My Experience in Okhaldunga:

My name is Magda Wurm, I’m a 26-year-old Austrian who came to Nepal, to volunteer for a good cause. Before coming to Nepal I booked a Chitwan trip with VIN, so before starting my volunteering I visited Chitwan National Park, which I recommended to all the volunteers. It was one of my best experiences. The whole VIN program started in Kathmandu, with the orientation days. We learned about the culture, country, the people, and we got some important general tips. We also did a sightseeing trip with the other volunteers, which was very nice to get to know each other. We had a really good time and everyone tried their best to make us feel comfortable. The only thing that was a little bit unfortunate, is that we could never really follow the exact time and schedule, because most of the program points took longer than planned.

Some glimpse of my Chitwan Trip

Two days later Solenn (another volunteer) and I arrived in Nishanke, after a very long, but beautiful Jeep ride. The peaceful village here was a very nice change from busy Kathmandu, and everyone welcomed us very warmly. I planned on only doing the Public Health Program, but I also ended up working at others. We were both volunteering for one month, but because of the orientation days and some holidays, we ended up working for three weeks.

Public Health Care – Experience in Okhaldunga

For the Public Health Care Program I worked in 3 different fields. The Health Post, Community Visits, and School Visits.

Health Post

At the Health Post experience in Okhaldunga, it was very interesting for me, to see under which circumstances and how the paramedics work here. They have different rooms, with different purposes, such as the “examination-room”, the “nursing-room” (which is mostly used for birth control matters), the “laboratory”, the storage for all medical supplies, and the extra building for the maternity ward.

On the one hand, the circumstances were a bit of a shock for me, but on the other hand, I was even more impressed about how well they do their work, with what they have. The hygienic issues are something that caught my eye the second I walked in. There is dust everywhere and nothing seems to be clean. That unfortunately includes for example bandages, which they roll on a dirty table before they use it on wounds. They tried their best to speak English, but a lot of information still got lost due to the language barrier, and many times I was not sure what was happening.

I was helped them with taking vitals, doing dressings and supporting them. I am a trained nurse, so I thought I could maybe show them some things and learn from each other. The number of patients were very limited and there was not a lot for me to do. So instead I started cleaning the rooms, organizing materials, and doing a Health-related Questionnaire with the patients.

Vaccination Program

The Vaccination program was part of the Health Post. We walked around 30 minutes to a small village. Here I could be part of many babies and adults getting vaccinated. Again it was fascinated to see, under which circumstances the paramedics work here. The little shack they worked in had no floor, no windows and was all together in very bad conditions. I have a lot of respect how well the job got done. The paramedic told me a few things about the different diseases that are common here. It was great experience in Okhaldunga for me to be part of this.

Community Visits

For the Community Visits I prepared a Questionnaire about Health and Hygiene Circumstances. We walked to villages and interviewed them, took their Vitals and documented everything. Their living situation is very basic and most of the Households we visited didn’t have any filtered water or adequate sanitation facilities. With the collected information I created a sheet with the most interesting statistics about all the results.

School Visits

Together with Abishek, one of the local volunteers we went to the school in Bhadaure, which was around 1 1/2 hours walking distance away. We taught different classes from the age of 5-14 about personal hygiene, healthy food, and nutrition. It was a cool experience in Okhaldunga for me and the Highlight of all my different activities.

English Class

Everyday in the morning Susmita, one of the local volunteers and I did an English class. We taughtthem basic grammars, how to have a conversation, vocabulary, played English games and even taught them an English song, which we all sang together on my last day. I really enjoyed this time with the students and Susmita.

Permaculture experience in Okhaldunga

Whenever the Health Post was closed, after the school visits or when I just had some free time, I joined the permaculture program. We walked to different villages and prepared beds for the family’s garden- using permaculture, carried rocks or took care of the vegetables in the garden. It was hard work and the walks to the villages and back were most often very demanding, but I always really enjoyed it. With the other volunteers, it was always fun and I loved working together.