Christmas Day

Christmas morning waiting to open the stockings-wonder what's behind the coats???

Patrick looking suitably pleased!

21 adults and 4 children enjoying typical christmas dinner, cranberry sauce and all. Good not to have to wash up any dishes.

Merry christmas to you all. We've enjoyed our different christmas, but given the choice I'd have flown into the Boyland road for the day, even with -7 temps. Well I suppose the sunshine was another bonus.

Christmas 09

Hope you enjoy seeing some pictures of Christmas Nepal style!

Indreni Youth Ministry Ourreach - 'Christmas sprogramme'

Several hundred children from around Pokhara attended. Finished with a meal for all.

Youth leader Chanman leading in Prayer.

Nicola's work Christmas party, provided by Nicola (from a local resturant carryout service)

Head doctor in the ENT dept

Work colleagues of Nicola.

Caretaker, trainee nurses & doctors with Nicola

In mid Dec we were invited to our previous landlord's daughter's wedding. The wedding was a Christian wedding at Ram Ghat Church

Exchanges rings during the cermony

The church elders praying for the newly wed couple

We hosted a Christmas Lunch party with Elly and Rich as a thankyou for the efforts of our language teachers. Thanks to the Nicola and Elly for the various western dishes they cooked, they all went down a treat!
Joyti, Prabha and Rehka

Deepak, Basu, Mohan & Dinesh

Pictures of 'The Nativity School Play' with a modern day twist, produced by Class 2 teacher Mrs Lomath. The Concert ran for 2 nights because of audience seating constraints! It was well attended by both Christian and non Christian parents.

Patrick as chief shepherd, Molly as an Angel and Anna as a news reporter.

Music group

INF Gift Catalogue

Here's a link to the newly created INF gift catalogue. Perfect gift ideas for someone who has everything!

http://secure.inf.org/gifts/usd/

Dec 09

Work Trip To Kathmandu
Saturday 5th December, Namrata, the assistant from work, a 5 year old Hearing Impaired patient, Sristi, her mum, for good measure Anna (who needed to go to the dentist) and myself, headed off to Kathmandu to have Sristi’s hearing assessed, using Auditory Brainstem Evoked Response( ABR)at Tribhuvan Teaching Hospital. In the west this test is widely available, but in Nepal only available at the teaching hospital in KTM

We set off from Pokhara bus park at 7 a.m. We must have been quite a curious group to onlookers. Why was a bideshi (foreign) mother and child travelling with a single Nepali lady and another Nepali mother and child?? Fortunately we had an uneventful journey and arriving in KTM our 1st job was to find accommodation for Sristi and her mum. The 1st room we looked at was far from suitable and it was obvious Sristi’s mum was feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. I was struggling to keep up with all the nepali that was being spoken, and was also feeling overwhelmed at the choices of “hotels” we had seen! But following the gist I piped in that she had to be happy and we’d keep looking till we found somewhere suitable. We did eventually find a clean guest house, and having got Sristi and her mum settled in had a cup of tea with them before heading to our guest house, situated close to the dentist.

Next morning we had another early start. Unfortunately travelling on the Sunday was more eventful than the previous day. A nationwide bandh (strike) had been called by the Maoists, so the only mode of transport was by foot! Unfortunately the guest house that I’d chosen to be close to the dentist and accessible to the teaching hospital by bus, was not close on foot. It took us 1hour to reach the hospital.

We had a quick breakfast of sel roti, like doughnut and tea, in a dodgy “restaurant” before meeting Srisit and her mum and heading into the hospital.

Due to the bandh, things were quiet.I’d hate to be there on a busy day, because even on a quiet day we still did ALOT of wating. On arrival we had to get our ticket for ENT, and then spent at least 30 mins. trying to find the ENT dept and then waited, and waited and waited. Eventually the nepali Speech Therapist and Audiologist arrived. They had both come especially by foot to meet us and carry out the assessment. The Head SLT in Nepal had started out on bike to come but due to road blocks had had to return, He then rang, another SLT and asked him to meet us. Thanks to both of them. The SLT was feeling unwell and actually left for a Doctor’s appointment and the audiologist was wearing a neck brace!

