I'm going for a 3 weeks with NepalAbility, the rehab group from Canada that sends teams to Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, and Tansen Mission Hospital, to support and teach rehabilitation staff there. The group came several times while I was at Green Pastures (Sept08, March08), and it is great to be able to going again, this time as part of one of the teams. We were invited by Green Pastures to come and be speakers at the first National Spinal Injury Workshop being hosted there, to teach about wheelchair issues related to SCI. With my experience with wheelchairs in Nepal already, it made sense for me to be part of the team! I'm going with Lynn, an Occupational Therapist who also works at Toronto Rehab, and Shaun, a Rehab Physician from Edmonton. I'm excited to be returning to a place I love, and to be able to continue to contribute in Nepal, even though I'm no longer living there. These pics are from the wheelchair and seating workshops we did for the March 09 NepalAbility visit.
I recently sent a newsletter out to many of you who supported me and followed my time volunteering in Nepal that ended last May. I summarized some of what I did and experienced in my 16 months there – if you missed out, you can download it from here. I've been meaning to blog a couple of things, and now finally have a chance to...
One thing I was involved in was the submission of a grant application to USAID for funding for provision of appropriate wheelchairs in Nepal. I posted a blog about the challenge of working to a western deadline last winter in Nepal, where we only had 8 hours of electricity a day, and my laptop battery was dying. Last May, just as I was leaving, we heard that we got the grant – $650,000US to fund more than 1000 wheelchairs and related rehab services in Nepal over the next three years. It was really great to have been involved in something that provided a concrete benefit to the hospital and people with disabilities in Nepal after I left. Another ex-pat engineer is managing the project of distributing these wheelchairs, and posted a fascinating blog about a recent wheelchair distribution camp.
Finally, I have been enjoying seeing lots of Lindsay, my new niece this spring. This is a picture of us at High Park last week, with the cherry trees in bloom. I've posted an album of her from 1-4 months, if you want to see more. It's been a whirlwind few weeks, getting everything organized, and it's a relief in many ways to be on my way without lists of things to do. I've finally had some time to think a bit more about returning, as I sit on the plane. I'm so excited to be going back, and seeing friends both expat and Nepali, and very curious how it will feel returning after a year. I hope to post several times during my trip to let you know about how it's going!
PS - I arrived hot and tired after a long journey, and got to go swimming with old friends. It was lovely, and now having had dinner, I'm off to bed.
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