Bring healthcare to thousands in rural Nepal

As Himalayan Healthcare continues its work of health care, education, and income generation for the indigenous people of the Nepalese Himalayas, the big news this quarter is that we have started construction on a much-needed dormitory for school students in the village of Lapa, high in the almost inaccessible Ganesh Himal.

A few months ago, we discovered that 40-50 young men and women were living rough in makeshift tents in the woods - just so they could go to school. They lived too far away to commute back and forth each day. And in this part of the world, communting means travelling by foot - there are no roads. The cooked over campfires, washed when they could at the village fountain, and tried to keep their schoolbooks and papers dry during the monsoon. Many were the first generation ever in their families to go to school - the first in their families who had learned to read. But this way of living was very discouraging, and many had gone back to their villages, or were sorely tempted to go back, and thereby forfeit their education - and their brighter future.

Himalayan Healthcare sent out an urgent letter to former donors and trekkers, and thanks to the generous response, we raised much more tha our target, and were able to begin construction on a 40-bed dormitory, divided for boys and girls, with toilet and kitchen facilities, and rooms for a male and a female proctor. Funds domated in this campaign were also sufficient to purchase the necessary bedding and other furniture and equipment.

Thaks to our generous donors, the new Lapa Hostel is scheduled to open in late Spring of 2015!

We also to continue to support education by providing stipends to 48 young men and women from the villages of Tipling, Lapa, and Shertung. The stipends pay for the scholong, and also for books, food, and uniforms.

To encourage agricultural diversification in the mountainous northern Dhading region, HHC organized an exposure tour for 15 people from northern Dhading to visit Ilam district to observe cash crop agriculture, fish farming, cheese making, and artifical insemination of cows. We also purchsed veterinary medicines and hired a veterinarian for northern Dhading who will both treat animals and train villagers in animal health and husbandry.

Continuing our work in community health and hygiene,and our efforts to help end open defecation and its associated diseases, HHC funded the construction of 75 new sanitary toilets in village households.

Continuing the effort to curb pulmonary disease caused by particulate inhalation, we built 115 new efficient smokeless wodstoves to replave the traditional and much-polluting indoor open-hearth cookstoves.

HHC's literacy and Women's Empowerment classes continue also, with six groups underway, attended by 105 women. The curriculum includes literacy and other life skills, like hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, family planning, maternity, as well as dialogue about self-image, eductaion, domestic violense, and advocacy.

To top it off, we have a student global health intern from Globe Med, Boulder, Colorado, who is doing a comprehensive population, health, lifestyle and demographic survey in the three villages of Tipling, Lapa, and Shertung.

It has been a very busy and productive three months, and could not have happended without the generous donations from our supporters. Thank you very much!

Himalayan Healthcare had a great year in 2013 and we are hopeful of an even more productive year in 2014.  We would like to thank everyone who has supported us with their time and funds to provide healthcare, education and income generation for the people of Nepal. In 2013 we have been able to work with fantastic partner organizations such as GlobeMed and Rotary Club. Sadly, for the first time in over 20 years we cancelled our fall medical trek due to the political instability during elections in Nepal and the inability to guarantee the safety of our medical volunteers or staff members.

We are very happy to announce that the political climate is improved and our spring medical trek will take place as planned. We already have a full roster of medical volunteers and anticipate a very successful trek.

We are also very thankful for our international volunteers.   One such volunteer, Dr. Ernesto Jones, spent three months working in the town of Ilam training medical providers. He is now spending an additional 6 weeks in the area providing training to local health care providers there.

We continue to work with the Rotary Club of Kopundole in Kathmandu and receive funding through a generous Rotary Club in New York. We completed our 2013 project with our Rotary Club colleagues building 50 latrines and 100 stoves. Since December, we are also now able to map each location with GPS coordinates to provide additional transparency to our work. The new efficient woodstoves in homes in these villages will reduce dangerous exposure to smoke and decrease fuel needs, preventing deforestation. We will continue to work with the Rotary Club in 2014.

We will also continue to work with GlobeMed in 2014. In January we will meet the 5 new participants of the team. These students will live and work in remote villages for four months in 2014.

We have continued to provide medical care at our hospital in Ilam with a record number of patients (3,600) being seen in medical camps in the surrounding villages in 2013. This winter we have run a dental sealant program in the villages surrounding Ilam. Dr. Krishna, a dentist working with us, has been visiting one school per week providing sealants to the children in the schools. Last week at the Janakalyan school the teeth of 61 patients were sealed.

The health care program continues in the rural villages as well. We have helped to purchase land to open a health center in the Lapa village called Kapurgaon. This health center will function as a private-public partnership with the Nepali government. In addition, we are making improvements in Sherthung so it can be the major health center for three villages. As reported in our Summer 2013 update, we are funding the education of villagers, such as one local woman who will finish training as a health assistant and will work in the Sherthung health center; and another, who will finish training as a lab tech and work in Sherthung as well.

Finally, in 2013 our handicrafts business, Jeevan Kala, generated $17,000 in wages to 200 local artisans from the sale of their products. We will continue to expand this as a method of income generation for the artisans as well as to provide funds for the medical care in the villages.

We look forward to your new or continued support of Himalayan Healthcare in 2014. Your assistance is crucial to our work and we are grateful for our GlobalGiving supporters!