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.