Changing Times for Nepal

The government of Nepal is in a very transitional time at the moment. As I keep my eyes on the news and the changing events I can't help but watch in awe as I see how much this country has changed in the past 7 years since I started traveling there: and how much they will continue to change with the current elections and new form of government. I am rather shocked with the way the polls are leaning at the moment - the next few days will tell a lot...

Nepal's Maoists lead poll count

Maoist supporters with their faces painted red celebrated

Nepal's Maoist party has taken the lead in results declared so far, after Thursday's elections.

The Maoists have won 14 out of 24 seats declared, and their leader has taken a seat in the capital, Kathmandu.

The party is also ahead in many other seats, for which partial results are coming through as the count proceeds.

The polls, for an assembly to re-write the constitution, are the first to test the Maoists at the ballot box after their 10-year guerrilla campaign.

The BBC's Charles Haviland says Maoist supporters in Kathmandu have started victory processions in some of the main streets, with red vermillion powder smeared on their faces and red hammer-and-sickle flags in their hands.

'Peace mandate'

Although it is too soon to say the Maoists have won the election, there is a sense that the former guerrillas are doing better than most observers had expected, our correspondent says.

Nepal's two traditionally largest parties have gained only four seats each.

The Maoists' leader, Prachanda, called a press conference, where he called the results a "victory" and said he saw them as the people's mandate to consolidate peace.

"All eyes are upon us," he said.

The new constitution is expected to lead to the abolition of Nepal's monarchy, and the partial counts suggest small royalist parties have done badly in the polls.

One of the Maoist leaders who won in the capital, Pampha Bhusal, has said she will work hard to ensure the inclusion of women in all organs of the state, something our correspondent says would be a novelty in the Himalayan country.

The elections were Nepal's first since 1999

Former US President Jimmy Carter, who is an election observer, has said Washington must deal with the Maoists.

He told the BBC: "It's been somewhat embarrassing to me and frustrating to see the United States refuse among all the other nations in the world, including the United Nations, to deal with the Maoists, when they did make major steps away from combat and away from subversion into an attempt at least to play an equal role in a political society."

Election deaths

Mr Carter also talked about the significance of the elections:

"It's the end, I hope, of armed conflict, of revolutionary war in fact", he said.

Nepal held its first polls since 1999 following the Maoists' decision to quit their armed struggle in 2006.

Voting passed off relatively peacefully

Results for all the 240 constituencies are expected over the next 10 days. Officials say that polling has been postponed in 10 constituencies.

Many Nepalis and international observers have been surprised that Thursday's nationwide elections, just two years after the end of the Maoist insurgency, took place considerably more peacefully than past votes of the 1990s.

There were four election-related deaths in the troubled south-eastern region.

The Election Commission said there was a turnout of 60%, with polling cancelled due to malpractice in just 33 polling stations out of 21,000.

King Gyanendra seized absolute power in 2005 but was forced to give up his authoritarian rule the following year after weeks of pro-democracy protests.

He has since lost all his powers and his command of the army.

Hindu to Christian

I am editing a friend's Masters Thesis for him. He is from Nepal but has come to the states for a couple of years to work on his ThM. The title is "An Analysis of the Idea of the Atonement in Hinduism in the Light of Christianity." It is actually quite fascinating. I came across this one section in his paper that I thought was especially probing...

"Does it really make much of a difference when a Nepali Hindu becomes a Christian? Both believe in doing good works, even in loving one’s neighbors; it’s just a question of motive. Hindus accumulate merit from their good deeds to counterbalance their bad deeds. Christians says that a life full of good deeds cannot outweigh even a single sin. We must first seek forgiveness from God relying on his mercy shown to us through his son, Jesus Christ. Then, once forgiven, he enables us to do good out of thankfulness and love for him who died for us."

To someone looking in from the outside - what's the difference? Why is the change necessary?

How Will You Spend Your Check?

Hi Friends,

I got an email from a good friend of mine and wanted to share it with you. He came up with a plan to change the world. [no, seriously, he really did] This idea could really make a difference in the lives of people who need it most. Read his email below and at least check out the link and see what you think. Feel free to engage in the conversation or shoot me an email at WanderingellimaC@gmail.com. And please...pass it on.

-----------------------------

So, most of you know that you'll be getting a pretty large check from the government this spring for the purpose of "economic stimulus".

History and human nature shows that most of us will just spend this check on more "stuff" - which, of course, is why the government is sending us all a check in the first place.

But here's another idea. What if we all used our checks - or at least part of our checks - to
"stimulate" the lives of people who need "economic stimulus" a lot more than we do? What if we all decided to invest in something bigger than ourselves?

