Stephen Edison at home in New Delhi (Photo: © Stephen Edison/CMS) After 10 years of civil war, Nepalis yearn for peace and constructive development. As a conflict transformation officer in west Nepal, helping local people to achieve that is part of my job.
I came to Nepal, under the CMS Share programme, in March 2008 to work with the United Mission to Nepal (UMN).
Reviewing my life and work in Nepal so far, I’m reassured about my being here being part of God’s plan.
This has been a time of growth and enrichment, both professionally and spiritually. There have been challenges, physical and psychological, but I can witness to God’s grace being sufficient for me.
Before coming to Nepal, I worked as a security analyst in a firm for a while. Prior to that, I had graduated from Warwick University with a degree in International Studies in 2007.
The learning process I was keen to work on peace building in the Middle East or North Africa and tried hard to find an opening with that in mind, but the Lord opened a door in Nepal instead.
With the benefit of hindsight and my experience of grass-roots field-work here, I realise just how much more I need to learn and to re-evaluate perceptions based on theoretical knowledge in order to work effectively in Conflict Transformation (CT).
I work with UMN’s field office in the far western region of Nepal, which is the least developed and one of the most remote parts of the country.
Mountainous terrain, lack of roads and infrastructure, and a decade-long civil war, the brunt of which was borne by this region and which came to a tentative end a couple of years ago, have all contributed to lack of development and poverty here.
A large number of people have been abducted, killed, maimed and tortured in this district in recent years both by the Nepali armed forces and the Maoist people’s army. As with all arenas of armed conflict, there’s been widespread destruction and loss of personal property and local infrastructure.
Doti is one of the districts in the region where UMN established a cluster office in March.
Stephen with pupils at Rajpur School in Nepal(Photo: © Stephen Edison/CMS)I joined the team here in May and began work in conflict transformation and peace building. The other areas of work on which our team focuses are education, enterprise development, food sovereignty, HIV/AIDS, and women and children.
The conflict-transformation approach deals with conflict in society in light of its root causes, history and patterns of relationship.
We believe that conflict is not a bad thing in itself but generally necessary for positive change.
The aim, therefore, is not to limit ourselves to trying to resolve episodes of violent conflict. We also seek to use them as opportunities to transform underlying unhealthy relationships at individual, social and structural levels and to work to build healthy and positive ones rooted in justice.
It is often a slow and unsteady process, which requires long-term commitment and dedication.
Guarded hope When I arrived in Nepal, the political situation was in a state of flux. A cease-fire, which was declared between the Maoists and the Army, was holding up quite well, and the Communist Party of Nepal – ‘Maoists’, which led the decade-long movement for the end of monarchy and for a Nepali republic, had entered the mainstream political process.
There is guarded hope among the Nepali people that, after decades marked by bad politics, unstable governments, emergency powers exercised by the monarchy, strikes and bloodshed, Nepal’s transition from a monarchy to a republic and the formulation of a new constitution might finally bring about the change and development for which they have yearned for decades.
Elections in April this year saw the Maoists come into power and form an interim government. The elected members of Parliament have been assigned the task of formulating Nepal’s constitution by 2010.
Joe Campell, who leads UMN’s CT work, was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process for over 20 years. It is a great opportunity and a privilege to serve with, as well as learn from, him.
During the six months since I joined the cluster office in Doti, my new colleagues and I have been growing as a team and in friendship.
Since June 2008 we have undertaken a baseline survey, concentrating on the effects of conflict, selected a local partner in the most affected part of the district and are in the process of conducting community situation-analysis of this area.
Field-work requires travelling long distances on foot(Photo: © Stephen Edison/CMS)Divided into two teams, we travelled into remote villages in the district, during which the immensity of the needs, poverty, problems and the challenge at hand really hit home to me.
From a CT perspective, caste discrimination and domestic violence, sustained and exacerbated by cultural and structural factors, are our main challenges along with addressing the immediate and long-term material and psychosocial needs of people affected by the conflict − Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), women-led households, child soldiers and people who are physically and mentally traumatised.
CT has chosen to work with the Rural Community Development Centre (RCDC), a local NGO, in the most remote and conflict-affected part of the district. It takes three days on foot to reach this area.
Community participationIn the coming months we will be busy helping the RCDC to make a programme with community participation.
We’ll need wisdom, guidance and strength for the coming months of project development and other work.
Far from friends and others with whom I’d usually have fellowship − and the nearest hospital being three hours’ away by bus, when the service is actually running in the face of increasingly frequent strikes, makes me very aware of the need to remain in good health − during this period, I’m acutely conscious of drawing closer to, and being reliant on, God.
Team leader and fellow believer Shasi Ghalan and I want our lives, service and witness to reflect Christ in us. We hope others see him in and through us.