So it's been a while since I wrote about things that are actually happening in Nepal (/India)... we went on a trek and I lost my phone so I'm going to have to start writing more because I can't just get my parents to pass on the news!
The trek... we went to Langtang which is practically Tibet and it was beautiful! There was a lot of walking, and we were even more impressed with ourselves on the way back down when we realised how far we'd climbed! I went with Ellie and Becca didi (an Austrian girl who we've been living with and become really good friends with), but on the way we met 3 separate groups of people we knew from Kathmandu- what are the chances?! We also made a lot of friends on our way- although admittedly more with the porters and guides than the tourists- I think we have actually become nepali in our time here! It was crazy how thin the air got close to the top, just walking on the flat got us out of breath pretty quickly. I think our top altitude was about 4000m. Woop.
Now we're in India after a week of ridiculous strikes in Nepal- why would they do that on the week we have to travel all over the country?! On the day we returned from Syaphru Besi (where our trek began/ended) there was a strike on all local buses, which we were supposed to catch back to Kathmandu. Eventually we managed to persuade a bus to take a group of tourists for a higher price, and managed to borrow some money from a friendly fellow tourist because we'd had half our money stolen the day before :s)
That left us one day in Kathmandu before we had to leave. The day we didn't go anywhere, there were no strikes. The day we left, there were protests all over the city and we couldn't really leave our house until it was time to catch the bus in the afternoon. Generally, the strikes seem to run out of energy by the afternoon so it's okay. We drove all through the night, set back a little by traffic and an accident, but just as we were approaching the border we stopped again- more strikes!
This time we were told we couldn't move til tomorrow, which was serious because our visas ranout that day. Everyone was very concerned about us but pretty much said it was too dangerous and we had to wait (when Maoists strike they throw stones and fire at any moving vehicles- not fun). But eventually we got moving around 2 o clock (told you they run out of energy in the afternoon) and we made it across the border by 6, and to Darjeeling by 10:30, making it a 32-hour journey door to door. All that for a cup of Darjeeling tea!
So here we are in Darjeeling, supposed to be able to see Everest but it's so foggy I can only just see the end of the road, and freezing cold although apparently its warmer everywhere else in India. However, they do speak Nepali so we can communicate, and we're having Dal Bhat for tea tonight, so it's all good :)
Saturday 14 November 2009
Final Report
This is the final report we wrote for SGCP- thought it might be an interesting summary
We have spent 3 months working with SGCP across 3 of the programs including SEP (Special Education Program), Home visit program and CP centre.
In SEP we have spent time observing the children in class and at mealtimes.
We have worked with Medha, the employed Speech therapist, with individual children. We have also created some resources together intended to be used for speech therapy in the future. We have given feeding training to the teachers and therapy staff. We asked them to give feedback of what they had learned and suggest some new feeding guidelines, but due to a number of factors this could not be completed. Unfortunately, our goals were not reached as we were unable to provide training to the helpers who play a key role at mealtimes.
We would like all helpers to receive the feeding training (ideally provided by Medha and Saruna), and for everyone who has received the training to feedback and create a new list of guidelines. We would also like the resources we have made to continue to be used regularly. In the short time we have been here we have noticed a lot of improvements amongst various children. This shows the importance of therapy so we’d like to encourage you to continue with your good work.
In the CP centre we have spent time observing individual sessions and have offered advice to the physiotherapists about how to maximize communication.
We would like therapists to continue to use this advice with future children that they treat.
On Home Visits we have provided speech therapy in combination with therapy provided by the home visitor, regarding both communication and feeding. We feel that home visits are essential as it teaches the parents how to manage the child’s condition in their own environment.
We would like the good work to continue.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. We have really enjoyed our time here and will be sorry to say goodbye.
We have spent 3 months working with SGCP across 3 of the programs including SEP (Special Education Program), Home visit program and CP centre.
In SEP we have spent time observing the children in class and at mealtimes.
We have worked with Medha, the employed Speech therapist, with individual children. We have also created some resources together intended to be used for speech therapy in the future. We have given feeding training to the teachers and therapy staff. We asked them to give feedback of what they had learned and suggest some new feeding guidelines, but due to a number of factors this could not be completed. Unfortunately, our goals were not reached as we were unable to provide training to the helpers who play a key role at mealtimes.
We would like all helpers to receive the feeding training (ideally provided by Medha and Saruna), and for everyone who has received the training to feedback and create a new list of guidelines. We would also like the resources we have made to continue to be used regularly. In the short time we have been here we have noticed a lot of improvements amongst various children. This shows the importance of therapy so we’d like to encourage you to continue with your good work.
In the CP centre we have spent time observing individual sessions and have offered advice to the physiotherapists about how to maximize communication.