Our next job was to buy all the medicine and necessary medical equipment needed for the assessment. When we returned with the required items, Srisit was given an injection and we waited and waited and waited for Srisit to fall asleep. She is very bright and lively, so wasn’t giving into sleep easily, thankfully, eventually the medicine won! Another 2 hours of waiting while the assessment was carried out, was divided up by periods of sitting in side in the freezing building, followed by standing outside in the sunshine to warm up. Then back inside to answer fellow Nepali patients’ questions about: “What is your name? Which is your own country? Is this your daughter, but do you have a son?” Etc.etc.

Assessment completed it was back to the dodgy “restaurant” for lunch, sel roti again, this time with spicy vegetables! Needless to say Anna and I have both arrived back in Pokhara with funny tummies.

Another 2 hours of waitng and we eventually had our ABR report. Unfortunately Sristi is profoundly deaf in her left ear and severely deaf in her right ear. As we suspected this means the body worn analogue hearing aid she is currently using is giving her very limited benefit! Next step will be to get her digital hearing aids. The money for these will come from donations made from the west and fortunately we have money available to get these. For Srisit’s family this will mean another trip to KTM soon to have these aids fitted.

Long term? Well we’ll try the digital hearing aids, but it looks like a Cochlear Implant hearing Aid may be best for Sristi. If so, we just hope we’ll be able to raise the necessary funding, and one day soon will be off on a trip to Kathmandu again for a Cochlear Implant operation.

Nov 09

In November my parents came out for 3 weeks, what a busy time, our “street cred” has risen considerably. In Nepal the “older” members of the family are the most respected and the neighbours came out to greet my parents like they were royalty! We had many daal bhaat invites, not sure my dad has gone back to N.I convinced he likes it, won’t go into too much detail about how he took sick the day after eating it at a neighbours. We had a lovely time, and there was a good mix of sight- seeing, being introduced to friends, visiting our work and INF and just chilling out in the house, with the grandchildren. The children received letters from their school pals in Bushvalley, their school in N.I and they really enjoyed catching up on all the news from there. THANKYOU so much Bushvalley.

We attended our 1st INF conference, in KTM. It was good to meet the wider INF members working both in Nepal and other countries. Alot of work is being done in England, Malaysia and India, to name a few with Nepalis who are living overseas for work. Currently a 1/3 of the population, mainly males are working in other countries. It was good to learn more about other work people are also doing with INF in Nepal as well. Our speaker was an Anglican pastor from London called Stephen Hance, and we really enjoyed the fellowship meetings and arrived back to Pokhara feeling relaxed and refreshed.

The journey home was a LONG one! A bus had gone off the road 3 days previously, and 2 people had died. We had to wait while it was lifted out of the river. Another reminder,of the hazard of road travel here.

The day we arrived back to Pokhara, part of Anna’s tooth came out! This weekend ,Namrata who I work with and I are going to KTM with a young hearing impairment patient, where she will have an ABR hearing assessment. Following this further advice will be given about wether she would benefit from a Cochlear Implant. The cost of this is equivalent to £12,000, and has to be paid for here, no NHS! Not many can afford this, so we are hopeful we will be able to raise some funds for at least digital hearing aids. Lucky Anna gets to come too and we’ll fit in a trip to the dentist as well.

The 1st lot of wheel chairs have arrived at Green Pastures Hospital, and this has caused alot of excitement and satisfaction for everyone who has been involved in this project. The rehabilitation workers will now be able to distribute these to patients.

We’re trying to get some Christmas atmosphere going, not easy when it’s bright skies outside and like a good spring day. But the children are practising for the school play, and we’ve hung a few Christmas stockings and put up and advent calendar (all brought from Ireland.) Also bought some fairy lights. Not sure they meet health and safety standards, but they look pretty and have different flashing settings! Unfortunately,ONLY flashing settings. Think Santa may even be able to make it over the Himalayas and deliver a few goodies. Though, it could be a close call, let’s hope weather conditions are good.

October Visitors

Anna, Patrick and Molly reading the letters brought by Granny and Grandad from family and BushValley school friend .


