The hardest journey…
It is hard to describe in a handful of words the journey we have take over the last few days. On Sunday we left behind the relative safety and luxury of the jeep, and began walking. On the second day we walked over 30km through the Himalayas, over a snowy pass, with no place to stop for over 8 hours. We trekked 12 hours, arriving at Lalits remote village in the dark, to an incredible tribal drumming welcome. At one point I fell, and was lucky not to break any bones; a stark reminder of how easy that would be in this hostile part of the world. We have lived with Lalits ...
Meeting the smiling orphaned children
This afternoons journey to the West by jeep bought a lovely surprise. We came across Kopila valley school, where an amazing young American woman has homed 52 orphaned children from isolated mountain regions (www.blinknow.org). We met the children, and were shown around their school and home. There are some incredibly sad stories of how these children have lost their parents (such as baby Ravi, whose mother recently died in childbirth); but to see them flourishing was really uplifting for us.
It seems that potentially collaborating with other NGOs such as this, is the ...
Morning meeting with Lalit
Leaving civilisation
We have woken to the sound of tropical birds, and strange Nepalese throat clearing noises in nepaljung in the west of Nepal. Lalit (see above) was delighted with his solar powered radio gift, and we have just had a good breakfast to set us up for the day. This morning we head off by jeep to into the jungle, were our journey to Kalikot begins. We are all really excited, and slightly anxious to know what hurdles we may come across. Keep watching to see how things turn out...
Meeting the students
We arrived in Kathmandu yesterday, and after a blessing at Bouddha Stupa, we had the pleasure of having lunch with DFN's 3 new students today (Prakash, Apsara, and Kamal). They are all so grateful to be supported by us, and excited to talk about talk about their medical training, but also to learn about life and medicine in the uk. We then headed by plane to nepaljung- in the far west of nepal, where we are preparing for the next stage of our journey. Being eaten alive by Mosquitos, and somewhat surprised by the heat..
Preparing for the upcoming trip to Nepal..
Plans are heavily underway for Dr Kate Yarrow (Founder and chairman of Doctors For Nepal) to visit the remote district of Kalikot, along with Gareth Taylor (or Taylor-Made Media).
The party will be leaving for Nepal this Thursday, and will be journeying to one of the worlds most isolated areas by foot. They are hoping to film the experiences of patients trying to access healthcare, and will be following their stories as they unfold. They will also follow the work of DFN’s first doctor - Lalit, as he goes about his gruelling daily work high up in the Himalayas. Kate will ...