Settling In To Working Life In Timor Leste

 COUNTRY: Timor-Leste
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Health Science
WRITTEN BY: Talita, Jocelyn and Alice - University of Queensland

Saturday
After an emotional morning farewell (Ruth didn’t believe we would get up for her – we love you Ruth!), the CNR bus arrived at our hotel for an adventure to Maubara. Little did we know, the treacherous nature of the roads that we would face in the 17 seater bus - the CNR staff played on our emotions as they encouraged us to get photos of the cliff that was less than a metre away. Despite this, they treated us to a fantastic day at the beach (pigs and all) as well as a wander through the local markets, an exhilarating 4WD competition and topped it off with a visit to Pope John Paul for sunset. We can’t move on without a massive shout out to Bec’s husband, Kane, who filled his carry-on for the weekend full of muesli bars and vegemite chocolate – you do not know what this means to us!

Sunday
We slept in. After an action packed few weeks, we revelled in the opportunity to relax for a bit and get some work done on the presentations that we are to present next week. We fit in a morning stroll to Santa Cruz cemetery – a sombre moment amongst the hustle and bustle as we gained a greater understanding of the sad history and suffering of the community.

Monday
The Occupational Therapy students had the opportunity to accompany the CNR Community Based Rehabilitation team staff to clients’ homes in the Dili region. This valuable experience provided a better understanding of the home environment of our clients to help guide our planning of therapy and goals. We were warmly welcomed into the homes, but it was a sad moment to learn that one of the clients does not leave her room due to disability and spends her days sitting. We recognised several areas in which therapy could help her and encouraged the CBR staff to get her to CNR for treatment. Monday night, it was time to break out the Vegemite chocolate, and to our surprise, it wasn’t half bad. At least it was almost as good as the mung bean muesli bars the Speechies decided were fabulous (definitely give these a go!).

Tuesday
Everyone is starting to relax and become more comfortable with each other, which is a good and bad thing. The good is that the teams are working well and we are becoming a fully functional IP team (/BFFs 4eva). The flip side is that pranks have started, and certain members of our team are one up, as another member returned home to find they could not reach their bed as their floor was covered in water filled saucepans. Retribution has not yet been received.

Wednesday
After a generally positive morning, we had an emotional afternoon. After giving a modified chopping board to a very grateful patient, we had a teary goodbye as she’d been treated at CNR for the last 5 years. This was followed by an upsetting realisation about the differences in medical treatments here compared to back home in Australia. A young teenager had a severely displaced femur that had not been operated on, and presented at CNR for physiotherapy. Unfortunately, the recommended management is surgery, and in the absence of that, there was very little we could do. This awakening to the reality of developing countries was upsetting to most, as it was probably the first scenario where we felt utterly helpless.

Thursday
Everyone was really upset that NSW didn’t win Origin, but had enjoyed the mid-week break at a restaurant watching the footy. The last clinic day for the week was spent working with clients and finalising the program for our presentations next week. The presentations revolve around areas of our professions that the staff at CNR had requested information about. These include: cerebral palsy, safe feeding, stages of play and gait retraining. We are very much looking forward to passing on this information in a more formal setting.

Friday
A district visit was again planned for today, where we attended a private NGO funded health clinic in Hera; a short drive East of Dili. We were taken through the clinic, and spoke to the Cuban doctor about the challenges he faces. Some of these challenges included the lack of resources, the isolation, the large number of people that he services (177 families), and the fact that whenever it rains and the river flows, they get flooded in. Paulo then took us to his composting centre, the first, and only, of its kind in Timor. Throughout the drive, we experienced our first attempted hitchhiker trying to join us in the mikrolet; the Timorese are very competent in stepping into moving vehicles.
Tonight will be a quite night as we prepare for our 60km, 6 hour journey to climb Mt Ramelau on Sunday morning.

