NAME: Lauren Towne
LOCATION OF EXPERIENCE: Nepal

Nepal was...how to describe it? ...Absolutely OTHER. I could not have dreamed it up myself! When I arrived in Kathmandu, I didn't know what to expect but I know that I didn't expect what I got. I had never been in a third world country and, of course, when I went, I went to the most "third world" of them all! I felt like somehow I should have known what to expect. I read, right? I am educated, right? How foolish! The intellect is nothing compared to the senses when you EXPERIENCE something with your eyes, but not just your eyes, with your nose and mouth and skin and ears.

Kathmandu, a city we would define not by its structures, which bear no resemblance to structures I normally associate with the word, but a city in numbers. Crooked, narrow DUSTY streets, no, not dusty, dirty. Covered with trash (no infrastructure available, no garbage pick-up…something most of us learn to take for granted…it never occurred to me). Streets are mostly potholes; some paved (badly), most not. Cows, goats, dogs EVERYWHERE…in the streets, on the sidewalks, in homes and shops. Cars, bikes, auto rickshaws, tampoos (little blue, covered trucks that act as local buses...very, very uncomfortable…the seats and walls are entirely metal…and like I said it wouldn't be a road if it wasn't covered with potholes!), taxis, motorbikes, and people all over. Interesting and fun…I enjoyed the chaos at times. At other times, I longed for the order and cleanliness of Seattle streets. The noise could be deafening.

The streets are dirty, but the temples are incredible and the shrines are colorful. The women are beautifully dressed. Almost all the women wear saris every day, which are beautiful dresses in all different colors and patterns. They gave the streets, shops, and homes so much color. They were very beautiful.

There aren't many traffic laws, at least that are enforced. The only two I could manage to find out about were:

• Fifteen years in prison for killing a cow! DON'T DO IT!
• The person behind is responsible for avoiding the person in front! DON'T HIT THEM!

Other than that it is basically a free for all. Lanes are implied but not imperative. The most important thing is to get where you are going as fast as possible with the least injury to yourself or others. Speed is essential. Another critical thing is to warn everyone everywhere that you are one the way. This means liberal application of the horn. Horns are a constant sound in Kathmandu. They are simply a part of life. If you do not use your horn, you will not get anywhere. People are tuned into horns. If they hear one, they will move to the left or right as appropriate. If they don't…well! Whenever I took a cab, from the moment I entered until the moment I exited, the cab driver would be blowing his horn. I am trying to give you a sense of the noise. Other sources of noise? Cows, goats, dogs, roosters, cars (no muffler laws of course!), people and more. One night I was in bed (I stayed at the clinic), it was very late, and I was being serenaded by cows, goats, roosters, dogs and horns. I know there are cities in the U.S. where noise is difficult to escape. However, I have always enjoyed quiet. It is important to me.

The doctor at the clinic in Kathmandu took me to a clinic in a beautiful village outside the city (Bhaktapur-one of my favorite places) and we walked around the village, which at the time was having a great festival. He took me in to an ancient palace. Inside was a courtyard and it was absolutely silent (we were the only ones there at the time). The only thing I could hear was an occasional bird chirping. I burst into tears. I hadn't heard silence in fifteen days. Until that moment even I had no idea how MUCH it had affected me.

The air was thick with dust and other pollution. When I went to Bhaktapur I was on a motorcycle for about two hours (NOT wearing a helmet...an item I failed to pack!) and I SHOULD have been wearing a mask and sunglasses because by the time it was over I felt like I had been a smoker for forty years. Also, I actually LOOKED black.

Every day the power went out for at least two hours. I was glad for my supply of flashlights and candles. I will never forget the first night I was there. I went to dinner with the American nurse and some of her friends. We ate at an Indian restaurant. Shortly after we sat down the waiters brought a bunch of candles and set them out on the table. I thought it was going to add a nice ambience to the dinner but they left them unlit. While we were waiting for our dinner to arrive, the lights went out. I immediately saw that the purpose of the candles was beyond mood setting. I got very use to candles by the end of my stay.