We would like therapists to continue to use this advice with future children that they treat.
On Home Visits we have provided speech therapy in combination with therapy provided by the home visitor, regarding both communication and feeding. We feel that home visits are essential as it teaches the parents how to manage the child’s condition in their own environment.
We would like the good work to continue.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. We have really enjoyed our time here and will be sorry to say goodbye.
Saturday 31 October 2009
SGCP- The end
So our time as volunteers in Nepal has come to an end! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind and I have no idea of how time has passed since we returned from Thailand.
As I thought over our time here the other day, I realised that we have gone through various stages in our approach to speech therapy at the centre. First, we were in the classrooms trying to promote communication in lessons and advising on positioning and technique for feeding the children. After a while we met the Medha, the Nepali speech and language therapist, and spent some time in individual sessions with her and the rest of the time attempting individual sessions with our phrasebook, a bag of plastic fruit and a candle. This was quite a short-lived phase, as we often found that the children’s Nepali language was better than our own! So finally we settled on a more consultative model, which I think is the most effective thing we could have done given the circumstances.
We went out on home visits with a new home visitor, who as well as becoming a great friend, learned a lot about speech and language development and some basic approaches to therapy on the job. We would make recommendations and explain why we did what we did, and she would pass on the information to the parents. It was great to hear her suggesting approaches for the children that were a result of what we had told her. We also spent a few sessions with the physiotherapists in the outpatients centre with children they felt were in need of speech and language therapy. Again, it was so rewarding to see them following out what we had recommended, and coming up with new ideas for other children. I feel that this area will be where we have had the biggest and most lasting impact within the charity.
In addition to direct therapy and advice, we have also made a lot of resources for the speech and language therapy ‘department’ which was all but non-existent when we arrived. We have bought books and toys for sensory stories; we have made three therapy games; we have bought and made picture cards to be used for any number of activities, and we’ve made a communication book for a girl who needed one. I hope that these continue to be used after we’ve left. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve suggested that we do something or make something and have been told it’s already been done before by other volunteers, but nobody has used it or thought to tell us it existed. Nobody even thought to tell us there was a speech and language therapist in the centre, we found her by accident! But since we did find her and she too has become a very close friend, maybe there’s hope this time.
As I thought over our time here the other day, I realised that we have gone through various stages in our approach to speech therapy at the centre. First, we were in the classrooms trying to promote communication in lessons and advising on positioning and technique for feeding the children. After a while we met the Medha, the Nepali speech and language therapist, and spent some time in individual sessions with her and the rest of the time attempting individual sessions with our phrasebook, a bag of plastic fruit and a candle. This was quite a short-lived phase, as we often found that the children’s Nepali language was better than our own! So finally we settled on a more consultative model, which I think is the most effective thing we could have done given the circumstances.
We went out on home visits with a new home visitor, who as well as becoming a great friend, learned a lot about speech and language development and some basic approaches to therapy on the job. We would make recommendations and explain why we did what we did, and she would pass on the information to the parents. It was great to hear her suggesting approaches for the children that were a result of what we had told her. We also spent a few sessions with the physiotherapists in the outpatients centre with children they felt were in need of speech and language therapy. Again, it was so rewarding to see them following out what we had recommended, and coming up with new ideas for other children. I feel that this area will be where we have had the biggest and most lasting impact within the charity.
In addition to direct therapy and advice, we have also made a lot of resources for the speech and language therapy ‘department’ which was all but non-existent when we arrived. We have bought books and toys for sensory stories; we have made three therapy games; we have bought and made picture cards to be used for any number of activities, and we’ve made a communication book for a girl who needed one. I hope that these continue to be used after we’ve left. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve suggested that we do something or make something and have been told it’s already been done before by other volunteers, but nobody has used it or thought to tell us it existed. Nobody even thought to tell us there was a speech and language therapist in the centre, we found her by accident! But since we did find her and she too has become a very close friend, maybe there’s hope this time.
Sunday 25 October 2009
More photos!
Pictures are uploaded and should be able to view by anyone:
Enjoy! More news from Nepal soon
xx
Enjoy! More news from Nepal soon
xx
Thursday 15 October 2009
Thailand!!
Our "Summer Holiday" was a great break and time to relax and recharge before our final few weeks at SGCP.
The flight to Bangkok was quite exciting in itself- not long after we took off the pilot announced that Everest could be seen to our left! The cloud was low so all we could see was a snowy peak sticking out above the cloud layer, about the same height as we were flying. It was incredible to know that we were looking at the highest piece of land on the planet- wow.