ECU Nursing Students Conduct Eye Clinics in Indonesia

COUNTRY: Indonesia
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing
WRITTEN BY: Casey Samiotis, Edith Cowan University

Life changing interventions amongst the most breathtaking backdrops: A different side to Bali life than most of us have seen as tourists and a unique and privileged opportunity.

The first morning after a late night arrival, we met our attentive and dedicated guide "Little Wayan" and our trusty support crew Dian, Anom & Rosa (3 nursing students from Stikes University to act as our translators) as well as our in country support Gonsalo & Wiwi.



The first 3 days were spent in Siangan village, approx. 45 minutes drive from our hotel. As we entered the village we were met with inquisitive and welcoming faces. Locals welcomed us in to their homes, where Wayan introduced us to the traditional Balinese way of living.

Experienced staff were conducting eye screenings for up to 300 people, and providing glasses and cataract assessments all free of charge. The first few days involved assisting John Fawcett Foundation (JFF) staff with eye tests and observing fascinating and almost unbelievable cataract surgeries from the bus-turned-mini-operating-theatre. Having undergone cataract surgery the previous day, some patients even rode their scooters in for their post-op assessment. Each day we have enjoyed delicious traditional food cooked and personally delivered by Wayan's wife. One of these days we were invited to eat in the family home of the chief of the community.

We also had the opportunity to work alongside a large group of Stikes University students conducting general health checks for local people from another small village. We hit the ground running quickly, learning the variations in assessment techniques.

We visited the JFF office where we were lucky enough to meet CEO, LeRoy Hollenbeck and founder John Fawcett. Here we learnt more about the foundation's history and proposals for the future. We were told that there was an increase in locals presenting for assessments after word got out that there were foreign nurses coming to the village. Everybody, from local students to the policeman, wanted our photo to remember the occasion.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in such admirable work for such deserving people. As John Fawcett explained, there are not many interventions that can be as affordable, fast, effective and life changing as cataract surgery.

We are looking forward to a weekend break and heading in to the next part of the adventure at Wangaya government hospital.

Link below to the JFF video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLeQYbTjp3E&feature=youtu.be

Update from Newcastle Uni students in Cambodia

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: University of Newcastle Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Justine Nicholson and Nikki Smith

After a long hard week last week we all enjoyed a weekend relaxing and going on tours and of course doing some shopping. It was back to work on Monday though, we were eager to continue the health checks on the children at the school.

During the afternoon we needed to collect the data and put it into the database the school had provided for us to analyse. We all enjoyed the afternoon sitting around the pool and entering data for a few hours (Cambodian time). Not all the data was able to be entered in one go as we had already seen over 800 students, but we planned to finish it the following day as we only had one more class to visit.

Tuesday was our last day at the school. It was bitter sweet. Our last class were kindergarten, the kids of which were incredibly cute, sweet and trusting. After this we enjoyed walking around and playing with the children and discovering more places around the school. During the afternoon we were able to enter the rest of the data and enjoy a dinner out together at a Japanese buffet (with a Cambodian twist!). This dinner has left quite an impression on us all and we would love to find them in Australia.

On Wednesday we were able to enjoy a day off to regroup and relax before going to the Russian hospital on Thursday. We had a tour around the hospital which really made us appreciate the health care system we have at home. In saying this, it was also good to see the difference between the health care systems and even be slightly surprised at their level of cleanliness and professionalism. After this we were privileged enough to visit the Technical School of Medical Science which is one of our interpreters previous schools. We got to meet current students and teachers to discuss the difference between education in Cambodia and Australia.

Tomorrow we are all very excited to be heading to Siem Reap for our long weekend to enjoy the historical sight of Angkor Wat and its surroundings.

This week has been much more relaxed but we are all still learning and developing skills and knowledge of health abroad everyday, enjoying the experiences of Cambodia.

