Cry from the field in Nepal...

by Scott MacLennan, veteran NGO leader resident in Nepal

A few weeks ago I was again trekking the Tamang Heritage Trail with a group of medical volunteers. We stopped for the night in the village of Thambuchet which is a short distance from Chilime. There I found a brand new government building that is supposed to be a birthing center. The government has a big push on to stop home births and get the people to use government facilities. So, it's a really nice building. Problem is that it has never been equipped with anything and has no staff.

Ward 9 in Pokhara, Nepal affords another good lesson. Under UNICEF, the municipal day care center was disgraceful. The barely six-foot high tin roof made the children's home into a sauna during the monsoons. There were no toys or resources for teaching. There was no toilet and the children defecated on the front lawn. Little in the way of funding ever made it to the center. There were too many bureaucratic mouths to feed further up the management (verification) ladder. The NGO that now helps support this day care center in partnership with local government has transformed it on a shoestring budget.

Much of the part of Nepal where I work has phantom projects. Empty health posts and newly built birthing centers without staff or equipment are not uncommon. These are all development assets on someone's balance sheet. The government counts them as part of its national health program. The international community has, at the risk of sounding too critical, for the most part been quite willing to allow this to go on. So long as the donors and the government can say they have this, or they have that, regardless of the reality of existence, everyone seems happy. The verification part of this industry thrives on the non-reality of it all.

Only small NGOs it seems are able to actually get out in the field and get their hands dirty making things happen. Past a certain size (what is that size?) the demands for official looking papers, reports, audits and the like overshadow the demand to actually provide aid. Large donors are just too caught up in the appearance of good business and good government. Form without substance.

Doing an inventory of small NGOs working in the various districts, then giving out small amounts of funding ($10,000-$20,000 a year) probably gets the most done. Skip the audits and heavy-duty report writing and verify with a small team equipped with a camera. A picture is worth a thousand words (or reports) it's there or it isn't and the camera tells you. NGOs with barely enough budget to survive have little motivation and opportunity to corrupt the process. They are community members themselves and the community can police its own quite effectively. Nearly anyone living in a small community in Nepal can tell you in short order who is working for the good of the community and who is lining their own pockets. Snap photos, ask the locals and you'll know for sure that your aid dollars did something.

That's my two cents from the field. I run The Mountain Fund, a very small NGO attempting to keep it real in Nepal. Photographic proof in my newsletters and please, stop and ask the locals about me. Oh, yes, I am taking over the empty birthing clinic and will raise the funds to equip and staff it myself. About $10,000 a year and I will send photos.

Thanks, Scott MacLennan

Moving Medical Camp delivers baby!

March 2009, Rasuwa District, Nepal

Moving Medical Camp delivers baby and provides free healthcare to 350 people:

Field Report from founder, Scott MacLennan:

The woman has been in labor for two, maybe three days, the story isn’t clear. All that is clear is that two hours up the trail a woman is having a difficult time delivering a baby. It’s somewhat ironic that on this morning we had just toured a recently built birthing center. Recently built, but with no equipment and no staff. As we make our way up the trail we wonder if the woman would have come to the birthing center this time, with her fourth, or was it her fifth child? Again, the story, as being told to us by more than one local we meet on the way remains unclear.

We arrive in Tatopani near dusk. Tatopani in Nepali means “hot water.” This village boasts hot mineral baths that are considered a great source of healing to many. We came this way so we could relax and enjoy these waters. Right now however a very frightened Tamang woman is begging to be taken to the hospital and our midwife and pediatrician are busy trying to help her delivery a baby boy.

The boy will be named Daniel after the midwife’s late husband. He is born healthy and mother and son are both well the next day.

Click HERE to read the rest of the adventures from Newsletter # 27 ~

A Trek4Good Trip Review - October 2008

DAVE LINCOLN’S TRIP TO NEPAL


BACKGROUND
:


For whatever weird reason I have wanted to see the Himalayas (in real life), since I met some folks just back from Nepal four years ago. In addition, this particular trip offered the opportunity to do a bit of social service and time to visit with the Nepali people.


RESULT: Over-the-top in all three respects !!


I found the country to be an unbelievable visual experience . Whether in Katmandu, or up in the rural areas, each blink of the eye brought a visual image of amazing color, complexity, and uniqueness. Expert photographer I am not, but almost all of the 490 shots taken are keepers.


