Back at Sewa Kendra with Doctor Predhan

The Kathmandu Valley - view from Swayambhu stupa.
see all photos »

We are now settled into an apartment in Boudha, the traditionally Tibetan part of Kathmandu. I found the place through a friend who was living here and renting the flat during the past year. It's paradise compared to the last few weeks- we each have our own room, a shared bathroom (hot water at all times!!) a balcony, and a shared kitchen. Needless to say, we've settled in pretty fast and made it our home. We have so much fun, each morning we go to all the side street shops and vendors and attempt our Nepali as we buy groceries for the day.

Our apartment building (second balcony is ours) about 10 minutes from Boudha stupa.
see all photos »

We met with Dr. Pradhan at the Sewa Kendra Leprosy relief clinic yesterday. I was so excited to see her again, only a year after meeting her for the first time. We talked about the fundraising Loy and I did over Christmas last year. She told me the money raised from the slide show, along with the money donated by First Presbyterian church in Rapid City, SD is being saved as she gradually saves more and more for the construction of the new outpatient wing to her clinic.

I have never seen such trust and devotion be expressed through a single stroke of the hand to a cheek or deformed hand.

Volunteering at the Kokhana Leprosarium- cleaning and bandaging ulcers of the leprosy patients.
see all photos »

We walked around with her, and met some of the patients. I was surprised at how many of the faces I remembered from last year. They grin and beam as we are introduced to each one and are told a brief account of their life, and how they have come to the clinic. I am continually struck, throughout the last several days with Dr. Pradhan, at how each person responds to her touch. I have never seen such trust and devotion be expressed through a single stroke of the hand to a cheek or deformed hand.

Dr. Pradhan and a patient- an inspiration and amazing example of what one woman is capable of.
see all photos »

We spent this morning (It's the 21st of sept. as I write this) working in the Old Age home/ social welfare clinic- Yet another endeavor that Dr. Pradhan and her small staff have taken on (including a school she has started for children of single mothers who are beggars- this woman continues to amaze me and inspire me).

We helped wash clothes, and bathe the elderly women of the nursing home, a somewhat difficult task when you are dealing with a different language and hard of hearing individuals- but it was fun, none the less. We were soaked and laughing at our attempts to wash clothes with a bar of soap and a small tub, the women laughed at us when we scrubbed their hair and said "ektam ramro!" (very good!). The dirt on their skin had to be washed with a "washcloth" (a plastic woven thing...didn't resemble a washcloth much, but it exfoliated!) and scrubbed over and over- some women were a shade lighter when we were finished scrubbing them. I didn't ask when their last bath had been- but from the looks of it, I could tell it had been a long time.

We were famished after our first day, and had an amazing meal of simple dal bhat (rice and lentils) at the clinic. We will be going to Kokhana, the govt. Leprosarium 12 km from the city, on Monday.

I have a feeling, that this trip will be pivotal to my future. This trip is different. I am not just observing anymore, I am not in culture shock anymore. I am living and breathing with the people. I have been invited to help serve at a funeral in Daragaon, I have eaten with the people at Sewa Kendra, and I will be cleaning the gaping and oozing ulcers of the Leprosy patients on Monday. I have been changed already. This is just the first couple of weeks...who knows what can happen in several more?