at least for them to be put off attending.

Secondly the gas experience. It reminded us that for the last 6 years we’ve had no central heating in January. It’s not as cold as England in Nepal in January, although it feels it as it can be very hard to get properly warm, despite efforts with small individual heaters. Again these heaters can be beyond the cost of many Nepalese. January is always the ‘shortage’ month as petrol and gas are usually in short supply and load-shedding (the enforced power cuts) usually rise to around 12 hours a day about this time of year. And as always it’s the poorest who are hit hardest.

So an eventful start to the year, but thanks to supportive family and the NHS it really hasn’t been that much.

Merry Christmas

A blog update to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas. For the first time in 6 years we are celebrating in the UK with family. A UK Christmas is very different from a Nepali Christmas as you can imagine.

This week we spoke in a church and I shared with the young people about a Nepali Christmas so I thought I would replicate that for our blog this Christmas.

School

Children in Nepal will not be enjoying school holidays this week and many will be at school on Christmas Day. As Nepal is not a Christian country there isn’t the expectation of holidays, in fact their school year is quite different to ours. In addition there is regular disruption to schools due to various political protests which means they often have to make up those days in the holidays.

Church

They may have thought that with going to school it would mean they’d miss church. But don’t worry – church is a full day affair on Christmas day. Many Christmas church programs run for 6 hours or so.

For Nepali Christians they are so excited about being able to celebrate Christmas that they want to make the most of it, it’s not that long since it was illegal to be a Christian in Nepal. Also many Nepali Christians’ families won’t be Christian and so won’t celebrate Christmas – so the church is their family and they want to spend the day with them.

Christmas Dinner

As part of the 6 hour long service there will be Dhal Bhat for Christmas dinner (Dhal Bhat is the standard food for all Nepali’s). They eat it twice a day, every day, it’s made up of rice, lentils & curried vegetables – so no Turkey.

Whenever Nepali’s get together it’s important to share a meal and so this is an absolutely essential part of Christmas for them – their national food. This is their Christmas tradition and having turkey would be weird for them. Also most Nepali’s couldn’t afford to have the huge amount of food that we consume, and waste, at Christmas.

Presents

After school, 6 hours of church and a huge dhal bhat I wasn’t sure if any of the young people fancied a Nepali Christmas. But one thing we share in common with Nepali Christians at Christmas is that we exchange presents with those we love.

The reason for this is that we want to show people that we love them and sacrificing a little bit of something we have to give them something they would enjoy is a great way to show love. At Christmas we remember that God gave us the greatest gift he could possibly give us, himself, in the form of Jesus.

For Christians, whether they are in Nepal, England, or somewhere else that is what we are celebrating this week – using our own traditions, or those of others, it doesn’t matter, but celebrating and giving thanks for that very special gift.

MSA

So as we had stated in our previous blog this past week KISC was visited by an inspection team from the USA. They were from an organisation known as MSA (Full name: Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools – so you see why we just say MSA) and were looking at all aspects of the school to ensure we were living out our values and providing good education.

The KISC mission statement is “To be living witnesses of Christ’s love through excellent education” and it was agreed that this is what KISC is doing and so we passed! This was a process that was started way back in January as we formed a team to guide the school through the whole process, firstly reviewing every aspect of the school and writing a report on it and secondly setting ourselves objectives and action plans for improving the school over the next seven years.

The inspection team spent 4 days at the school and concluded in their ‘oral’ report that was read to the staff on Thursday that KISC “lives its mission and values though an identifiable integration of faith life and culture”. They also said the school was “vibrant with activity and learning” and that students were achieving or exceeding their academic potential.

After so much work that had been put in by so many staff, students and parents, it was great to be able to hear such positive news on Thursday. Even at 5,000 miles away we were feeling the excitement and joy of the KISC community.

Election and Inspection

Counting underway

So the election passed off fairly peacefully last Tuesday, although there was quite a bit of disruption in the build up. The counting is now well under way as you can see from this photo.

This article from the BBC gives more details on how the results are going.

In other news, KISC is all geared up for a week long inspection that beings tomorrow (Monday 25). The inspection is the key part of it's re-accreditation process, having spent much of the past year preparing, completing a thorough self-evaluation and producing loads of evidence to show off to the inspection team. Please do remember the school this week.

Finally we thought you might like to see this piece of artwork that has been produced by staff and students at the school, under the guidance of two of the Art teachers. It looks fantastic and has been set up in the hall. I'm hoping it's still there when we go back as I would love to see it up close. This is what the teacher who lead the process wrote about it: "144 individual canvases created by KISC students and staff. Each piece is beautifully unique -representing everyone's individual God given character... together they create a harmonious colourful mosaic celebrating the KISC community."

Election Day

Public information poster
about the election

Nepal goes to the polls tomorrow (Tuesday 19th November). There has been quite a lot of unrest over the past few days. A National Strike has been in effect for most of the past week which has been violently enforced in places. Buses have been attacked, some while the passengers were still on them which is unusual. It is common in strikes that protesters force the passengers off and then damage the bus as punishment for breaking the strike.

We have also heard rumours today that a curfew is now in place in Kathmandu which we think is due to continue tomorrow making it rather difficult for people to vote.

People need to return to their home towns to vote which is obviously difficult when there is a strike in place for most of the past week, preventing people from moving around the country.

There have been reports of several bombs going off in Kathmandu.

So the elections are meant to go ahead tomorrow and yet many people will not be able to get to the polls or are too scared to try.

Please pray that there will be no more violence tomorrow, that people will be able to vote and that those elected will work for the best interests of Nepal.

Election Fever

In 10 days’ time Nepal is scheduled to go to the polls for the first time since 2008. As in 2008 the task is to elect a Constitutional Assembly whose job it will be to finalise a constitution for Nepal.

Ballot boxes being carried to a rural
polling station in 2008

The previous assembly was disbanded in May 2012 having taken 4 years instead of the originally planned 2. Despite the extensions they still didn't produce a constitution. So Nepal now has a second chance. Some parties are refusing to take part in the poll. One group have called a 10 day “Bandh” or general strike. This is due to start on Monday and lead up to the day of the election the aim being to stop all transport and close all business across the country. Whether this actually holds is a big question, but you can imagine the potential disruption to all if it does go ahead. Particularly to those who live day to day and need to work in order to eat.

The election even got a mention in the New York Times this week, Although not (in our opinion) a completely balanced piece it does give a good overview.

We will be posting more information on the blog around the time of the election. But do remember Nepal in the coming 10 days or so.