TravelStream™ news feed for member jennmtnfund on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jennmtnfund en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:16:53 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208018400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208018400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208018400/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:16:53 -0400 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Ollantaytambo, Peru

I'm so excited! I've been volunteering for The Mountain Fund for a year now, and am finally able to go on one of their treks! I'll be going to Peru in August! It will be my first trip outside of the United States! If you're looking for a travel companion opportunity, this is it! Trip dates are Aug 9-22, please contact me here if you are interested - serious inquiries only.

We'll fly into Lima, then fly to Cusco and have a day of touring. Then on to Ollantaytambo where we'll stay for a few days. From our home-base in Ollantaytambo, we'll go up to Huilloc and conduct our Medical Clinics. Then when all the work is done, it's back to Paucartambo for the Festival Virgin del Carmen. (We'll camp in tents this night in Paucartambo, rise before dawn the next day, and drive to viewpoint to watch the sunrise over the cloud forrest!)

Next we have a few days touring in and around Cusco - Inca sites and the Sacred Valley - and on for a day at Machu Picchu. After this, we wind our way through Aguas Caliente and back to Cusco & Lima and travel home.

I LOVE photography, so be sure to stay tuned for trip updates, photos and videos!



~ Jenn Spradlin
Albuquerque, NM, USA
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208016360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208016360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1208016360/tpod.html Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:15:38 -0400 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepal 2007: Report from Executive Director, Scott MacLennan:

In March 2007, we invited a group of Mountain Fund Volunteers to trek the Tamang Heritage Trail with us. The trail is new and part of the governments program to improve poverty in rural areas through tourism. We wanted to check it out in preparation for our future treks.

There are few facilities on the trail, which meant that the four volunteers and I had to stay in tents instead of trekking lodges. Since we had all these great Mountain Hardwear tents, we were delighted to put them to work on this fact-finding trip. The 7 day trek was to explore the area for the October Medical Camps and help the Medical Trek Board better understand and appreciate the conditions they will be working under in this part of Nepal.

Volunteers Anna P., Mary C., Susan A. and Germaine B. took this trip with us and I think we had more than a little bit of fun along the way. A couple of these girls love to dance. We'd brought along a few ipods and some portable speakers. The music and dancing eventually spilled over to include our cook (who makes awesome meals) and members of our porter crew, especially Kumar who loves dance.

There were some moments that were serious. In the village of Timure and again in Briddam we were called upon to render first aid to two women who had suffered some nasty burns. The young woman in Timure had dropped a pot of scalding water on her bare foot. Most of the foot was covered in blisters and the top of the foot at the arch was a mass of open, red and quite sore flesh. We treated this girl and then had the opportunity to follow up on the treatment, when we met her on the trail a few days later.

The food was great and our cook staff even baked us a cake the last night. The company was great, our porters were awesome and the trek through the Tamang Villages was breathtaking.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960180/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:00:41 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Rasuwa, Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal: An International medical team of volunteers from US, UK and Nepal treks the Tamang Trail in Nepal and provides medical care on the move.

A team of health professionals traveled to Nepal in October 2007, with the ambitious goal of trekking the little known Tamang Heritage Trail and providing free health care to thousands of Tamang people living in the remote Rasuwa District. Visiting 7 villages along the trekking route the team established formal medical camps in Gatlang, Chilime, Timure and Syabru Bensi and saw additional patients in Tatopani as well.

The trip began for most of the participants with 24 hours of air travel from the US to Nepal. The Mountain Fund and Karing For Kids staff met the team at the airport and we boarded a rented bus to transfer to the Hotel Ambassador, our Kathmandu base.

