HRDC Children’s Orthopedic Hospital Visit

Quiet eyes follow us intently as we make our way through the surgical wards of HRDC Hospital in Kavre-Banepa, about a 45-minute drive from Kathmandu, Nepal.  The wards are lined on either side with children in their hospital beds, one or two parents sitting near their child’s bedside.

As I approached each child it was as if a switch had been turned on inside them, alighting a radiant smile.  Each of them has had to endure major surgery.  Many of them were in traction, back braces, leg splints and other post-surgical rehabilitation devices.  Some of them were barely able to move, but their smile was ever-present.  I was overwhelmed and overcome by my own emotions, my feelings for their plight and my hopes that the worst was over with brighter days to come.

We visited this hospital twice during our Nepal trip.  Through Rotary, we have an X-ray machine on the way and a new grant application which will bring a two-bed ICU unit to the hospital.  HRDC serves children from around Nepal as well as from other surrounding countries.  They do spinal surgeries that are not done anywhere else in the country.  Families pay what they are able for their children’s treatment and the hospital treats around 9,000 children per year (up to the age of 18).

The photographs tell their story… 

Meeting Ramesh

“Are you really the Nirmala Gyawali, from the Nepali TV and radio programs I’ve heard?”, asked a student at the Dharan School for the Blind in South-Eastern Nepal.  “I have always dreamed of meeting you!  My name is Ramesh.”

That was our first introduction to an extraordinary young man who lives and studies at one of the few schools in Nepal that have only children with blindness, not integrated, inclusive schools which most blind children attend.  This school has about eighty children living within the school compound and attending classes.  The school seemed to be a very nice environment for the children.  The school grounds were neat and well cared for and the classrooms weren’t fancy, but they were functional.

We were in this part of Nepal to meet three Rotary clubs with partner projects helping people with disability and also to visit the Purwanchal Deaf School where, the following day we were going to take the entire school of 55 kids out to a park for hiking, lunch and games.  Longtime friend, Ms. Nirmala Gyawali (a woman with blindness, who has been on many Nepali TV and Radio shows promoting disability awareness) and her sister Sita wanted to make a short visit to the school for the blind to see how it was running and how the children there were doing.

We met many children at the school that afternoon but the one who stood out for me was definitely Ramesh.  Born with a birth defect that kept his eyes from being formed, with only skin covering where the eyes would have been, his appearance was so different and, initially, a bit unsettling.   However, as is always the case, appearances are only skin-deep and within that young man is a sharp mind, an engaging personality and an inner-vision.

“Tell me about Seattle, Mr. Robert….what is it like there?”  asked Ramesh as we sat surrounded by other students in the boy’s dormitory. 

His English was polite and clear.  Ramesh asked many questions about my photography business, my family and what I looked like.

“What is your age, Mr. Robert?” he asked.

I replied that I was 52 years old.

“Oh, you don’t sound that old at all” he replied with a bit of a twinkle in his voice!

Our conversation went on for another 15 or 20 minutes and then I needed to catch-up with the rest of our group and head off to the hotel.  As I was led out of the dorm room by a number of kids with blindness, suddenly Ramesh asked, “Mr. Robert, how tall are you?”

“Check it out for yourself!” I told him. 

Then he and the other boys reached up and up until they got to the top of my head and “oooh’d” and “ahhh’d” at my comparative height (FYI….I’m 6’2”).  Another kid put his arms around my waist to see how big around I was.  It was an interesting and special experience for me as I thought to myself how curious I would be if I didn’t have sight and how much I would want to know a person’s physical shape to help me make a mental picture of them.

As we crossed the open field between the buildings I saw a boy kicking a soccer ball and then running after it.  The ball was wrapped in a noisy plastic bag that made a distinct ‘rustling’ sound every time it bounced on the ground.  He didn’t have vision, but his hearing was acute as he strongly kicked, then deftly ran precisely to where the ball landed and bounced to a stop.  Another new concept to me: what an ingenious, low-tech way to make an easy-to-find ball for the blind!

Ramesh had a final, difficult question for me. “Mr. Robert, what opportunities will there be for my further education after I finish my high school?”

