2016
We’ve been in Nepal for a week now, but it’s first today I have some time and a semi-good internet connection.
We spend the first five days in Dhulikhel in our own little european bubble at a resort. We started our language classes and learnt the most important do’s and don’ts in Nepal. We practiced eating with our hands and saying thank you in nepali ( [daneebad] which I still have difficulties saying perfectly). The hardest thing about learning the nepali culture and language is that the locals will never correct your mistakes, so you can go for weeks before you meet a kid who will correct you. The first time I was corrected was at the Sunrise orphanage because I didn’t sit correctly while eating.
Now we are in Purano Sinamangal, aka Pepsi-cola, at our homestays. I still feel that we are in our european bubble. We have a “normal” toilet, cutlery, and ones in a while we also have internet and hot showers. We get a large variety of really tasty food. Of course we also get dahlbat (rice and dahl) but that is actually quiet nice and I am not tired of it yet, even though we eat it twice a day.
We have been sightseeing in both Dhulikhel and Pepsi-cola where we have seen a lot of temples, both buddhist and hindu. The 2nd of july we visited an orphanage (The Sunrise) where we helped them with their homework, gave them LEGO and of course played football on their rooftop. It was a nice evening with a bunch of really great children. It was clear to see that school and friendships are the most important things in their lives.
I’ll be in Pepsi-cola until the 9th of July. The 10th I’ll start my work at the hospital in Bharatpur.
/Hilal
Hospital Experience
For the past three weeks my finnish partner, Tekla, and I have worked in Gorkha City at Gorkha District Hospital. During the weeks we have been fixing medical equipment for Engineering World Health (EWH) DTU. With us we have our Nepali biomedical engineer, Shramik, who is excellent at understanding the things here in Nepal (and at Nepali hospitals) that might be very foreign to us. And that is a lot… The hospital in Gorkha is very different from the hospitals back home. There are ofcourse still doctors, nurses, patients, medicine, the OT, the ER, the OPD, medical equipment etc. But still it is really far from what we know. When we arrived at the hospital, we made an inventory list of all the equipment at the hospital. Here we found out, they have around 200 pieces of equipment, but only 104 pieces in use… The equipment that is not in use is said to be broken.. We saw we had a lot of work to do, and have been working hard ever since. At the moment we have fixed 34 pieces of equipment and are still busy as ever.
End of a Journey
Almost 6 weeks in Nepal are now history and the flight ticket home is scheduled in 4 days. Tomorrow Mads, Sofie and I will present the results of our stay at Phaplu District hospital for the hospital staff, some local students and the personal in the health district office. Some of the headlines in our presentation are: 45 medical devices have been put back into service, a few selected of the hospital staff have completed a course in simple electric fixes and soldering, and thorough interviews with the doctors regarding the hospitals need of specific medical equipment have been conducted.
I personally believe that our one month stay at Phaplu hospital contributed to an enhanced patient care for the people in Phaplu and the local area. We have repaired 45 devices including multiple oxygen concentrators, an infant incubator, an infant warmer etc. which is both expensive devices but also providing a lifesaving treatment.
I further believe that the hospital moving forward will be able to handle more repairs themselves with the newly achieved knowledge regarding electrical fixes and safety. This is by far a much greater achievement that the hospital in a smaller degree relies on help from outside since Phaplu hospital is located very remote.
Nepal has been such an amazing country to live in. The nature is truly magnificent and unique. Waking up at 6AM looking out the window at the Himalaya mountains is indescribable and something everyone should try.
The Nepali people are the most welcoming and warm hearted people, I have ever met. Wherever we went, there was always a kind person to show us the correct direction, translate nepali or enlighten us with nepali culture.
I will definitely return to Nepal in the future!