Possibly one word describes my overall impression: “contrast”. Be it in the dress of the variety of cultures in the city; the amazing noise and traffic in the streets outside the walls of the Dream Garden; the majestic nature of the Himalayan foothills; or the continuing presence of the “World’s Rooftop” in almost every vista. The one constant is the warmth and hospitality of the Nepali people. In the city or in the rural areas, the visitor has a continuing sense of being welcome ...with overt welcoming actions throughout.


PERSPECTIVE:


Nepal is an undeveloped country - not under-developed.. or developing - just plain undeveloped. Eighty percent of the people walk. Goods are carried on backs. Nepal is the 12th poorest country in the world. Basic knowledge of hygiene, be it personal or communal is almost non-existant; infant mortality is above 10%; maternal mortality only slightly lower. The caste system keeps a lid on upward mobility of the talented. Human rights are constantly and systematically exploited by the nature of the economy (about 30% unemployment), and foreign aid seldom reaches the grass roots, where it is desperately needed. All in all, a bleak picture.


But there is hope. Not only for those who seek to leave Nepal to exercise their talents, but for those committed to improvement of their country. Fortunately, these Nepali patriots are reinforced by many individuals from outside the country who have made it their mission to assist in progress on a variety of basic fronts.


THE MOUNTAIN FUND:


My trip was centered on a “charity trek”, one of several each year which are organized and led by The Mountain Fund. Dedicated to improvement of rural healthcare in the impoverished hill villages of the Rasuwa District, these treks attract medical volunteers (and others) to spend ten days visiting the three established clinic villages and providing basic healthcare to upwards of 300 rural folks per trip. My trek was in the Langtang Valley, considered one of the easiest treks in Nepal .


Well, forget it !! Appropriate conditioning would require : (1) Age below 50; (2) six weeks of 5 miles daily running; or alternatively, daily walks up three flights of commercial stairs carrying a 30# pack !!


Our nine day trek included 6 of us, plus 2 porters. It was a combination of clinic administration reinforcing the leaders of local support; delivering additional stocks of clinic medical supplies and meeting the health care needs of approximately 60 rural clients serviced by the three clinics we visited.


After a 7 hour ride, (over extremely rough and rocky roads, plus ½ mile walk over a landslide , we arrived for an overnight in Duenche, at about 7500 feet elevation. The next day a 7 hour walk to Thulo Syabru, at 8000 feet. From there the trek went to the last clinic at Langtang
(12,000 feet).


The hardy (nurses and Doc, then went up another 500 feet and 3 hours to Kanjin Gompa) to see a 26,000 foot mountain (up close ie: ½ mile away) (I passed on this opportunity).


KATHMANDU:


In the past three years Nepal has moved from a monarchy to a popularly elected democracy. This move was stimulated by militant unrest by the Maoist faction, a communist inspired group, who give evidence of trying to improve the life of the general population, but who will probably become mired in the existing bureaucracy, as well as that added by their newly installed officials.


That said, life in city is bustling, noisy, crowded, and dusty, polluted and most interesting. There are many buildings and sites dating back to the 15th century, plenty of modern and semi-modern hotels and a variety of interesting and inexpensive restaurants. I found the many visitors more than willing to share their stories, (many of which had to do with THEIR TREK, past or impending), as well as many of the locals who were only too glad to share their time and a friendship cup of tea with the American. (Although, many thought me to be German, or Dutch ...of which there seem to be disproportionate numbers.)


Life in the city holds many contrasts in dress, habits, languages, religions, and modernity. The constant is an unbelievable traffic congestion of noise and death-wish pedestrians and exhaust fumes. The horn is the weapon of choice ... both in the city and on the roads to rural areas. There may be a code, that all drivers know ...but I never figured it out !!


CONCLUSION:


My three objectives were met. Plus I returned to “normal life” within sights I had not held before, and with several concepts of missions on which I might embark which may make a difference in this amazing country of NEPAL!!


David Lincoln, York Maine - November 5, 2008

August 2008: Healthcare Update from Nepal

The village of Thulo Syabru, located in the Rasuwa District of Nepal, has been working with The Mountain Fund for the past three years, to turn their idea of a health clinic into reality. This past March, TMF Founder, Scott MacLennan, and Thulo Syabru resident, Bhunima Lama, worked for one month to prepare the clinic’s building for occupancy; by connecting a water supply system and extensive cleaning of the interior. We are happy to announce that the clinic had its grand opening in April.

