Amazing people doing amazing things!

Last week Wednesday, the TRIFC group headed out to Dhulikhel, a resort town just outside of the Kathmandu Valley. After a sightseeing stop in the ancient city of Bhaktapur, we made a stop in Banepa, where we visited the beautifully situated Hospital & Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children, better known by its acronym, HRDC. I was blown away, not by its location (which is pretty awesome), but by the work they do! This facility provides needed surgery and residential rehabilitation for disabled children whom otherwise would not have been able to receive care due to poor economic conditions. But of course it doesn’t stop there. They comprehensively educate parents  and family members on the on-going rehabilitation needs of the child and also educates them on disability prevention. Dr. Ashok Banskota, the founder of HRDC, informed us that of all the disability in Nepal, 40 percent are preventable! Imagine that! In addition to surgical care and education, the facility manufactures orthopedic equipment (such as special shoes, artificial limbs, and calipers), provides physiotherapies, and provides in house schooling for the children who are in the rehab unit for prolonged periods of time! After Dr. Banskota gave us the history of HRDC, we were given a tour during which I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Banskota’s son, who is one of eleven orthopaedic surgeons on staff. He described the Mobile Camps that they are running across the country. It is at these mobile camp clinics that children are evaluated and referred to the hospital if indicated. The one area where there is much need in Nepal is in Cerebral Palsy (CP). Many children have gone untreated and the mobile clinics help to identify children that are in need of help. The hospital has also established a CP program in which they partner with other CP providers in the valley to coordinate care, hence preventing redundancy and improving care overall. During our visit, we got to visit the newly built play-therapy room for CP patients! Another area they’ve expanded is in the use of community health workers, which they have trained to help in areas such as club foot therapy. I could go on and on about this place. It operates on a $1.5 million budget without government help, as there is no government help to speak of. These people are amazing!

Dr. Banskota welcoming us. He and his team had been discussing a case before we arrived.

Inpatient ward

Artificial limbs made at HRDC

And there are more amazing people to write about! The next day, we visited TRIFC’s Deaf Women’s Empowerment Group at the Kavre School for the Deaf and the Sanjawani Higher Secondary School, both located in Dhulikhel. I was again blown away. The Women’s group showed so much joy in the work they are doing to feel productive and confident in their lives. They have been creating beautifully embroidered cards and sewing washable sanitary pads to produce income for themselves. They demonstrated how they make their cards and we even got to try it out ourselves.

Demonstration time!

Beautiful designs by the women's group.

The women enjoyed seeing others try their hand at embroidering!

The students at the Kavre School for the Deaf

Our final visit was at the Sanjawani Higher Secondary School, where we met up with the Dhulikhel Rotaractors, who have been serving the blind/visually impaired (BVI) students who live in the hostel via a number of projects. In partnership with TRIFC, they have helped improve the hostel facility by adding security windows, they deliver fruit packages weekly, and they’ve recently been providing weekly basic BVI training to the children. This is an impressive bunch of young men and women, who make their parents proud. One Rotaractor, who owns his own shop, mentioned that when he has Rotaractor duties to attend to, his parents don’t ask any questions and they relieve him from his shop duties. Wow! That’s one way to get out of work, but on the other hand, the work he is doing with the BVI kids is surely a great excuse!

Some members of the Dhulikhel Rotaract Club

Security windows at the hostel.

I am constantly amazed at what great work these amazing people are doing here in Nepal! I’ve only been here a little over a week and I’ve already witnessed more! Namaste!

Slumber party in my hotel room!

I’m having a slumber party in my room! A couple of my Nepali colleagues asked if they could crash at my pad after dinner last night because it would have been way too difficult to go home late at night to their homes just to return to Thamel again in the morning. Of course, I said yes! How fun would that be! I would just have to get permission from the hotel’s front desk attendant. I was confident it wouldn’t be a problem because even though I have only been here 4 days, it feels like home to me! In fact, when I asked Abhay if my friends could stay with me, he said, “Of course, this is your home, you can do whatever you want!” Wow! Cool! Awesome! It would have been totally awful if he had said no, as it was late, my friends were already in tow, and it was pouring buckets of rain outside! But he didn’t and I really didn’t think he would as this is Nepal!

