First week in Delhi

 we have just got to the end of our first week in India which has been really inspirational. 

Asha have given us a great experience visiting a different slum each day and also provided us with a translator so Steve can do a surgery and I can do an antenatal clinic. Aalthough I've learnt a smattering of Hindi (which the locals finds very amusing) the difficulties come when anyone replies to my questions, so the translator is very important! Sometimes it's hard to know how best to refer etc., but Asha are able to do simple blood tests and ultrasound and the health workers provide some really good guidance. I think Steve has a far harder job than me trying to sort out 'total body pain' and some chronic conditions that have gone in for years, but he is doing a great job.

During the week we have met amazing women from the slums that Asha have helped to empower. In one slum they described how collecting water had previously taken 2 hours to fetch and carry water, but how Asha taught them how to campaign for their rights. They described how almost every day they lobbied health ministers and after 6 months finally got the results- water in the slum lanes! Lovely to see how proud they are of their achievements.

I was particularly happy to vist Seelampur slum, home to 38,000 people. This was the slum I visited with the group from New Gen in 2009 where we mostly did painting, but I also ran a few midwifery workshops for the Comminity health volunteers. I had absolutely no expectations that they would remember me- but they did! 

Moreover 2 of the ladies- Saira and Ameena told me that they always remembered what I had taught them when they attended a home delivery and the baby needs some resus. It just shows that we don't always know when something may be having an impact.  Felt so humbled by their gifts of bangles, a necklace and a mug for Steve. They are so poor and yet so generous......

Phil, Elizabeth, Jane and Brian have now arrived from New gen so we are really enjoying spending time with them and having some fun times. We are all off for a big Asha celebration tonight! 1200 young people from the slums have now gone through University! How amazing is that! 

Inspiring

Just had 2 days at Asha doing clinics, meeting the community health volunteers and students from the slums who are going through uni. Asha is really inspiring. Here are their values:

which I think I ll adopt as my own. Asha works in 60 slums both Hindu and Muslim and teaches and works out these values in a totally non - preachy way. 

What was most impressive was meeting students who Asha have sponsored through university determined to live these values and give back to their original slum community. Those who have finished university mentor the ones now going though, who in turn mentor aspiring school students and so on. The effect on their families and communities is immense- this is transformation of people's lives in a way that is hard to describe .......suffice to say it is living and breathing Gods Kingdom without trying to convert or manipulate anyone. Truly inspiring.

The clinics are not that different to Swanley duty surgeries - lots of people wanting second opinions for problems they have had for years, interspersed with the occasional really ill patient. The main plus is that you haven't got the computer nagging you to do QOF stuff and the main downside is that there's usually no record of what drugs they've been given or investigations done. The range of possible conditions is wider and need to be vigilant for TB and HIV. But in practice these are very rare with improving sanitation , vaccination and health promotion. Their vaccination rates are better than Swanley!!

Sarah had been doing antenatal clinics which are also challenging in terms of knowing what to do if you pick up anything Abnormal although there is access to simple blood tests and also ultrasound if really necessary.

There is now water and better sanitation in the slums but still much grinding poverty. In our first slum the main occupation was cutting and trimming flip flop straps. 40p for a paper recycling sized bag of straps which would take about a day to do

reflections on our time in Kathmandu

How quickly 2 weeks can pass! We have had such an amaIng time and can't believe the first chapter is now at an end. Although 2 weeks is not long we are both feeling very blessed and enriched by our experiences.......

1. The incredible scenery. Although we have some good pics they can never do justice to the beautiful mountains and landscapes we have been privileged to see first hand.

2  meeting some beautiful people (especially our guide and porter who became our friends). We had so many good laughs with them and they could not do enough for us. We will miss them greatly.

3. Dealing with physical challenges. I was really not sure whether I would manage the challenge of trekking for up to 8 hours a day with slightly dodgy knees, let alone coping with altitude  , freezing temperatures (most of you know how pathetic I am with the cold!)

And if course the extra difficulties posed with snow, ice and no crampons or ice axe! But somehow We can find the strength to do these things, especially with prayer and approaching things with a "can do" attitude.

