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Chapagaun |
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| UniBreakers outside monestary |
After our weekend in Kathmandu of relaxing and visiting the monkey temple we were ready to start our second week of work. Everyone agreed that the Health Centre usually gets quiet in the afternoons so to make the best use of our time in Nepal we are spending the afternoons at a local orphanage in Techo, about half an hour walk away from the Chapagaun Health Care Centre. With the combined organization of our in- country support guys, Rajesh and Matricka and the people that run the orphanage it was decided that the most necessary work needed is a new toilet because there is currently only one that is shared by everyone there including the four disabled orphan’s which pose extra difficulties using a communal squat toilet. We are also renovating a bedroom shared by four teenage boys. Myself and some of the other volunteers did some fundraising before coming here so all the money for the work we are doing is coming directly from us. Everyone is so excited to be doing some hard work and to see the end results! So far in the bedroom we have completed two coats of paint. The children there are beautiful and are so excited to see the new bright walls! We have hired a contractor to do most of the work for the toilet and we are helping with any manual labour where we can, such as carrying the bricks from where they were dropped off by the truck to where the toilet is being constructed.
One of the most exciting parts of the week at the Health Centre was definitely getting to observe the birth of a baby boy! I was very lucky to get the chance to be apart of it and Mary, the other volunteer I’m living with saw one as well. The birth that Mary saw wasn’t as smooth as the one I saw but mother and baby were both healthy. Unfortunately in Nepal there is a very strong cultural view towards boys being the preferred gender to give birth to and through the nurses’ translations I was told that the mother said that she was so happy to have had a boy. The main trend I’ve noticed in patients at the Health Centre are injuries from work and motorbike accidents such as exhaust burns, some of the wounds have been the most brutal I’ve seen and there isn’t as much of an importance placed in pain relief during procedures on the wounds as there is in Australia.
All of us girls picked up our Kuthur’s from the tailor this week much to our Amma’s (Mum’s) excitement! Mine and Mary’s Amma put one of her Kuthur’s on as well and got us to have a photo with her, it was so sweet! Whilst in Nepal I have discovered a love for Mo-mo’s, a traditional Nepalese food that is like a dumpling. Our Hajur- amma (Grandma) taught us how to make them one night for dinner- rolling out the dough, spooning some filling (we had buffalo, but they can also have chicken or vegetables) and the fiddly part of twisting them closed in a special way, which Hajur- amma got many laughs out of watching us do the final part!
On the weekend we all went to Chitwan National Park, except sadly a couple of girls had to stay home due to sickness. We arrived in Chitwan seven hours after catching a bus from Kathmandu- it was a hot, sticky and windy trip BUT the views were amazing! Our time in Chitwan was great! We packed everything that we could into the weekend, which we are getting used to! We visited an elephant conservation centre, went on an elephant back safari, had a canoe trip, saw the sunset on the river, shopped, saw a cultural dance show and went on a walking safari through the national park where we saw rhino’s, deers, elephants and lots of birds.
And that is our week in a nutshell! Despite the power cuts interrupting the writing of this and me having to re-write it and wait for wi-fi access I hope you all enjoy.
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