My typical day teaching in Pokhara

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Education and Nursing
WRITTEN BY:  Julia Quine

This past week, the clouds have lifted and the fog has shifted, and we were finally greeted with uninterrupted views of the beautiful mountains that we are lucky enough to be surrounded by here in Pokhara. This made for perfect conditions to do the arduous walk (for me anyway, the others were powering up) to the World Peace Pagoda. The stupa itself was incredible, and when viewed with a backdrop of the mountains, it made for one of those moments where you all you can really think is '…wow'.

We got a true Nepalese experience this week… a surprise strike! We are still not entirely clear on the reasoning for it, but what it did mean was that we were left with two days of no taxis or buses, and very few shops open. This took away from us a day of work (and also our opportunity to paraglide :’(, but gave us an opportunity to do the rather long walk to Lakeside and enjoy a more leisurely day than we usually have on our work days. On that note…!

A Day In The Life (when there isn’t a strike)
This daily routine is specific to myself, but the food part is certainly one that many of the others probably experience too!

7am– Alarm goes off. We roll around groaning and muttering “but we’re so warm and toasty.”

7:10am– Think about the breakfast we are about to be given by our host family and get out of bed a little more willingly.

8am– Walk to our host family’s house (we are living in a separate room a few doors down) and find a jug of tea and cups waiting for us on the table, every single morning without fail. Breakfast is generally one of two things: porridge with apple/banana and buffalo milk, or an omelette and copious amounts of ‘pali’ – Tibetan flatbread that is served warm. Amazing.

8:45am- Hop on a bus to work. The buses are small, with a rundown exterior but quite an elaborate interior. Decorated roofs, loud Hindi music playing, and some sort of tasseled decorations hanging around the driver.

9am– Arrive at the nunnery, being greeted by 36 smiling girls waving and shouting “Good morning miss!’. Watch as the girls line up for assembly and start singing their morning prayers. It is quite hypnotising.

9:30am- Lessons begin! Each lesson is only 40 minutes, making planning for each day quite an easy process. I take every level (Kinder, 1, 2, 3, 4) throughout the day, each presenting their own challenges but all full of the loveliest young girls you can imagine (except for some of the tiny ones – there are definitely some cheeky little monkeys running around.) The level of English is impressively high among the majority of the girls, and they are all very attentive and eager to learn which makes my job much easier and more enjoyable.

11am-Tea break. Literally all that happens on this break is tea drinking. The girls all sit around and drink tea quietly.

12pm- Lunch time! This isn’t any old lunch break though – this is a 2 hour break where I am fed a huge meal and then can do anything from play badminton with some of the girls, sit on the roof and do henna, or even be forced to dance while all the girls sit around in a circle and laugh while the teachers and even a monk whip out their smart phones and start filming. I like to think they are laughing with me, but it’s definitely at me. Definitely.

3:10pm– School ends. We are served tea and biscuits, and are then on our merry way back home on a similarly funky bus, but this time it is significantly more crowded. People are hanging out the door and people are getting on the roof. You see pictures, but it is something else to see it in reality.

7pm– Dinner time. Dahl baht is the staple meal here it seems (lentil dahl and rice), but we have also been served ‘thukpa’ (a delicious traditional Tibetan soup that has yak cheese in it) and fried rice. Sit around for many hours some nights discussing various things, often laughing a lot. We absolutely love our family, and everyone else seems to be growing similarly close to their own families. How lucky we all are.

9:30pm– Pack our bags for the next day, face the freezing cold shower (and by shower I mean bucket shower. You truly haven’t lived until you’ve had to pour cold water over yourself from a bucket in freezing temperatures), and then hop in bed to get our beauty sleep ready for the next day.

The nurses wake up considerably earlier (we’re talking 5:45am some mornings!) and head to work about 6:30am on one of the aforementioned public buses. The days can vary from observing surgeries to working on the wards. No two consecutive days are the same. Some have witnessed babies being delivered and a caesarean, and some have witnessed practices that are no longer used in Australia, which has made for an interesting experience.

This week some of the nurses also had the opportunity to go to the Monastic school and teach the boys about good hygiene practices using posters, songs and presentations.