The second day in Kathmandu was spent sorting the boxes of medicine, eye glasses, medical supplies and camping equipment. The following day the group boarded a bus bound for Gatlang. Though only 120 km from Kathmandu, the trip to Gatlang normally takes 10 hours over rough roads. This time the trip took nearly 15 hours however owing to a large landslide which had closed the road. When we arrived at the landslide area the medical team all walked around the construction that was underway as two large road-working machines attempted to open a path for our bus. In the end, over 30 porters tied a rope to the bus and pulled it up the final hill. It had taken two hours to make it 1 km but the way ahead to Gatlang was now open.

The team arrived late in the evening at the trekking lodge which has recently opened in Gatlang and after a hasty dinner called it a day so we'd be rested for the medical camp there the next morning. Between 200 and 300 villagers turned out for medical care and were all seen by the end of the day. From the first camp it was obvious that our volunteer Optometrist from Muscatine, Iowa was much in demand. Assisted by his daughter, he saw over 225 patients and prescribed over 175 pairs of glasses.

The most common complaints were vision problems, intestinal parasites, wounds and women's health.

After Gatlang we packed everything up and walked a few hours to the Chilime damn site where we set up for another camp. We used two Mountain Hardwear space stations as our primary medical buildings and some borrowed space in the local school for our pharmacy. The pharmacy was constantly busy dispensing medication and translating instructions from English to Nepali and then into the local language, Tamang. A tedious process made possible by a really dedicated group of interpreters who traveled with us.

The logistics didn't end with how to triage and care for over 1000 people while trekking. In all 42 porters, a kitchen staff of 11, 3 Sherpas and one Sardar were employed to move the team down the trail. A team of 82 people in all.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200959640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200959640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200959640/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:00:08 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Rasuwa, Nepal

Every year, thousands of tourists come to Nepal to climb the peaks or to trek The Annapurna Circuit, The Everest base camp, The Langtang Trail, or they choose a more remote area.

Most tourists don't come with the intention of volunteering their time, but
once they see Nepal and enjoy the awesome hospitality of the Nepali people, they are suddenly moved and motivated to spend a few days doing some volunteer work before they leave for home.

Our partner organization, Trek4Good, hosts treks in Nepal, and our staff is constantly asked by trekkers, "What can I do?" or "How do I volunteer to help here in Nepal?"

To answer this question, The Mountain Fund has built "The Mountain Fund Volunteer Visitor Center" located in Kathmandu, Nepal. The grand opening ceremony was held in March 2007.

Did you know that volunteerism accounts for 5% of Nepal's GNP, a staggering number when you stop to consider it. We think the surface has barely been scratched for what's possible. With peace in the country, Nepal can soon expect tourist visits to reach nearly 500,000 people per year.

Until the creation of The Mountain Fund Volunteer Visitor Center, finding a short term volunteer position was difficult. There are thousands of NGOs (nonprofit organizations) which make it difficult, if not impossible, for the short-term volunteer to locate, contact and actually give some time to an organization all in one trip.

Now, The Mountain Fund Volunteer Visitor Center provides a single source of contact for immediate placement in a volunteer capacity for almost any interested tourist. You can walk into our beautiful center, choose something that interests you, complete an application and be introduced that same day to a local organization that needs your help. The Volunteer Center is truly a unique and innovative program which we've launched with the financial assistance of the Tessa Horan Memorial Fund. Tessa was herself a Peace Corps Volunteer when she died, so helping to fund a project that encourages volunteerism seems a fitting tribute to her.

We're very excited about the possibilities that the Volunteer Center holds for Nepal.
Hours of operation in the off-season are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday thru Friday. In the trekking seasons, we are also open on Saturdays. If you're traveling to Nepal, please come by; see our center, and say hello to the staff.

The Mountain Fund's mission is to organize grassroots non-profit and non-governmental organizations from a diversity of disciplines, and to support and coordinate these organizations' efforts to eliminate poverty, its causes and symptoms, in developing mountain communities around the world.

For questions or comments about this article, please contact jenn@mountainfund.org.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1204167420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1204167420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1204167420/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:59:00 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Rasuwa, Nepal

POKHARA: Empowering the Women of Nepal recently conducted rock climbing training near its center in Pokhara. A total of 18 participants were involved.

