Yesterday I treated Hari–Maya Gurung (below) who is one of the 20 women in the Ghandruk community and the surrounding catchment area who work with the community to get better health outcomes. These women encourage good health practices, especially among women and nursing mothers. They are all volunteers and appear to have quite good standing among the people around here. Genuinely good people!
I then saw a very large number of children from the school in Kliu which is down the hill from us (about an hour on the road by Jeep). They were going to walk up in about 3 hours but John and I decided to pay for the transport (about $75AUD) so the clinic and the day were a little less arduous for them.
Here is the number of children that can fit into one Jeep! (Add to this another 3 teachers and you’ve got one full car)
As I said in a previous post, the dental caries among the children is almost unbelievable. I saw a seven-year-old yesterday that had next to no functional teeth (below). In this case I made repairs to the back teeth as they are most needed and treated the other teeth to stop the decay. The procedure took some time but I’m sure that will give this little girl the best possible dental outcome.
An example of the dental decay that is prevelent in remote areas like Kliu
Last night we had to move hotel because of a long-standing booking by the Nepal Army at the Trekkers Inn hotel. We decided to go to the Panorama hotel which is run by the clinic’s ever happy Sister Kamala and her husband Raj. Next time we visit Ghandruk I am sure we will choose the Panorama. They had great food, hot showers, great hosts and good beds – all the essentials you need after a long day. To get you envious, here is a photograph my husband John took this morning of the view from the Panorama.
Today I had the remainder of the group from Kliu and another group from another school who have walked for about three hours to see me. The kids from Kliu came up in the community ambulance (basically a Jeep with an attached siren) and that worked out a bit cheaper than the $75 we paid for the first private jeep.
For those keeping tabs on how many people I’ve seen to date. It’s 77 adults, 11 youths aged between 14-17 years and 95 children up to 14 years of age. All of the Australian team of me, Shelly Voight and John are a little tired… Just three more days to go!