This weekend the group is heading to Chitwan National Park! Crossing our fingers and toes that we get to see a tiger. We’ve also been informed that there are more strikes happening next week. We are well and truly integrated into Nepalese life now…

Namaste Nepal!

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching and Mixed Health
WRITTEN BY:  Julia Quine

Namaste! Tashi Delek!

After months of preparation the time has finally come! We all arrived at different times at a hotel in Kathmandu, and eventually gathered together on Sunday night to meet the legendary Kalden who welcomed us to Nepal and gave us a run down of the days to come. The next morning, we boarded a surprisingly comfortable bus that would take us on the 8 hour journey to Pokhara, our new home for the next 4 weeks.

There is something inherently magical about being on a bus driving through the beautiful valleys, occasionally catching glimpses of the majestic Himalayas. There is something inherently not magical about this being accompanied by one of the bumpiest bus rides you can imagine. Somehow though, most of us managed to sleep. After a couple of food stops that were accompanied by Dire Straits, Jimi Hendrix and Rodriguez blasting over the speakers at one point, we arrived in Pokhara. We immediately went to Tashi Ling, a Tibetan Settlement about 10 minutes away from Lakeside, and met our host families.

Tibetan hospitality is like no other. The meals are huge, endless and extremely carb loaded. Let’s just say that we’ll need to fulfill our desire to go trekking to balance out all the rice we are eating. Then there’s the tea! To live like a Tibetan, you must drink tea like a Tibetan. ie. All. The. Time. For the tea drinkers among us, it is heaven! The families are all incredibly kind and giving, and have made us all feel like family in just a matter of days. It is a beautiful culture, and we are all feeling very privileged to be a part of it.

On our second day in Pokhara, we had a small tour of some of the main attractions. We visited Devi’s Falls, a beautiful waterfall very close to Tashi Ling, a Hindu temple and then off to Lakeside to explore the many shops and cafes for the first time. I expect many post-work coffees and meals out there!

We have all started our placements and have been there for only two days thus far. The nurses at both hospitals have been visiting different sections of the hospitals and are easing themselves into a routine that they hope will lead to much more hands-on experience.

The teachers at the schools were thrown in the deep end immediately and were teaching on their own on the very first day. The level of English is impressively high, and teaching the children is proving itself it to be tiring, although very rewarding. The shy smiles the children give when you catch them staring at you, and the big smiles they smile when you tell them they are doing well make it all worth it.

This weekend we are visiting the World Peace Pagoda on Saturday and then paragliding from Sarangkot on Sunday. Wish us luck!

Next week I will talk more about our daily life in both Tashi Ling and our respective work places so that everyone can get a bit of a feel for the experience we are having here in this beautiful Tibetan settlement in this beautiful country!

Ho Chi Minh welcomes UniBreak volunteers

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT:  Teaching and Mixed Health
WRITTEN BY: Melissa Muang

During our first night in Vietnam, our supervisor took us to eat traditional Vietnamese cuisine near our hotel. A dish that we had all tried was ‘Bun bo Hue’, which is a popular Vietnamese soup containing rice vermicelli and beef in extremely spicy broth (see photo below). As the majority of the group grew up eating Western cuisine, the spiciness and new flavours were a definite shock to our palettes. That being said, it was wonderful and only $3 too! After dinner, we were guided to our nearby laundromat for those of us who needed to clean our dirty garments. When we got there, it shocked us all to see how the Vietnamese did their washing. It involved hanging the washed garments onto a pole, which was then placed outside the second story window to dry (and for everyone to see!).

Another shock to the system was the amount of traffic on a Sunday night. It was pandemonium! There were hundreds of motorbikes travelling around on the streets, whizzing back and forth, in a state of harmonious chaos. As such, we always had significant trouble crossing the streets trying to avoid getting hit. We always had to be on our toes, as motorbikes would come out from unexpected directions, from small laneways, to turning into streets without warning, and sometimes even drive directly towards you. As you can imagine, we all initially hesitated to cross the road as it felt that there was a high likelihood of one of us getting hit. The tip we got from our supervisor was to 'cross when there was a small gap on the road and avoid hesitation'. Thus, one of the goals to achieve by the end of the work placement is to ‘cross a road in Vietnam without getting hit’.