As we flew into Bangkok, Ellie looked out the window and called me- the roads were so straight and the corners so square! All the houses were in rows! Such a simple thing has never been a novelty to me before, and it showed just how accustomed to Nepal we had become. Thailand (well, the parts we visited anyway) is very well developed aqnd westernised, but after the first dy or two of wonder at the civilised roads and the novelty of McDonalds and Boots, I was surprised how quickly everything seemed normal again. We take things for granted so easily.
So- the beach! The each was lovely, although overly cloudy. However, in the light of the earthquakes and tsunamis hitting the surrounding countries in the area, I don't think we can complain about a bit of wind and cloud! Lucy passed her PADI scuba diving open water course; Ellie and I went quad-biking; we all drove a 4x4 and I discovered that I was a fire-dancer! So quite an eventful week. The night-life was good as well- there were lots of cute beach-side bars, an 'Ice Bar' which boasts the world's only life-size ice tuk-tuk, and of course the full moon party!
We were in Thailand in its low season (apparently high season begins around about now) so nowhere was completely packed, but to me it seemed the perfect time to come for full moon. The party is on a neighbouring island so we had a booked a boat across, and foolishly thought that guarunteed us a seat. No chance! We sat on the beach awaiting the first boat with some Australian girls we had just met. As it approached, we joined the crowd standing on the shore but there were far too many people and far too little room. So we decided to wait on the shore for the next boat. We still weren't prepared for the fight-to-the-death that ensued as we tried to clamber on board! Ellie and I were pinned to the propellors by the crowds behind, but when Lucy got on board I knew that we all had to make it this time. We were being elbowed out and pushed from all sides, but finaly we made it- possibly our greatest acheivement of the trip so far! The boat ride again felt lilke an adventure and we arrived at the party island feeling more than a little wet and bedraggled. No worries though- this was a beach party so the wetter the better I guess. It was a gerat night- we danced & partied and met some people from Leeds! It's a small world.
It was a close call getting back to our island in time to catch the flight to Bangkok and then to Kathmandu (we were flying with Nepali airlines which has one plane and two flights to Thailand per week so if we missed it there was no second chance!) But we made it, just. Our Thai adventure was a bit of a rollercoaster at times but it was mostly a fun one, and how lovely it was to return to the normal insanity of Nepal!
The flight to Bangkok was quite exciting in itself- not long after we took off the pilot announced that Everest could be seen to our left! The cloud was low so all we could see was a snowy peak sticking out above the cloud layer, about the same height as we were flying. It was incredible to know that we were looking at the highest piece of land on the planet- wow.
As we flew into Bangkok, Ellie looked out the window and called me- the roads were so straight and the corners so square! All the houses were in rows! Such a simple thing has never been a novelty to me before, and it showed just how accustomed to Nepal we had become. Thailand (well, the parts we visited anyway) is very well developed aqnd westernised, but after the first dy or two of wonder at the civilised roads and the novelty of McDonalds and Boots, I was surprised how quickly everything seemed normal again. We take things for granted so easily.
So- the beach! The each was lovely, although overly cloudy. However, in the light of the earthquakes and tsunamis hitting the surrounding countries in the area, I don't think we can complain about a bit of wind and cloud! Lucy passed her PADI scuba diving open water course; Ellie and I went quad-biking; we all drove a 4x4 and I discovered that I was a fire-dancer! So quite an eventful week. The night-life was good as well- there were lots of cute beach-side bars, an 'Ice Bar' which boasts the world's only life-size ice tuk-tuk, and of course the full moon party!
We were in Thailand in its low season (apparently high season begins around about now) so nowhere was completely packed, but to me it seemed the perfect time to come for full moon. The party is on a neighbouring island so we had a booked a boat across, and foolishly thought that guarunteed us a seat. No chance! We sat on the beach awaiting the first boat with some Australian girls we had just met. As it approached, we joined the crowd standing on the shore but there were far too many people and far too little room. So we decided to wait on the shore for the next boat. We still weren't prepared for the fight-to-the-death that ensued as we tried to clamber on board! Ellie and I were pinned to the propellors by the crowds behind, but when Lucy got on board I knew that we all had to make it this time. We were being elbowed out and pushed from all sides, but finaly we made it- possibly our greatest acheivement of the trip so far! The boat ride again felt lilke an adventure and we arrived at the party island feeling more than a little wet and bedraggled. No worries though- this was a beach party so the wetter the better I guess. It was a gerat night- we danced & partied and met some people from Leeds! It's a small world.
It was a close call getting back to our island in time to catch the flight to Bangkok and then to Kathmandu (we were flying with Nepali airlines which has one plane and two flights to Thailand per week so if we missed it there was no second chance!) But we made it, just. Our Thai adventure was a bit of a rollercoaster at times but it was mostly a fun one, and how lovely it was to return to the normal insanity of Nepal!
