Banepa Banepa Banepa Banepa: Volunteering at the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (HRDC)

So, for the past month I have been volunteering at HRDC, The Hospital for Rehabilitation of Disabled Children. The hospital is located in the city of Banepa which is approx 30Km outside Kathmandu... which also translates into 1-2 hrs on a packed local bus with a kid hanging off the side yelling "BANEPA BANEPA BANEPA BANEPA" the whole time. The other volunteers (3-4 of us) lived in the home of and with the family of Damu, one of the physiotherapists at HRDC. As volunteers we are quite international, coming from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia (and Canada obviously). The hospital is situated on a hill about the size of Mt. Doug and overlooks Banepa... and on a clear day offers a stunning view of the Langtang Himalaya range. Its a really nice facility receiving most funding from international sponsors. This support allows for a really cool set up: although many kids treated here come from poor villages, they are treated regardless of whether or not the child's parents can pay the fee. This includes treatment that range from major surgeries to prostheses to physiotherapy treatment. If unable to pay, parents give what they can and the rest is fronted by the hospital. From what I understand, this is the only hospital in Nepal where this is possible... Cool hey?

Most of the cases here are clubfoot, stiff elbow (improperly healed fractures that are mobilized under anesthesia), cerebral palsy and burn patients... but there are loads of cases each day that we just wouldn't see at home. To be honest, the first few days were tough as I knew it would be but I don't think there's any way to prepare yourself to witness kids in so much pain. These are without a doubt the bravest kids I've ever met in my whole life. While many of them have a family member staying with them, some are alone and others spend more than five months in the hospital. As volunteers, we typically follow the doctors, nurses and physios through the morning ward rounds. After, we usually watch and learn from the physios doing out-patient assessments or follow ups, or we work with in-patients doing range of motion exercises and stretching/strengthening. Physios here have a double role, acting as both physiotherapists and ortho techs so we also had many opportunities to help with plaster cast applications and removals. Needless to say, the language barrier occasionally posed as a challenge; while all of the docs and physios spoke english beautifully, there was a range in the english abilities of the kids. They got a kick out of teaching us to speak Nepali though, so we soon learned the essentials... at least for describing strength and flexibility exercises and for ordering tea. We still relied heavily on charades.... and due to this I think our primary roll was as entertainers.

This month hasn't been all work and no play however (though even our "work" often ended up being just goofing around with the kids). We had a few days off for Tihar, the festival of light. For this occation, we spent a few days back in Kathmandu to take in the craziness of a celebration that to us resembled halloween, Christmas and New Years all rolled into one. Windows and doorways were lit with candles and "Christmas lights" and Marigold garlands while kids go from business to business singing until they're given a few rupees.

So before I mentioned the "stunning view of the Langtang Himalaya range" but you better take note I specified "on a clear day".... for my first three weeks in Banepa, there were no such days. However, the weather FINALLY cooperated durring my last week and for those three days I think my most frequently used word was "wow". Taking advantage of the good weather we took an hour bus ride to Namo Buddha where the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery is located. Namo Buddha is a sacred pilgrimage site because it is where, according to Buddhist tradition, Buddha gave his life to feed a starving tigress and her cubs. We stayed in the monastery guest house which meant we ate our meals with the monks and, thanks to a very kind monk called Lhakpa who showed us around, we were also allowed to sit in on a 4 hour puja (this is when the monks sit chanting and make offerings of sound and food). It was an incredible experience. The sound of the conch, the horns, the drums and the bells are intoxicating as is the sound of the Tibetan chants. Again, luck was on our side as durring this time the monks were preparing for a festival where Thrangu Rinpoche would be visiting. Though we had to leave before his arrival, we still got to watch the full Lama Dancing dress rehearsal.... did I mention this was an incredible experience?

Now sadly both my time at HRDC and in Nepal have come to an end, and I will greatly miss everyone Ive met this past month. Its bittersweet though; I am beyond excited to meet up with Christina and Nouri in Darjeeling!

Goodbye Nepal, I hope we meet again one day!

Vanessa

PS for more info on HRDC pleas visit: http://www.hrdcnepal.org/
and for more info on Namo Buddha please visit: http://www.namo-buddha.org

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