Medical Camp

September 28th 

     At Kalu Ram's suggestion, we made our way into a village in the area to "assist" (we had no prior knowledge of what that would entail) in a medical camp that operates on the occasional Sunday.  Dr. Samson is a medical doctor from India who devotes his time, skills, and medical supplies to this medical camp whenever he is able to come to Nepal. Janaac, a young man from Nepalgunj came along with Dr. Samson to assist. We met Netra, a twenty six year old dude from Kalu Ram's church for the first time; he proved to be an excellent translator, which was a Godsend for us.

                          Village life

                         Village residents

     The medical camp was set up in the village's tiny brick church, which had also been damaged by waist-high water during the monsoon in August. Dr. Samson and Janaac had brought boxes of medication and some dressing supplies, which we spread out on a table inside the church, in front of a barred window. It didn't take long for a crowd with all imaginable ailments and injuries to gather. After Dr. Samson had assessed and written a prescription for a patient, they would walk around outside the building, and push their prescription towards us through the barred window to have it filled.  In an instant, three Nurses and a computer graphics designer were pharmacists.  Normal, right? Nearly two hundred people we're seen that day!

The "pharmacists" hard at work (Megan & Janaac

 in foreground)

        Our friend Netra (front left) visiting with people

        in the "waiting room"

     Some of the medical camp crew. Dr. Samson is 

     in the back row on the left

        A member of the village's local church walked Nathan, Netra and I around the village so we could survey the damage caused by August's monsoon. A trail of curious children soon followed.  

                          

                                               Kids outside the clinic

     During the monsoon (which lasted days), water reached waist height within thirty minutes and remained at this level for twenty four hours, destroying many mud and brick homes.  People endured critical losses of livestock as well. Some literally lost everything they had.  We could see people toiling ox-powered plows to prepare plots of land for reconstruction  of homes, and in the meantime, were living on the ground under crudely built shelters.  Kula Ram explained that government assistance when these disasters occur is abysmal. Our gratitude for the resources we are blessed with in Canada is ever increasing.

     The woman in the background is standing

     where her house once stood before being

     destroyed by the monsoon

                       

                                    A home heavily damaged by flooding

     Someone's dwelling until/if their home is rebuilt

     The Pastor of the village kindly insisted that we share a meal in his home (which had also been damaged by flooding). People's desire to know us, and to share what little they have with us, even in the very midst of tremendous hardship overwhelms us. Their thankfulness to God in the face of immense difficulty is humbling, to say the least.

              Sharing a meal with new friends

                                

           The Pastor (to Nate's right) and his family