Empowering the Women of Nepal (EWN) and 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking work in partnership to promote and empower women through adventure tourism. Together they combine practical skill-based training programs with gainful employment opportunities, specifically focused in the Trekking Industry. Responding to the gross inequality of women in Nepal, EWN offers unprecedented opportunities for Nepali women to improve their quality of life.

In January, a new class began to train Nepali women to work in the trekking and outdoor industry. 29 women from 11 districts in Nepal attended the program.

Programs such as Empowering the Women of Nepal and The ClimbHigh Foundation (see next article) really need and deserve the support from all of us in the Outdoor Industry, as well as anyone who cares about the future of countries like Nepal and Uganda.

In much of the developing world, women are considered chattal. One-half of the human resources are prohibited from obtaining an education, holding a job outside the home and making a contribution to society. Programs like EWN and ClimbHigh provide hope and opportunity. Please support them by donating to Women's Programs supported by The Mountain Fund.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1182391980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1182391980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1182391980/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:40:44 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Annapurnas, Nepal

The Maya Foundation --
by Rene Voss

I came to Nepal for the first time in 2003. I discovered a beautiful country with lovely people. However, my enchantment turned into despair when I came into contact with the Nepali educational system in a small rural community in the foothills of the Annapurnas. I volunteered to teach at the local primary school and after a year I started the Maya Foundation to promote help to the Nepalese schoolchildren at a truly grassroots level. Three years later, I still live in the same community.

The government in Nepal has only been active in the field of education for the past 50 years. Its focus is still on school buildings. Teachers, supplies and the quality of teaching are completely outside the scope of the government's policy. In Nepal, education in the rural areas still and foremost takes the form of rote learning. The teacher talks (usually with a load voice; therefore to scream better describes the vocal activity of a Nepali teacher) and the children listen. The teachers try to drill knowledge into young brains, with the help of a bamboo stick if needed. There are no teaching materials whatsoever; there is no learning through playing or learning through doing; there are no activities, neither single nor in small groups; there is no stage in the learning process of practicing or producing anything with the knowledge acquired. Today, in rural Nepal, the approach is clearly teacher oriented.

Our vision, at the Maya Foundation, is child oriented; we look at education through the eyes of the child. Children need an affectionate and inspiring environment in which they can develop fully and become who they really are-beautiful children of Mother Earth.

Global context of the need for Early Childhood Education In 1990, 155 countries drafted the World Declaration on Education for All (EFA). Almost two decades ago, the importance of early childhood education was already stated. Unfortunately, in the rural areas of Nepal, not much was really done about it. It wasn't until the beginning of 2006 that UNESCO, through its daughter organization IIEP, finally gave full attention to it. If the vicious cycle of inequality is to be broken, then child care and education have to start very early, before primary school. In most developing countries, early childhood education is restricted to urban middle-class children. Children from rural areas and low-income families not only are denied access to this kind of education, but they enter primary school later than other children. If inequalities are to be reduced, and if education is to benefit disadvantaged children, much more attention has to be given to providing early childhood care and education for the poor. And while it is great to finally have recognition for it, what children really need in rural Nepal today is the actual early childhood center, free of charge, with the actual teachers and the actual teaching materials to bring it into their daily lives and to make it all happen. Talking is fine for policy makers, but children living under poor conditions need actions, not words.

Actions:

The Maya Foundation is doing just that: opening up early childhood centers in rural Nepal. In 2004 it opened its first center in a small village in the foothills of the Annapurnas. As it was very popular with the local people from the start, it has welcomed many preschool children. In 2005 it received an honorable mention from the Nepali Ministry of Education. In the same year we opened up a workshop where local people craft educational materials that otherwise we would not be able to get hold of in Nepal. Obviously we are on the right track. All we want now is to continue constructing and equipping more early childhood centers, training more nursery class teachers, instructing more locals how to create high quality educational materials. Because these children deserve our care and attention. To be able to do this, however, we need your help! Please donate towards the future of the children of Nepal. Together with the Maya Foundation you can make the difference!