On our first full day in Vietnam, we were taken around by a tour guide to explore Ho Chi Minh City. We got to see to different places, the Reunification Palace, the Historic Post Office, the War Remnants Museum, as well as many other historical buildings. The group also spent some time at the local Ben Thanh markets where we experienced first hand the hot and humid environment in which tourists try their best to snap up a bargain with locals vendors. After that, we stopped by a Vietnamese Coffee Shop, Trung Nguyen Café, which is the Vietnamese equivalent of Starbucks.

On our first day of placement, we left the hotel at 7am. No one knew what to expect or what we were going to be dealing with when we got there. On arrival, we were given the opportunity to meet the director. She allocated us to different age groups depending on what we studied. The standard work day commenced at 8am, with lunch at 11:30am, and nap time between 12pm and 2pm. What we found interesting was that naptime is actually a norm in the Vietnamese culture!

Our day ended at 5pm where our bus took us back to the hotel. Despite being so exhausted on our first day, we decided to treat ourselves by seeing a Vietnamese show at the Saigon Opera House. It was somewhat similar to Cirque De Soleil, but the acrobatic show incorporated elements of the Vietnamese culture, which was very insightful and enjoyable.

On reflection, my first week of work was very intense but inspiring. The centre took care of 250 abandoned children, ranging from newborn babies to 23+ year olds, who had illnesses from autism to cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. On my first day of placement, there were a few times that I felt I was going to become overwhelmed with emotion. It was quite difficult to see children who were bed ridden, crying, and struggling with deformed limbs. I knew pretty soon that this was going to be a real eye opening experience. After the work placement, I found that it was definitely helpful to speak with the other students about their experiences and how they found it as well, as we were all in a bit of shock and somewhat overwhelmed by what we had seen.

The students in the first group are blind, so it was a massive help to have a fluent Vietnamese speaking student with us. The second group of students are girls who have experienced some form of abuse during their childhood. We work closely together with the both groups in their school homework. The Vietnamese student on our team was able to help them with geography, mathematics, biology, and chemistry. The other students were able to assist them with English. Overall, in the first week we felt that this was an emotional journey. We learnt lots about how to work the blind students and young girls. We need to be very gentle working with the girls at all time as they are very fragile.

Another huge challenge that we found as a collective group was communicating with the local populace. Due to the language barrier, it was difficult to converse. Having to work with children, our main way of communicating was through body language and hand signals. Simple words, such as "Xin Chao", which is 'hello' brought a smile to their faces and we felt like that suddenly helped us build a bond with them. As a social worker, I am currently working with students who are in primary school and assisting them with their maths homework every weekday when they finish school. So naturally, I have learnt how to say a few numbers from 1 to 10 in Vietnamese and have found it very helpful.

On the last day of work placement for the week, we were invited to a picnic with a number of the children. A public pool was rented out for a few hours to enable the children to splash around in the water with inflatable toys. After swimming, the children played soccer in the park with us. There were smiles all around and plenty of laughter. It was so heart-warming to see these children so happy, as they got to run around and enjoy the day. The morning ended with a lovely lunch by the water. We then headed back to the centre where the children got ready for their nap. As a group, we all enjoyed going to the picnic as it was a new experience and provided a different environment to interact with the children.

Before we knew it, it was the weekend. Some students decided to stay around Ho Chi Minh city, whilst others planned to catch a plane to Nha Trang (which is a beach), and Hue, or traverse on a 3-hour drive to Ho Tram. There is so much to see and do both in and out of the city centre. It is an understatement to say that we needed some rest and recreation after our long and busy first week! We will all return on Sunday night to prepare ourselves for a second week of work placement. We'll keep you posted!

