My Placement - Patan Community Based Rehabilitation Centre

After writing so many blogs about my activities each weekend, it was about time that I write about what actually brought me here to Nepal - volunteering. Thanks to my support crew at the West Vancouver Little League, I was able to come to Nepal 2 months prior to my planned trip here in November to volunteer with a Canadian-based organization called Volunteers Abroad.

I have been placed at a community rehabilitation centre for children with physical and mental disabilites. Having very little grasp of the Nepali language, I have found that interacting with these kids, especially their teachers, challenging to say the least but so far very rewarding! Each morning their bus arrives at 10:30am and 15 or so kids unload down a very rocky road to the placement. Some kids need help either in their wheelchair or just a helping hand to walk, while others can mosey down the path and start the day's lessons. After all the kids are there, the group sings the Nepali national anthem, a few nursery rhymes then a simple prayer.  Let the day begin!

Right now I am working with the group's most disabled kids. There are 10 or so kids in our class and their challenges range from autism to cerebral palsey to severe musclular and skeletal deformations as well as very limited cognitive capacities. With the limited resources available to the centre, our class is very basic. Each morning we do role call, work on the ABC's and 1,2,3's then try to recite children's songs and clap our hands. When lunch comes around, I feed one child. Each day I try to work with a different one but I've taken a liking to one girl with CP because her smile lights up the room! Her name is Surina and she is non-verbal and loves to draw circles and follow connect the dot patterns. We've been working on her motor skills and response to verbal cues such as, "high five" "left hand / right hand" and "come here (from her chair)." Yesterday and today were successful days as we climbed two flights of stairs together - she can't get up stairs on her own and has a tough time with support.

I see myself (and the other volunteer from our house) trying to help out in a way that will be simple to follow and leave a legacy. We have come up with a few suggestions for the staff at the centre work on each day in the hopes that when we leave, they will be running their facility in a much more efficient manor. Here are our suggestions:
1. A daily agenda from when classes start to when classes finish. Currently the teachers just come into class unprepared and rip out a sheet of paper and do the same thing over and over with each student.
2. Progress reports with each student. Currently their monitoring system is done once a year and with very little professional input. Our hope for this is to teach each teacher the basics of keeping track of student's progress through weekly report cards and group reviews.
3. A volunteer handbook - this placement gets a lot of volunteers through its doors and for some reason they either leave or end up just playing with the kids because there's no system set up for when they arrive. We want to draft up a very simple first week program as well as have each studen't profile up-to-date so they have all pertinent information to do the best job possible.

I know that there are plenty of other things we could try to help out with however if we make goals that are too lofty then we're setting ourselves up for failure. My partner and I have 6 more weeks at this placement and have made great headway on improving Patan CBR's methods.

The placement has been a lot of fun so far, even with the mayhem we've gotten ourselves into! The kids are great, I'm learning so much about working with children with diabilities and the whole time getting to help out an organization that would benefit from my knowledge in the anatomy and physiology field.

Chitwan National Park

Sorry for the weird layout of the blog but for some reason I can't align things up. Enjoy anyways!

So a post that actually has some photos rather than YOU having to click on a link to see what we're doing on the opposite side of the globe (to see all of our pics from this trip click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq) haha!

It was another packed weekend trip with Nicole and our group where we made our way by tour bus to Chitwan National Park. The drive was along the same road as my crazy experience 3 weeks ago however this time we had our own vehicle and because of the holiday Tihar, the roads seemed empty! The park was dedicated as Nepal's first protected park in 1973 as many of the animals that survive here were or are on the verge of extintion. Since the program's inception more than 30 years ago, species of Tigers, Elephants, Crocodiles and Rhinos have begun to increase in population and show positive signs of growth because of the program. We stayed at the Jungle Adventure World, beside the river and beside the bar! The photo shows just how beautiful the views were at sunset and this was right outside our door. Nic and I lucked out and were able to have a small hut to ourselves making for a great weekend together. The price was right and the group was awesome!

The following day we set out on a jungle tour by foot looking for Rhinos and Tigers. Notta, zilch, zero! We did come across a group of monkeys, a tarantula and a few spotted deer. None-the-less, the walk was really cool because of the iminent dangers, we had to walk as quietly as possible and were direted by hand signals from our guide. It added a touch of realization to the walk and made for a very exciting 3 hours. Almost as soon as we arrived back to our resort, we were beckoned into the river with our guide for one of the coolest experiences I've ever had - elephant bathing! They had us climb onto these guys bareback and try to stay on for as long as possible. You get an idea of how tough it was with the four of us on this guy trying to stay on for as long as possible.

