After Thamel, we moved to another area of Kathmandu and
started the volunteer dentistry part of the trip. We’ve been staying in a
guesthouse next to a monastery and this may be the longest we’ve ever stayed in
one place before – 9 nights! We unpacked and hung up our clothes (you would be
proud Mom and Mon)…this place kind of reminds us of a dorm. You have to time your showers just right
and there is no separation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom so
you soak everything, hahaha. The power occasionally goes off but there’s a
generator, so it’s okay. There's a great restaurant here and we've gotten quite cosy and settled. We’ve been working in a school close by and have
developed a routine…get up at 7am, go to the restaurant here by 7:30am (order
good old #5 on the menu) and leave by 8:30am to head to the school. It’s been
kind of nice to have this routine!
The volunteering has been good…it’s what I expected with
lots of amalgam fillings and some extractions. While the clinic has been set up
in one school, kids from other schools walk or come by bus to see us. Mike was
put in charge of instrument sterilization and he’s got it all organized and
even sorted out the burs! I can look up and holler over for him to bring me a
larger condenser and he’s on it. The kids at the school where the clinic is set up (the older
ones), have been trained to assist and they’re pretty good! We’ve actually
learned more about the assistants’ lives than the kids we have been treating since
we worked with the assistants all week. I’ve had a different assistant each day
and it’s been interesting but humbling to hear their stories – many come from
small villages that take 1 day by bus and another 4-5 days by foot to reach. If
they want to travel home, they have to sleep under trees or knock on doors
along the way for a place. Many came to the school when they were only 4 or 5 years old (and
now they are teenagers) and many have not made the trek home at all, so either
their parents come here to visit (but this is not that common) or they just
have not seen them. In many of these villages, there is no electricity, no
education, no medical care etc. and the infant mortality rate is very high.
Many have brothers and sisters who died at young ages. Life at the school
seems like a dream - they are educated, fed, clothed and taken care of. Sponsors
and donations fund the school. The girls sleep 6 to a room (in bunk beds) and
the boys have bigger rooms so they fit 10-12 boys in each one…there is a never-ending bedbug problem but these kids are pretty easygoing and happy. Some of
these kids have already finished the school program and are taking a paramedics
course. When finished, they will return to their villages to work for a year…and
they will bring medical knowledge to these villages that is definitely needed.
Experiences like these really do put things in perspective
and it’s amazing how many things we take for granted - electricity, hot
showers and proper working toilets! It really makes one
think…
We had the wrap-up dinner last night and it was nice to see
the kids outside of clinic. They eat similar foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the
school so everyone ordered chocolate milkshakes (so I ordered
one too)! Today was our last day of clinic and even though we’ve only been
there a week, it felt like we were quitting our jobs…saying goodbye to
everyone. The kids gave us some friendship bracelets so that was super cute!
There is an election happening in Nepal on November 19th. This has not affected us that much but there have been road blockages and strikes and we had to re-route.
We leave for the hike tomorrow morning and it’s a 5am start. Considering that it's already 11pm here, it'll be tough to wake up. We’ll be hiking for 7 days/6 nights, so hopefully it doesn’t get too chilly at
night. There is no heat in the tea lodges but we’ll have our sleeping bags and
long undies. And likely no internet access so we’ll see you in a week...:)
Here is the link for more clinic pictures:
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| Our home for 9 days...we pushed the beds together but tried not to fall in the crack! |
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| The group plus some younger kids from the school |
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| Walking around Boudhanath Stupa (notice how everyone walks the same direction) |
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| Clinic |
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| View on the walk to work |
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| Boudhanath Stupa (close to where we stayed) |
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| Somehow, we always find these guys...looking for who knows what |
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| Working hard |
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| One of Mike's assistants (for sterilizing) |
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| I scared everyone away! |
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| Tashi - another of Mike's assistants. When Mike asked him if he was tired at the end of the day, he said "I am too young to tire!" |
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| Ah, just about to take out her tooth...perhaps we should save the photo-op for later. |
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| Wind up dinner...these are some of my assistants |
