A pregnant woman’s journey
When staying in Lalit's village we were asked to see a pregnant woman who was unwell. She was 6 months pregnant, and appeared very unwell with abdominal pain and a fever. She was lucky to have lalit in the village that day; after examining her in her house in front of the elders, she was advised to urgently go to hospital as she hadn't felt her baby move for a week.
The only way to hospital was by foot, and she was too ill to walk. We followed her journey, as she was carried in a chair on the backs of a porter and her husband - who took it in turns to carry her down and ...
Lalits home
It was a complete honour to be able to spend some time with Lalits family in his mountainside village. We walked for 2 days over incredibly steep terrain, even through snowfields, and arrived in the dark. After an beautiful drumming welcome, we were given the a meal of Dahl baht (Dahl and rice). This is eaten twice a day by almost all Nepalese (and us, as there simply is nothing else to eat). We slept in a small room in a traditional house, where all cooking is over an open fire in the main room.
The next day we visited the health post, and Lalit saw some patients who ...
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...