I spent six unforgettable weeks participating in the Engineering World Health (EWH) Summer Institute in Nepal, alongside my fellow engineering students from EWH DTU.
Our journey began with a week in Kathmandu dedicated to cultural immersion. We learned essential Nepali phrases, familiarized ourselves with cultural differences, and explored historical sites, including Kathmandu Durbar Square, the city of Bhaktapur, and the Monkey Temple.
My volunteer work took place at a local hospital in Baglung, where I worked alongside two other students. Our daily tasks involved testing, repairing, and maintaining installed and donated medical equipment. Our greatest challenge was the language barrier, as very few people at the hospital spoke English. Despite this, we found ways to communicate and make a tangible impact. For example, we successfully repaired broken buttons on an electrical muscle stimulation device, replaced a temperature sensor in a baby incubator, and created easy-to-follow visual guides to help the staff set up different medical equipment. For our secondary projects, we built hand sanitizer dispensers and brightened up a children’s playroom by painting the alphabet on the walls.
In our daily life with our host family and their two kids in Baglung, we drank a lot of sweet coffee and embraced the local custom of eating daal bhat with our fingers three times a day. We played a lot of card games on the roof terrace, sometimes in complete darkness with candles around due to power outages, which happened every day for short periods. We helped with the cooking, washed our clothes by hand, and got used to cold showers, squat toilets, and living with cockroaches. Because we were there during the monsoon season, the weather could shift rapidly from brilliant sunshine to extreme rain. However, on clear days, we were rewarded with breathtaking sneak peeks of Dhaulagiri - part of the Himalayas and the seventh-highest mountain in the world.
Our weekends were reserved for adventure. We went on small hikes, including a day trip towards Annapurna I, and traveled to nearby cities to reunite with other participants in the program. We even took on the thrill of a bungee swing off a cliff in the Parbat district. Closer to home, we spent time walking with our host family to local temples and exploring the city's impressive suspension bridges.
Before heading home, we traveled to Chitwan for a safari. It was a completely different climate, and we got to see rhinos, tigers, and other amazing wildlife.
This experience has given me extensive practical knowledge, hands-on engineering experience, and great cultural insights, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you to Nepal for your spectacular nature and incredibly welcoming people.
Namaste
