July 16, 2009

• Nepal Project’09 – The improbable but true reality

  July 15, 2009
  8:25PM Kathmandu time

  Today was probably our busiest day yet in
  Nepal. We woke early in the morning,
  6:15am, to get ready to go to a daily morning meeting at the local hospital. After a small debriefing and talk from Dan,
  Sofia started her first day of shadowing the sole doctor of the hospital and
  rounding with with the entire staff, something which is what should be
  happening in every hospital, esp. the USA, but what is not generally done. That fact alone already impressed Sofia and
  started off the day really well.

  While Sofia rounded with the doctors and
  nurses, Dan & I decided to explore the village and take mental notes about
  the village. When we arrived yesterday
  afternoon, we originally thought this was a very rural village. The more we trekked through the roads,
  however, the more that it became clear that it wasn’t the case.

  We noticed that there very a numerous
  amount of merchant shops throughout Besishahar.
  We saw stores that sold trekking backpacks, hiking boots and shoes,
  Nepali clothes(that are geared for tourists), and even women care
  products. Another type of store that we
  saw often were wester union/currency exchange shops, which led us to originally
  think that the village is receiving most of their money from the men who have
  to leave Nepal to work in other cities like Bahrain. As we reached the border of Besishahar, we
  then finally realized that the village’s main income was from tourism. This village was a bus stop for adventuring
  tourists who are preparing to set out to one of the mountains that the village
  sits under.

  Afterwards, we noticed that there were
  many school children heading out to class, so we decided to follow some of them
  b/c we assumed that they were all going to a local government-sponsored
  school. When we made it to the school grounds,
  we saw a large number of students, at least over 200+. That number alone convinced us that this had
  to be a government school because of the large number of students. Most privately-run schools have a lower
  overall student population to maximize student:teacher ratios.

  The students were intrigued by us
  non-Nepalese dressed looking people and came to me to have their photos
  taken. After we convinced them to go to
  classes, we went into the main building to see if we can explore without
  disturbing their classes. The moment we
  stepped into the building, I looked up and saw a man, who turned out to be the
  principal of the school, motioning me to head up the stairs. At first, I was afraid that he was angry at
  Dan & I for coming onto school grounds without permission. Dan didn’t see him and I had to call Dan
  twice before we could go upstairs and meet our date.

  Thankfully, Principal Uddhab Ghirive was not upset, but happy to see visitors to the
  school! He invited us in and answered
  all of our questions on how the school, Earthly Paradise, began, how it was
  funded, what happened during the 10 year civil war, and what they are trying to
  achieve now. With 1100+ students,
  Earthly Paradise is one of the largest privately ran schools in the
  district. They even have a school us to
  bring students from far off and a hostel to board students who live further
  away. Dan & I were extremely impressed
  and amazed that this school existed and just how hungry for volunteer teachers
  to come and spend time with the teachers and students.

  Overall, even just
  half of today was a lot to absorb and process through. Sofia, herself, had an amazing time at the
  hospital and encouraged by some of the things she saw with the staff and how
  they handled some situations today. I
  know I wouldn’t do her justice in summarizing some of the things she
  experienced, so I will let her do the explaining on her own blog when she gets
  the chance.

  This was a very
  productive day. Our time in Lamjung
  district started off rocky yesterday, but today it feels like we’ve gotten into
  a good groove. I’m looking forward to
  seeing what we’ll find out tomorrow and maybe have a little adventure trekking
  up one of the local “hills.”
  We’ll be heading out of the district Friday morning and meet up with the
  rest of our team back in Pokhara. This
  week is flying by so quickly! Can’t
  believe it’s the end of Wednesday already, golly!

  • 6:02 am
  • Leave a comment