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Behind the story: From Nepal to Saudi Arabia, reporting how a dead man came back to life - from twists of fate over momos to tripping over my abaya to help from Jamal Khashoggi & eternal thanks to many who risked much helping me tell it @latimes THREAD https://lat.ms/2HGcrAz
I'd been living in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, for only a few weeks when I saw a short headline buried in a newspaper: “Dead Man Comes Back to Kathmandu.” But I couldn't find him. 1/
As a longtime staffer, first-time freelancer, I'd been hoping to cover one of the largest human migrations on the planet, though it gets scant attention in US media: Laborers leaving South Asia for the Persian Gulf states, sponsored by some of the world’s biggest corporations. 2/
Weeks later, over momos and Kathmandu's Nepali-Afro-funk-jazz house band (really amazing: http://cadenzacollective.com/bio/ ) a friend introduced me to a law student interning at a nonprofit helping migrant workers — and he told me the group happened to be helping the worker's family. 3/
The story was even stranger and darker than I’d imagined. It followed me around the world, & to a few mags. The editor of one that bought it ultimately decided not to use it, telling me: “My ideal story is:‘Instagram has a Facebook problem.’” So it followed me home to @latimes 4/
The story was made possible by people who took risks—physical as well as political—to talk to me. To get to Tejendra's family in the Himalayan foothills, we drove 12hrs on cliff-clinging roads from the closest airport, then hiked another 4hrs when the bridge was washed out. 5/
Tejendra's sister said it was the 1st time they'd met “foreigners.” They fed us lentils & milk from the water buffalo outside. We were the only ones who ate, but it would’ve been disrespectful to refuse. Over Nepali moonshine, one said: “Nobody wants to go abroad. We have to.” 6/
The hardest was the visa to report in Saudi Arabia. I got an unexpected tip from Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi expert who maintained ties despite having gone into exile, who'd recently asked MBS about foreign labor. He gave a name: Don’t tell them it came from me. I got the visa. 7/
I was in Istanbul yr later, passing through to report on Turkey-Syria border, when he disappeared. I'd just gotten back to city when I got alert he'd been murdered in Saudi consulate there & screamed aloud. Will never forget his generosity with journalist he didn't know. 8/
In Saudi, I'd managed to interview dozens of Nepali and South Asian workers, whose employers were pushing rising costs of MBS's Vision 2030 onto them, making them work more for even less or nothing – only possible through brave drivers, translating in English, Arabic, Hindi 9/
Feeling awkward sitting in back, I moved up front. Only when we approached a security checkpoint did I realize how vulnerable the driver was as a foreign worker. Because we were not related or married, I wasn’t supposed to be sitting there, he said. But we were waved through. 10/
At advice of women journalists, I'd searched for an abaya but failed. When I arrived in as conservative dress as I could, my Saudi gov handler took one look & said: “Oh, you have dressed Turkish-style.” (An insult.) The next day a too-long abaya was waiting. I kept tripping. 11/
Hyundai and Saudi officials said I couldn't visit the plant where Subash worked in part because I was a woman. A Nepali official asked about Nepalis forced to sleep outside their own consulate in Jeddah with only occasional bread and water exploded about my "Western values." 12/
But @latimes saw value, even amid the 2020 election and everything, and @StevePadilla2 @DavidLauter @BobDrogin
@LATimeskraft Jeff Glasser @Kimbriell @nswalker @ClaireHannahCc @dleelatimes @socalbreeze @SamanthaMVB Carolyn Horowitz & so many more brought it to life 13/
@LATimeskraft Jeff Glasser @Kimbriell @nswalker @ClaireHannahCc @dleelatimes @socalbreeze @SamanthaMVB Carolyn Horowitz & so many more brought it to life 13/
It also never would've happened without the fearless bad assery of a trio of Nepali women journalists, most especially the brilliant @bbhrikuti and Nikita Tripathi 14/
Now that you know the 'Behind the story' - I hope you'll read it @latimes https://lat.ms/34A20HK (Reporter's notebook: https://lat.ms/2G5BD2W ) The families are surprised I’ve stuck with it, as if to ask: Does anyone care how they live and die? And you can answer: Yes. END
