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.

Sunday 25 October 2009

More photos!

Pictures are uploaded and should be able to view by anyone:

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!