Molly proudly sporting her new shoes courtesy of Mary Lyle


Refreshments being taken on the Balam circuit


Derek with Fishtail in the background

Group posing on the suspension bridge before the walk

Oct 09

October has been festival fever. The 2 main Hindu festivals of Dashain and Tihar. Even the goats get a make over! As we write a group of children are in the yard downstairs singing and dancing. The Nepali equivalent of carol singing. Sleep has been short as singing and dancing is going on at night all around.

We went on our mid West orientation trip to Surkhet and Neaplgunj (this should have happened in March but was postponed to the frequent bandhs.) We visited other INF projects in these areas. To get there by bus took 12 hours, with Patrick being sick most of the time! Travelling in Nepal does wonders for the prayer life. Landslides, meeting other packed buses and narrow bending roads. Rickshaws were the transport in Neaplgunj. Most drivers at the journeys end wanted more money. The one who definitely didn’t get a bonus was the one who breaked too late, bumped into the one infront and Molly fell out into the road!

We also managed to fit in a long weekend in Bardia National Park.11 INFers had a great time, elephant riding, rafting and all round relaxation and good fun. No tigers, but an impressive set of tiger footprints in the sand, which made me wonder how safe we were walking on foot?? We also saw 2 river dolphins!! Which are now an endangered species.

Nepalgunj and Bardia, are on the border with India and were HOT. We tried different cooling down methods. Water fights, and just getting into that river with all clothes on!!!

Hellos and goodbyes are a constant part of life in Pokhara. Ther are always short termers passing through and the people coming long term stay here while they do language study. Chelsey from Canada stayed with us for 3 weeks. She was an OT who worked at Green Pastures. A family who have been here 6 years, from Malaysia, leave at the end of the month. The school had a leaving party on Friday. Saying good byes so often is hard.

We’re getting ready for my mum and dad coming out. 10 months since we last saw them. We are all very excited. Hard to believe 2 more months and we’ll have been here a year.

Invites for daal bhaat (rice and lentils) keep coming. I’m definitely a potato person, but it’s lovely to be building up friendships within the community.

Aug/Sept 09

August the children went back to school, twins to p6 and Molly into p5. They continue to be happy and settled. Anna and Patrick celebrated their 10th birthday party. On the morning of their birthday they were up at 6 to open the many presents that family had posted from home. It was like Christmas morning, many thanks to everyone who sent presents and cards. That afternoon we invited our Nepali neighbours, and Namrata,(from my work) and her family for birthday tea. The next day they had a joint birthday party for school friends with another mission family, out with IS Malaysia. The school numbers have grown and there are now children from 8 different countries attending.

I have been cycling to work, not for the faint hearted. Need to keep your eyes firmly focused at all times, pot holes, cows and what they leave behind! There is a definite road hierarchy; cyclists are close to the bottom, female foreigners on bikes come even lower.

I have been doing more work in Green Pastures Hospital, with a young head injury patient, a 45 year old lady following a stroke and a young boy with Cerebral Palsy. The biggest difficulty for many of these patients is how they are cared for after they return to their own homes and communities. Many homes are not adapted in a way that enables them to live with their physical disability. Families and communities often have a poor understanding about disability.

In WRH the government hospital, a team came from India to provide training to parents of deaf children who have had a Cochlear Implant fitted. The cost of the operation is equivalent to £10,000-£12,000!!! ALOT of money and some of the parents have sold homes and businesses to cover the cost. This is in effect selling off their financial security. One child who attends is profoundly deaf and has received a free analogue hearing aid through a poor fund set up by INF for poorer patients. She is very bright and making some progress. Unfortunately, because of the severity of her hearing difficulty the analogue hearing aid gives her very little hearing benefit. I enjoy working with this family, who are Christians, but it is also frustrating knowing that in the UK she would probably receive a Cochlear Implant on the NHS. Another patient, 45, following a stroke has been left that he can say no words. He was found lying on the roadside and taken to the hospital. He had no family and no-one could find any relatives. On discharge from hospital he had nowhere to go so one Christian man took him in to live in his home. Often these people are themselves very poor and have little but they still give to others around them.

