Volunteering in Nepal By Prabin Gurung

Volunteering is one of the best way to give back to the community. In this post – Prabin Gurung shares about his recent experience in Nepal. Enjoy the read.

Volunteering in Nepal?

This article is especially beneficial to the students in their A levels, university and to those people who are thinking of expanding their knowledge or to do voluntary work which can advance their CV’s or just for experience. Volunteering opportunities are widely available in many parts of the world. However, I did my voluntary placement in Nepal. It was not just because Nepal is my birthplace but I get to learn about the health care system in Nepal.

Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC) is located in Sanga, Kavre (Banepa). It is a place for patient with trauma caused due to accidents and who are unable to use their legs or half paralysis. It provides significant treatment facilities with the help of various medical personnel such as doctors, nurses, social workers and particularly physiotherapists and occupational therapist. It also bestows opportunity to new students who wants to be physiotherapist. Therefore, being a physiotherapy student (Huddersfield University), I got an opportunity to work with various patients from diverse places of Nepal with their own language and accents. The institution is run by donations and small financial support from government. It is a small rehabilitation centre with lots of learning opportunities and experiences.

Patan Community Based Rehabilitation Organisation (Patan CBR) is located in Shankhamul, Lalitpur. It is a children community rehabilitation centre. It treats children with disability and learning difficulties. It provides a wide range of activities and educational facilities for such children. Some of the activities are hand crafting, candle making, dance classes etc. Being a rehabilitation centre, physiotherapists and social workers are actively involved with the kids who are in need of assistant to manage their condition. This place highly depends on foreign donations and receives a small amount of aid from the government.

Baby Life Home is located in Bhaisepati, Kirtipur. It consists of 17 kids with the HIV virus. It is a little house with classrooms, dormitories, dining room and kitchen. Even though, it is small for 17 kids, it is ideal for them with everything being well managed by the founder Uma Gurung. These kids are cheerful, active, and always ready to dance, rap and share their stories. This place has become a “Home” for them. Most of these kids are either orphans or their parents cannot take care of them. I was really astonished to see the maturity in these kids at such a young age due to the circumstances they had to encounter. Eldest kids of the group were taking care of the little ones and assisting them to eat their food, wash dishes and take baths. Even though they have lost everything they still hope to be a better citizen. Saphalta HIV Shiksha Sadan is their school’s name being managed by 5 teachers, they have recently been recognised by the government as a school.

There are a lot of pros and cons with the health care in Nepal. The people are getting the treatment with the highest standard the hospital could provide but confidentiality is a major issue as everyone knows about each other’s problems. Even though confidentiality has been breached, people help each other’s families sharing their own experiences and giving advice. The sense of unity and harmony is seen, even in the hardest period they are always optimistic. Yes, there are different parts of world where you can volunteer but nothing feels better than helping in your own country.

Here are the links to their sites:

SIRC– http://techoutsolutions.com/sirc/

Patan CBR– http://www.patancbr.org.np/

Baby Life Home– http://babylifehome.org/PageDetails.aspx?page=saphalta-hiv-sikshya-sadan

Written by Prabin Gurung