Karing for Kids (KFK Nepal) Trip Update

Namaste EverestNews.com, The Karing for Kids - Engineers Without Borders team is checking in. Last week we drove from Kathmandu to the KFK clinic at Goljung. It is only 140 km but the road is rough and it takes ten hours to drive it. We spent the week gathering water samples, checking on the drainage around the village walkways and checking on the latrine situation. In each of the three villages we have found e-coli in in the water supplies and counted on average three private latrines per village. The villages average 2500 people each. Water samples have been gathered for more in depth testing and will be taking to the lab, we'll let you know the results. We had several meetings with village leaders to discuss the concerns they have about public health. The meetings were very productive. We can see evidence that several NGO's have tried to address some of the issues in the past, but met with failure. We think the problem is that villagers haven't really been a part of the process. For example, someone came and installed community latrines in Gatlang, but located them too far from the center of the village to really be used and didn't coordinate any maintenance of the facility with the locals. Those latrines are gone now. Likewise, water taps were installed in the past, but no one taught the locals how to maintain them, so they run all the time and will not shut off. We'll be working on these issues and will teach locals how to maintain these things.

Three of us walked from Goljung to Syabru Thulo to visit with the members of the village leadership and the local Lama about healthcare in that village. It is an all day walk from Goljung. Thulo is a lovely place, high on a hill and on the Langtang Trek. There is no government health outpost as it is considered a part of Syabru Bensi, which is three hours down hill on a steep path. The health worker there almost never makes the three hour walk up hill. We also found that the system of traditional birth attendants has broken down and there are none in the village at this time.

I will update you later on more events including the training KFK is doing in Goljung this week for 17 traditional birth attendants from three villages, a 100% turn out for that event. Scott

Background

Karing for Kids (KFK Nepal) runs a Mother and Child Health Clinic (MCH-Clinic) in the rural mountain communities of Rasuwa, Nepal. KFK Nepal is a non-government charity organization working to save the lives of children in Nepal since 1997.

KFK-Nepal’s MCH Clinic has been providing the medical services to approximately 7,000 people of remote Gatlang, Goljung, and Chilime villages of Rasuwa district since late 2000. Before this clinic was established, there was no medical service available in these communities. Because of the extreme level of poverty in these communities and remoteness from a nearby hospital, which is about a days walking distance, most people could not manage to get medical care when they were sick. Seeking care from local healers who did not have access to modern medical techniques or treatments and  was the only option. Government outreach immunization services were so infrequent and irregular that many children were left without immunization against the major childhood illnesses. Prior to KFK’s Clinic it was difficult to find a mother who had not lost a child and impossible to find a household without a sick person. It is estimated that the Child and Maternal Mortality rates of these communities have been almost two-to-three times higher than the national average. Nepal's average infant mortality rate, 78 deaths per 1000 live births, and average maternal mortality rate, 539 deaths per 100,000 live deliveries, are among the highest in the world.

KFK operates on an extremely low budget. For about the cost of lunch in an American restaurant, $15.00/day, we staff the clinic and provide medical supplies and equipment as well as overhead costs, such as utilities. But even this small sum of money is difficult to obtain in a country as poor as Nepal. We desperately need your help to save lives and improve the health and well being of these poor, indigenous Buddhist-Tamang communities on the Nepal-Tibet border.

How You Can Help Save this Clinic and build more...

a)       Individual Sponsorship:  We welcome and encourage individuals to sponsor our basic clinic operation cost. To meet our yearly budget of US$ 7500, we need just 25 people to contribute the small sum of US$ 25/month. That is less than $1.00 a day to keep this clinic open!

b)       Volunteers supports: We welcome and encourage professionally trained medical personal, preferably nurse practitioners, midwife, and medical doctors to provide volunteer services in our clinic. Interested individual should be able to cover his or her own costs while we will provide free accommodations.

c)       Institutional/Corporate Supports: We request charity organizations and corporate agencies to help us sustain, develop, and expand our medical and other development activities such as sanitation, community health education, community library, child education sponsorship etc. We also accept donations of medical equipments and supplies such as medicine etc.

Please help us to save lives and improve health and well being of the deprived poor indigenous Tamang communities.

To make a donation send your check to:

Karing for Kids PO Box 1170 Sandia Park New Mexico 87047 or make a donation using your credit card or your checking account on-line using Pay-pal here: 

Doctors and Dentists, and others wanted to volunteer. Give a little back! E-MAIL US TODAY!

Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   Cloudveil

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kelty

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Mountain Hardwear

   Mountainsmith

   MSR

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Patagonia

   Pelican

   Petzl

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Thermarest

   Trango

   Tool Logic

   Trekking Poles
   Yaktrax
   and more here