That was a tough one…I though carefully about my response.  I didn’t want to promise anything I couldn’t deliver or to raise his hopes too high, but I also didn’t want to discourage this bright young man either.  I said, “study hard and do well on your final exams, then let’s see what is possible.  If you do well, I’m sure there will be opportunities for higher education.”

Many of the boys and girls gathered to say goodbye to us after our short but sweet visit.  I know we will return next year to see how they are all doing and how we might be able to provide help. 

Life is about investment and return.  This is true for ourselves and our personal lives, as well as in our financial lives.  We invest time, energy and sometimes money in ourselves, our family and our friends.  For example, we invest in golf lessons hoping that will ‘pay off’ in a better overall game.  If I was giving financial advice, I would say that making sure Ramesh gets a great education is an investment deal that can’t miss.

-Robert Rose

Basanta

March 11, 2011


Today was the day we were going to visit Basanta. He has been our sponsored student since he was in Class 1 back in 2004. Tina, my sister pays $50 a month for his school fees, uniform, hostel and schoolbooks. Every year Tina puts a care package together, picking out a few clothes, shoes, chocolates and little toys to send with wishes of Happiness and love!

We came to know about Basanta from Rotaractor Sanjeev Dahal who had a friend who taught at Suryodaya Secondary School. She mentioned there was an orphan boy who did not have much but was a good student and needed a sponsor to continue his studies. He would hide under his table because he was so ashamed about not having the requisite school uniform or materials everyone else had. The teacher would provide second hand clothes and materials but she would not be able to provide these on an on-going basis. He lost his Mother after his little brother was born and his father was so upset, he left the family and now Basanta has 2 aunts to care for him during festivals and school breaks. He still has his grandparents whom he loves very much.

“No problem”, Rob had immediately said, I am sure we can find a sponsor for him and that was that!

That was 7 years ago and yesterday we enjoyed a bright and enthusiastic 13 year old, now in 7th grade who is Vice President of the school’s Eco Club! He loves plants, shows us the club’s herbal garden which they had tended which boasts of mint, timor, basil, and all other herbal /medicinal native plants.

He is shy but opened up after an hour and was excited to tell us where his Eco Club activities has sent him; Godavari and other neighboring towns to look at plants and trees. He said he was so excited about our meeting, he could not sleep that night before and neither could he concentrate at class the day we were supposed to arrive. He’s a bright and confident boy now and on the verge of adolescence and despite the heartache of missing parents, he seemed content with the knowledge that somewhere halfway around the world, Tina, his adopted parent cares for him and loves him.

He wants to meet Tina! I hope that next year she can visit and finally meet the recipient of her love and care! Gotta make it happen! He’s smile is oh so worth it!

Fun-filled Day

It was the day scheduled to take all the sponsored children from the Naxal Deaf School to the zoo just like last year! Last minute confirmation required a change in plans to have a little party at the deaf hostel instead since they had to study for exams and the kids' parents could only allow 2 hours for the event.

So we stopped at Batt Bathini department store and loaded up on games and sports equipment so we could have fun playing at the hostel! Rob and Balram ordered snacks for lunch + drinks + oranges and we were in business!

All the other hostel kids had to wait until we videotaped the sponsored kids for their requisite video message to their sponsors. Then they all filed in to participate in all sorts of games we brought. It felt like carnival day at our kid's grade school minus the cake walk game =).

We had a soccer ball, table tennis, badminton, racket ball, cricket, golf, jump rope and hoola hoops! See the photos and it says it all! I didn't even need to learn sign language!

Sita came along with us as our guide and translator! Rakesh came along with us! He is the young adult who had been kept home due to his disability and who now lives at NDA and goes to school at class 5. He had suffered from brittle bone decease and is this tiny guy in a tiny wheel chair! He was overwhelmed and realized he was not alone.

Everyone got along! I was busy braiding the friendship bracelets that were in those beany baby give away baggies! I finally got to tie a square knot correctly!

Enjoy the pics when they get posted!

Getting it Right!

It’s been 2 years since 1000 hearing aids were distributed to children and adults with hearing impairment in hopes that this will help them progress in the world that prefers sound to function and communicate. A large hearing aid manufacturing foundation goes around the world providing hearing aids to Africa, South America, Asia and far flung countries were nutrition, lack of awareness about hearing disorders, decease and poor hygiene contribute to conductive or sensorineural hearing loss or both. Was it all a numbers game?