Thursday 24 September 2009
Party Time
Festival is on the wind. You can smell it, hear it, feel it as you walk down the street. Children are eating ice creams; little girls are wearing pretty dresses; whole families are clambering on board buses with huge bags, going to visit their relatives. Fruit sellers line the street offering fresh melon, coconut and cucumber (?!) on paper plates, and banana-leaf plates are selling like hot cakes as people prepare for party time. Helium balloon float through the air. Kites fill the sky. Festival is on the wind.
Monday 21 September 2009
Where's your clinic?
So I went to this church on Sunday and it was lovely, not what I expected but nice all the same. At one point all the 'new people' had to stand up an introduce themselves (thankfully I wasn't the only one) and say who they were, what had brought them to Kathmandu etc. This is the 3rd time I've done that so I like to feel I've mastered the concise introductions: "Hi, I'm Becca, I've come from England and I'm here for 3 months as a speech and language therapist". My cold was just beginning and I felt very croaky so I wasn't even sure if people had heard me, but I had opened myself up to more than I had bargained for!
They were having some kind of birthday celebration so I was invited to stay for lunch, which was very friendly, and then I was accosted on all sides by people saying, "So you're a speech therapist? We've been waiting for a speech therapist to come along for ages!" "I've got this friend who has a cleft palate..." "I work in a school identifying special needs..." etc. One couple came to me and the wife clearly had some kind of voice problem (much the same as I do today but more long-term :P ) and gave me a whole case history, and the husband asked if he could come to my clinic or make an appointment! I'm going to try and see them this week. I'm no voice specialist, but then I'm no CP specialist either so I can just do my best to help those I can help. Ellie's going to come with me so hopefully between us we can make a difference.
If I wanted to stay in Nepal there would be no shortage of work it seems!
They were having some kind of birthday celebration so I was invited to stay for lunch, which was very friendly, and then I was accosted on all sides by people saying, "So you're a speech therapist? We've been waiting for a speech therapist to come along for ages!" "I've got this friend who has a cleft palate..." "I work in a school identifying special needs..." etc. One couple came to me and the wife clearly had some kind of voice problem (much the same as I do today but more long-term :P ) and gave me a whole case history, and the husband asked if he could come to my clinic or make an appointment! I'm going to try and see them this week. I'm no voice specialist, but then I'm no CP specialist either so I can just do my best to help those I can help. Ellie's going to come with me so hopefully between us we can make a difference.
If I wanted to stay in Nepal there would be no shortage of work it seems!
Epic News
So… a month later and I’m finally letting you in on some news- sorry to anyone who has been waiting for it and sorry for the length this is going to be! I’ll try and break it up so you can just read the bits you’re interested in, and skip the rest. I don’t know how I’m going to put the past month into words but here goes…
First, the ‘adjusting to life in Nepal’ bit:
I love it! The first couple of days I was walking around in a bit of a dream, but since then I think I have truly woken up and addressed real life in Nepal. It took a couple of weeks before I woke up and wasn’t a little bit disappointed to still be here, and early mornings are still when I feel the most homesick, I think because I haven’t got anything else to think about yet. But generally I’ve settled really well- I’m living with a great group of girls and we all have highs and lows, I’m learning my way around Kathmandu and am fairly confident getting a local bus on my own, and I’ve learned ‘ali ali’ (a little bit) Nepali. Some days, especially when I’ve been on home visits all day with only Nepalis (more about that later) I’m desperate to talk to someone whose first language is English, and don’t be surprised if I’m talking in pidgin English by the time I get home! Generally, the only time I don’t like Nepal is if I’m lost and hot on my own, but that hasn’t happened too many times so we’re okay.
Working for SGCP (the "Speech Therapy" bit):
The centre is amazing, I think I said that last time, so much better than I expected! It’s quite high tech and has received a lot of training over the years, and they even have their own newly-qualified speech and language therapist (SLT)!! At first we were a bit at a loss for what to do, because all the basic training we expected to do, wasn’t really required. But somehow the time has flown by and there isn’t enough time to do everything! It’s been helpful for the SLT to have people to bounce ideas off, because she has no form of mentoring at all, being one of about 6 Nepali SLTs in the country. We’ve worked a lot with her which has been great because we can discuss ideas but she’s much more able to carry them out (speaking the language is a huge advantage). We’ve been able to do some work though- intensive interaction and oro-motor work mostly, and a bit of basic vocabulary and language work with the help of our trusty English-Nepali phrasebook! We are working on a couple of communication books for some of the children as well, and trying to make some resources that can be used when we leave, because the SLT resources are more or less non-existent.