4. Gratitude. Possibly the most important thing I've seen on this trek is to remind how much we have to be thankful for in our lives. I will never again take for granted that I can wash and clean my teeth whenever I want to! How lucky we are! 

Return to birth centre, tribhuvan teaching hospital

Following our amazing trek we had one day spare for visiting the birth centre in Kathmandu where I worked for 3 weeks just before Christmas as part of the Royal College of Midwives Global  Twinning project. I was particularly keen to see if there had been any developments and also for Steve to meet everyone, although was not sure whether this would  be possible as the date for the visit had been changed so many times due to the initial delays  with our travel.

I need not have worried- they were all there! It was great to see Kiran again and just wonderful to go over to the birth centre and see Kalpana, Parvati and Beena so keen to tell me how well the

birth centre is doing. - there were 30 births in the first 6 months, but another 30 in the past 3 months which is great news. There was also a woman in labour whilst we visited who spoke good English. She asked me to express her thanks to all the UK volunteers for helping to create such a lovely relaxing place to give birth.

I was so pleased to see the posters and information leaflets that we had created together being used so well and also to hear that they are finding the satisfaction survey so useful to be able to 'sell' the idea of the birth centre. Word about the birth centre has definitely spread and the nurse midwives have definitely realised the power of getting good publicity! They are collecting their statistics and also planning a celebration for the 100th birth including inviting the press! ! I also suggested that they invite a few of the mothers and babies so they could talk to the press about their experiences. In all we had a wonderful time and will of course stay in touch with each other.

Descent to civilisation?

The last post left us in a storm at 11000 feet playing cards with our guide. The following day was a daunting 1300 metre descent which we anticipated would be doubly difficult due to the new snow. In fact it was delightful! We woke to sunshine and a clear blue sky. A short walk up to the crest of the ridge revealed a completely unexpected mountain vista of the eastern Himalayas stretching all the way to Everest.

 The descent through a pine forest on virgin freshly fallen snow was delightful with the snow cushioning our knees from the pain of the descent. As we got lower the pines gave way to rhododendron forest just coming into flower. After just 4 hours we stumbled across our destination for the day. Melamchigaon. 

We stayed in a lodge with a French Buddhist retreat led by a Tibetan llama with a great sense of humour. 

We went on tour of the village including the Buddhist temple and prayer cave followed by a prayer walk round the whole village. 

Next was a visit to an excellent school which was a centre of excellence for the surrounding villages and produced results as good as the best in Kathmandu. 

This had the effect of keeping local children in the area rather than moving the children to Kathmandu for their education never to return to their villages.

We are now in the Helambu region where the Tibetan bread is much more tasty and everyone congregates in a communal room on low benches around a low fire and stove. The mum of the house impressed us by cooking for 24 people from a single stove without any sign of stress. 

We've now come up with the perfect lunchtime snack - dal bhatt followed by Mars bar momos - a sort of Mars bar pasty - yum!

Further down the mountain the following day Karma our guide invited himself in to someone's front room / kitchen and proceeded to cook us hand picked nettle soup. 

As we got further down we started to see the inevitable signs of urbanisation - piles of rubbish , stray dogs, filthy streets, and piles of building rubble, but the Nepalis we met remained unfailingly friendly and cheerful. The return bus journey to Kathmandu was less bone- shaking than the outbound jouney but the driver did have an addiction to overtaking uphill on blind hairpin bends with his horn blaring. 

We are now back in Kathmandu for a day of R & R before heading for Delhi tomorrow.

Sarah's version

Think steves blog makes it all seem a bit like a walk in the park..... Don't think I have ever been quite so exhausted in my life- or as cold. For 4 nights I have gone to bed wearing the same clothes as I have worn all day, plus a down sleeping bag and a quilt or two. (Merino wool top is amazing as it doesn't smell despite being worn continuously 24 hours a day for 6 days- or maybe I have just now got immune!). But am still cold! But hardly surprising when snow comes in through the cracks in the walls and the temperature inside is still around minus 10. It really does make you appreciate all the luxuries we have that we just take for granted most of the time. N0 water for washing because everything is frozen over and toilet facilities somewhat challenging- especially for girls........ Despite this it is all worth it as we are having some amazing experiences. Crossing

 the high pass felt like an amazing achievement. But am looking forward to warming up a bit! 

