Dec 2010 - Wheelchair provision at GPH

A group from a previous wheelchair assessment camp travelled to Green pastures Hosipital to receive their custom made wheelchairs. Juna training and demonstrating on the wheelchair course

Dec 2010 - PSC Christmas Play

Nativity Play scene - Anna starring as the mouse, patrick as a cow and Molly as the donkey!!

Parents singing some carols:- Finnish couple, Korean couple, German couple, Nicola and Ann for England on the keyboards!

INF Christmas Gift Catalogue

Check out his link to see what Santa is up to in Nepal

http://www.youtube.com/infworldwide#p/u/0/YW5RUwQ8zvg

and follow the link to the INF Gift Catalogue for some alternative ideas for Christmas present this year!

Nov 2010 - Derek and Mildred visit photos

Enjoying a leisurely meal with Regina overlooking Fewa lake.

















Nicola on a ward visit in Green Pastures Hospital


















The school kids making an appearance at the INF celebration day

Testing the new Tricycle attachment for the 3 wheel wheehchair


















Bimala, Nicola and Mildred at INF day


















Visiting Sristi's family with Namrata.


















Visiting Sukmyka's our househelper, to see her first grand child.

Time for stop of lunch while the kids are at school.

Nicola doing some watch tower dancing at the Indreni Youth weekend on the theme of Moses

Derek wearing a Gurkha army hat well!

Night time picture of Bakhdapur

Potter's square in Bakhdapur

Finally a pose between the temples of Bakhdapur

Oct and Nov Nepal Vistors

This last few week has been a particular busy time for receiving NI vistors and others. First we had Maureen and Nan on a brief visit to Pokhara. Where we enjoyed their company at Naya Gaun church and a visit to Green pastures hospital.

Next we had Simon and Andy for a few days as they made advanced preparations for the Mutley Baptist church medical and teaching etc camp next Feb. With them we visited Garambeshi along with Tuk and Chunman and Hom. It was great to meet the people there that Mutley have been partnering with through the contact set up by Jean and Roger.

Later we have David and Rachel (a cousin of one of our supporter), Rachel was in Green Pastures Hospital giveing training in the Physio department. Sorry no picture

And last but not least we enjoyed the presence of Mildred and Derek for almost 4 we,eks. The kicked of the visit with a trip to a cermony for an award to INF, which Nicola was happy to pickup on behalf of INF.

Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trek

8 days trekking and behold ABC. What a fanstanic sight. The pictures do not do it justice!

GPH wheelchair Outing to the mountain museum

The happy group from Green Pastures Hospital went to mountain museum. Which is fully wheelchair friendly. (possibily the only building of its kind in Nepal which has disability access).
In the group Seeta the girl in the green hat a GPH peer counseller, recently married a Japanese man and is preparing to move there later in the year.

Also on the same day a delivery on the tricycle clip-on attachments was recieved. Here the first test drive of the tricycle attachment. This young fellow will be taking a this unit with him when he returns to the Teria.

Group from Terai camp collecting Wheelchairs at GPH

Young fellow demostrating his newly acquired wheelchairs skills.

The Teria group at GPH loading up the bus for their return to Nawalparasi.

party time at Western Regional Hospital - 'Teej' Hindu's woman festival

Naya Gaun Church - Bedishi performance

Stewart family and the 'flamingo'

Sept 2010 - Bambi Village

On the first friday of september I accompanied the 'Frontliners' outreach team and a visiting Church from Malayisa to a village a couple hours travel from Pokhara. The frontliners have been working in this village for some time and have established a church and built a new primary school from support by the visiting Malaysian church.

The trip involved crossing a river to the village, with it being monsoon season there was quite a flow, all a little unsettling for the visiting party.

Dinesh here in the checked shirt playing the drums visits the village faithfully every friday and leads the church worship.

The visiting team take the opportunity to inspect the new school premises, the headmaster is indeed very proud to show off his new school facility.

Aug 2010 - Sristi Update

Learning To Listen
3:30p.m. exactly on Monday 23rd August my telephone rang. The display told me ‘Sristi’s mum calling’. Sristi had been booked to have her cochlear implant operation that morning. She and her family had been on my mind all day, we had prayed as a family for them that morning and the children had prayed for Sristi at their school assembly. “Operation bhayo, saphal bhayo,” told me the operation was over and had been successful. This was followed by many, many thank-yous from a mother who is delighted that her little girl has been given the chance to hear.
I wanted to cry and laugh and these emotions were followed by my own many, many thank-yous to God, because He enabled it all to happen. When my parents and I first began thinking about how we could help Sristi, the money needed seemed too daunting. But we trusted God that if it was His will he would work everything together. I cannot thank enough everyone who has supported this project by organising fundraising events, giving money and praying, both from the West and here in Nepal. Sristi’s own church raised a considerable amount of money. God indeed has provided.
Living in Nepal that all the planning worked out is a miracle in itself. Things happen slowly here and rarely happen the way we have planned them. Before the operation there were many things we had to arrange. This included 2 trips to Kathmandu, organising vaccinations and of course purchasing the implant from the company. Considering that a good journey from Pokhara to Kathmandu takes 7 hours, on a very narrow, winding road, it’s not a journey you want to take too often! Then we had difficulty checking which vaccinations Sristi had previously received and then we had to co-ordinate the vaccinations needed with, when they where available. The weeks before the operation date, numerous phone calls were made to the implant company to ensure the implant would arrive. It eventually arrived on the Friday before the op, too close to the final date for my nerves.
Sristi’s situation has also been a great witness to the Christian message to the non-christian’s in my work place and also in the wider community. My colleagues have observed with wonder how others are prepared to give to help someone else. They have also been extremely supportive. Namrata, the speech therapy assistant has joined with Sristi’s mum and I in prayer as we have prayed together before each major pre-op investigation. Sristi’s mum was invited to speak in her church.She spoke of how she believed this was God’s plan for her daughter’s life and thanked him that her daughter was being given this opportunity to hear. Her church’s fellowship groups have been praying regularly.
However this is only the beginning of Sristi’s story. Five weeks after the operation Sristi’s implant will be switched on, giving her useful hearing for the first time. In the first year this family will travel to Kathmandu every 6 weeks to have the implant adjusted. Sristi will attend for weekly speech and language therapy, when she will be taught how to listen to and understand all the new sounds and words she can hear. For her it will be like learning a second language.

