Manamaiju,
Trip Start
May 01, 2006
1
12
28
Trip End
Feb 08, 2007
Kathmandu,
Nepal
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Manamaiju is also the home of 'Charity Nepal', the orphanage where Wye and I have been working for 2 1/2 weeks. Ah, Charity Nepal, where to start? Some of you know about the interesting time we've been having - thanks for putting up with our whinging over the phone/email.
Charity is owned by a "Christian" couple, Fulcharan & Renuka KC, who also have 5 children of their own. Due to unfortunate events and the distinct(Nepali) lack of foresight the 49 occupants of Charity Nepal were recently evicted from their home. Now living in a small mud-brick house with two rooms; 32 children upstairs, 4 adults and 3 children downstairs, and 10 boys in a room at the nearby school; the health of the children has rapidly declined
Ashok
. Up to 5 children share a bed(except for the KC children), which is riddled with scabies, lice, fleas, and covered in a thick film of dust. The boy's room at the school is often used to store bags of concrete and work tools. This unhealthy environment has given Wye and I much work to do: clinic visits for the diagnosis of scabies and skin infections and nasty coughs, up to 6 kids with a fever everyday(up to 104' F.). We are constantly treating the children for symptoms of vitamin deficiency caused by lack of vegetables in diet; vit. B sores around mouth, some funky vit. A bumps on elbows and knees(this one is freaky!). We're enjoying our training as nurses, ha ha. Because the Orphanage site is next to a "park", we get many locals asking for medicine or wanting us to pull teeth - not joking!We haven't told you about how the owners are being quite difficult; One example: Due to impacted ear-wax, we have been instructed by doctors to administer drops to soften the wax so it will fall out, avoiding infection. The owner has told all the children that the drops are bad for them so the children will run away when we try to apply them. As the children are required to lay on their side for 5mins each ear, the addition of this obstacle is making things quite difficult.
We approached the owner about this..... VSN has funding for rent for a new home and utilities for Charity Nepal
Bishnu T., sooo cute!
. We met with the owners, about 10 days ago, to discuss the 'conditions' that must be met prior to moving into the new home. These were mainly concerning the childrens health.....The following day, the owner called VSN and stated that they no longer want a new house and are happy to stay where they are. Wye and I have found, that because we don't give the owners money or buy everything for them (as previous volunteers have), we are only a hinderance; our efforts to maintain what little health the children have have gone unnoticed and the Owners are actually quite disgusted when we ask them to administer any medication - after all healthy orphans don't attract donations!! - A common attitude amongst orphanage owners.
A VSN rep. is meeting with owner on Friday and we're a little nervous about the outcome. The children desperately need a new house, but until the owners put the children's welfare before lining their own pockets, we're not sure how much progress can be made.
to be continued....
