Nepal 2010 Montview Worktrip

Montview in Nepal, Nepal in Montview

Post-harvest is the quiet time in rural villages in Nepal – the ideal season for Montview work-trippers to engage in relationship and share in project work.  In the fall of 2010, 62 youth and adults ages 10 to 71 made the journey halfway around the world as participants in Montview’s amazing mission in Nepal.

The early group left Denver the day after Thanksgiving 2010.  Sabhung, a large village perched on a ridge top with unsurpassed views of the Annapurna Himalaya, will be the site of the first week’s projects.  Physicals for the 900 school children will keep many of our doctors busy.  Pre-screening, first aid and hygiene education are ways for our “lay” people and nurses to contribute.  Another team will provide a similar camp for women, likely providing first-ever physical exams for most.

Dr. Fred Grover lead a “heart camp” in cooperation with two Nepali colleagues and several nurses and lay people from our group.  Nepal has an unusually high incidence of congenital heart failure.  Many lives are saved with early screening/diagnosis and, with the help of foreign donors and a Nepalese Heart Foundation, hundreds of follow-up surgeries provide hope for even the most disenfranchised.

The Mary Ward Schools in the Kathmandu Valley have been our project partners for years. The work group returned to the 325-student girl’s school in Lubhoo.  Our projects focused on literacy – for the students, teachers and administration!  We have learned that reading for pleasure is not a part of life in Nepal – and is one reason for lack of success at school.  DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) will be a new concept after our time together.

The 42-person second group arrived the Monday before Christmas worked in two villages on the construction of MUSes (Multiple Use Systems).  Working in cooperation with Montview’s capital campaign partner International Development Enterprises (IDE), our teams provided the manpower to lay pipe and build cisterns and tap stands to bring spring water for drinking as well as irrigation to the villages.  IDE’s micro-irrigation scheme enables small-plot farmers to grow off-season crops for cash, doubling or tripling their prior subsistence production.

Although it is easiest for us westerners to focus on what we we DID in Nepal, our presence is the biggest gift – for them and for ourselves.  We shared travel, work, joy, Christmas (Group 2), living in tents, using pit toilets and bucket showers, singing and dancing with children, smiles, compassionate connections and many namastes.  We returned humbled by how we’ve been changed and the gifts we’ve received. – Lynn Hetterich

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