5 things I learnt in Palampur

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Mixed Health
WRITTEN BY: Georgia Stuart

After arriving in Delhi, we settled into the guest house before all having dinner at a local restaurant. Our chance to get to know one another and also see how much food we could eat before we couldn't fit any more in. The next morning we left early for the drive to Palampur.

The drive was long, taking us through town after town, with the last bit almost like a roller coaster, twisting and turning through the mountains. Arriving late, we had dinner and a chat before early bed. It didn't take us long to find out why we were told to bring thermals.

Monday started by experiencing one of the most breathtaking views I've ever seen. Snowy mountains that look like a poster and not reality. Our first day in Palampur involved orientation and a quick guide to town and the buses. Fruit shopping done, we all decided to walk the way home instead of the bus. Once again reminding us of the beautiful place we now are staying in.

Placements began early on Tuesday. It was a bit of a shock for the students at the hospital to get used to speed of the doctors and the way the hospital ran. The time spent in the internal clinic has been a wonderful experience for the students placed there, working next to a wonderful, caring doctor. At the clinic, we were introduced to a different approach to healing and care, learning the varying treatments of Panchkarma and Naturopathy.

So at the end of this week what things have I learned?

1. Thermals are an invaluable resource
Palampur gets cold... very cold. Nighttime routines now involve an interesting dressing routine of thermals, pyjamas, socks, jumpers, sleeping bags, sleeping bag liners, two blankets and a quilt! Surprisingly the days are sunny and warm.

2. The pictures you see in travel guides are actually real
We have been here nearly a week and I still get goosebumps every time I look up. The gorgeous mountains sit behind our house and can be seen from the markets and our placements. Nothing can quite describe their sheer presence and beauty. Our balcony has become a great place to hang out and stare open mouthed at the view.

3. The locals are extremely friendly
Even though a lot do not speak much English, I have received kindness and smiles from everyone I meet. Whether it be help catching a bus, buying fruit or smiling to us on the bus, every interaction with the locals is pleasant.

4. Indian food is delicious
While a local Indian take-away in Australia may seem good, it is nothing compared to the taste of the local food here. Our meals mainly consist of rice, chapati, daal and vegetables. Leftovers have become a thing of the past.

5. Always go up the weird path by your house
One afternoon, we all went for a walk up by our house and had the most wonderful time. It took us through tea plantations and amongst houses where the people all waved and said hello.

UniBreakers in Nepal: Volunteering, living with a host family and travelling

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Nursing and Paramedics
WRITTEN BY:  Amelia Walsh & Ellen Brown

The week started with an exciting trip to the Trisuli River for some white water rafting. It was great fun, although we found it would be better suited for the warmer Nepali months. Braving the freezing water with our comical and cheeky rafting guides, we took on the icy rapids with only one overboard incident… Nice pink undies!

The exhilarating first day of rafting ended with a campfire on the sandy banks of the river. Fresh faced and bleary eyed we bravely took on the rapids for a second time the next day. Needless to say there was a lot of cheering when it was the other boat that capsized, plunging into the artic waters. Ekta and I decided to brave a rock jump though could not convince the rest of us to follow. The two days of laughter and memories were well worth the hyperthermia!

After an interesting and eye opening first week we have begun to settle in at the hospital (though nothing seems to make the 6am starts any easier). With our professional relationships with the staff beginning to strengthening we are seeing many interesting cases.

The most significant and distressing patient I saw in E.D. was a lady being half carried in with obvious chest pain, even through the language barrier. Ten minutes later it was decided that an ECG should be done and as it was being printed I noticed the most obvious anterior STEMI I had ever seen. Though, the most shocking part of this patient experience was that this lady had to lie in the emergency bed, being untreated for over an hour before it was decided she should go to ICU for treatment. This was especially hard to watch, especially since we tried to suggest treatment options and they were dismissed.

