Hello from Kathmandu. We arrived on Sunday, March 9th after a 30 plus hour plane trip. We were met at the airport by lots of people we did not know which included 2 other missionary couples, one of which we were replacing, and the branch president of the local Kathmandu LDS branch here. They were so friendly and they greeted us with the traditional scarves which they draped around our neck. We gathered all of our bags, and headed to our apartment which is a very nice 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom high rise apartment. There is a swimming pool and an elevator which is nice since we live on the 7th floor. The only problem is that the elevator only works when there is power and the power here is very restricted.
We dropped our bags in our apartment and left for a ceremony that culminated a training program for the blind. We attended a government function that evening to celebrate the success of the Helping Babies Breathe program in Nepal. We got back to our apartment late in the evening and we fell asleep immediately.
Helping Babies Breathe is a program the church uses in countries where there is a high infant mortality rate and that was next on our first week agenda. Our second and third day in Nepal was with a team of 2 American doctors and NICU nurse and an anesthetist who were teaching Nepali medical professionals how to help a baby breathe after delivery. If a Nepali baby doesn't naturally breathe on his own on delivery, the medical community here would just let the baby die. Teaching the Nepalese some basic skills like how to suction the baby and give him a little help with a mask and a bag has dropped the infant mortality rate tremendously. Here I am with Dr. Ken Richardson, a neonatologist, learning how to do what the others are doing in the room. The baby like doll is called a Neo-Natalie and the church provides a Neo-natalie, information poster, and training materials to all the participants for their hospitals for free. All the church asks is that the participants go home and teach the others in their hospitals. Participants were doctors, nurses, midwives, and paramedics. The American team works with them all until they can successfully pass a test that certifies they can do the procedures within in a certain time frame and in the proper order. They were a wonderful team!
Probably the hardest part for me was going to one of the government run maternity hospitals. The government recognized the high infant mortality rate and decided to pay the pregnant women who lived outside of Kathmandu a small stipend that they could use to come into the hospital here. An unintended consequence of that action meant that literally hundreds of pregnant women are at the hospital each day. So the women with somebody from their family comes to the hospital and waits outside on the grounds until it is time for delivery. The doctor that showed us the hospital literally took us on the hospital roof to avoid all the people just to get us into the hospital. These medical professionals are doing the best they can with very limited resources. There is mold on the walls and very worn, outdated equipment. There are about 5 birthing beds - not rooms - with midwives and or doctors delivering. There is a small room with a few beds for recovery and a small room with beds for women who are getting close to delivery. We also went into the neonatal intensive care unit. That was hard for me. One little infant boy was being worked on, but the American neonatologist that was with us said he would not make it. In the incubators they use a cake cover like thing to cover the baby's head when there is oxygen delivered. There are ants in the incubators and crawling on the babies. The professionals are smiling and upbeat, but it must be very difficult. After we left, we spent a few minutes while Dr. Richardson gave out little wooden cars he had brought from the US for the kids he saw. These children were delighted. You will see some of their happy faces below.
This little guy didn't know what to think of our white faces, and was a little wary of us, but how he liked to play with his car.
This little girl is using the traditional Napali greeting. She puts her hands up in a prayer type motion and says, "Nameste." That is not the word for thank you, but "hello."
Even the little older child was happy to get a wooden car. You just can't be sad about leaving home when you see the faces of happy children.
There is more coming, but here is just a morsel of where we are. Nepal is rich in culture. We are beginning to write a new project that will take the rest of 2014 and 2015 to complete. People in poverty all over the world are put into groups. This project will work with the very, very poorest of God's children. To fit into this qualification, the home must not have a regular income, eats only one meal a day (most likely rice), the children and parents have no education, and the children beg to survive. With the help of an organization called Choice, the Church is going to 170 hamlets and look for participants who can provide a little towards a water buffalo with the rest of the money to be provided by charities. The water buffalo will be able to provide milk, plow the rice fields, and supply the fuel for a bio-gas digester for the homes. The homes are just mud/clay/rock huts. The biogas-digester will not only supply heat, but will also provide a cooking surface. One of the health benefits is for the women who cook inside the home. The smoke ends up killing the women by the time they are about 38. The biogas-digester will use the water buffalo fuel and will vent to the outside. The mortality rate for the women should go down. When the buffalo has a calf, the calf will go into a co-op to provide someone else with a water buffalo. It is a long process, but you don't need to know it all. Just imagine 2 blessed Idaho people helping with water buffalo. That should give you quite a laugh.
We will add more later - hopefully soon. Just know that we believe we are all God's children. We are here to do good and to help others to help themselves. We are not sure how to do that, but Christ does, and he will help us to learn what we need to do and when we need to do it. It seems like this is such a small contribution in a country with many problems, but we will do all we can with the resources we have. It is fulfilling and a little overwhelming. Let the adventure go on.