A part of our work which has been much more prominent than we expected is to do with feeding and swallowing. In England we wouldn’t be fully qualified to offer feeding and swallowing advice, but here we are the most informed people in the area, and we can’t stand by and watch practices we know to be unsafe, so we’ve been a little bit forced into the area by our consciences. Feeding practices aren’t great- a lot of it is positioning of the children and carers, and feeding techniques such as not putting too much on the spoon and waiting until one mouthful is finished before giving the next one, but there have been some dysphagia concerns as well.
On Wednesday I was asked by the volunteer physios we’re living with to accompany them on a home visit to see a child who was very ill, and whose mother was having a hard time feeding him. I went, armed with a few quickly translated Nepali phrases and some different consistencies of food, but I couldn’t have been prepared to meet a child so poorly and so obviously aspirating on anything he was given. In England he would have been nil by mouth for weeks and given another method of feeding, but it’s just not possible here, or at least not for a few days. What to do in that situation? The mother was doing everything perfectly in terms of positioning and method of feeding, but nothing would be safe. It’s a no-win situation: does he aspirate and develop a chest infection/pneumonia or starve? We managed to get him admitted to hospital but I’m not sure how helpful that will be, he needs the attention of so many specialists for so many complications that he already has. I felt so helpless in that situation, but it was such an eye-opener that I’ve never had on my travels before.
Fortunately, most of the children we see are much more healthy than that. I have been accompanying a Nepali girl on some home visits which are her very first because she’s still in training. These have been mixed- some don’t even need any speech therapy and I wonder what I’m even doing there, but some are really receptive and take on board all the advice I give, and having Lina there to translate is perfect. I feel like I can make more of a difference to individual children on home visits because these children wouldn’t otherwise see an SLT, whereas the children in the school at the centre already have a lot of fairly well-trained input. I like being in areas of the city where there are blatantly no other westerners as well, and visiting peoples houses, really getting involved in the culture. Lina is becoming a really good friend of both Ellie and I, I think I’ll really miss her when we leave.
I’m considering joining another volunteer we’ve met here (also called Becca- gets confusing!) in visiting one of the other districts in Nepal where SGCP works, to support the home visitors there. They’re much more isolated because they only come to the centre very rarely and there’s generally only one home visitor in the district, sometimes walking 7 hours to visit one child. I’m not sure though because if I’m just confronted with cases like the one described above that I can’t do anything to help, I’m not sure how good that would be for anyone. We’ll see. It won’t be for a couple more weeks anyway so I’m going to seek advice before fully committing.
The ‘travelling’ bit
I’m not much of a tourist, once I’ve seen one temple I’ve seen them all, but we have been to some pretty cool places, and there are more in the pipeline. Last weekend we went to Pokhara, which is the 2nd biggest city in Nepal. It’s about 200km away and took us 8 hours on the bus. That’s how long it took us to fly from Heathrow to Delhi- insane! It was beautiful though, and SO worth it! Kathmandu is a horrendously polluted city, but Pokhara was nice and clean. It was less crowded and less expensive, and there were less people trying to sell you things at every corner. We went paragliding on the Saturday which was awesome. I hadn’t been sure whether to go for it or not because it was pretty expensive, but then I figured it was something I’ve always wanted to do, and why not do it in the Himalayas? It was worth every penny. The views were beautiful and it was so relaxing- the harness on your back turns into a little seat in the sky so you can just sit back and enjoy the ride! We went really high as well, and the flight lasted about 40 minutes. If you ever get the opportunity, DO IT.
The place where we live is a fairly tourist-y area but not the worst, but we do sometimes have to prove that we are volunteers to not have to pay 200 Rupees for the privilege of walking through Patan Durbar Square to catch the bus to work every morning. We went down one time and took some pictures which are in the album, and it was strange seeing the same place from a different point of view.
We do have some exciting plans in the pipeline… this time next week we’ll be in Thailand!! It’s coming up to the Hindu version of Christmas, called ‘Dashain’ at the minute, so we get 10 days off starting from next Friday so we figured we’d find somewhere clean and nice where lots of animals aren’t being slaughtered everywhere, and a beach sounded good too. I wasn’t sure at first but now I’m really looking forward to it- Nepal is great but it’s no longer a novelty and a little bit of time out will be lovely J. Ellie and I are also considering popping up to Hong Kong to visit a friend of hers after we leave Nepal before we hit India, since it’s so nearby and I’d love to visit China. Watch this space for developments there!
The ‘being a Christian in a Hindu country’ bit:
I was asked about this today, and I haven’t thought about it too much, but I guess it doesn’t really feel too different from being a Christian in a secular country, only the religion is different. I’ve found that there’s more spiritual awareness here among the volunteers I’ve come with as well, which is nice and has made for some interesting conversations.
