To the Himalayas!

Wow. There is so much to say about my amazing travels. Yesterday was the first day of school, and it was exhilerating to swap travel stories with all my smiling, sun-kissed classmates. A few had adventures in healthcare in Shanghai, Japan, India, and Croatia, and many had mostly relief (and balanced bank accounts) after having finished research projects at Vancouver hospitals over the summer.

I will be writing a lot more about all my misconceptions and discoveries, and definitely working on getting some photos up there. I have about 1000 photos from India and Nepal and it’s going to take me quite a while to go through them. In the meantime, here is one of my favourites (I would put more but wordpress is a pain for dealing with photos):

I have been staying with a Nepalese family east of Kathmandu in Chapagoan. Working there at the Primary Health Center hasn’t been quite like India, although the patients have had many similiar ailments. The clinic is very well organized, boasting a dispensary, ambulance, minor surgical procedures room, 4 observation beds, and a labour/delivery room.

I am staying with a paramedic cum pseudo-doctor ["health care worker"]. He is very proud of their health post which receives only 40 000 rupees from the government each year – enough to pay the phone bill. They have lots of NGO partners and also have an insurance scheme for patients that is very minimal in fees but seems to be drawing the confidence of many patients.

The streets in the rural areas are lined with red brick buildings, from the windows of which are draped strands of red chillies hung to dry. Hammer and sickle emblems emblazon the buildings and a few red flags with small white stars decorate the telephone lines.

Yesterday, two women gave birth at the hospital. One of them was in such pain during the repair work (suturing tears); I guess the xilocaine had worn off, so all I could do was get her to squeeze my hand. Her baby girl was so beautiful! I missed most of the delivery because a group of us went to visit a leperosy hospital. It wasn’t nearly as grim as I had expected. The most interesting part was probably the prosthetic shoe department!

Today I am travelling with some fellow health workers (they are 2 premeds from England and Ottawa/Kingston) to Chitwan, where we’ll observe at the Oncology hospital and hopefully get our hands dirty elsewhere. They will continue to Pokhara but I must return to my health post.

“Mero mutu polchaa” (my heart burns), not from acid reflux as is the case with so many Nepali, but rather for some familiar faces. I love it here but I haven’t had an avocado or a hug for quite some time. Back in Vancouver on August 26th, London airport craziness permitting.

Cheerio.

Namaste!

I am here in Thamel, the touristy part of Kathmandu. Tomorrow I will go to Chapagoan and start work in what sounds like a pretty   well-structured community health center.

So far, I love Nepal.  I have been riding around on the back of a motorcycle belonging to my volunteer co-ordinator Badri. We went up to a Stupa (Buddhist/Hindu) landmark today. It was very much like the Stupas in Ladakh but there were monkies everywhere! Photos to follow when I’m back in Canada.

I learned some more Nepali today, also. Mero naam Jessica ho. Mero desko naam Canada ho. Etc. I also learned some good medical terminology like “does your urine burn” and “is your stool black” and consulted for 2 hours with a local self-trained pharmacist [they have no specific qualifications] about the main Rx here.

Delhi sucked because it was dirty, noisy, frustrating, and unsafe-feeling. I’ll write some more stories about it soon, but I am struggling against the Rupee counter and the all-too-sensitive spacebar here.

I’m hella hungry so I need to search out somewhere to eat. For the next 12 days it will be Daal-bhat and rice with my host family , so I’ll probably grab some American [or semblence of American] – style food tonight.

Take care everyone. Thinking of all your support and how amazing it is to be here, and how wonderful my placement hosts have been.