One of my favourite kid in Oncology left for home today.
I felt a strange sense of sadness when he told me he was leaving.
After surgery rounds today I decided to drop by Oncology to see my friend Manish before heading home. He's one of the few kids who I've been consistently spending time with over the past several weeks. His favourite game was Memory. We play the gam with these flashcards that another volunteer made for teaching English, and they have become quite a hit with the kids on Oncology. With many of the Oncology patients how it works is that they come in for a few weeks for their treatment and then they can go home for about a month before having to return for more treatment. So unfortunately Manish will be back again, but not before I leave.
With this being my last week, having to say goodbye to one of my favourite kids at Kanti really makes it feel like things are coming to an end. I feel like I'm rushing against time. I can't believe 6 weeks is almost over and in less than a week I'll be home. A part of me knows it's time to leave, but it sucks because I've finally become familiar with this place. In a strange way I have established some roots here. I know already that I'm going to miss this place terribly!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Scandalous!
I saw this banner on my way back from Kanti the other day. Rather presumptuous calling Hiliary the "Future President".
What makes this more interesting is the second banner further down the street which sends well-wishes to "His Excellency, President George W. Bush". (to be posted soon)
hmmm...
What makes this more interesting is the second banner further down the street which sends well-wishes to "His Excellency, President George W. Bush". (to be posted soon)
hmmm...
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Lukewarm Showers
Yes! My first “hot” shower in weeks. The hot water at the house is solar powered, so no sun, no hot water. Today the sun finally came out for a little bit to play, and I came home – well, more like I rushed home – just in time for some quality lukewarm water. Bliss!
Monday, July 30, 2007
New week. New unit.
I’m heading into week 4 of my time in Nepal, and today I started in the Immunization/Family Planning Clinic. I’ve been looking forward to starting immunization out of personal interest and to prepare for a health/immunization clinic that a few other Health & Medical volunteers and I will get to run for an orphanage that another group is here to help re-build – definitely more details about that later!
Immunization and Family Planning alternate days, so today was Family Planning day. I was expecting to see more counseling with Family Planning, but it’s really a day for women to come to have their Depo-Provera shots or pick up oral contraceptive pills. To my amazement, the service is almost entirely government paid. The OC is free of charge and the Depo shots costs 10 NPR per shot – that’s less than 20 cents per shots! When I told the nursing students there how much these same items cost in Canada they were pretty awestruck as well.
Another interesting fact about the OC’s that the women get here. Instead of 7 placebo/sugar pills, their placebo pills are composed of ferrous fumarate to supplement iron loss during menstruation. I’m not sure if the reason for this is related to the prevalence of anemia here, but it’s an excellent practice. Also to note, the pills come from a Canadian pharmaceutical company!
Immunization and Family Planning alternate days, so today was Family Planning day. I was expecting to see more counseling with Family Planning, but it’s really a day for women to come to have their Depo-Provera shots or pick up oral contraceptive pills. To my amazement, the service is almost entirely government paid. The OC is free of charge and the Depo shots costs 10 NPR per shot – that’s less than 20 cents per shots! When I told the nursing students there how much these same items cost in Canada they were pretty awestruck as well.
Another interesting fact about the OC’s that the women get here. Instead of 7 placebo/sugar pills, their placebo pills are composed of ferrous fumarate to supplement iron loss during menstruation. I’m not sure if the reason for this is related to the prevalence of anemia here, but it’s an excellent practice. Also to note, the pills come from a Canadian pharmaceutical company!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Dirty Sandals
The rain makes the roads muddy, and since the rain has become much more consistent over the past week, the brief periods between rainfalls are hardly long enough for the roads to dry. The purpose of all of this rant, my permanently dirty feet and sandals! My Teva’s are an exceptional mud magnet, somehow after a day of walking I will have amassed a nice chunk of mud in my sandals around where my arch sits. It’s simply ridiculous. And no matter what amount of washing I do to them, as soon as they dry they look muddy again. So I give up!
Sandals, you win.
Sandals, you win.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Being Nepali
In the last 48 hours I have been mistaken Nepali THREE TIMES! No jokes!
Incidence #1:
At our meeting with the SAV (Social Action Volunteers), the director asked if I was Nepali, or was of Nepali origin.
Incidence #2:
On my way home from Kanti, a woman stopped me to ask where Kanti was. In my broken Nepali I replied: sidhha (straight), bhaai (left).
(So no, she may not have thought I was Nepali, but I did perhaps look local…. Wishful thinking?!?!…)
Incidence #3:
My Patan Durbar Square guide thought I was Nepali and one of this friends at the Thangka shop we visited also was not convinced that I didn’t have Nepali blood in me.
