COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak - Kathmandu
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Sherman Chu
Nameste! We are all health science students who will be volunteering over a range of sites from hospitals to non-for-profit organisations including disability centres. Our volunteering group consists of physios, speechies, paramedics and nurses.
We have all experienced the traffic of Nepal since arriving at the program house. The traffic was very crazy to say the least (but not as busy as India), the air was very dusty and the people are incredibly friendly! Arriving at the program house, we met the other members of the group, Rajesh’s family, and another volunteering group from Australia. Everyone from our group seemed to know who everyone is despite having met for the first time. Some of us had arrived in Nepal a few days earlier and it was interesting to hear where they had already been and what places they would recommend.
The first two days were mainly an introduction for us to Nepal, the Do’s and Dont’s of the customs of Nepal and orientating us around the area where we will be staying over the next month. We were shown where our nearest restaurant is (in case we crave for a good burger or Italian) and also where to get Wifi even if there’s a blackout! Nepal’s electivity generation is dominated by hydropower and it has a huge hydropower potential. Nepal has approximately 40,000 MW of feasible hydropower potential but has developed only 600 MW of hydropower. Currently, there are scheduled black outs as part of the daily rotational load-shedding.
We were all welcomed through a religious ceremony presented with red rice in the form of a tika on our foreheads. We were also given Nepali names, which I found was a lot easier to use with the locals and the staff from our placement sites. The locals found it funny that we had Nepali names but it was also a lot easier for them to remember. Our Nepali names are Amar, Aruna, Babita, Ekta, Laxmi, Jamuna, Jun, Kruna, Kabita, Samjhana and Tara. Can you guess who’s who?? Our introduction was followed by a traditional dinner of Dahl Baht meaning lentil soup and rice using only our right bare hand. Initially, it sounded a bit too hard for me, as I had tried to eat rice with my hands back in Australia. BUT, there is a really good technique where you grab the rice with all five fingers and then you use your thumb to push the rice into your mouth.
Day 3- This was our first day to visit our placement sites. We were all shown which microbus to take which was a relief! Catherine and I will be working the Self-Help group for Cerebral Palsy, which is two microbuses away (with a total commute of 2 hours). Again, our first day was mainly an introduction to the centre, and who we can go to when we have questions or feel like we want more work. Catherine and I are both speech pathology students from the University of Sydney, and we were both very grateful to have the opportunity to work with 1 out of 15 speech pathologist in Nepal. We are very much looking forward to working with the speech pathologist and other professionals at the CP centre and try to achieve some short-term goals while we are there.
After our crazy 4 hour microbus commute, we all meet our families and moved into our new homes. We were assigned to our host families in pairs, and I believe we all got a modern toilet and our own room! Our aaama (mother) have been so accommodating and always asking what we would like for breakfast and dinner. Some of us will also be involved in some cooking lessons and learn to make Nepal’s unofficial national dish- momos! (vegetable-filled dumplings). Towards the end of the week, everyone is easing into their placements and feeling a lot more comfortable within their placements sites and at home. This weekend, we’re looking forward to seeing our first glimpse of the Himalayas at Nagarkot!
Sherman Chu
No comments:
Post a Comment