We went for lunch, had a few hours to relax then it was showtime once again. We got into groups of 4 and took off on a group elephant ride. We were about 8 feet up from the ground and on top of an elephant - who wouldn't make a face like Nic? About 30 minutes into the walk we came into a grassy meadow with at least 20 other elephants. To our surprise, there were 3 rhinos just kicking it, eating away at what was left of the tall grass. Cameras were flashing like crazy, people were making noise and there was a ton of chit chat, yet these rhinos didn't mind. We got lots of really cool photos with them - an NO, nobody got out of their elephant seats and walked around!

Once back at the resort, the sun was setting and made for an amazing sunset. Nic and I ran as fast as we could to get the million dollar picture but missed the sun over the horizon by two or three minutes. The photo we got is good but doesn't do what we saw justice.

On our final morning, our group went out on a canoe trip down the river and back to our village. As I mentioned before, crocodiles roam the waters yet are seldomly seen during the day. Coming off of a straight away section of the river and with a section of still water on one side, there it was - a salt water crocodile, a man eater, the big kahuna! It was poking its eyes out at us to see if we were tasty enough to take a run at. This time it wasn't the croc's day and it let us not only pass, but turn around and pass again with our cameras perched snapping away!! I've seen crocs before in Mexico but this was pretty cool knowing that this species of croc is one of the largest in the world!

So that's it for Chitwan. The trip was a ton of fun and our guide made for an awesome trip. I would recommend this part of Nepal to everyone who comes to this country as it's now marked as one of my favourite places travelled!!

Photos and Stories Update

I can't believe how much time has already passed since arriving here in Nepal. This entire week has been packed totally full with orientation at the volunteer house, familiarizing ourselves with the area around us and exploring more of the city as the group gets to know other volunteers on a much better level.

Our group here has been awesome - or should I say 'attiutum'! Nic and I have been taking tons of photos of our adventures which are all posted on PICASA (link below) but here are a few to show off some of the highlights from the past week or so:

On Tuesdaythe guys in the placement went to get fitted for durwall suari's the male equivalent of the Sari. It was really cool having them fit every inch of our body to get just the right fit. And talk about inexpensive! These things cost just NRS 2500 - about $40 CDN. This Friday we are all dressing up in our gear and heading out for a traditional night out in Thamel at a traditional restaurant nearbye.

Afterwards the group went to see Kathmandu Durbar Square. Kathmandu’s Durbar Square is one of three durbar (royal palace) squares in the Kathmandu Valley. It is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, still take place today. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows, panels and houses and is an amazing place to see any time of the year. I however didn't go with the group as I has a sudden 24-hour sickness that got the better of me. I can happily say that all is good and that all cylinders are firing now!

So after taking a hiatus from activities with the group, I was back in action and went with the group to a very historic site on the outskirts of Kathmandu called Pushupatti. The Pashupainath Temple is the most important Hindu shrine for all Hindus in Nepal and also for many Hindus in India and rest of the world. Here families will take the body of the deceased and place them onto a concrete pillar located at specific points within the temple grounds. The location at which the body gets placed will reflect that person's rank within the society. If you're of royalty or government then your body gets placed up river on one side of a dividing bridge.

After visiting the temple, we made our way to Boudinath - the lsecond argest Boudah stupa in the world. We had lunch here and took lots of funny pictures!

Friday was a very full day. Not only was it the last day of our language training with our teacher Sharma G, it was our Amazing Race day and night out wih the volunteers wearing our new Saris & Durwall Suari. The race took us around the city with a three hour time limit. I was paired up with another housemate from Ontario and we took to the streets. First Challenge: hand feed your partner a bowl of dhaal bhat! I totally had to eat from her hand and basically inhale what was given to me. Not a bad start - we got out second.

So after bartering with locals, recording a video of speaking Nepalese with market sellers and making up a catchy song for other racers, Nadia and I finished last...boo! It was a lot of fun and a great way to see more of the city.

With our night out, everyone looked awesome! Nic especially looked amazing and even took the time to pose in a Charlie's Angel stance! You Rock Nic! The dinner was a traditional Nepalese tapa-style meal with authentic music, dancing and entertainment. It was a great was to finish off a week that was packed full of things to do.

This week everyone begins their placement. It should be a great week!!

Check out more photos online at: http://picasaweb.google.ca/home?hl=en&tab=wq