While I was in Kathmandu I went to many interesting temples. One thing that really struck me was how much religion played a part in the daily lives and rituals of the Nepalese. They have laws against proselytizing any religion, which must make Christians furious! There seems to be a lot more religious tolerance. Hindus and Buddhists even share some of the same temples, but perhaps it is easier because they are similar. There is still a large influence of the caste system, although less so than in the past. In the clinic there were a couple of different castes, one supposedly higher than the other. That was strange.

One of the things I enjoyed about Nepal was that there were always wild, seemingly spontaneous, colorful festivals. I enjoyed being in a place that wasn't so sterile, where people weren't so prudish, or reserved.

The clinic was so interesting. The most common things seen there are SO preventable, if only the social infrastructure was in place. People simply don't have access to good bathing facilities, and mostly use water spigots in a communal area. Therefore, they lack good hygiene. Clean water and clean food is also a big problem. I saw a lot of skin infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, abscesses, tooth problems, upper respiratory and GI infections. At the clinic, and at other medical facilities I visited, they do not have access to the kind of technology and supplies we have and as a result they don't waste anything! We waste SO MUCH in our hospitals here, it is disheartening. But at the clinic they don't waste ENOUGH! They even wash and reuse their gloves! Of course, there is not much else they can do, but it made me cringe. I have embedded in my memory a picture of the drying rack they use to dry out their gloves.

I spent two days at a teaching hospital in Kathmandu where I witnessed my first birth. That was amazing, as well as interesting from a cultural perspective. The woman who was giving birth was giving birth to her fourth girl. She was trying hard to have a boy! According to the Hindu religion, boys are the only ones who can attend to the body of the parents after death and it is meaningful in terms of helping them through the spirit world. Having girls is seen by many as unlucky. Oh, that was hard to stomach! Women are definitely not valued. But on top of the fact that this woman was trying to fulfill what she saw as her social obligation (I am assuming here, since I did not talk to her directly because I don't speak Nepali!), there are also these new pressures on women to do family planning (of course it is not the man's responsibility at all!) So the doctors and nurses were very judgmental about this woman. I inferred this from the attitude they assumed and that they kept telling her this was her FIFTH pregnancy, though only her fourth successful birth. So, as usual, a woman is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't.

In general, Nepalis are expected to be VERY stoic about pain. The woman did not have pain medications during birth but the nurses and doctors pretty much ignored her during labor even though (as is to be expected) she was in a lot of pain. At one point she grabbed my hand and I held it all through her labor and stroked her forehead. The nurses and doctors thought I was crazy! They gave the woman a difficult time of it too, teasing her about me, although I could not understand what they were saying.

There was one American nurse at the clinic. She had been volunteering there for over a year and she spoke the language quite well. The rest of the clinic staff was Nepali: the primary nurse, a doctor, two assistants, a receptionist, a cook, an accountant, and a couple of volunteers. The clinic was fairly basic. The supplies were limited. It amazed me how little they had! Mainly I administered immunizations and Depo-Provera shots and changed a lot of dressings! I did get to assist the doctor in a couple of minor surgeries (removal of cysts). Twice a day the whole staff would have chiyaa (tea) together. It was very fun. I stayed at the clinic, which has living quarters upstairs. It is actually pretty extravagant by Nepali standards because it has an "American" bathroom with the typical toilet and a shower with hot water.

Meals were prepared and served by the clinic cook. The food was generally pretty good consisting mainly of dahl baht (rice and lentils). The funny thing was how much they expected you to eat! I had to constantly ask them to take some of the food back that they had put on my plate! There was no way I could keep up with how much they ate! Once you accepted the food and started to eat it, you had to finish it. Not only do many people go without food but also it is an insult to the cook! So I had to be careful to try and estimate how much I could actually eat. It was a battle with the cook who always thought I should eat more and perhaps was a little insulted that I did not. It is funny to think about now but it was a very daily struggle!

My trip was filled with both good and bad. It challenged and stressed my resources. Because I was there alone, I often felt lonely. At the same time, my eyes were definitely opened to a totally different culture and different way of life. I learned a great deal about myself, my own culture, and began exploring a whole new culture. Finally, I met some very good people. Despite the challenges, I would do it all again in a minute!