Did they bask in their glory when they drop millions of hearing aids to show their patrons and donors, government grants and individual contributors they had used the funds wisely? Alas, it is so short sighted to dispose of these hearing aids only to find out that without follow-up or monitoring, the results of such endeavor only reveal that a large percentage of these hearing aids have not been used at all.

A meeting with Rotaractors, a speech therapist and donors from Holland, Monique and Rolf, brings forth the comprehensive plan to do this right, to do this all over again. This time not with a large organization but with people and organizations that understand that sustainability comes from monitoring that ensures long term benefits make for meaningful change in a beneficiary's life.

Monique and Rolf are currently building a hostel for 25 impoverished deaf students at the Kavre School for the Hearing Impaired plus living quarters for the hostel administrator. This frees up classrooms so the school can continue to provide grades 1-10 + 2 courses to the deaf community in Banepa.

Trifc.org continues to sponsor deaf children out there and provided the deaf women's cooperative the marketing process for the embroidered note cards. With funds, new audiograms will be performed on the children to determine who will benefit from hearing aids. Dr Ruchie will donate her time to be part of the audiogram testing and will continue to monitor the development and adoption of the hearing aids for the children who will receive them.

We'll get it right this time, make the necessary changes to the program, elicit the help of the children's parents and together understand what exactly can and cannot be done for them. It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a several more to work together to combat ignorance, greed, short sightedness. We all need to listen to that voice inside of us when a louder voice seems to want to drown us out.

Embroidered notecards empower women

Rose Stevens has began the revolution of empowering women with the set up of the Kavre Deaf Women's Development Coop in Banepa, Nepal. Here 15 women had undergone a a 15 day training program to produce export quality note cards embroidered with colorful floral patterns.

The women would not have any other source of livelihood or supplemental income for their families on account of their handicap and the limited opportunities in this society.

They socialize and teach each other new ideas and gain support for their issues and rejoice in their good fortunes as well. Its a coming together of women who have since time held the family unit together and is the driving force for progress!

See their work and their expressions - words cannot convey!

Wish Fulfilling Goddess – Manakamana Temple

February 28, 2011


On the way to Pokhara, we stopped at the Manakamana Temple on top of a hill 1300 meters above sea level just north-east of the town of Mugling. You can hike up foot trails to worship and offer your best chickens or goats but that can take up to 3 -4 hours. After such offerings, the sacrificial creature is dressed and blessed and taken back home for a blessed feast! Or you can board a cable car completed in 1998 by the Swiss government and the pride of Nepal’s tourism board!

We opted to ride up the cable car and spend 10- 15 minutes admiring the little hillside farms and terraced plots as the breeze cooled our heads and kept us in a perpetual dream state!

We enter the turnabout where we hopped off the cable car. We hiked through small alley ways filled with merchants on either side peddling offerings for the Goddess, flowers, strings, coconuts, fruits etc. in little wicker or metal trays.

After about 15 minutes, we stepped a square where the temple has stood for decades when a King of Gorkha had his wish fulfilled and as promised built a temple to Manakamana for all other Hindus to worship and honor.

The temple, built in the 17Th century looked worn out, covered with wax and soot from the millions of butter candles lit and left to burn in all its natural glory for the more smoke that reaches its rafters, equals the passion of its devotees! Rice litters the square as visitors feed the hundreds of pigeons that have made the temple their home - living room plus toilet as well! We made sure not to stand along the electrical cables above us where the pigeons perched happily! Bells surrounded the temple which is rang as the devotees prayed and circled 3 times to make sure the wish has reached the Goddess’ ears.

The lines snaked around and behind the temple, the visitors waiting patiently their turn to enter the temple and get a blessing from the priest inside! They reappear happy, joyful and pleased they had made the pleasing sacrifice to Manakamana!

I must say it is true, your wishes do come true!

Of Suspension Bridges

02/28/2011


It was the last leg of the Volunteer’s Tour and we were on our way to Pokhara, the restful lakeside town made popular by the trekkers to the Annapurna Circuit and where many other trailheads begin.