Incidence #1:
At our meeting with the SAV (Social Action Volunteers), the director asked if I was Nepali, or was of Nepali origin.
Incidence #2:
On my way home from Kanti, a woman stopped me to ask where Kanti was. In my broken Nepali I replied: sidhha (straight), bhaai (left).
(So no, she may not have thought I was Nepali, but I did perhaps look local…. Wishful thinking?!?!…)
Incidence #3:
My Patan Durbar Square guide thought I was Nepali and one of this friends at the Thangka shop we visited also was not convinced that I didn’t have Nepali blood in me.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
After struggling through our first week in the medical ward we were hoping to be placed either in oncology, physiotherapy, or immunization; but to our dismay Bishop decided we should be off to Burn Unit. Initially I was a little anxious about returning to the Burn Unit. My first visit to this ward was during our hospital tour. When I entered the patient rooms, what I saw were what seemed like an endless number of children bandaged from head to toe, wailing in pain. As I stood there, it was the first time I’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the sight of illness. Knowing what to expect, I braced myself for my return to the Burn Unit and I was okay.
Unlike the week before Bishop did not place us with a physician to go on rounds with. Instead we were introduced to the Sister (head nurse) and told that we could help/watch with dressing changes, play with the kids and maybe help provide food for the parents (I’m still not quite sure what he meant by the latter task because it seems like meals are provided for the parent and child). Despite being given a more succinct set of things that we could help with, it was still difficult to get started. The Sister and other nurses seemed unsure what we were there for. We were welcomed to watch the dressing changes, but this only took up at most an hour of the day. After dressing changes were finished I asked the Sister if there were other things that they needed help with, and all she responded with was whether we watched the dressings and to come back tomorrow and watch it again. Since watching dressing changes appear to be the only thing we could “help” with, we began searching for other ways that we could help; and what we came up with was toy washing. Unique to the Burn Ward there is actually a playroom with an eclectic collection of building blocks, puzzle pieces, bikes, and bowling pins. Like how most kids play with toys they usually end up in their mouths, on the floor, and then in the next kid’s mouth. So we decided that we would come back the next day with Dettoll and scrubbing brushes and give these toys a good washing! There is a big tub in the dressing change room so this was where we set up camp. The respect that we gained from the nurses as we did this was immediate. I could see their eyes lit up as they realized that we weren’t just another two foreign students here to observe, we wanted to help. There were about two tubs full of toys that needed washing so we saved half for the next day. Toy washing really doesn’t sound like much, but it was amazing how through such a simple act we were able to break the barrier between us and the staff. In the days to come they were actually happy to see us arrive and sometimes would ask if we would be back the next day. After the first week of constantly feeling so estranged from everything and everyone, I was finally beginning to look forward to going to placement each day!
Unlike the week before Bishop did not place us with a physician to go on rounds with. Instead we were introduced to the Sister (head nurse) and told that we could help/watch with dressing changes, play with the kids and maybe help provide food for the parents (I’m still not quite sure what he meant by the latter task because it seems like meals are provided for the parent and child). Despite being given a more succinct set of things that we could help with, it was still difficult to get started. The Sister and other nurses seemed unsure what we were there for. We were welcomed to watch the dressing changes, but this only took up at most an hour of the day. After dressing changes were finished I asked the Sister if there were other things that they needed help with, and all she responded with was whether we watched the dressings and to come back tomorrow and watch it again. Since watching dressing changes appear to be the only thing we could “help” with, we began searching for other ways that we could help; and what we came up with was toy washing. Unique to the Burn Ward there is actually a playroom with an eclectic collection of building blocks, puzzle pieces, bikes, and bowling pins. Like how most kids play with toys they usually end up in their mouths, on the floor, and then in the next kid’s mouth. So we decided that we would come back the next day with Dettoll and scrubbing brushes and give these toys a good washing! There is a big tub in the dressing change room so this was where we set up camp. The respect that we gained from the nurses as we did this was immediate. I could see their eyes lit up as they realized that we weren’t just another two foreign students here to observe, we wanted to help. There were about two tubs full of toys that needed washing so we saved half for the next day. Toy washing really doesn’t sound like much, but it was amazing how through such a simple act we were able to break the barrier between us and the staff. In the days to come they were actually happy to see us arrive and sometimes would ask if we would be back the next day. After the first week of constantly feeling so estranged from everything and everyone, I was finally beginning to look forward to going to placement each day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)