Another significant patient was a baby less than one year old, who came in looking very limp with a low level of consciousness. It was decided by a nurse that suction was necessary as the baby was suffering respiratory distress. This didn’t seem to improve the baby’s state so it was then nebulized with salbutamol. Hours later, the baby was sent to the paediatric ward and was diagnosed with late onset sepsis.

As well as feeling more comfortable in the hospital we are all feeling right at home with our host families. With a lovely visit from our older host sister and her husband from Kathmandu, we brought 'Christmas' to Nepal when we hosted a large family dinner. After a grueling recipe search we decided on fritta and salad with honeyed banana pancakes for dessert. Although the food was well received and devoured within minutes a second Nepali dinner was needed to keep the hungry masses at bay. Continuing in the Christmas spirit we stayed home with our families the next day for a rare festival treat of Sel Roti- deep fried ring of ground rice, sugar and ghee- and momo, which are Nepali dumplings. The family roared with laughter as our poor Western mouths were shocked after tasting the extremely hot momo filling (our lovely sister then watered ours down with mashed banana).

The second week ended with a trip into the jungle with a visit to the tourist region of Sauraha! Meeting up with the boisterous Antips health team from Kathmandu and our brilliant Dutch friends we bravely took on the jungle on foot with a surprise close up sighting of a Rhino. We basked in the beauty of the setting sun and relaxed in the tranquility of early morning canoe ride down the foggy river. We took full advantage of the Western amenities, thoroughly enjoying our first hot shower in weeks. With a break from Dhal Bhat we enjoyed the hospitality of the resort and partook in some much need relaxation and retail therapy.

A day in the life of a volunteer in Palampur

COUNTRY: India, Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Sally Laughton

6:00- Wake up to the birds chirping in the fields outside your room. Curse the birds for waking you up before dawn but, considering you’re awake so early, pile on jumpers and socks and trudge up to the rooftop to enjoy sunrise.

6:15- Find Owen and Sally G already on the rooftop in yoga poses that that look excruciatingly beautiful. Attempt to join in. Fail to even touch toes so sit cross-legged and watch the sunrise. Watch as hidden mountains are slowly lit up and sparkle in the morning light. For a brief moment you even forget its 5 degrees outside. But then you remember and quickly run inside for some hot chai tea and toast.

9:00- The mini bus arrives to pick everyone up, say goodbye to the smiling kitchen staff and snake down the hill in our rickety van. First stop: Ayurveda clinic with its enormous white walls and pristine gardens. Second stop: Goenka hospital in Palampur town, sitting amongst black tarpaulin tents and piles of debris. Third stop: Karan hospital perched on the edge of a hillside and bathed in sun, women chatting in the waiting room as you pass by. The first patient wanders in and the day begins!

12:30- Chai tea break brewed expertly by Monica the secretary. Chat about the morning and plans to go to the market in the afternoon. Seize opportunity to practice Hindi with Monica who giggles at your poor attempt at pronunciation. Scribble new phrases in notebook for practice later.

1:30- Bus comes to pick everyone up one by one. Discuss today's experience whilst keeping an eye on the winding road to fend off travel sickness. Arrive home just in time and completely forget sickness when you walk in the door to the smell of Paneer curry and fresh roti. Devour lunch.

2:00- Head to the market for supplies. Begin with a set plan and shopping list. Get distracted by sari shop and food stalls selling spiced cauliflower chips. Slink down narrow alleyways lined with knick-knack shops that spill out into the fruit and vegetable markets. Realise you really need/want fruit. Buy the entire fruit sellers stock of pomegranates and chiccko. Find other volunteers dragging bags filled with fruit and groceries and Angus, whose entire shopping consisted of Rasbhani traditional Indian sweets.

5:00- Head to the chaotic local bus depot and realise no one can read Hindi. Search around for buses returning to Kandibari and clamber on a noisy green one that’s ready to leave. Get greeted by the amused faces of the ticket inspector who looks very pleased we are supporting the public transport initiative. Thank the universe that we got on the first stop as the bus is inundated with locals returning home from the markets. Realise you can actually fit 40 people on a 20 person bus if you really try. Cheer like crazy when we finally reach our stop and thank the bus driver and ticker inspector profusely for getting us all home safe without a word of English.

