One Little, Two Little, Three Little Hospitals…..

Back in Kathmandu, Jhpiego decided we were ready for the big Kaunas of hospitals.

Hospital numero uno: Dhulikhel Hospital

Dhulikhel hospital, also known as “The Big D”, is a university hospital set in the happening college town of Dhulikhel. This facility was pretty amazing- nicer than a lot of American hospitals with a NICU that was temperature and humidity regulated. Pretty fancy stuff. Plus the hospital was full of beautiful male European medical students, which did not hurt the ambiance.

(Hospital 1.5: Scheer Memorial Hospital.)

The Jhpiego staff, being amazing per usual, snuck us into an additional hospital (BONUS!)

Hospital number two: PWMH

This hospital does have a full proper name, but it’s long and we prefer to stay up with the local slang and call it PWMH. This hospital was also wonderful, and the girls got to see a live resuscitation during their first delivery (the poor mother. The girls could hardly contain their excitement. Shame.) This facility had such a high number of deliveries that everyone was able to get some exposure.

Hospital numéro trois: Civil Hospital

This hospital is very new and was built by the Chinese government. Half of the signs are in Mandarin in the hospital, and the other half are in English, which we couldn’t figure was helping anyone. The inside of the hospital was painted a beautiful green, and everything looked very new and freshly sent from China.

Clearly not the Civil Hospital, but a cute little thermometer in the delivery room

A Tribute to the Food

Dear Food,

Thank you so much for all you have given us during these two weeks. Here's to you!

L to R: Lassi in a beer mug. Tibetan steamed bread. Traditional bread stuffed with potatoes and vegetables.

L to R: Lamb dish in Dailekh. Chat at a South Indian restaurant. Breakfast in Dailekh.

L to R: Jona's favorite dessert. A fatoush salad at OR2K. Hummus at OR2K.

Three traditional Nepali spreads

Without you, Food, we would never have felt complete or satisfied. You gave us joy, and yes, sometimes tears (chilly eating contest). We are all sure we will carry you around with us for a long time (or at least until we find a gym).

Cheerio,
Team Nepal



Feathered Thoughts

Today, during an interview, Jenny found her mind drifting off, and she started to write down her thoughts.

This is what she wrote:
"I'm watching pigeons fight through a crack in the curtains. How do they know they have won? Why are they fighting? For love? To pass the time?"

The team worries that all of these interviews are starting to muddle Jenny's brain.

Mind Map à la Paul: Part One

What is it like to be a pregnant woman in Nepal?

Out of everyone here I'm probably the farthest from understanding what it's like to be a mother let alone a woman in Nepal. It's been a question that I've been wrestling with constantly. It goes beyond knowing that there are challenges with infrastructure and scarce resources. The average income in Nepal is around $350, and in the places we visited represent the bottom. This experience has given me a foundation of context to really have empathy for the situation.

The roads here are being destroyed or obstructed on a daily basis by the monsoons. It's fantastic that we have SUVs (Indian made Mahindra Scorpios) to drive us around with air conditioning, because even if I do workout. "Walking" around here is brutal. The Terai region of Nepal is the hill country, but mountains here are the Himalayas. 

A picture of our Mahindras in the clouds

Few women have access to a car, but the roads are constantly getting blocked by landslides. A motorcycle can negotiate narrowed roads, but sitting side saddle for a few hours to get to a clinc / birthing center / hospital seems unreasonable while in labor.

In the distance by the river you can see a house. Our hike down from the end of the road to a birthing center took us almost to the bottom of the valley.

Walking is the most reliable way to get around. Some of the remote outposts in Dailekh district take 5 days to walk to from the main village. 

I tried doing a own test "imagining I'm a pregnant mother" by spinning my Laerdal backpack around (improvised Mama Natalie). It provably weight around 15-25lbs or 7-11 kg.

While I'm smiling the picture, this sucked. I couldn't see where I was putting my feet on the slope. Negotiating steep slopes with the pack keeping me off balance. I almost rolled down the hill multiple times.

The best road leading to the birthing center.

I'm sure a pregnant mother would be more comfortable moving around than I was. At least I had a pair of hiking shoes on that kept me from slipping and gave me sure footing. Most people here wear the plastic and foam flip flops you can get for a few dollars in the US. 

Barrett clearing a gap that cut the road

It isn't hard to imagine a pregnant woman having to negotiate steep slopes in the pouring rain wearing flip flops. 

Nepali women are incredibly resilient and loving. During an antenatal visit, I saw a mother recite back why iron supplementation is important. The ANM giving care to this mother was amazing. To manage the health of mothers in the surrounding valley is a huge challenge with scarcely any resources. Below is a picture of all her sterilizing equipment.

There are pictures of female community health workers all in their uniform sarees in another post. Hopefully it conveys the overwhelming pride they have in what they do.

Nepali women do tough work. They carrly huge loads on their heads across mouhtsins.  They grind dal for everyone to eat. It's all tough. This has been a humbling experiecne to see how hard life is for people on the other side of the world. 

Jenny teaching our host to resuscitate NeoNatalie. 

Ode to a TATA

Oh, how you surprise me at every turn
Coming at me, barreling, from both directions
The way you toss my life into the balance
Will this be the time?
My heart flutters with anticipation... and... and... no.
With a sudden jolt you are gone, with only a black cloud lingering in your absence.

Surkhet and Nepalgunj

As we launch down the mountain, praying to make it alive, our driver pulls down an even less developed road. Eventually the cars (which in mind, have passed up and down insane terrain) cannot go any further and we get out and start on foot.

A corn maze, or as they say in South Africa, mielie maze surrounded us. Then boom! Mountains! And some rice fields... so we crossed our fingers we wouldn't be getting JE (what cool kids call Japanese Encephalitis)

We arrived, covered in sweat, to a sub-health post. Julia and Jenny talked to a flock of female community health volunteers while Barrett and Jan wooed an ANM.

Our team at the sub-health post

We hiked back up the mountain (might have taken a detour and had to turn around.... couldn't say) and collapsed in our beloved cars. We rocked our way down to Surkhet and tried to order the most American things on the menu. Some of them were rejected (no, no burgers, so sorry) and some of them were attempted.... with mixed results

Cheese sandwich. Where to start?

The next morning we went to the mid-western regional hospital and met with a slew of wonderful clinicians. We came back to the hotel for lunch, where Julia got to learn the art of sucking a refreshing cardamom pod. Jenny and Julia ate chicken and the boys were very jealous and regretted their lentil soup, since we cannot eat chicken in Kathmandu due to the avian flu. No big deal or anything.

From Surkhet we drove to Nepalgunj. Everyone filmed how scary the driving was, just in case they were documenting their last moments on this earth.

We left the hotel in the morning, piling into a truck, and headed to the airport.

I LOVE THE WIND IN MY HAIR!!!

Loving the bed of the truck

We made it through security and onto the plane to Kathmandu, creeping on the other Americans on the flight the entire time..... "So your name is Dan right? Saw you on the register. Did you know our visa numbers are like super similar?"