Guest post by Genelle Leifso, a Canadian Red Cross aid worker from British Columbia, who is currently in Nepal. She shares her impressions in her first week since arriving to work as an operating room nurse at the Canadian Red Cross field hospital in the remote community of Dhunche.
Sights and sounds in Dhunche
It's hard to believe that I have already been in Dhunche one week. This morning when I got up, the sky was clear enough to see the snow-capped mountains in Tibet and Langtang Mountain. Usually, this region is a trekker’s paradise, but the earthquakes and ongoing instability of the landscape have changed that for now.
Over the past few days, heavier pre-monsoon rains have begun. Heavy rain began again around 3 p.m. Then there was a two-hour reprieve, but now, it has begun again. The thunder is rolling! I have been told that when the real monsoons come it will rain for three or four days straight with only perhaps a couple of hours of lighter drizzle each day.
Working alongside Nepalese staff
Apparently there have been some local radio and television spots about the Canadian Red Cross field hospital operating in Dhunche, so more and more people are showing up in the outpatient and emergency department each day. Two Nepalese doctors have arrived, and so the Red Cross physicians are busy working with and mentoring them.
There is quite a diverse local population working at the field hospital. For example, a translator I use quite regularly is another lovely young girl (everyone is young compared to me!). She is currently in Dhunche living with her grandfather, but she has an MBA from a university in Katmandu and her English is very good.
In the operating room, I have been developing a relationship with our cleaner. Since she is young and eager, I am hoping to begin training her to take on some of the less complicated tasks associated with the sterilization process. She has grade 11 but hasn’t yet had a job or gone to college so this would be a wonderful opportunity for her to gain a real life skill.
Read more inspiring stories from the Red Cross field hospital in Nepal.
Canadians can support Red Cross relief efforts in Nepal by donating to the Nepal earthquake fund.
