Questions and answers ... and more questions

(Kathmandu 5/23) The strike is over! Well, in theory anyway. Sometimes they do mini strikes for a few hours during the day but Im not too worried. This means we don't have to walk all the way from Kapan to the monastery! Sweet. Saves us about 2 hours. This morning we have a meeting with the dude from ISIS to tell us more about what they do and the situation in Humla with children. Then it's off to the monastery to see my boys again! I'm actually a little scared. Will they remember me? Will they be excited to see me? Anyway, back to Humla. Our first morning we headed to the hostel at 7:00 to meet the kids. They had a wonderful welcome for us with tree bows and dressed up in their traditional finery. The interviews with kids went well. Charles made the comment that if he was a kid there he would want to leave. He completely understands why they don't return when they finish school. However, when asked that question every child answered they would rather be in their motherland and want to come back when they finish college and university. I'm not so surprised by that. What kid not knowing anything besides their villages would want to move that far away from their family? To an unknown place, not knowing when or if they would be able to come back. We heard the same thing from the parents we interviewed. Given the choice everyone wants to keep their children local. The parents we talked to who have children in school in Kathmandu or India worry constantly and feel it far more likely their kids will get into some kind of trouble. Alcohol, drugs, etc. More importantly they simply miss their children. An extremely understandable and relatable feeling. Interviews at the school revealed that the headmaster himself was kidnapped and held by the Maoists. One father told us that his daughter was taken and held for 8 years until the end of the war. Apparently she's happily married to a Maoist and lives in a nearby village. These interviews are enlightening and frustrating at the same time. There just isn't a good way to ask what his daughter was doing while with the rebels or explain why she's happy to be married now. This is because of a cultural barrier but more to do with language. The nuances of English do not often translate into other languages. English has the most words of any recorded language. We can say the same thing 5 different ways and each has a different connotation if not denotation.