Monday 6 May 2013
The weigh in and dust.
Monday 6th May
Back to work today. Rather disappointed that the toilets pong a bit so we mentioned it to one of the ladies. I tried to explain that it is not just English fastidiousness or over fussiness but that a smell means bacteria are at work and that can cause the children to pick up sickness and diarrhoea.
We were a bit stuck for something to do as the electricity was on a scheduled power cut until 4pm. Barbara had planned to download some materials for her girls on infection control etc and I had planned to download some colouring in sheets and games for the little ones. Instead we did them by hand and then started to complete the record book I had prepared. I explained it individually to Bijaya and Anjali, the adults who speak good English. Then we started to weigh and measure the little ones. As the older ones started to drift home from school, we had a queue outside the clinic. The word had spread that you got a couple of sweeties after you had been weighed and measured. Not even the older ones had any idea of how much they weighed. Out of 34 children none was overweight, unlike in the UK, so I think that pretty much confirms the idea that fatness is linked to over consumption of the wrong sort of foods and lack of exercise. These children walk everywhere, certainly don't overeat and play actively due to not having computers. They also all have beautiful pearly white teeth. I was contacted by one of the previous volunteers who has been following this blog, who explained that some of the meals I had seen the children having, eg jam and bread, was in fact a snack and the children have dhal bhat ( traditional Nepali food) for their breakfast before they leave for school. So that was good to know, but I still think they need more first class protein to build up their bones and organs as quite a few of them are underweight and small for their age.
I am still hacking away with this annoying cough and read in the Kathmandu Post today that the number of cases of acute bronchitis and pneumonia seen by hospitals is rising because of the dust and haze pollution. The widening of roads and demolition of houses is largely the cause of this, as Kathmandu is in a valley which traps the dust. The Montessori expert is still suffering from bronchitis and had an x-ray and blood tests over the weekend while we were away in the jungle. She is now trying to change her ticket to go home early.
Barbara and I are enjoying our usual after work treat at the Himalayan Java as well as the free wifi. It was extremely frustrating at the hotel yesterday as the wifi was non existent and though between us we have so far spent over £20 on it, it either won't let us log on, drops the signal, tells us wrongly that we have used up our time, can't connect to the server or it is so slow that we lose the will to live. Barbara lost it, went down to reception and gave them a serious piece of her mind. Since then, they duck down behind the counter when they see her coming.
I need to do my last minute souvenir hunting soon as we still haven't been to the Hindu Temple as Putipashti or is it Pushtipati? Anyway, only Hindus can enter it but heathens can stand on the hill opposite and view the funeral pyres so we are fancying a bit of ghoulish goggling. Must make sure we have the address written down correctly so that the taxi driver doesn't take us all over Nepal via Tibet
No particularly interesting photos so just putting a few random ones.
Sent from my iPad
Back to work today. Rather disappointed that the toilets pong a bit so we mentioned it to one of the ladies. I tried to explain that it is not just English fastidiousness or over fussiness but that a smell means bacteria are at work and that can cause the children to pick up sickness and diarrhoea.
We were a bit stuck for something to do as the electricity was on a scheduled power cut until 4pm. Barbara had planned to download some materials for her girls on infection control etc and I had planned to download some colouring in sheets and games for the little ones. Instead we did them by hand and then started to complete the record book I had prepared. I explained it individually to Bijaya and Anjali, the adults who speak good English. Then we started to weigh and measure the little ones. As the older ones started to drift home from school, we had a queue outside the clinic. The word had spread that you got a couple of sweeties after you had been weighed and measured. Not even the older ones had any idea of how much they weighed. Out of 34 children none was overweight, unlike in the UK, so I think that pretty much confirms the idea that fatness is linked to over consumption of the wrong sort of foods and lack of exercise. These children walk everywhere, certainly don't overeat and play actively due to not having computers. They also all have beautiful pearly white teeth. I was contacted by one of the previous volunteers who has been following this blog, who explained that some of the meals I had seen the children having, eg jam and bread, was in fact a snack and the children have dhal bhat ( traditional Nepali food) for their breakfast before they leave for school. So that was good to know, but I still think they need more first class protein to build up their bones and organs as quite a few of them are underweight and small for their age.
I am still hacking away with this annoying cough and read in the Kathmandu Post today that the number of cases of acute bronchitis and pneumonia seen by hospitals is rising because of the dust and haze pollution. The widening of roads and demolition of houses is largely the cause of this, as Kathmandu is in a valley which traps the dust. The Montessori expert is still suffering from bronchitis and had an x-ray and blood tests over the weekend while we were away in the jungle. She is now trying to change her ticket to go home early.
Barbara and I are enjoying our usual after work treat at the Himalayan Java as well as the free wifi. It was extremely frustrating at the hotel yesterday as the wifi was non existent and though between us we have so far spent over £20 on it, it either won't let us log on, drops the signal, tells us wrongly that we have used up our time, can't connect to the server or it is so slow that we lose the will to live. Barbara lost it, went down to reception and gave them a serious piece of her mind. Since then, they duck down behind the counter when they see her coming.
I need to do my last minute souvenir hunting soon as we still haven't been to the Hindu Temple as Putipashti or is it Pushtipati? Anyway, only Hindus can enter it but heathens can stand on the hill opposite and view the funeral pyres so we are fancying a bit of ghoulish goggling. Must make sure we have the address written down correctly so that the taxi driver doesn't take us all over Nepal via Tibet
No particularly interesting photos so just putting a few random ones.
Sent from my iPad
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