7:30- Snuggle in to the loungeroom for dinner and remind ourselves how crazy it is to live and work in India.

UniBreak mixed health team set foot in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Nursing and Paramedics
WRITTEN BY:  Amelia Walsh & Lachie Graham

Nepal is an amazing, fresh and vibrant country with strong history, culture and traditions. We started off not knowing what to expect and slightly nervous about staying here for over a month.

On arrival in Kathmandu, we were greeted by Rajesh and Prima. That night we stayed in their granny flat/hut out the back of their house with walls made of clay and wine bottles! We had to climb up very steep ladders to get to our rooms in the attic… which made getting our 26kg bags up there quite a challenge! Rajesh showed us his office, where one wall is covered in over 300 photos of all the previous volunteers. They went through the basic cultural norms with us, from greetings to use of squat toilets (this was even demonstrated). Apparently we’re not supposed to use toilet paper in the squat toilets because it clogs up the ‘sewerage’ pipes. We have to use bins instead.

The day we left Kathmandu for Chitwan was a very early start. Driving through the main street, the bus actually swerved an elephant just casually standing outside a shop in the middle of the road. Two minutes after embarking on the bus ride, we had to stop for fuel. Between the ‘bus-ride naps’, we saw monks teaching little kids how to clean their teeth on the side of the road. The bus trip was 150km and took over 6 hours! Lesson learnt to take Kwells before leaving next time.

When we got off the bus at Chitwan, we were met by a small taxi which we were somehow all meant to fit in. Being the structural engineers that we are, four of us not-so-small-adults crammed into the tiny back seat. Not the most comfortable drive. When we arrived at Rishi’s, we were all given freshly picked bunches of flowers and cups of milk chia. Then we were given our Nepali names. Ellen became Etka, Amelia became Ambika, Chloe became Kamala, and Lachlan became Laxman. After a couple hours of being taught how to act respectful around our new Nepali families, we were at our new host houses!

We three girls stayed together and ‘Dr Laxman’s’ home was a few houses down the road. Living here is very different to living at home from the harder mattresses to the squat toilets. The hardest part to get used to was definitely not being allowed to throw toilet paper in the toilets. The food is good though! Lots of rice (‘baht’ in Nepali) with every meal, we’re learning the consequences of eating bulk rice all the time- something our digestive systems are definitely not used to.

Nepali people usually don’t eat breakfast like Australians, but eat brunch instead. We get breakfast made just for us, which is usually a rice form of porridge with milk and banana or freshly made roti which we dip in chia – our favourite! Our families also took us to make out traditional Nepali dresses called Gouttars, where we picked out the fabric and had tailor-made for just over $5. Everything is so cheap here!

At Rishi’s house there are three levels. On the second level are the children, or "God's gift to me" as Rishi calls them. On the second night, the children put on a dancing and singing performance to welcome us again. Rishi is very appreciative of us and calls us “not guests, but family” and it is always his pleasure to have us and see us happy. He has been fundamental in the coordination of our time at the hospital and has given us a brilliant insight into the Nepali way of life.

The hospital where we are based is considered modern, new and clean. It is located on a road that houses approximately 60 other hospitals (both public and private). Without a doubt the health system here is different. It is hard to watch some treatment, especially since it is considered offensive to recommend something. C-spine injuries and orthopaedic injuries are often ignored and the patient can be left without any stabilisation and immobilisation for hours. On a positive note, the patient flow within the hospital is very fast; patients are treated and discharged often within the hour. In Australia, patients usually stay within the Emergency Department for a minimum of 3 hours. Here patients leave quicker and often self-discharge.

Overall, week one has been a very steep learning curve and has demanded rapid adaptation. Nonetheless, it has been successful and truly a great experience. I know there's much more to come, so stay tuned for week two!