To reach Thulo Syabru it’s a three hour walk from the nearest road. Before this clinic, sick or injured people, including pregnant women, had to walk three hours down a steep trail to go to a health post and three hours back up the same steep trail to reach home safely. The amount of people served by this clinic is geographically huge, and reaches as far as Gossaikund, a three day walk from here. The clinic is strategically located at the convergence of the Helembu and Langtang trails, and so it can also assist trekkers who need first aid.

The clinic is staffed with one CMA (Certified Medical Assistant) and a Staff Nurse, and costs less than $2.00 (US) per family, per year, to operate. Medicine is sold at wholesale cost, and we do not turn patients away if they don’t have any money. Since its grand opening in April, the clinic has been treating 3 patients per day.

For more information about our projects, please visit www.mountainfund.org

The Mountain Fund & Trek4Good-Peru

At least twice a year, "The Mountain Fund" travels to Peru. And during the past six years, we've had the pleasure of forming a personal friendship with our Peruvian guide, Yure Chavez. Yure has been guiding in Peru for over twelve years, and we highly recommend him for your trips to Peru.

In addition to conventional tours, he's led customized tours with tailor-made iteneraries, such as adventure, ecotourism, and bird watching. He's worked with a lot of American tourists, and can answer any of your travel related questions and concerns - including safety and health issues, best restaurants, etc.

Yure says: "Without ever compromising your safety and comfort, I'll take you well off the tourist paths into the real Peru, the country I know inside-out!"

Yure has the advantage of his in-depth knowledge about Peru, which comes from first-hand experiences of being a life-long native of Peru. He was born in Cusco, where he went to the University for five years to be licensed in tourism. His spoken and written English is excellent, and he's a terrific communicator. He also speaks Spanish, Quechua (local Peruvian language), and French.

Yure's got a great sense of humor, and is very involved with Andean Anthropological Studies (costumes, traditions and social customs). He's also got a real passion for helping his fellow Peruvians and giving back to his community. And, as program manager for "Peru Trek4Good", he donates a percentage of his profits to our Peru-based micro-finance program called Aynikuy. In Quechua, "Aynikuy" means to help each other or to cooperate.

We encourage you to visit Yure's blogspot and read more about his tours in Peru!

LNK: http://yurechavez.blogspot.com/

Medical Camp Moves Mountains in Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal
Oct 28, 2007

The October 11-24, 2007 "Moving Medical Camp", organized by The Mountain Fund , served over 1000 patients in seven villages.

The 25 member charity trek which is composed of US, UK and Nepali Doctors and Nurses, as well as Nepali translators, visited 7 villages in the remote Rasuwa District on the Tibetan border, and just finished giving free medical care to over 1000 indigenous Tamang inhabitants of the area.

The medical volunteers included OBGYN, Pediatric, Optometric and General Medicine practioneers. Over 225 eye patients received glasses and vision assistance. (A more detailed report will follow this press release.)

Our medical volunteers were: Michael Falcone, Dr. Beth-Hall Thompson, Tu Mach, Dr. Dorothy Kammerer-Doak, Susie Rivard-Dibenedetto, Shelly Ogle, David Diaz, Robert Doak, Lindsey Mahlstedt, Ann McCollum, Kerry Flint, Christina Quack, Peter Korpi, Katie Korpi, Puskar Gurung, Sudhir Lama, Dr. Alish Prajapati, Teja Raut, Sudha Dhungana, Kopila Lama, Phurbu Tamang, Dipendra Shrestha, Dipendra Lama, Nima Tamang and Jimyang Lama. Special thanks to Dr. Alish Prajapati who was our official medical host from Nepal.

Much thanks to Mountain Hardwear for the Space Stations that were used as portable clinic buildings and Phillips Environmental for the PETT toilet systems.

About The Mountain Fund:
Our mission is to eliminate poverty, its causes and symptoms, in developing mountain communities around the world.

Website: http://www.mountainfund.org

The Mountain Fund
Scott MacLennan
email: mtnfund@mountainfund.org

Medical Camp in Peru treats over 350

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 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."

View some of our trip photos by clicking HERE.