While Sita, a visually challenged woman who was the first blind Nepali to complete her Masters Degree accompanied the group to Dhulikhel, Jayanti, the program officer of the Rotary Disability Awareness Campaign accompanied the group this time.

Jayanti’s story is one of sheer commitment to one’s desire to make something of oneself in a society that excludes the disabled. Her disability occurred at 2 years of age. She contracted polio and was sent to live at an SOS orphanage for children with disabilities and never saw her mother until she turned 20 and was released. Her family became the children and guardians at SOS Children’s Center at Djorpati. She has then reconnected with her family which lives in Danghadi, a district in the Western part of Nepal that requires a 15 hour bus ride and ½ hour rickshaw ride. She gets to spend the festivals with her family and currently lives with her sister Kalpana. Today she also attends the University and will complete her Masters in Mass Communications in the next 2 years.

The Disability Awareness Campaign precludes the employment of disabled personnel in every possible segment of this program. In the duration of this campaign, we have seen the people with disability (PWD) build wheelchairs, bookshelves, coordinate the activities of the awareness campaign, pose as models for all our media and advertising materials, write articles and commentaries in all Nepali news publications, participate in sports days and become beneficiaries of 25 projects that were developed by the Nepali Rotary Clubs partnered with District 5030 and other US Rotary clubs totaling an amount of over $250,000.00.

The trip to Pokhara included a short walk through a tiny village carved into a mountainside and connected to the main highway via a steel cable suspension bridge. Such an analogy of what people can do for each other, how a single construction enables a community to thrive and gain services for their health, education, medical, nutrition and opportunity to earn and participate in nation building. Everybody needs a connection, everybody needs to contribute and everybody can because we are all able!
Building Community, Bridging Continents!

Rotary can provide that connection, District to District, Club to Club, Rotarian to Rotarian! Building bridges and connecting communities!

Response to a Heartache

For the most part the sighted children are willing and able to help the challenged ones and they seem to be well assimilated. Subodh, one of our sponsored kids, placed 1st in a class of 185 8th graders and last year he placed 4th. He understands that education is his ticket to opportunity despite his blindness. He knows his strengths and has harnessed it to excel. He won 3 awards this year: one in speech, the second in poetry and a third in quiz competition. He has won cash prizes and medals and trophies to prove his achievements. The sad part is that these awards seem to have disappeared from the Resource Room the teachers have told him they were going to store them. Are they worth any money? Could they have sold them? That’s only one of the questions we began to ask this evening as Subodh began to tell us about the injustices that have befallen these visually challenged students.

We had invited Subodh to dine with us that evening and here is shared the pain and heartache he has stored in to his giving heart. He belongs to a school that has been part of an inclusive program supported by the government. Hostel accommodations are provided to the school plus 3 resource teachers who would teach the students braille and support them in their integrated study with sighted children. We have come to find out that the resource teachers are not teaching braille but teaching sighted students other subjects. They hardly receive their braille paper and rely on their sighted friends to read to them. The older students have taken it upon themselves to teach the younger students braille and together they try to make their tests and homework with whatever is provided to them. If this was not horrible enough, he had also revealed that some musical instruments donated by some foreign visitors to their hostel has been taken away and provided for use by sighted students.

Something definitely must be done about this!

We are back in Kathmandu at the NAWB (Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind), a non-profit organization that has the support of INGOs from Germany and Japan, trifc.org, government ministries of Nepal and a host of local foundations to provide resources, education, vocational training for the visually impaired children and adults. NAWB operates in 7 districts which serves 5500 children. They had estimated that there are 30,000 visually challenged school aged children in the country.

We were there to check on the 200 boxes of Braille books we had shipped from Seattle to build the first National Braille Library of Nepal and plan the project to catalogue the Books and ensure that these are disseminated via a Mobile Library to the districts that NAWB covers. There are plans for India to donate the vehicle for this purpose.


We had brought our concerns to Rajan Raut, Immediate past chairman of the center. He's a Rotarian and passionate supported of this organization, he will follow up on the goings on at the Sanjuwani School Blind Hostel and Resource center with the help of the Rotary Club at Dhulikhel. It is a start in the correction of practices that have harmed the blind students’ progress. It is encouraging to note that despite the seemingly unjust society, that when good people are asked to do something about an injustice, there are Rotarians who will stand up and take the challenge, work in their environment and ensure positive change for the students and the future of the inclusive program.