The Maya Foundation is a partner of The Mountain Fund for positive change in Nepal. To support them please make a donation today to Youth and Children's Programs at The Mountain Fund.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1200960900/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:39:56 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Patacancha, Peru

July 2007: Because of a compelling request made by the nonprofit Reach Out Foundation (ROF), The Mountain Fund took a group of volunteers (who paid for their own expenses) to Peru in order to administer general medical services to 350 Quechua people of Huilloc and Patacancha.

People in this region have little or no health care, explained Anne Schimmel Beck, the President of ROF. "The children never see a doctor and have yet to see a dentist."

Within minutes of the team's arrival to the remote village of Huilloc, they were overrun with patients. "It was incredible," said Scott MacLennan. "At times up to 30 or perhaps 40 people were camped on the school grounds waiting to see our medical staff."

The team gathered vital statistics on each person, ascertained the problem, and then sent critical cases to the lead doctor, Claudia Delgado-Corcoran, and less serious ones to public health lectures, where they learned about basic health tools (brushing teeth, boiling water, etc). Thirty people were provided with glasses, and people were treated for everything from dysentery, broken bones, infected teeth, and cataracts to frostbite due to the high altitude.

"Like true warriors, the medical team refused to wrap up until all the patients had been seen," said MacLennan. "It was difficult to get them to take time to eat or drink!" And the team didn't stop there. After Huilloc, they visited Patacancha, a small village 30 minutes up the road where their small clinic is administered by a local woman from Urubamba who walks three hours a few days per week to the clinic.
"In one day some 80 people visited the Patacancha clinic and were given complete medical care by our team," MacLennan stated. "The lines were so long that at times it was nearly impossible to move from one exam room to the other."
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1194923340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1194923340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1194923340/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:11:52 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Machermo, Nepal

UPDATE: The porter's shelter and rescue post at Machermo had an official grand opening in October. The Mountain Fund is supporting the efforts of Community Action Nepal to build another facility at Gorak Shep.

To help build the Gorak Shep shelter, please make a donation today to The Mountain Fund under the category of Human Rights Programs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1176257040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1176257040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1176257040/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:07:14 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Machermo, Nepal

April 2007: The Mountain Fund has donated $1000 towards the completion of the solar electrical system for the Machermo Porter Shelter. More funding is needed to complete the project. Read on to see why you should consider contributing to this project.

Another eventful season has come to a close and we are now poised to move into the new facility built by Community Action Nepal (CAN). We will have the hybrid wind and solar electrical system and plumbing in place for next season, meaning porters and doctors can move in!

Apart from the locally quarried stone, the building material was helicoptered to Namche under the watchful eye of Namgyal and then delivered by a two-day porter carry to Machermo.

We are now working on the management agreement between all the parties involved in the project (KBZ, CAN, National Park, IPPG) and look forward to an official opening in 2006.

This season, the post was staffed first by Dr Emma and Nick Mason (UK), then by Chhewang on his own, until Toby Savage (physician's assistant - USA) and Dr Andrew Booker (Australia) completed the season. The extracts below are from their reports. Over 150 sick or injured people were seen, some of them whose lives were saved. Many people came to the lectures and bought patches, T-shirts, books, or donated money.

Special thanks to all who donated money, especially our friends at the Himalayan Trust, the schools and sponsors. There is now a sign at Machermo listing our supporters, and which will be updated annually. Thanks also to those whose time and effort moved the project on, in particular Namgyal Sherpa, Mahesh and Gobhinda of CAN, Ian Wall, the volunteer doctors and paramedics, and last but not least Chhewang Sherpa who keeps the wheels oiled and successfully ran the post for a week on his own this season!

