COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak - Kathmandu
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Sherman Chu
After three weeks of work at our placement sites, this week we did an outreach project on health at Souvenir Boarding School and two orphanages (Our Child Protection Foundation Nepal and Holy Nepal Orphanage). On Monday, everyone started teaching at Souvenir Boarding School. The topics we covered included healthy eating, oral health and hand sanitisation, pollution and the importance of exercise and communicable diseases.
Catherine and I started the week doing some home visits as part of our placement. The families we saw cannot afford transport to the Cerebral Palsy Centre, which is two buses away (costing 40NPRs = 40cents each way), so the centre sends staff to do some sessions with each child. To our surprise, the children during the home visits responded to therapy a lot better than the children at the Cerebral Palsy Centre. This has definitely been a highlight during our stay in Nepal, seeing children responding so well with therapy and having a good prognosis.
We joined the others for the outreach project on Tuesday for yet another crazy day in Nepal. The children were very excited to see us again and were screaming when they found out we would be teaching their class. The classrooms were almost a quarter the size of those in Australia, yet with just as many children. It is only natural for us to compare what we have in Australia to what is here in Nepal but we understand that it is all part of the Nepali way of life. Just like at the Cerebral Palsy Centre, the school can make use of what they have, whether it's classroom space or resources and they do their best with what is available to them.
That following night, we had an early farewell dinner party as some of us are leaving before Friday night. Everyone made a dish and wore their Nepali traditional dress. Jess made some dips (green olive, black olive and achar) and roti; Kiara made tomato bruschetta; Tarryn made a tomato, eggplant and sausage pasta; Anthony made Christmas balls; Alana made Nepali jelly (which was interesting!); Georgia made vegemite sandwiches; Bronwyn made mash potato; Emily made a fruit salad; Lisa made garlic bread and Catherine and I brought nachos and salsa dip and lemon, tuna pasta. Quite the feast, I know! All the dishes were a huge hit and Rajesh and his family enjoyed it as much as we did. We took this opportunity to take lots of photos with everyone. Also, Jess and Kiara had Nepali make-up on and they could have passed as our host sisters!
On Wednesday and Thursday, we continued our health outreach project at two orphanages and did some painting at Shree Dhapasi School. We painted a fruit and vegetable wall and it turned out quite well despite our “non-artistic” team! The school have started building the toilets, which is where the money we have fundraised is going towards! That was good to see!
On Friday, Rajesh organised a hike for us to Shivapuri National Park. The views on the way were amazing! We took plenty of photos of the breathtaking scenery.
We did a rubbish-clean-up when we arrived at the National Park. The locals were watching us (more like starring) while we were picking up rubbish and we all felt that the locals will most likely not adopt our efforts.
Overall, it has been an amazing four weeks! We have all made some unforgettable memories that will last forever! Happy travels!
Namaste everyone!
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