We have now been at Chisang Clinic exactly one week although, as always, the first week feels like it has been much longer!
I have to admit our first night was quite intimidating as we arrived late on the evening when everything was dark. We met the four girls who run the clinic - Laxmi, Ulga, Yaumena and Duge - although at the time I could not remember any of the names except Laxmi. They did not speak much English on the first evening and we speak no Nepali. Neither me nor Josh really knew what to do or what to say and I went to bed feeling that I had no idea what I had let myself in for. It didn't help that it hadn't rained yet and even sitting in the breeze I was pouring sweat. It was an interesting night.
The next day, however, things immediately started looking up. It rained overnight which brought the temperature down to a bearable level, although still warmer than England. To start conversation I asked Yaumena to teach me some Nepali and she very willingly obliged and was very patient with my horrendous pronunciation. They have many sounds that we don't have and languages do not come naturally to me anyway, but she is a good teacher.
Over the past week the girls at the clinic have opened up immensely and their English is much better than we thought on the first night. Debendra (who set up and officially runs the clinic) mentioned that some of the volunteers have been less than ideal and, in hindsight, they were probably as wary of us as we were of them. If two total strangers were coming to live in my house for a month I would also be quite wary of them.
Now it is hard to believe we have only known them a week as everything has settled into routine nicely and they are extremely helpful with everything. They do laugh at many of our mistakes with language and helping with chores but it is friendly laughter and, to be honest, many of our mistakes deserve it!
The Clinic itself is set in Bhaunne, a rural village in south-east Nepal. The patients that come in the door can be anything and the Clinic is the first port of call for anything medical in the area and serves a similar function to a GP surgery in England. Treatment here does not come free and therefore it is not quite the same as at home. However, there still seems to be a huge variation in the wealth of those who walk in the door but often it is hard to tell.
The girls have been working here for at least two years and, although none of them are qualified as doctors, the coughs, colds, ear aches, tummy pains and things that make up a lot of community work they are fantastic at dealing with. Part of GP at home is also to provide social support for people and the girls also seem to provide this amply. While I don't understand what is being said many patients, especially the women, stay for much longer than a medical conversation would take and I assume they are discussing village life, gossip and the troubles people have at home or they see around them.
Since we have been here there have been a couple of notable cases that have come in that are outside the usual snuffly children or coughs. These are the cases were Josh and I can be useful. We are having a major crash course in speaking through a translator and it does highlight which questions are useful and have to be answered and which can be left out. We are also learning how to simplify questions to make them understandable and translatable. It also highlights the usefulness of examination, although this can be a challenge if you cannot translate what you need the patient to do!
There are fewer patients who attend the clinic than we expected and this is partly due to the heat as during the day it really is too hot to be doing much. Therefore we are keeping ourselves busy doing other things and there is lots of time for reading! Debendra is visiting in a week's time and he said there are cases that he wants us to review and this will be interesting. Partly to see the kinds of cases and also it may be a test of our medical knowledge, but I am looking forward to this.
I hope everyone is well at home and that the weather is getting warmer!
I have to admit our first night was quite intimidating as we arrived late on the evening when everything was dark. We met the four girls who run the clinic - Laxmi, Ulga, Yaumena and Duge - although at the time I could not remember any of the names except Laxmi. They did not speak much English on the first evening and we speak no Nepali. Neither me nor Josh really knew what to do or what to say and I went to bed feeling that I had no idea what I had let myself in for. It didn't help that it hadn't rained yet and even sitting in the breeze I was pouring sweat. It was an interesting night.
The next day, however, things immediately started looking up. It rained overnight which brought the temperature down to a bearable level, although still warmer than England. To start conversation I asked Yaumena to teach me some Nepali and she very willingly obliged and was very patient with my horrendous pronunciation. They have many sounds that we don't have and languages do not come naturally to me anyway, but she is a good teacher.
Over the past week the girls at the clinic have opened up immensely and their English is much better than we thought on the first night. Debendra (who set up and officially runs the clinic) mentioned that some of the volunteers have been less than ideal and, in hindsight, they were probably as wary of us as we were of them. If two total strangers were coming to live in my house for a month I would also be quite wary of them.
Now it is hard to believe we have only known them a week as everything has settled into routine nicely and they are extremely helpful with everything. They do laugh at many of our mistakes with language and helping with chores but it is friendly laughter and, to be honest, many of our mistakes deserve it!
The Clinic itself is set in Bhaunne, a rural village in south-east Nepal. The patients that come in the door can be anything and the Clinic is the first port of call for anything medical in the area and serves a similar function to a GP surgery in England. Treatment here does not come free and therefore it is not quite the same as at home. However, there still seems to be a huge variation in the wealth of those who walk in the door but often it is hard to tell.
The girls have been working here for at least two years and, although none of them are qualified as doctors, the coughs, colds, ear aches, tummy pains and things that make up a lot of community work they are fantastic at dealing with. Part of GP at home is also to provide social support for people and the girls also seem to provide this amply. While I don't understand what is being said many patients, especially the women, stay for much longer than a medical conversation would take and I assume they are discussing village life, gossip and the troubles people have at home or they see around them.
Since we have been here there have been a couple of notable cases that have come in that are outside the usual snuffly children or coughs. These are the cases were Josh and I can be useful. We are having a major crash course in speaking through a translator and it does highlight which questions are useful and have to be answered and which can be left out. We are also learning how to simplify questions to make them understandable and translatable. It also highlights the usefulness of examination, although this can be a challenge if you cannot translate what you need the patient to do!
There are fewer patients who attend the clinic than we expected and this is partly due to the heat as during the day it really is too hot to be doing much. Therefore we are keeping ourselves busy doing other things and there is lots of time for reading! Debendra is visiting in a week's time and he said there are cases that he wants us to review and this will be interesting. Partly to see the kinds of cases and also it may be a test of our medical knowledge, but I am looking forward to this.
I hope everyone is well at home and that the weather is getting warmer!
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