Last year, when I first took this job there was an event scheduled in India in Oct. Things didn't feel right and they weren't working out according to plan. I didn't feel confident enough to postpone or cancel it. It was a disaster and we are still trying to clean up the pieces.
Earlier this year there was an event scheduled in Kenya. To everyone's surprise the Presidential election there turned violent. The staff on the ground were hopeful it would come to a peaceful solution quickly. They are Kenyans and they assured me it would not effect our event. I trusted them in spite of my better judgment and things did NOT resolve quickly so the week prior to the event we were scrambling to get everything set up in a new country - Uganda.
I have nearly a year of experience under my belt. This time, I am trusting my gut in spite of what the field partners are saying. We are postponing the event and will revisit this early next year. My gut tells me this conflict will get worse before it gets better. It would be foolish to proceed. Especially since other groups who have done the same were shut down by Russian police as soon as the event started, some were taken to jail, electricity shut off, etc - clear
intimidation. It is not on my wish list to end up in a Russian prison, or really prison anywhere. This wasn't a popular decision, but I believe it was the best decision given the current political climate.
Pray for the former soviet countries, there is a fight for freedom going on in that region of the world. Many of the smaller countries are not big enough to defend themselves and based on allegiances, this fight has the potential to engage the world in the conflict. May there be a peaceful resolution very soon!
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