But here’s what’s even more awesome, I didn’t get charged extra for a third person and he even gave us extra towels and bottled water. You must think I am staying at a fancy hotel that caters to the rich and famous, right? Nope. This is a budget hotel. The cheapest I could find on the internet that had moderate ratings. It is so budget that I had to ask if I could get a different room than the one I was first assigned to as that room had virtually no natural light and was rather depressing. It did have a balcony, but it looked out onto a construction site and was clearly where one went to smoke (I really didn’t want to share a balcony with someone who smoked). But what was I to expect? My criteria had been that it must have running hot water and wi-fi. Not too demanding. I scoped out the rest of the building and found a room on the street side with big windows with a corridor view of the hills, that was fortunately available, so there I was placed. Many people prefer not to be streetside, but hey, I’ll take light over noise! With load-shedding happening daily (no electricity for at least 12 hours per day or night), having natural light is a big PLUS!

So did it still fulfill the two criteria? Hot running water and wi-fi? Umm, let’s say the water did run, but what came out was at first, scary. Dark orange water. This has really got to be rust, please tell me it is rust, and indeed it was. I let the water run until relatively clear, and now it just smells like iron. Even my Nepali friend slumbering with me exclaimed, “Jackie, I hope you are not drinking this water!”. I assured her that I was not, but said, if I did I wouldn’t have to worry about getting anemia! Okay, when a Nepali warns you about the water, that’s bad. Next, wi-fi, I need wi-fi. How would I continue to feed my addiction without wi-fi?! Yes, it had wi-fi, but only if I stuck my hand here and there to get some connectivity. Oh no, that won’t work! But whew, Ahbay informed me that I just needed to jump on another router. Yay! So with those two criteria met, I was set.

Oh, there are a few other things like a broken drain pipe and only one small light bulb that is about to also go, but hey, at least the pipe is outside of my room and fortunately it is not the toilet’s drain pipe and I have a headlamp with lots of extra batteries (btw, the pipe was finally 'fixed'). Despite all of this, I would not trade this room, this huge window that looks down on a rooftop garden and has a great view corridor, and most of all, the wonderful staff of friendly young gentlemen for any other place here in Thamel. This place may be ‘budget’, but it is rich in hospitality and is truly a Nepali experience! Namaste.

One of what will be many special days.

Another day is beginning and once again I’m enjoying listening to the city wake up. In some ways, I feel like I have been here forever, but at times it all seems so surreal, to be here again after just four months.

Yesterday was special (but I must say, everyday so far has been special in its own way!). I spent the morning with a fellow TRIFC board member and TRIFC’s Sponsor Coordinator. We walked around Thamel for a bit and of course, we ended up doing a little bit of shopping. I have been looking for a simple dress to wear to TRIFC’s Annual Fundraiser and have been wanting to get a traditional Nepali kurta. As some of you know, I am no fashionista, and I generally do not like to shop, so this was a big deal. Fortunately, we were referred to a shop nearby that is frequented by the locals. A beautiful and sweet young woman named Dilkash, warmly welcomed us in and showed us what was available. I quickly chose the fabric I wanted for my kurta, got measured, made the purchase and set up a pick-up date. Yes, a pick-up date as it needs to be sewn. We’re talking local goods here, folks! Dilkash was efficient but made the whole process easy and fun (and for me, not the shopper, fun is always good!). I was immensely happy to learn that she and her sisters run the shop. They opened it when she was 13 and her older sister was 16! Unbelievable! But not here in Nepal! The entrepreneurial spirit is amazing! Dilkash is now in her 20’s and is primarily responsible for managing the shop. This makes total sense as she is in her second year of a Bachelors program in Management. Her typical day starts with classes in the morning until 10am, after which she opens the shop and studies between customers. I am so happy that we found this shop and that was just the beginning of this special day.

