Dear and treasured friends, we have been eagerly preparing for our return to Nepal in October. However, our plans changed this week for our trip, due to an escalation of violence within two of the communities in the far west of Nepal with whom we’ve planned to work {in Tikapur and with the people of the Tharu}. Although, our trip is not happening as originally planned, I am considering returning in October…yes, yes – I will keep you posted.
Violence + Historical Context
The situation in parts of Nepal is volatile right now. Following the severe earthquakes earlier in the year, there has been pressure on government leaders to get a national constitution in place. The country has been without a constitution since 2006 when Maoist insurgents ousted the Hindu monarchy. Since 2006 it has been a secular nation. There is now a strong push by many within Nepal (and also Indian leaders) to return the country to a Hindu nation. There is also great conflict surrounding this draft of the constitution regarding the redistricting of Nepal into seven provinces and making it a federal state. This is opposed by tribal groups and lower caste groups who believe they will not be fairly represented in this model of government. There are violent protests taking place throughout Nepal at this time. {-Vaun Swanson}
A word from our brother, Udaya | Kathmandu, Nepal
We received a call a few days ago from our Nepali partner, Udaya. He told us that in Tikapur, our friends estimate that as many as 50,000 people (many of them from the Tharu ethnic tribe) have marched into the town in opposition to the proposed Nepali constitution. News accounts confirm that seventeen police personnel and three protestors have died in Tikapur, where protestors used homemade weapons to attack police personnel, while some were burned alive. There is a curfew and several friends of ours reported they were hiding in their homes and community centers. 3 articles with more on this story: Himalayan Times | ABC News | BBC News
An invitation to YOU…
Please hold our Nepali sisters and brothers close to your heart, thoughts, and in your prayers this day {see our invitation to YOU at the end of this article – join us :)}. We are deeply considering how best to support them in this time of struggle and will be sure to keep you posted.
Peacemakers – Meditations + Musings
I’ve been thinking about how we are invited to be peacemakers in the midst of fractured, broken, and divided lives within and around us – in all of it, dear friends: whether within a global context {such as with our friends in Nepal}, within our local kula {community}, and/or within our very own families. I love this invitation and blessing:
You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are. -Jesus
This takes courage, wisdom, energy, and ignited connections within and with each other. In my life, it’s beckoned me to relinquish my agenda and be transformed by radical humility and love. Not easy – in fact, oft’ gut-wrenchingly painful – but I deeply sense the abundance of living in this peacemaking way of life.
I’m reminded of an excerpt from an extraordinary book (Unstoppable Hope, by Stant Litore) that my beloved Nepali team-mate Vaun gifted me:
“The Greek [word for peace] is eirene, which means ‘woven together,’ like a thousand colored threads in a brilliant tapestry. The Hebrew is shalom, which means ‘full-flourishing.’ In a perfectly ordered pax, in a stable status quo with no conflict, people may find themselves stacked on top of each other in orderly castes and not woven together at all; lives may be prevented from full-flourishing because privileging the absence of conflict above all else keeps issues from being resolved, reconciled, or forgiven.
Peacemaking is not just a pretty word; to the Greek mind, it is the name for a kind of craftsmanship, a work of intentionality and labor. It is not merely the ceasing of conflict but the integration of people in the warp and weft of a shared community…Bound to others: woven together. By our every act, we are either weaving together or unweaving our world – by strengthening or fraying the relationships in it.”
Weave us to our community, our friends, and to those we fear and dread…Whisper in my ear this week, at every choice: let me see how I might weave or unweave relationships each day. Help me to fasten rather than fray, to tie rather than tear, to repair rather than rend. –Stant Litore
Friends, how amazing is this invitation to be peacemakers; to be a part of the weaving together and full-flourishing of those around us: in our families, communities, and world. Let’s do it…together, as an ignited kula {community}.
Will you share with us in the comments section {must be in this post on our blog to do so}, on Facebook, or via email {sarah@seedsofexchange.org}?
- A hope, blessing, prayer for our Nepali sisters and brothers, &/or
- YOUR peacemaking story: Where have you worked or do you want to show up as a peacemaker – “big” or “small” | in your family, kula, and/or globally? Learnings, struggles, transformations?
{We so want to hear YOUR voice, friends. xoxoxox! :)}