I also did 2 slots of training, with an interpreter (Nepali definitely not that good) to Community Based Rehabilitation workers. It’s the 1st time I’ve been involved in training where when we had a late start due to technical difficulties, instead of complaining, everyone joined in for an impromptu song and dance session, it was great.

Stephen has continued to be kept busy with the US Aid project to provide wheelchairs for patients when they are discharged from hospital. This month again he is involved with Irish Aid, looking forward to the next 3 years and planning what work people will be involved in.

It’s starting to get cooler,AT LAST and the Himalayas are being seen more often. We’re doing less language class and more work, and are starting to feel that we’re heading out on our own. Some days we just feel tired and overwhelmed, but other days like to day it all fits. It started off with me missing the bus, so I started to walk and got a blister, but next thing the husband of one of our Nepali teachers came past on his motorbike and offered to give me a lift! 1st time for me sitting side saddle and trying to stay on over the bumps. Today was the voice clinic day and one of the patients was a singer, so my language teacher asked him to sing me a Nepali song, which he did very well. Just all so relaxed and informal! Then, my bike confidence now found, I managed to hitch a lift back home with my language teacher. Things like this make me grateful to be here living this experience.

July 09

July started on a low note as the kids and I arrived home from school at the start of the 5 weeks holiday and wondered how we would pass the time. The afternoon was spent with lots of reminiscing about glorious Donegal, somehow forgetting the rain, wind and cold!! Now at the end of the hols we can look back over 5 busy and eventful weeks. 1st priority was to buy long awaited bikes. We left the house at 3, walked to the shop, and FIVE hours later returned home. Oh, how many cups of tea can a person drink while looking at kid’s bikes and negotiating a “very good price”.

We took a trip to Tansen, and stayed at the guest house, beside the UMN Mission hospital. We met many other mission families there, and in particular the Chadwells, working in Kathmandu with BMS. They have 2 kids and we enjoyed their company. Steve celebrated another birthday while there and the kids had got him a t-shirt with superman logo on front and, “Super Daddy” on back, he wears it well.

July has brought some heavy monsoon rains, although apparently not enough. On the days it does rain heavily, the streets can get slippery and some hapless foreigners need help from caring locals to stay upright. ( see photo) While this may have saved me breaking a hip, the lady’s grip was so firm, I wasn’t sure my arm was going to come off so well.

We also has a few health issues, I got a chest infection, but no need to see a GP here, just go to the pharmacy, and self diagnose and medicate! ( Drs please look away), and Steve broke a tooth. Fortunately we were already planning a trip to KTM, so he got his dental treatment, and we finished our vaccinations. Children were VERY happy. I had hoped to meet some Nepali SLTs but couldn’t get in touch with them, so another time. The heavy rain also caused problems in KTM where there has been a rubbish collection strike. The rubbish was literally floating down the roads! The way to deal with this? Cover it all in lime ????, totally disgusting. However, we also met up with the Chadwell family who entertained us at the British Embassy, where the kids played in a park straight out of England and we enjoyed roast dinner!

Despite being monsoon, we awoke one morning to glorious views of the Himalayas. The photos were taken from our roof and if they don’t do justice, you’ll just have to come and see for yourself. For me they really do testify to God’s greatness.

We had our first house guests, Catherine Hutchinson from Coleraine, and Samantha, a Malaysian girl studying at Queens in Belfast. Both were out through IS Ireland to work at a school in KTM and Catherine was also involved in training teachers. We really enjoyed having them, it was very encouraging, good to chat colloquial and always good to get a few goodies from home.

Harry Potter fever has also not escaped us, Patrick has spent all summer reading the books and we’ve seen the latest film.

Work at the government hospital is going well, the team are all so welcoming and tolerant of my very basic Nepali. The tea break banter often reminds me of home. My efforts are the butt of many friendly jokes and they have all taken it upon themselves to be my “teacher.” Steve has also been kept busy on a wheelchair project.

Thanks to all who keep in touch and read our blog, it really encourages us. Please continue to pray for our work, relationships, language learning and daily living here. Remember particularly travel on the roads during monsoon, it can be pretty hairy at times!