Monday, February 20, 2012
After a weekend of fun, bonding, and some relaxation, we returned to the Habitat for Humanity build site. Day 6 of the build and we are getting things done! We were greeted by the homeowner who had such a proud smile on her face. The roof was on the house! It had been installed over the weekend and it looked great. Slowly, the house was coming together and we now had only 5 days to get it completed. The focus for our team in this second week was on a number of tasks – to finish the walls, to build a concrete patio alongside of the house and to do a general clean up.
On our way in to the build site, there were some strange things observed on the road. Along the way, we passed groups of children blocking the road with lengths of rope which we had to drive through. Road traffic in front of our site seemed heavier. As usual, our team started the day with heaps of energy and received instructions on our work tasks. The work was heavy but satisfying. Over the course of the morning, our team began to notice the beginnings of a blockade on the main road in front of the house. I was working on the sand sifting station which was closest to the road and I kept my eye on the happenings. We all seemed to be increasingly distracted by the gathering semi-trucks, buses, tuk-tuks and people with signs of protest. I, like everyone else, had little idea as to what the signs said or their purpose. The traffic eventually came to a standstill. All lanes of traffic seemed to be facing one direction, and no lanes were moving. We could hear the chorus of protests.
As lunch approached, we all began to wonder how our bus driver was going to get us out of the site. As we did not know the fate of the protest, a decision was made by our team leaders to evacuate us from the site and to end the workday at noon. Our team got on the bus and we made a failed attempt to leave the area. Traffic moving away from the blockade (which was where we needed to go) was also stopped – it was a gridlocked situation. A second decision was made, and that was for us to abandon the bus and walk back to Bharatpur. So, off the bus the 16 of us went, walking along the road, gathering stares of both protesters and people whose only intention was to drive to a destination. We had our lunch at the local women’s community hall and eventually we made our way back to the hotel. Since we were not returning to the work site, our team had additional time to linger in the neighborhood and go down the the river. Sherwood, our team lead, entertained some of the locals with his card tricks. This was a delight.
Once we left the women’s hall, we arrived at the hotel to find that the windows were completely shuttered and the power was out. Apparently, there were concerns about the blockade, protests and the possibility of things becoming more heated, possibly violent. Our instructions were to not leave the hotel. We sat it out and by 4 pm, power was on and shutters were up.
What was the protest and blockade about? We later learned that a 12-year old boy was shot by police that morning in Bharatpur. People were angry and out protesting the sad outcome. I don’t know whatever happened following this, but I often think about this and feel for the family and community.
The Travelling Psychologist 