My own faith has changed in ways that I didn’t expect before I came. The longer I’m here the more I’m realising reasons I came that I didn’t even accept myself before I left. One reason was that I was running away from the Christian culture around me- I saw people running for God and couldn’t keep up and couldn’t accept the help that I needed to be able to keep up. I thought that while I was here I would learn to make it on my own as a Christian, but instead I’ve been learning about the importance of community, either through having community or lacking it, but through it all God is being my strength. My new favourite verse is: ‘My gracious favour is all you need, for my power is made perfect in your weakness’. It makes me embrace my weaknesses rather than running from them. I’m also learning to be less independent, as I’m seeing that so often my independence is rooted in selfishness. I’m reading my Bible more because I can’t rely on other people to feed it to me already processed.
I have been to various church services and kind of got involved in a home group but it’s for couples really so although they’ve made me very welcome, I’m not sure if I’ll keep going. All the members of the group are from the USA and it was a bizarre kind of culture-shock I didn’t expect when I first went, it took a couple of days for me to work it out! I’m writing this on Saturday night but it will probably be Sunday or Monday when I manage to post it and this bit will be outdated, but I’m hoping to visit a different international church tomorrow where apparently all the young people are hiding so maybe I’ll get in touch with some other people then. It’s difficult because we’re away for so many of the weekends. But God is good and he’s looking after me :-)
Well this is officially epic, hopefully next time will be much shorter and sooner. Well done if you reached the end! In summary… Nepal’s great, whoever’s praying for my health is doing an awesome job so keep it up! Although I have developed a bit of a cold over the weekend, so prayers for a speedy recovery would be great too :) Please write back with news from home, it’s nice to hear about what’s going on and makes me feel like I won’t have too much to keep up with in December!
Love you all xx
First, the ‘adjusting to life in Nepal’ bit:
I love it! The first couple of days I was walking around in a bit of a dream, but since then I think I have truly woken up and addressed real life in Nepal. It took a couple of weeks before I woke up and wasn’t a little bit disappointed to still be here, and early mornings are still when I feel the most homesick, I think because I haven’t got anything else to think about yet. But generally I’ve settled really well- I’m living with a great group of girls and we all have highs and lows, I’m learning my way around Kathmandu and am fairly confident getting a local bus on my own, and I’ve learned ‘ali ali’ (a little bit) Nepali. Some days, especially when I’ve been on home visits all day with only Nepalis (more about that later) I’m desperate to talk to someone whose first language is English, and don’t be surprised if I’m talking in pidgin English by the time I get home! Generally, the only time I don’t like Nepal is if I’m lost and hot on my own, but that hasn’t happened too many times so we’re okay.
Working for SGCP (the "Speech Therapy" bit):
The centre is amazing, I think I said that last time, so much better than I expected! It’s quite high tech and has received a lot of training over the years, and they even have their own newly-qualified speech and language therapist (SLT)!! At first we were a bit at a loss for what to do, because all the basic training we expected to do, wasn’t really required. But somehow the time has flown by and there isn’t enough time to do everything! It’s been helpful for the SLT to have people to bounce ideas off, because she has no form of mentoring at all, being one of about 6 Nepali SLTs in the country. We’ve worked a lot with her which has been great because we can discuss ideas but she’s much more able to carry them out (speaking the language is a huge advantage). We’ve been able to do some work though- intensive interaction and oro-motor work mostly, and a bit of basic vocabulary and language work with the help of our trusty English-Nepali phrasebook! We are working on a couple of communication books for some of the children as well, and trying to make some resources that can be used when we leave, because the SLT resources are more or less non-existent.
A part of our work which has been much more prominent than we expected is to do with feeding and swallowing. In England we wouldn’t be fully qualified to offer feeding and swallowing advice, but here we are the most informed people in the area, and we can’t stand by and watch practices we know to be unsafe, so we’ve been a little bit forced into the area by our consciences. Feeding practices aren’t great- a lot of it is positioning of the children and carers, and feeding techniques such as not putting too much on the spoon and waiting until one mouthful is finished before giving the next one, but there have been some dysphagia concerns as well.
On Wednesday I was asked by the volunteer physios we’re living with to accompany them on a home visit to see a child who was very ill, and whose mother was having a hard time feeding him. I went, armed with a few quickly translated Nepali phrases and some different consistencies of food, but I couldn’t have been prepared to meet a child so poorly and so obviously aspirating on anything he was given. In England he would have been nil by mouth for weeks and given another method of feeding, but it’s just not possible here, or at least not for a few days. What to do in that situation? The mother was doing everything perfectly in terms of positioning and method of feeding, but nothing would be safe. It’s a no-win situation: does he aspirate and develop a chest infection/pneumonia or starve? We managed to get him admitted to hospital but I’m not sure how helpful that will be, he needs the attention of so many specialists for so many complications that he already has. I felt so helpless in that situation, but it was such an eye-opener that I’ve never had on my travels before.
