In late September and early October of 1996, Fourteen members and staff of San Marino Community Church traveled to Nepal to work at Patan Hospital in Kathmandu.

Nepal is located roughly one-half the way around the globe; it takes over 24 hours of flight time to get there. Nepal is located between China to the north and India to the south. It has elongated boundaries--550 miles east to west, 100 miles north to south.

The Himalayas form the northern boundary and cover over three quarters of the land area. "Himalaya" means "abode of the snows." Nepal has eight of the highest ten mountains in the world, all over 8,000 meters, including Mt. Everest at over 29,000 feet.

The Kathmandu Valley is in the middle of the country with an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city in Nepal. The total population is approximately 20 million people. One million people live in the Kathmandu Valley--an urban area. Nineteen million people live in rural areas, mostly in hillside homes. 

The people tend to be small in physical stature, and reflect the racial-ethnic influences of India, Tibet and Mongolia. About 30 different languages and dialects are spoken, largely due to mountainous terrain. But Nepali is the predominant language.

Nepal is home to two of the world's great religions - Hinduism and Buddhism. About 75% of the people are Hindu and approximately 20% are Buddhists. These religions seem to exist harmoniously.

This is a Hindu religious man with a king cobra. About 1% of the people are Christian and evangelism is prohibited.

The people are very independent, rugged and self-reliant. Nepal is one of a very few countries in Asia that was not colonized - it suffers from a lack of British-planned infrastructure. For many centuries, by choice, Nepal was closed to outsiders - from 1880 to the 1920's, only 60 Europeans were allowed in.

Per capita income is less than $200 U.S. per year. Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries--slightly better than Bangladesh. Most people live off the land. Rice is the crop of choice, with wheat and corn grown at higher elevations. Typically, there is a shortage of food, so men migrate annually to India for work.

Tourism, trekking and river rafting are becoming increasingly popular. The carpet business is the only real industry--beautiful work, especially silk carpets

We visited Nepal primarily because members of our church, John & Maxine Rollins, are on a tour of duty there as hospital administrators. We went to help others, interact with missionaries, learn about the meaning of the Christian faith in the third-world, and experience third-world conditions. Ours was the first missionary group of its kind to do a short-term project in Nepal--as opposed to full-time missionary endeavors.

All missionary work in Nepal is coordinated through an umbrella organization formed by 39 different Christian faiths known as United Mission of Nepal ("UMN"). The UMN involves 200 missionaries and 2,000 Nepalis. We worked at Patan Hospital and visited three other projects: an urban health center, a rural health center and a hydroelectric project.

Patan Hospital is located across the river from Kathmandu. It is a large, 4-story building in a fenced compound containing 140 beds and serving 225,000 outpatients per year, typically 800-1000 patients per day plus 1 to 4 relatives per patient at the hospital - needless to say, it is quite crowded. Full-time doctors are paid about $300 per month.

The hospital is not modern by any means, in fact in the areas where we worked, there was no hot water. Our work involved physical labor, mostly painting and maintenance work from 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. We spent a great deal of time working in the maternity ward. On a daily basis, we painted and cleaned walls immediately next to women in labor and giving birth - it was very hard to concentrate on work. 

 Painting the Maternity Ward

This center meets the needs of the urban poor. Kathmandu is probably one of the filthiest, most unsanitary places on earth. The air is heavily polluted from cheap fuel. The streets and alleys are crowded with noisy trucks, buses and 3-wheeled taxis. There is no planning or governmental infrastructure in laying out the city. There are huge piles of open trash, mud and human excrement. There are many cows in the streets and packs of wild dogs. There also are many beggars and orphans. The health center attempts to educate people on health issues, works on better sanitation and clean water, and focuses on pre- and post-natal care. The health center is staffed by 7 foreigners and 100 Nepali's.

This is where the people wash their clothes, clean their food, take their baths, and get their drinking water.

Chapagaon is located approximately 30 minutes east of Kathmandu. The rural problems are quite different from urban ones--the poverty is probably worse, but it seems more livable.

Infant mortality is 60% to 80%, especially with first-borns, who are perceived as trial runs.

Cow dung is used often--it is mixed with mud to coat floors to keep out moisture, and it is used in the birthing process to stop bleeding.

Every village has water holes with polluted water and they are typically dark green in color. They are used to bathe, wash clothes and prepare food. Chapagaon is one of several clinics addressing these problems.

It is an open air clinic with 6 bays. The focus is on regular health checkups, family planning and pre-and post-natal care.

This project is located approximately 150 miles east of Kathmandu (a 7 hour drive). As a result of the mountains, Nepal has substantial rivers flowing south to India, which could be a potential hydroelectric resource for the country.

The project involves the creation of a power plant that when completed in three years, will produce 60 megawatts of power - approximately 20% of Nepal's current power. The project is not a dam - instead, it is a diversion of water from the Khimti River, which will flow by gravity horizontally for seven miles through a tunnel bored through a mountain to turbines located on the Toma River to the west.

The project was started by Norwegians and it utilizes 1950 construction technology in an effort to employ more people and avoid unrepairable breakdowns of high-tech equipment. The project was originally funded with UMN monies but now it is financed by the sale of long-term bonds from European governments.

  There are 35 professional engineers on the project, along with 600 Nepalis. The Nepalis are paid approximately $.75 per trip - a great deal of money - for hauling packs of 110 to 115 pounds of wire, rebar and diesel fuel up the mountain. On a good day, they can handle 2 trips. As a result of these wages, considered to be excellent in the region, a boom town has sprung up around the plant, quite similar to the Gold Rush Towns in the United States. Ironically, the creation of electricity has led to a deforestation problem because people stay awake later and burn wood for heat.

There are several lasting images from the trip. One is Avalanche man who is a Sherpa who had been buried by an avalanche and was provided medical care and rehabilitation by a Presbyterian missionary doctor who hosted us at Khimti. The Sherpa had never witnessed electrical lighting, bound books or a battery-operated CD player.

She was a five year old orphan girl who lived on the streets of Kathmandu. One morning she followed us, carrying her two-year old brother. At such a young age, she had complete responsibility for the life of her brother.

 

We left Nepal with a deep appreciation of how truly blessed we are to live in America, and now more grateful for everything that we have, but had previously taken for granted.