By Patrick Graney | Project Leader
It is always inspiring to speak with the founder of the DCWC, Akka Lama. During his recent visit to the Himalayan Fair in Berkeley, CA, he explained at some length about how through collaboration with a wide network of connections we are able to greatly expand the impact of our small hospital in Rajbash.
People who live at high altitude are at much elevated risk of losing their eyesight because of cataracts. During our recent Health Camps in Rajbash we identified 32 patients who were in need of cataract surgery. Our hospital is not equipped for, nor does it have the specialized staff to execute this surgery. To bring in a team of doctors would have proved complicated. So we investigated how we could safely bring our group of patients to a Hospital in Kathmandu where specialized service is available. Someone had contacts at a Tibetan temple in town. When we explained our mission and the dilemma we were in, the temple not only offered to house and feed our group of patients, but they also offered to sponsor our cataract project. Now we could advise our patients that help was on the way.
Our 32 patients walked in from their various mountain villages and assembled in the Rajbash Hospital courtyard. From there we transported them by bus to the welcoming nuns of the Tibetan temple in Kathmandu. They were given food and a place to bed down for the night as they waited with trepidation what the next day would bring. 6 patients, we discovered the next morning, overcome by fear of ‘having their eyes tampered with’ had left the temple during the night. The remainder assembled anew at the bus and made their way to the operating rooms of the Kathmandu hospital that was going to execute villages, were collected at the hospital and bused to Kathmandu to the hospital that was to execute the cataract operations. For recovery they spent another night at the temple. The next morning was magic: As patients carefully removed their bandages and were able to behold the beautiful blue sky there were tears of joy! Many had given up hope they could ever see again. They were filled with gratitude for the precious gift of restored sight. The bus return to Rajbash was lively and filled with excited accounts of their outing to the big city.
Another collaboration, this one with a French Buddhist nun who had come to Rajbash and seen the important work that's being done there, connected us to a group of French medical and engineering students whose graduation requirements included an overseas service project. Having heard of the needs in Nepal and particularly in the small village of Rajbash, a number of them decided to volunteer their time in this community, helping at the hospital, in a nearby school and repairing the water system. Once back home, the students decided to raise funds to sponsor five lucky young women from Rajbash to attend college courses in Kathmandu, some in nursing, others in business. A single contact, and countless lives are touched!
We hope that you are as awed by this kind of ingenuity as we are. If you would like to offer a collaboration to benefit our charity we would love to talk to you. And all of this is made possible thru your generous ongoing donations.
By Karin Reibel | Project Leader
By Patrick Graney | Asst. Project Leader
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