Fortunately, most of the children we see are much more healthy than that. I have been accompanying a Nepali girl on some home visits which are her very first because she’s still in training. These have been mixed- some don’t even need any speech therapy and I wonder what I’m even doing there, but some are really receptive and take on board all the advice I give, and having Lina there to translate is perfect. I feel like I can make more of a difference to individual children on home visits because these children wouldn’t otherwise see an SLT, whereas the children in the school at the centre already have a lot of fairly well-trained input. I like being in areas of the city where there are blatantly no other westerners as well, and visiting peoples houses, really getting involved in the culture. Lina is becoming a really good friend of both Ellie and I, I think I’ll really miss her when we leave.
I’m considering joining another volunteer we’ve met here (also called Becca- gets confusing!) in visiting one of the other districts in Nepal where SGCP works, to support the home visitors there. They’re much more isolated because they only come to the centre very rarely and there’s generally only one home visitor in the district, sometimes walking 7 hours to visit one child. I’m not sure though because if I’m just confronted with cases like the one described above that I can’t do anything to help, I’m not sure how good that would be for anyone. We’ll see. It won’t be for a couple more weeks anyway so I’m going to seek advice before fully committing.
The ‘travelling’ bit
I’m not much of a tourist, once I’ve seen one temple I’ve seen them all, but we have been to some pretty cool places, and there are more in the pipeline. Last weekend we went to Pokhara, which is the 2nd biggest city in Nepal. It’s about 200km away and took us 8 hours on the bus. That’s how long it took us to fly from Heathrow to Delhi- insane! It was beautiful though, and SO worth it! Kathmandu is a horrendously polluted city, but Pokhara was nice and clean. It was less crowded and less expensive, and there were less people trying to sell you things at every corner. We went paragliding on the Saturday which was awesome. I hadn’t been sure whether to go for it or not because it was pretty expensive, but then I figured it was something I’ve always wanted to do, and why not do it in the Himalayas? It was worth every penny. The views were beautiful and it was so relaxing- the harness on your back turns into a little seat in the sky so you can just sit back and enjoy the ride! We went really high as well, and the flight lasted about 40 minutes. If you ever get the opportunity, DO IT.
The place where we live is a fairly tourist-y area but not the worst, but we do sometimes have to prove that we are volunteers to not have to pay 200 Rupees for the privilege of walking through Patan Durbar Square to catch the bus to work every morning. We went down one time and took some pictures which are in the album, and it was strange seeing the same place from a different point of view.
We do have some exciting plans in the pipeline… this time next week we’ll be in Thailand!! It’s coming up to the Hindu version of Christmas, called ‘Dashain’ at the minute, so we get 10 days off starting from next Friday so we figured we’d find somewhere clean and nice where lots of animals aren’t being slaughtered everywhere, and a beach sounded good too. I wasn’t sure at first but now I’m really looking forward to it- Nepal is great but it’s no longer a novelty and a little bit of time out will be lovely J. Ellie and I are also considering popping up to Hong Kong to visit a friend of hers after we leave Nepal before we hit India, since it’s so nearby and I’d love to visit China. Watch this space for developments there!
The ‘being a Christian in a Hindu country’ bit:
I was asked about this today, and I haven’t thought about it too much, but I guess it doesn’t really feel too different from being a Christian in a secular country, only the religion is different. I’ve found that there’s more spiritual awareness here among the volunteers I’ve come with as well, which is nice and has made for some interesting conversations.
My own faith has changed in ways that I didn’t expect before I came. The longer I’m here the more I’m realising reasons I came that I didn’t even accept myself before I left. One reason was that I was running away from the Christian culture around me- I saw people running for God and couldn’t keep up and couldn’t accept the help that I needed to be able to keep up. I thought that while I was here I would learn to make it on my own as a Christian, but instead I’ve been learning about the importance of community, either through having community or lacking it, but through it all God is being my strength. My new favourite verse is: ‘My gracious favour is all you need, for my power is made perfect in your weakness’. It makes me embrace my weaknesses rather than running from them. I’m also learning to be less independent, as I’m seeing that so often my independence is rooted in selfishness. I’m reading my Bible more because I can’t rely on other people to feed it to me already processed.
