Since Nepal I've been in effervescent America, still fizzing with excitement over its President elect. It is an extraordinary time to be here.
Obama's face is as ubiquitous as the Thanksgiving pumpkins. Together they adorn almost every free surface - horizontal and vertical. Even the credit crunch is shadowed by the elation after democracy and what it can achieve.
My boss and I have been doing fundraising events in New York and DC - and I've been talking about our work in Afghanistan and showing the film. I have been bowled over by the enthusiasm, the warmth and the promise this country has to offer.
My itinerant refugee status has been flung to the roadside as I am warm heartedly welcomed by everyone I meet. It's humbling stuff. And it is deftly filling the emptiness of being so far from J, and the life that we loved in Afghanistan.
Sunday 30 November 2008
Fresh Air
The unexpected sharp exit from Afghanistan luckily coincided with a work trip to Nepal that had already been planned. And my organisation are being amazing - providing me with plenty of work and places to be so I don't have to land splat back in London where I started, until J finishes his stint in Kabul and we can return together.
Perhaps cultivating a career-in-a-bag is not such a bad idea for our lifestyle anyway...
Seeing our organisation's set up in Nepal was inspiring and exciting. Its people face some similar hurdles to Afghans - mountainous countryside with no particular cohesion between communities; a backdrop of conflict; extreme poverty and unemployment; and therefore potentially disenfranchised young people.
But their media is fairly advanced, and so to witness the radio and community projects we run there was extremely encouraging. The Nepali team is charming and brilliant and it was refreshing to be in a country where you can achieve so much more because of fewer security problems; and where broadcasting on topics such as HIV AIDs or homosexuality wasn't forbidden by strict convention.
In between meetings and trips over Kathmandu's surrounding mountains, there was time to explore Buddhist and Hindu temples, spin some prayer wheels and nibble on momos (a Nepali dumpling).
I confess it was a relief to be allowed to wander around a country's most spiritual monuments even though I was a woman; and to hear how tolerant each religion is of the other in this country.
And it enabled an important ten days of reflection on what I had left behind, and what lay ahead.
Perhaps cultivating a career-in-a-bag is not such a bad idea for our lifestyle anyway...
Seeing our organisation's set up in Nepal was inspiring and exciting. Its people face some similar hurdles to Afghans - mountainous countryside with no particular cohesion between communities; a backdrop of conflict; extreme poverty and unemployment; and therefore potentially disenfranchised young people.
But their media is fairly advanced, and so to witness the radio and community projects we run there was extremely encouraging. The Nepali team is charming and brilliant and it was refreshing to be in a country where you can achieve so much more because of fewer security problems; and where broadcasting on topics such as HIV AIDs or homosexuality wasn't forbidden by strict convention.
In between meetings and trips over Kathmandu's surrounding mountains, there was time to explore Buddhist and Hindu temples, spin some prayer wheels and nibble on momos (a Nepali dumpling).
I confess it was a relief to be allowed to wander around a country's most spiritual monuments even though I was a woman; and to hear how tolerant each religion is of the other in this country.
And it enabled an important ten days of reflection on what I had left behind, and what lay ahead.
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