On our part, Sita Gyawali, our volunteer will continue to keep in touch with Subodh and the other students on their progress and needs and relay conditions to Mr. Rajan Raut for continued action and support.

Guest post from Rose Stevens - TRIFC Program Coordinator

We arrived in Dhulikel in the late afternoon after driving thru
pouring rain. The hotel is perched high on a hill but with the rain
and fog there is no view and no heat. We sit huddled around a
kerosene heater in the bar area drinking hot tea and talking. Ashok
Shrethsa arrives with my sponsored child and a young man who has been
a recipient of a small micro finance loan to start a fish farm in his
village.

My sponsored child had been burned in a forest fire near his village.
He is 8 years old and quite small. After the fire he had been unable
to walk as his legs were badly burnt with a lot of skin contraction.
After several surgeries and physical therapy he is now able to walk
and is doing quite well. He has been attending a local school but will
soon be returning to his village.

The young fish farmer was wrapped under a blanket which he used to hid
the deformed side of his face. He was born with a very dramatic birth
defect which drew his head and face down to his shoulder. He had never
left his house as his face was scary to other people. Several
surgeries later his appearance is greatly improved and he is able to
be social settings.

He was very shy and self conscious of his appearance. I imagine his
shyness is due to the many years of isolation due to his appearance.
His fish are growing and will be ready for harvest in the near future.
He is also raising pigs as a cash crop. I admire his courage in moving
forward with his life and for being willing to take a chance on the
surgery.

We were joined for dinner by Bethany and Eva, both Fullbright
scholars, and Ashok and Annu as well as Rob, Sandie, Rose, Balram. We
discussed our agenda and logistics for the training program the next
day. We went to bed in chilly rooms with Hot Water Bottles to warm our
bed! Hot water bottles were a thing of my parents and grandparents
generation. I have never used a hot water bottle for warmth. I am
moving backward in time!

The next day we awake to sunshine and a view of the Himalyan
Mountains-WOW. The snow capped mountains above a sea of puffy white
clouds with small islands here and there. This is the Nepal you see in
photos.

Today is the first day of handicraft training. The suitcase is packed
with all the materials and we squeeze into the car for the trip to
the Kavre Barnape Deaf School. Although it is only a short distance
away it takes some time to weave around the potholes in the dirt road
and the motor bikes and pedestrians.

We are greeted by Krishina the school principal and several deaf
children. We set up the materials and the women start to trickle in.
First in Bandana who is in her early twenties and very outgoing and
friendly. She is a crafty young woman who had made several other paper
products which she proudly shared with us.

I decided to give her a preview of the finisted product…. HER EYES
WIDENED AND HER SMILE GREW BROADER..as she was astounded by the beauty
of the samples. She signed her happiness and utter amazement and how
thrilled she was to learn this craft. I was very happy to have this
project so well received by the first participant.

The ladies continued to arrive and finally we had 17 eager
participants. The smiles were broad and the excitement contagious.
Introductions of our team were completed and the program began. I
spoke of our principles: commitment, pride and partnership; and our
goals: empowerment of women, to become strong women, to create
community and to improve the life conditions of their families and
themselves.

Many of these women came from outlying villages where they were the
only deaf women. Within just a few hours I could see the ladies
bonding and communicating with each other in ways they could not with
others. To finally meet with others who spoke the same language was
very empowering for them.

There were four women who were illiterate. It had never been so
apparent to me the benefit of literacy in a persons’ life. Although
deaf, the literate women had fine motor skills, the ability to measure
and cut paper and to read simple directions. The other women tried so
hard but even cutting paper with scissors was difficult.

These four ladies also had eyesight problems and I am investigating
the possible need for glasses or cataract surgery. They came back for
second day of training and my heart broke as I saw them struggling and
trying so hard. Those who have the greatest need and desire are going
to find this the most difficult.

This is one of the most satisfying projects I have completed. The joy
on the faces as they completed the card is indescribable. The joy in
my heart to witness this opportunity of community building and skill
building is overwhelming. I see brighter futures for these women
thanks to TRIFC.

Rose Stevens
Program Coordinator
TRIFC

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