I have been to various church services and kind of got involved in a home group but it’s for couples really so although they’ve made me very welcome, I’m not sure if I’ll keep going. All the members of the group are from the USA and it was a bizarre kind of culture-shock I didn’t expect when I first went, it took a couple of days for me to work it out! I’m writing this on Saturday night but it will probably be Sunday or Monday when I manage to post it and this bit will be outdated, but I’m hoping to visit a different international church tomorrow where apparently all the young people are hiding so maybe I’ll get in touch with some other people then. It’s difficult because we’re away for so many of the weekends. But God is good and he’s looking after me :-)
Well this is officially epic, hopefully next time will be much shorter and sooner. Well done if you reached the end! In summary… Nepal’s great, whoever’s praying for my health is doing an awesome job so keep it up! Although I have developed a bit of a cold over the weekend, so prayers for a speedy recovery would be great too :) Please write back with news from home, it’s nice to hear about what’s going on and makes me feel like I won’t have too much to keep up with in December!
Love you all xx
Saturday 19 September 2009
Photos are up!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155336&id=502007537&l=96514d4bc6
You should be able to see them even if you're not on facebook. Let me know if not. Proper update to come soon (promise!!)
You should be able to see them even if you're not on facebook. Let me know if not. Proper update to come soon (promise!!)
Friday 21 August 2009
Week 1
So I have 9 minutes to try and sum up all that has happened this week, which blatantly isn't possible! It's been an amazing week and already I feel like we've been here forever but at the same time I'm looking forward to feeling a bit more settled and at home than I do. We live in a fairly touristy part of Kathmandu (Look up Patan Durbar Square- we're 5 mins walk from there) but it's quite well connected to the rest of the city and we've had some limited experience of public transport on local buses to work!
The centre we're working in is really nice- a lot better equipped and more 'shiny' than I expected, especially compared to everywhere else in Nepal as far as I can see! The people there are lovely and yesterday we discovered they have a qualified Nepali SLT working there which no-one had thought to tell us, but is a good thing because we have something to work with now! We're still not entirely sure wht our role will be but hopefully that will come out in the next week, we've just been observing really this week.
Another great thing about the centre is that it's out of the city- the roads are so polluted you can taste the fumes in your mouth all the time- but SGCP is in the hills a bit so it's much nicer. We do have the BEST VIEW from our house though- it's about 5 stories high and has a flat roof from which you can see all the moutains that surround the city- on a clear day its beautiful and on a clear night (expecially in a power cut) the stars are immense.
Time's up- gotta go!
Becca
The centre we're working in is really nice- a lot better equipped and more 'shiny' than I expected, especially compared to everywhere else in Nepal as far as I can see! The people there are lovely and yesterday we discovered they have a qualified Nepali SLT working there which no-one had thought to tell us, but is a good thing because we have something to work with now! We're still not entirely sure wht our role will be but hopefully that will come out in the next week, we've just been observing really this week.
Another great thing about the centre is that it's out of the city- the roads are so polluted you can taste the fumes in your mouth all the time- but SGCP is in the hills a bit so it's much nicer. We do have the BEST VIEW from our house though- it's about 5 stories high and has a flat roof from which you can see all the moutains that surround the city- on a clear day its beautiful and on a clear night (expecially in a power cut) the stars are immense.
Time's up- gotta go!
Becca
Sunday 2 August 2009
Welcome!!
Hi!
On 15th August, Ellie and I will be flying out of Heathrow off on an adventure to Nepal, bringing speech and language therapy to a charity called SGCP: Self-help Group for Cerebral Palsy. We will be joining two physios from Leeds Met who are flying out this week, and staying for 3 months, offering whatever help and support we can.
This blog will hopefully record some of our adventures while we are away. Hopefully they'll be better written than this, but the first entry is always pretty hard, and it's especially hard when we haven't even gone yet. So far we have abseiled off buildings to raise money for the charity, graduated from the course (a key part) and booked flights and accomodation. We've done some research around the charity and I've visited a local specialist school working with a large CP caseload to get some ideas and advice, but I get the sense that nothing can really prepare us for what we will find when we arrive, and until then, all we can do is wait...
On 15th August, Ellie and I will be flying out of Heathrow off on an adventure to Nepal, bringing speech and language therapy to a charity called SGCP: Self-help Group for Cerebral Palsy. We will be joining two physios from Leeds Met who are flying out this week, and staying for 3 months, offering whatever help and support we can.
This blog will hopefully record some of our adventures while we are away. Hopefully they'll be better written than this, but the first entry is always pretty hard, and it's especially hard when we haven't even gone yet. So far we have abseiled off buildings to raise money for the charity, graduated from the course (a key part) and booked flights and accomodation. We've done some research around the charity and I've visited a local specialist school working with a large CP caseload to get some ideas and advice, but I get the sense that nothing can really prepare us for what we will find when we arrive, and until then, all we can do is wait...
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