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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 ">https://lat.ms/2HGcrAz&q...
I& #39;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& #39;t find him. 1/
As a longtime staffer, first-time freelancer, I& #39;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& #39;s Nepali-Afro-funk-jazz house band (really amazing: http://cadenzacollective.com/bio/ ">https://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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;s sister said it was the 1st time they& #39;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& #39;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& #39;d just gotten back to city when I got alert he& #39;d been murdered in Saudi consulate there & screamed aloud. Will never forget his generosity with journalist he didn& #39;t know. 8/
In Saudi, I& #39;d managed to interview dozens of Nepali and South Asian workers, whose employers were pushing rising costs of MBS& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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 & #39;Behind the story& #39; - I hope you& #39;ll read it @latimes https://lat.ms/34A20HK ">https://lat.ms/34A20HK&q... (Reporter& #39;s notebook: https://lat.ms/2G5BD2W ">https://lat.ms/2G5BD2W&q... ) 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