I soon met up with a wonderful young man that I met nine years ago. He was only 12 at that time and he resided at the residential care home for children with disabilities where I was volunteering. He himself is not disabled, but was taken in at the home when the kids there met him at school and learned he was not being cared for. He became my right hand man during my time there. He helped tutor the younger kids and helped me navigate the mean streets of Kathmandu (not really, but it was during the insurgency, so we needed to watch our p’s and q’s). I last saw him in November, but it was very brief so I am glad that we will have more time to spend with each other. He’s a brilliant young man and is currently completing his second year of a Bachelors degree program in English Literature and in Social Work. He wants to continue his studies for a Masters degree and remain in his home country and be a teacher. He told me that once he had dreams of going abroad and leaving Nepal entirely, but now he wants to stay and help his country move forward. He would welcome going abroad should an opportunity arise, but is committed to returning home. He keeps up with world events by subscribing to the New York Times home delivery. He quickly tells me, as if reading my mind (how the heck can he afford that?!), that it only costs the equivalent of $30 USD a year (yes, a YEAR!). But, yes, he can read my mind - he did it then and he’s doing it now!

I met up again later with my team and we headed out to attend a board meeting for ADSoN (Ability Development Society of Nepal), a new organization in Nepal that will serve as boots on the ground for the projects that we do that serves persons with disabilities. They hope to grow into an organization that works also with other groups to improve the lives of disabled Nepalis both in the city and in rural areas. You might think that a board meeting would not make a day especially special, but this one was. It was both awesome and frankly, a little intimidating, to be surrounded by an influential and talented group of people from Kathmandu who care so much about the plight of the disabled.

ADSoN Board of Directors with members from TRIFC

We returned back to Thamel and I was feeling the urge for some dal bhat, the local dish of Nepal. A common refrain on a trek is  “Dal bhat power, 24 hour”! Ha! Then I should be eating it daily, like everyone else! Anyway, I happened upon 'Sarangi", a restaurant that benefits disenfranchised sarangi musicians. More about that at a later time. Writing about dal bhat is reminding me that I need to get some breakfast as we have another full day ahead of us! Thanks for visiting my blog! Until next time, dhab bhat power, 24 hour! Namaste.

Waking up is not hard to do, in Kathmandu.

Waking up in Kathmandu is a treat, especially when you are a wee bit jet-lagged and wide awake way before everyone else is. I’m staying in Thamel, the tourist district, and ‘quiet’ is not the first thing that pops into one’s mind when thinking of it. However, it is surprisingly quiet before dawn. Then, at first light, natural sounds emerge - of roosters crowing, pigeons cooing, and birds chirping. Inevitably, the human sounds makes their presence known - the coughing up of built-up phlegm, the opening of a metal shop door, the motorbike passing by and the honking of cabs. And after that all happens, the sky is much brighter and the sun is shining on the buildings adjacent to mine. All I feel is total peace and at home. I’m ready to take on the new day.

Transit lounge or bust!

March 19, 2015 Incheon Airport Transit Lounge 4:50 AM

It is quiet here. There are about 12 of us here camped out on these ultra-comfy lounge chairs that remind me of the ones you see on TV in a psychiatrist’s office. Maybe that’s the goal, to get us to lie down on them, get comfortable, and open up to one another. Because that is what seemed to have happened here. When I arrived, after a very long, uneventful but entertaining (movies! movies! and more movies!) flight, all I wanted to do was just find a place to lie down and sleep. I found one that was open next to another woman and asked her if it was available. She smiled warmly and invited me to take it.

After a few minutes she asked “Do you think it is safe here? I mean, do you think our belongings will be safe while we sleep?”

“I think so.” I replied

“Okay then, do you mind watching my things while I make a phone call?”

“Sure!”

