Knowing When To Say When

This morning I rode my bicycle to work along the same road that I ride nearly everyday. I followed the same route and rode past the same stores and temples that I always do, but today is anything but routine. The ride started with a huge mob of protesters marching down the street in front of my house. The agitators were screaming their slogans and waving their flags as they marched down the street. A huge group of riot police was following them from a distance trying to keep people from getting hurt by the mob.

Once around the first protest I began dodging a maze of bricks and burning logs in the road. The bricks had been thrown at the police and the logs thrown in the road to prevent the police from being able to bring reinforcements by vehicle to rescue their fellow officers.

Beyond the bricks lay a huge plume of black smoke billowing up into the morning air. The smoke is from a row of burning tires that have been placed across the road to prevent and vehicular travel. Around the smoke were large groups of protesters that appeared as a sillouette as I approached. Aside from the protesters and the police the streets were virtually empty with only a fraction of the usual pedestrian traffic that frequents this road. The vehicles that did try to drive on the road were later found on the side of the road in ashes as the mob attacked them and lit the vehicles on fire.

Today was the second day of a two day strike called by the five political parties. They are protesting against the active monarchy of the king and they want to overthrow the throne. These such strikes and protests have been going on for over a month and a half now and there are no signs that they will let up anytime soon.

Things have changed from the Nepal that I first met over a year ago. This country continues to become more unstable and living here is just getting harder. Our personnel department has recommended that families of small children consider leaving the country and will not allow future candidates to enter the country if they have small children. We have been wrestling with what to do for the last several months and there are no easy decisions. We finally have decided that now is not a good time for us to be raising our children in Nepal and we are in the process of getting out of Nepal and flying back to the Unted States.

The decision to leave Nepal came with a huge amount of guilt over what to do. How do you leave behind those who cannot leave Nepal? Our Nepali friends do not have a country to escape to when things get bad. Why are we so special that we can leave when it gets too dangerous? These are not easy questions and we do not have any answers to them. Our decision to leave was one that we will not soon come to grips with but it seemed like our only decision at times.

Shawna, Kody, and Luke will fly out of Kathmandu first and I will try and be back in the United States within a few weeks of their departure. I have work to finish before I leave but I will be trying hard to get it finished so that I can again be with my family. Thanks for all your love and support through this hard time.

Posted by Jon at May 14, 2004 05:58 AM