Adventures at 14000 feet

I naively thought that crossing the high pass at 15000 feet would be the most difficult day. How wrong could I be! On the map the trek from phedi to ghopte (the next village) really didn't look too bad. How wrong I was! Frozen snow and ice made climbing and descending really treacherous. We really could have done with an ice axe and crampons  but just had to make the best of it, especially on exposed slopes. As ever our guide and porter were just amazing and kept us safe in dire conditions. At one point karma insisted on taking my rucksack for me, despite his own load. We finally arrived at our lodge after 8 hours of exhausting conditions around 30 mins before whiteout conditions and a storm that threatened to blow the roof off! But we had a great evening playing cards- England vs Nepal (pairs and then trumps which they won hands down due to our addled brains at altitude (good excuse eh?!)

before retiring to our frozen bedroom for a fitful sleep. 

The weather will be barmy and warm. No need to bring crampons or gaiters!!!

Wrong. We've had an extremely challenging 3 days with a snowstorm which closed the pass at 15,000 feet we wanted to cross and temperatures dropping to minus 15C. We slept in tea houses with draughty unheated, uninsulated bedrooms.  My water bottle froze the last 2 nights so I had to stick it down my sleeping bag to thaw out. At last the weather turned today and we got up at 6am with a group of 12 from all nationalities with porters and guides to forge a way over the pass. The snow was always knee deep and sometimes waist high. Very tough going and knackering but we did it!

Rewarded with fantastic views over Annapurna range, Daulagiri,Ganesh Himal, and Langtang Lirung. 

Well worth all the deprivation - well I think so but you had better ask Sarah. Now stopped off in a tea house with fantastic views towards the foothills of the Himalayas. No more views of high Himalayas - but at least it's mainly downhill from now 

Tales from the trail

Trekking is great! You really see the world go by here. There is a building boom in Langtang village at the top of the valley to cope with the increasing numbers of Trekkers and everything has to be carried in either by mule or porter. So we've seen a bed go by today followed by a stack of 3*2m ply wood and a western toilet. All on the back of a poor long suffering porter! 

Another one that made us laugh was a tiny wizened Tibetan lady bent almost double by a huge load who was gabbling away on her mobile phone. 

The bush telegraph works extremely well with news of who is on the trail, whether passes are open etc all travelling up and down the trail by porters and guides

The downside of all the increased traffic is overgrazing by mules and yaks and some of the fields especially around Langtang are looking seriously degraded and eroded. 

Another thing we noticed compared to last time was that a lot of the terraced fields were no longer being farmed as people realize they can make more money from tourists. 

One of the really nice things about travelling is not being contactable ( sorry Anna). So instead of spending our evenings servicing our emails we... Talk!

Have met some delightful people and a few weirdos! Last night we met up with 3 hilarious Scottish guys from Arran one of whom ran whisky tours and offered us a 'special' tour if we ever go there for a boys weekend - interested boys?

We've now retraced our steps down the Langtang valley and branched off to Thulo Syabru. We've got internet access for one night only so next blog probably in a week

Day 1-4 part 2

While in Langtang village we met a delightful community nurse called Sonam who had trained in Kathmandu then returned to her home valley to setup a clinic supported by an Australian charity. She very proudly showed us round and was able to put up drips for IV fluids, treat mountain sickness pull out teeth do child vaccinations as well as support 8 Heath workers in surrounding villages. She had a well stocked drug cupboard and seemed to be practising a high standard of primary care. We saw her the following day on a call out to someone with a headache 2.5 hours walk away!

On the way down from Langtang we met her boss Virginia who ran the Australian charity supporting the clinic and also several schools. She had a great love of the Nepalese and told us about a partially funded nurse/ midwife in the next valley. Possibilities of a Kangawrap link here?

Anyway we are now back down in Lama Hotel, have just had the first shower in 4 days and really enjoyed the descent - could take far more notice of the viewsas we weren't gasping for every breath. 