Here's an example. The United Nations estimates that we could provide the entire planet with safe, clean, accessible drinking water for about $100 billion. The proposed economic stimulus package is more than $168 billion. So - in theory - if everyone invested 2/3 of their check in sustainable water projects, no one on the planet would ever be thirsty or die of water-born diseases... which kill about 6,000 people a day.

So a few friends and I have been working on a web site and blog that explores this idea of investing your economic stimulus check - or at least part of your check - in something that REALLY makes a difference. We're raising questions like, "How will you spend your check?" and "What are you passionate about?"

Take a moment to check out the site, join the conversation, leave comments on the blog for others to read and think about, and start to explore how you will spend your check...

Thanks everyone. Pass it on...
Peace.
Dave Scott

Travel

I am sitting at LAX airport right now – thinking about the movie “Trade” and Nepal and girls I have met and books I have read. Thinking about the current state of the sex market and how things are shifting. The traffickers are always just one step ahead. They are entrepreneurs at their best. They have a great product and know how to market it in many different arenas.
As I boarded the Flyaway bus to get to LAX there was a young girl that didn’t speak any English that got on with me. A man who didn’t look a whole lot older dropped her off. I hope he was her brother, or boyfriend, or trusted best friend – but I can’t be sure. And even if he was, I can’t be comforted. She held one small bag and a paper with ?directions? on them. I don’t know what was on the paper but she was sent somewhere alone and it looked like she was told she would be taken care of when she got there. I can’t help but wonder how much goes on right under our noses. Maybe that was just her brother and she was just going to visit some family or do something else fun – but how can I be sure?
There are signs you can look for, sure. But it is difficult when your time is so limited. And it is frustrating beyond all get out when you cannot communicate with a girl that you have suspicions about because of language barriers. Although I obviously would not have asked her straight out if she was being trafficked or sexually exploited – there are other questions you can ask around that issue that will get you the answers you are looking for. The clues and the pieces to the puzzle – that they might not even know they are giving you.
And so I sit her at LAX looking at all the young boys and girls traveling alone – or with a quite older companion. And I wonder. What can be done? When is suspicion good? When is it offensive or over the top? And why have we come to a place in a world where we have to suspect a father traveling with his adolescent daughter…

Decriminalize vs. Legalize

I was able to go to the Soularize Conference in the Bahamas this last October. One of the speakers was Rita Nakashima Brock. She was co-author of a great book I read for one of my courses “Casting Stones”. I contacted her after the conference to get some resources. She said to me that after working with prostitutes and doing her research overseas she strongly believes that prostitution should not be legalized but SHOULD be decriminalized.
I have to say that the more I study here at Fuller, the more I work with the After Hours Ministry and the more I research prostitution I agree with Dr. Brock. This is still something I am very much thinking through and processing…but travel with me a bit.

Legalization: to make legal; authorize

Those that legalize prostitution (and yes, there are some places that do) “do so by giving the state control over the lives and businesses of those who work as prostitutes. Legalization often includes special taxes for prostitutes, restricting prostitutes to working in brothels or in certain zones, licenses, registration of prostitutes and government records of individual prostitutes, and health checks, which often means punitive quarantine. The term legalization does not necessarily have to refer to the above sorts of regulations. In fact, in one commonly accepted definition of legalization, legal can simply mean that prostitution is not against the law.” [quoted from this website] And this is not what we want. Prostitution should still be against the law – it just should not be a criminal act.

Decriminalize: to eliminate criminal penalties for or remove legal restrictions against (typically referring to consenting adult sexual activity)

While there are many reasons one gets into prostitution and many reasons one stays, I don’t think that putting these men and women in jail is ever really the answer. The times I have spoken with my girls after they have been in jail for a couple of weeks for getting picked up for prostitution I see no real effect the jailing had on them (other than pissing them off and making them annoyed). And to be real frank, I think it is the John’s that need to be put in jail if we are going to send anyone there. The laws that are currently in place for prostitution are reaching the “branch” problems – and we need to get to the root. Our laws are affecting the women involved while the men who are customers reap no consequences.

The criminalization of prostitution also makes it very difficult for these women to seek help or report violent actions against themselves to the police. If they report anything they can be charged or put in jail because of the actions that caused the crime against them. Several women I work with would be fearful of loosing custody of their child or losing status with the family and friends.

There is a website that makes a compelling argument “why prostitution should not ever be legalized” but you will notice that they use the two words legalization and decriminalization interchangeably. I think that is where the confusion and danger comes in. Legalization is not the same as decriminalization and until we have a clear understanding of what we mean by the word and what we are truly trying to accomplish – we’ll only get frustrated and step on each other’s toes.

And lastly, here is an article that I think is really compelling (which is for decriminalization) written by Wendy McElroy.