65 Dal Bahts

My last post finished with an indication that I'm setting off from Kathmandu for volunteering. Of course I assumed that I will have internet access. Going to teach computer and all. Well, I was quickly disillusioned. After 7h bus ride, lungs full of dust (the local buses keep on impressing me with their capabilities to actually manage the conditions), I landed in this beautiful little village surrounded by hills. Well, kinda half way on the hill itself. The only bigger horisontal parts in that part of the country are the school grounds, the rest is rice terraces as far as eyesight goes and houses between them.
Quickly I got my facts straight. Daughter of the hospital manager with whom I arrived to the village, was amused by my question of internet access. Neither did my phone have any signal. Neither was there electricity for the first 3 days. I did get my own room in the house of the hospital manager, Dinesh Sir (this is the polite way to add a title), but this came on the expense of the 2 daughters having to sleep outside on the balcony. I soon found out this is quite normal. Balcony is like an extended room with 3 walls instead of 4. This particular balcony even had a computer. Do you see anyone in Belgium/Estonia setting their PC out on the balcony? In some other houses grandparents sleep in front of the house, on a mat made of rice straws. I guess its convenient as they are the one waking up at 5am to make fire to cook food for the buffalo and to sweep around the house. Rest of the family wakes up around 6. Sometimes the roles are different, but anyway, sure thing is that if you wake up before 6, you can already hear someone loud burping and spitting.
This kind of very special spitting produces a sound , which I think for me its the single most disturbing thing here. Anyone who has been to Nepal, knows what I'm talking about. Its hard to describe - the other volunteer, Honza from Czech Republic, suggested that this is a way of blowing the nose. They don't do it from the nose, but suck it skilfully to their throat and then spit it out. It produces a loud, long noise and always makes me wince. You can have this beautiful young lady all dressed up and you are just admiring her, and then the next moment she goes about cleaning her nose and throat in this manner ... I wonder if a couple goes on a date, perhaps a romantic walk between the ricefields or to a stupa (Buddhist religious monument), they just do the same. Perhaps they don't even hear it or its like coughing, when you gotta cough, you gotta cough, there is no shame in it. Anyway, that was the sound greeting me in the mornings. But if that little thing is the most disturbing thing, then life is pretty pleasant, you see :)
Ok, so I was living in the home of the hospital manager. The hospital itself was just 5 min walk away and this is where i spent most of my time. I had tried to avoid having any specific ideas about how this volunteering is going to be. Teaching in the hospital sounded so prestigious, being surrounded by doctors in white robes, perhaps like in Grey's Anatomy (Mc Steamy, Mc Dreamy and all). Well, it was slightly different. To start out with, the hospital had no doctor. They used to have one, but he left. Not only did he leave, but he also changed to password for the router to use internet, so now there was none (but you see, there used to be!) He left a few months ago, but things take time in Nepal to be repaired or advanced.
Although there was no doctor, there was plenty of other staff. In the beginning I was taken aback by the fact that hospital is run by kids. The highest position after the manager was held by 19 year old health assistant (meaning he has completed 3 years of medical studies after graduating the 10th class and he has secondary school level equivalent and can enter university). Then there was a nurse, lab assistant, pharmacist, community medical assistant, receptionist and security guard. Most bewildering for me was the position of the receptionist as the only task for her seemed to be to pick up the phone. Usually whoever was closest, picked up the phone anyway. So it really only was necessary when all staff was having lunch or all busy with a patient. In the beginning there seemed hardly any patients at all... In time however, and getting to know the situation more, I came to appreciate the existence of this hospital a lot. Its the only hospital in the valley. People walk for hours to come. It was opened only 2010 (http://www.dcwcnepal-us.org) and other than that there is very little chance to get medical care. So it is a big help for the local community. Finding a doctor to come and work in a remote area, is hard however, so the hospital staff is doing their best in the circumstances. Patients who need more extensive medical intervention, have to go to Kathmandu. There was a case of a lady that fell down a mountain rolling for 50m and was brought in with a bus late in the evening, unconscious. Hospital staff made preliminary examination and suspected that there might be internal bleeding, so the patient had to be taken further to Kathmandu. Considering the time and conditions of the road to get to the capital, I think the woman had a very bleak chance to survive. Hope she did.
So this is to give some background information :) Its hard to press 5 weeks of impressions and experiences into one blogpost! Plus, who has the patience to read? I'm sitting here in an internet cafe in KTM (Kathmandu). I found today morning a place for 40euro cents per hour in Thamel, in the centre of the tourist district, where I stay. This is a great discovery as the usual going rate is 1 euro per hour. And for reasons secret from me, the last 6 days electricity supply in KTM is limited to 10h or less. They is supposed to be even an on/off electricity schedule, but that's unreliable. Anyway, my guesthouse has no backup generator and internet line is also down, because there was some fire...so internet cafe is only choice. And I found a cheapest one in the area I suppose! Additionally in this little hideout, you can buy Nepali tea for 10 cents. And you can get the national dish, Dal Baht, for 70 cents. Not sure if 2 days after the village and eating Dal Baht (rice, lentil soup and vegetables) twice a day/every day, I'm ready to face it again though. But good to know! A backpacker needs to count :) And today I'm going to meet one of the hospital staff members, Panja, who is in Kathmandu to take exams he has not studied for ... so good to know local places. Or maybe I will take him to CookieWalla to blow his brains out with the sugarrush you can get from Hello to the King. I still haven't been there after my return to the city. That's self restraint!
This guy, Panja, and Basantha where my main students. For some programs, other staff participated as well. And what good students! On the 4th day, when electricity came back, I needed to come up with a training plan. And discussing with them what they already know and what they want to learn, the plan was set to go through MS programs Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MovieMaker and Picasa photo editing. So I was explaining different functionalities, preparing exercises for them and then sitting next to them and guiding if needed, when they were doing the exercises. What was so great is that I could see the enthusiasm. They really wanted to learn. Even excel calculations, which I know that some of my friends pretty much hate. But they where talking to each other, discussing, trying to find solutions and only when not able, turning to me. And it was funny as well. And sometimes I could see, that when I was not there, they were practicing some things on their own. Or teaching other staff members of the hospital. Actually MovieMaker I didnt even have in mind in the beginning to teach, because I had never used it myself, but the health assistant, Nirajan, explained me that his friend has done this and that and he wants to learn as well how to do it. So I first learned the basics of the MovieMaker myself and then taught them. They were really happy and that made me happy. Did I already say that I miss them? We got to be good friends and on the day that I left, everyone was so serious. No smiles. I'm glad to meet Panja today.
Enough of writing now. Walks to different villages, ceremonies, fascination in mobiles, momo preparation mastering, grey hair suspicion, nepali language learning, working on the rice fields, Dexter/Scrabble/Dal Baht time topics I will pick up some other time.