Jamie Tan from Dublin volunteered in Nepal and shares with us her story:

Fast-forward five months later; with some fund-raising and a lot of research in between, I realized that was it. The time has come for me to leave my ‘home away from home’. I bid my comforts goodbye and got onto the plane to Kathmandu with some considerable amount of expectations in mind. When I got to Kathmandu though, I didn’t really expect to see what I saw. I sat in the van driven by RCDP-Nepal’s local airport pick-up staff, literally being dumbfounded. There were no traffic rules whatsoever and topping it off with the dusty streets, that was my first culture shock!

When I got to the hostel, I immediately made new volunteer-friends who are from other parts of the world. We were to be in the hostel for the first week learning the Nepalese language. Things loosened up pretty fast and we adjusted and clicked, before I know it, I was already enjoying myself, having one of the best weeks of my life. We toured around Kathmandu, visiting various Buddhist and Hindu temples that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as the Chobar gorge, which according to a mythical legend, Bodhisattva Manjushri sliced through the circle of mountains of Nepal with a single stroke of his Sword of Wisdom, thereby draining the lake and creating the Kathmandu Valley. Of course, not forgetting Thamel, Kathmandu’s main tourist area where we visited during most of our free time.

Things got even better in my 2nd week in Nepal. I participated in the cultural programme where our whole group were brought to a village called Lamatar where we spent 3 nights there. We learnt the traditional Nepalese dance, planted rice in the paddy fields, and cooked dhal bhaat, a traditional Nepalese meal comprising rice and lentil soup. To make our experience more interesting, we slept in a shabby hut with only a PVC sheet for a roof with mice crawling above it. No, we didn’t really sleep well... But I guess that was another culture shock for me. After Lamatar, we travelled down south by white-water rafting to the famous Chitwan National Park. There, we bathed the elephants, saw the near extinct one horned rhino and spotted deer, and learnt more about the native villagers who lived there, known as the Tharu.

Then it was time to get serious. I started my work placement in week 3. This was when I moved to Bharatpur, a town in Chitwan and I met my host family here for the first time. I had a host father and mother, and a 7 years old brother. They were all very accommodating, always asking me if I was hungry or if I was comfortable enough.

My typical workday begins at 7am where I either cycle; take the rickshaw or tempu to the hospital I was working in. I worked in a private hospital with 15 in-patient beds. Most of the patients were out-patients. I was immediately introduced to the nurses and other healthcare workers, as well as the doctors. They were very friendly, although it was rather difficult to communicate with them at first due to the communication barrier. It was not very pleasant to say the least. I often felt alone and lost. But we tried very hard and soon tore down the barrier within a week. Somewhere along that week, I met up with an English volunteer who took me to the health post he was working in. That place was a huge eye opener for me. It was a government-run shabby hut with very little medical equipments. I remember there were only about 5 surgical kits and they were all sterilised daily with just boiling water. Also, the few treatment drugs they have laid on the receptionists’ table were common ones like amoxycillin, paracetamol and fluconazole. The villagers who came in were those who really have no money to afford a good meal, what more treatments in main hospitals. Most of them came in with wounds acquired from labour work, or serious infections.

In the 3 weeks that I was in Bharatpur, I tried to see and do as much as I could. Other than the private hospital I was originally placed in and the health post, I was lucky the doctors I was working with agreed to bring me along to the government and teaching hospitals they were based in. There, I learnt even more of the Nepalese lifestyle and their common illnesses and diseases. Snakebites were common during the monsoon season, and suicide was also one of the cases I saw in the emergency department. There was even a man who came in bleeding profusely with a broken lip because a brick wall he was building fell onto him. Apparently, tragedies such as this happen all the time.

I decided to take a break in my last 3 days in Nepal, bid farewell to the wonderful people I worked with and learnt from, as well as my host family and went on a short holiday to Pokhara, another state in Nepal. While I was there, I thought about all the events I went through, and that I am very happy and satisfied of the whole trip. There were no regrets going on this and the amount of things I learnt, from the quality of life to the medical knowledge imparted on me, was just priceless. I appreciate their hospitality and I appreciate my opportunity for being able to go to Nepal. I guess, I just want to thank everyone I met along the way for making my trip a success in one way or another. Jamie Tan