I just had to laugh to myself. That quickly, trust was established. I'm not sure if it was because we we were both women, but it seemed like the most natural thing. She returned and offered me some of her muffin. We ended up chatting about where we were traveling to (her to her home country of Pakistan to care for an ailing mother), about our work, and finally, we introduced ourselves to one another. We made a pact that we would keep an eye on each other’s bags. Later, as I awakened from a great nap, she informed me that she had been asked to keep an eye on another lounge-mate’s belongings and to watch another’s child, while those people went to get a shower. Now I digress, shower? Really, you can take a shower here?! This place is like the Hyatt of airports! Free showers, huge transit lounge, art exhibits (can we say Gangnam Style?), lots of good food, and great company! I wouldn’t trade this for a $125 per night lonely transit hotel room for anything. And yes, I was able to sleep! I unpacked my sleeping bag, crawled in, and voila, it’s like camping! Albeit, camping with all the amenities around you!

Right now, I hear the chatter of the young child who is definitely operating on a different time schedule. Every time I have awakened, i could hear him chatting with his mom. Sweet, but oh my, his mom must want to get some sleep! While the airport is pretty much shut down, people are arriving. It’s still quiet, but I’m noticing the snores, the deep breathing, the cooing of a baby, the bings of texts on someone’s phone (she’s popular!) and the occasional fart. In just a couple of hours, the restaurants and shops will be opening, people will be getting up and will start heading to their flights. We will part ways, but the memory of this night will stick with me for a long time. Now I’ll try to get a couple more hours of sleep (or not, as the child is now in play mode big time!), then on to the next leg of this journey. See you in Kathmandu!

Namaste!

Jackie

Where has nearly two years gone?!

March 18, 2015 12:49 AM

I'm leaving for Nepal in just a few hours and thought to myself, "Hmm, maybe I should make an entry in my blog!" Yes, I could be sleeping and building up the energy to weather a 12 hour flight, a 15 hour layover (without a hotel bed to sleep in!), then a 7 hour flight, but no, better to start messing with the sleep cycle now!

I was surprised to see that it has been a while since I last blogged, but it's not for lack of subject matter. You see, there's this thing called Facebook and it has been my go-to site for sharing. Then there's this thing called Twitter... You get the picture. But what I have realized is that my sharing has become condensed. (Although, some of you may be happy about that!). But seriously, there has been so much great stuff going on and I haven't been writing about it.

Well, here it goes!

If you can believe this, nearly 2 years has gone by since my last post. Where has that time gone? What has happened? Since I do need to go to sleep at some point, I'll give you the Cliff Note version. My apologies, but a very, very, Cliff version.

Starting with the DHC NewLife Center, there were two more students who passed their SLC exams in 2014 and currently, another student is getting ready to take his exam for 2015! As these graduates move out of the DHC home and in with family or in hostels, new kids come to live at the DHC home. It's so great to watch these kids grow up and do so well in their studies, and to see the young ones thriving in their new environment!

In October of 2014, a group of friends, my husband and I went to Nepal. Yes, I admit it, we went to Nepal last Fall and I did not even blog about it! Yup, guilty! But hey, I posted it all on Facebook! We did it as a fundraiser for TRIFC, the organization that I have been involved with for the past few years! We spent some of our time visiting various organizations that TRIFC helps to support, including the DHC NewLife home. The rest of the time was spent trekking on the Annapurna Circuit and sightseeing around Kathmandu and Pokhara. Aside from my husband and I, this was the first time that our teammates had visited Nepal. A great time was had by all!

I'm sure there is a lot more that happened, but really, it's time for me to get some shut-eye. Although, it is daytime in Nepal right now and perhaps this is a good way to start adjusting to the time change! Or not...

Stay tuned! I will try to post stories here, like I did in 2006, but this time, I hope I can upload photos. Back then, between load-shedding (periods of no electricity) and an incredibly slow internet speed, it would have taken hours for a photo to upload! But times have changed and believe it or not, there was WIFI on the trekking route last October!

Namaste!
Jackie