Jim Duff, International Coordinator

EXTRACTS FROM DR NICK AND EMMA MASON'S REPORT:

"It was impossible to know what would come through the door and the conditions seen ranged from the predictable acute mountain sickness, travelers' diarrhea, coughs, sore throats and colds, to rip roaring lobar pneumonias; pyomyositis and parotitis.

After lunch we would tour the lodges and campsites in the village to advertise the presence of the rescue post and the afternoon talks on altitude illness. Several hundred people turned up at the talks. Education is a central part of the work and is crucial to reducing the incidence of altitude related problems in the region. Once the new building is finished and with so many porters under one roof we will be able to provide mountain safety education to the porters including Altitude Illness, hypothermia and frostbite.

We treated a number of patients with severe high altitude pulmonary oedema who required helicopter evacuation. It was quite a challenge, for somebody used to the endless supplies of piped oxygen on his university hospital intensive care unit, to juggle the limited supplies of bottled oxygen, the short battery life of the oxygen concentrator and time in the Portable Altitude Chamber. Especially in patients whose oxygen saturation stubbornly refused to climb out of the mid-40s! (note: normal at sea level is 98-100, ed).

Gopal, a porter, was abandoned by his trekking group when he fell ill at Gokyo after carrying a load from Namche to re-supply a Swiss group that had trekked in via the less direct and more technical Renjo La. We do not know how and why he was left to walk back down from Gokyo on his own having passed the previous night struggling to breathe*. He was found semi-conscious at the side of the trail by a group of British trekkers. Their Sherpa guide Furbar saved Gopal's life by carrying him several kilometers to our Rescue Post on his back. When he got to us, Gopal was very sick with high altitude pulmonary oedema complicated by cerebral oedema and on a couple of occasions during the night we thought he might die as he failed to respond to treatment... fortunately trekkers' donations paid for a helicopter rescue to Khunde Hospital the following morning where Gopal recovered rapidly.

(Due to the expense it is uncommon for porters to be helicoptered out and it is down to the generosity of all those trekkers at Machermo that night, especially the Brits, who donated the money to make Gopal's rescue possible, ed) (*Frequently sick porters are paid off by the Nepalese leader or sirdar without the trekkers knowing. ed)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1203783060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1203783060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennmtnfund/1/1203783060/tpod.html Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:09:28 -0500 A blog about Trek4Good and its Moving Medical Treks provided to you by The Mountain Fund.

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

In 2005, we started The Mountain Fund with the goal of becoming the charity that represents the heart and soul of the Outdoor Industry around the world. We had taken a long hard look at the situation and found that, on an international scale, no one was stepping up to the plate and representing outdoor sports like climbing, hiking and trekking in a way that made clear that the industry had heart and soul.

Today, there is a voice for people and companies that thrive on outdoor sports and care about how the industry looks to the people that live in the mountainous regions we enjoy so much. That voice is The Mountain Fund.

In 2006, The Mountain Fund gave out over $30,000 in grants and in-kind services to nearly 30 programs operating in 10 countries around the world. We did this with two part-time staff and a total budget of just over $40,000. We also took nearly a dozen volunteers to mountain regions to help work at clinics, raise funds for a micro-finance program and assist in a project to help a small rural school.

In 2007 we raised over $50,000 to support projects around the world. Those funds will create a new health clinic, start an early childhood education center, perserve cultural traditions and rebuild a monestary. Twenty five volunteeers traveled with us to Peru and Nepal and provided free medical care to over 1,000 people.

And we have solid goals in place for another great year in 2008.

Our main office is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have projects located in the following areas: Bolivia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Kyrgystan, Tibet, Uganda, and the United States. Be sure to check out our MAP!

We are The Mountain Fund. We are your humanitarian voice around the world. We appreciate your support. Together we can, and will, go further. http://www.mountainfund.org

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