The next 4 days are relentless climbing at least as far as Gosaikunda Lakes. We hope to cross the Laurebina pass at 4610m but it may be closed by snow.

Trekking day 1-4

First the facts - we've climbed up the Langtang valley to Kayanjin Gompa at 3800m. Altitude started affecting us after 3000m so the last bit was quite a slog. 

The first 2 days was a long grunt up through a forest beside a river in spate through melting snow. Occasional glimpses of impossibly high mountain peaks and full of wildlife - langur monkeys, deer, loads of colourful birds and rodedendrons trees gradually coming into flower. 

Our guide and porter are absolutely delightful. Karma's commonest advice during the climb was bestari which means slowly. We got to the high point of the walk when I spotted a peak to bag so he and I set off. There was no more bestari - after the first 100m he very politely asked if he could take my pack as I was gasping for air with every step. Anyway peak bagged, stunning views and a great run/ snow slide back to the village. 

Kathmandu and journey to Langtang

Kathmandu is still magical although greatly changed from 30 years ago. We roamed the streets and caught the atmosphere. Colour and chaos everywhere. But also some beautiful people who are incredibly friendl!y.

Up at 06:00 today for an 8 hour bone shaking crowded bus ride, with death defying drops of thousands of feet on the side of the road. Just best not to look. Finally arrived at the start of the trek with tantalising views of beautiful mountains visible. We have a great guide 'karma' and porter ' chietay' to accompany us  - what luxury compared with when we were last here and we did it all ourselves! 

probably no internet access for around 2 weeks so likely no blog or what's app for a while.

Sending much love. Wish you could all share this amazing experience with us 

At start of trek. Women returning goats

The great escape

After 24 hours stuck in Delhi we finally escaped! All a bit touch and go whether we would make it to Kathmandu, even when we were actually flying. So many planes were trying to land in Kathmandu that we circled around for ages and the pilot announced that we would have to turn back in 10 mins if no landing slot! Big answer to prayer when we finally landed! See below for pic of Turkish airline that came off the runway and caused all the trouble! Actually we got off lightly as we had only 24 hours delay.  Met some frenchies who had been waiting for 4 days. Poor things!

And for those of you who like a bit of 'you reap what you sow' guess what happened to the guy who bullied his way to the front and got a boarding pass? Yup he and others were not allowed out of the airport for hours and then had to organise their own hotel.....poetic justice I think.....

 

Stuck in Delhi

Bit of a trying day at the airport today. Standing in a queue for 5 hours hoping to get our flight to Kathmandu but unfortunately the runway is still not clear. Hoping we will go tomorrow, but nothing concrete and have to bear in mind that there are 1000s of stranded passengers so may have to wait longer. .....we met some nice pepple but also some real idiots. One guy managed to push his way to the front of the queue in front of people who were there 4 hours previously. He told me proudly he 'bullied his way through and make no apologies for doing so'. What a selfish git

Now in a hotel whiling away the time. But at least we have a place to stay and each other for company.

Arriving at Delhi

What a difference to arriving in Delhi 30 years ago when it was complete bedlam as soon as you stepped out of the airport. Things have changed so much here with everything so much more sanitised and homogenised- that is until you look behind the sleek shopping malls and new roads and get a glimpse of the lives of the poor. The contrast is unbelievable. But what stays the same is the remarkable zest for life amongst the Indian people. Phil Leighton told us how lovely Sanjeev (owner of the guest house where we are staying)) is, but even so we were completely unprepared for our welcome....."do you need to rest or do you want to come to our street party?'. How could we refuse such an offer?! Ten minutes later we were seriously partying! Delicious food, dancing with no inhibitions and covered in coloured paint! Everyone so friendly and welcoming

Well that's a good start

Turkish airways plane overshot the runway at Kathmandu airport. Luckily no one seriously hurt, but it has meant that we are still in Sidcup instead of flying today!

Now rescheduled for same time tomorrow so hope next time I'm writing will be from Delhi - or even Kathmandu if we are lucky.
Sarah
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