August 2010 yet another birthday party !

on the 14th of August Anna and Patrick celebrated their 11 birthday. With changes at school over summer 2 of anna's friend have moved to Kathmandu for school. Never the less a good pool party was enjoyed with their other school friends and several of our Nepali friends (several of them it was their first time in a swimming pool!

June 2010 Gourkha

Gorkha, June 2010

In June I travelled to Gorkha district with PFR. I travelled with a Christian lady Bimala, who previously I didn’t know well, but she killed me with kindness and by the end of the trip we were sharing a bed!

Initally we stayed in a village, Arughat, about 6 hours from Pokhara. Oh how I don’t do wild life and creepie crawlies. The ‘shower’ room had a wasp’s nest and spiders too numerous to count! Each morning we had a bat curled up on the pillow on the spare bed.

19 patients turned up at the clinic! In the west for an initial assessment day the maximum seen would be 6. We did our best to give advice and provide therapy activities which the families could take with them and use at home.

After Arughat we took a 3 hour bus ride and climbed 2 hours up the mountain to an area called Thumi. Here I stayed with a Nepali family, who were so welcoming and friendly. To reach the toilet I had to negotiate a step ladder and a filed planted with corn.

The first morning we left at 6 to do a home visit where Bimala had to carry out an assessment to make adaptations to a home for a man who had received a wheelchair through Green Pastures Hospital. Living in a room in this house was a young mother of 20, with her 3 year old daughter and 11 year old brother. Their parents had both died of aids, and her husband had left her for another lady and was now living in Kathmandu, but gave her no support. As she had to do manual labour to earn money, often her brother could not go to school as he had to look after the child. This girl had tears in her eyes as she told me their story. We are trying to get them support from INF’s Partnership for Rehabilitation

Another 1 hour walk up the mountain took us to the health post. This day 11 patients attended, all of them had complicated speech and language difficulties. It was lovely to meet one little boy with cerebral palsy that I had met at Green Pastures hospital the previous year. At that time he had been very ill and thin and I had given advice on helping him to feed. He now looked well and healthy. We’re hoping the family will return to GP hospital for more treatment. Many of the patients who attended had walked either up or down the mountainside for 2-3 hours, to reach the clinic.

The night before I returned to Pokhara it rained the whole night, which hadn’t helped the road. The road resembled a ploughed field and I lost count of the number of times the bus had to be dug out! It took 12 hours to return to Pokhara!!

Although I returned exhausted the trip for me was great. To be in such remote locations, living and sharing closely with Nepalis, many who are extremely poor, was rewarding. Although I can only offer limited speech therapy support, at least I was able to offer something. And I hope I am starting to increase awareness that children with learning disability can benefit and develop if helped. I plan to travel again to this area in December. When the roads will be good and hard!

June 2010 - Wheelchair team visit to the Terai

Last weekend I went a group from Green pastures hospital (GPH))to visit a partner organisation on the Teria (DRCN) Disability Rehabilition Center Nawalparasi.
At total of 30 people were assessed of wheelchair, those who were suitable were measured up so the chairs could custom built to their needs. Once chairs are completed the clients will be brought to GPH to receie their chair and the appropariate training.

Assessments in the DRCN office

Home visit to a patient with a head injury

Another home visit to child with CP, A replacement chair badly need here.

May 2010 - Village Work

Early this month I had the opportunity to accompany a Nepali and a Malayian to a remote village. This guy is working with a neplai organisation in holistic mission. He has been going regularily to this village where a small church has been planted and to help lead in its worship there and to do other work. I first cycled half an hour to meet the group, we then caught a bus at 6am and travelled about 2 and half hours. After this journey we walked 5 hrs up up up in to the hills in the searing heat. Fortunitaly i had 3 liters of water with me, which we were grateful for.

Eventually we arrived at the village and were given a tour, some people were surpried to see a foreigner as we were well of the beat track. That evening we met in a church with about 15 believers, and the following day also for communion.

Part of the work being done in this village, is to build bathrooms. A total of 3 sites were identified, and I understand now a month later these have been nearly completed. Will try to visit again, as the villagers are keen to meet Nicola and the children.

Me demostrating how to carry a 'douka'. The tool of choice for Nepalis