Didn’t end up goignto church, but had a very good discussion with a young man who works here in Kathmandu. Educated in a Christian school, he is familiar with it and wants to dedicate his life to Jehovah. He’s being witnessed to by a JW, but can’t make any decisions due to the Hindu family background. People hold very strongly to tradition and Hindu culture. Some of the practices seem absurd, but are still carried out (essentially similar to Old Testament practices, but for different purposes. We spoke Jesus and wine. Please continue to pray for Kamal’s growth and reading the Scripture. Currently, he’s only got the New World Tranlsation of the Bible.
The rest of Saturday was spent in Bhaktapur with Ernest. Beautiful place and going with someone more culturally appreciative allowed me to have a new look at what I thought wasn’t too special of a city. Reading thru the lonely planet guide also helped in appreciation the town and people.
This week has been another 2 crazy days at the hospital. We had an unfortunate case of a child with Hirschsprung disease pass away. The doctor was blamed for killing the child, when they had tried their hardest to help this child. The doctors here are quite immune to these words of discouragement. They sayit’s due to lack of education. Parents even after instructed on proper patient care will commonly do things that accelerate the disease process thinking that they are doing the best for their child.
The surgeon that we’re shadowing has dreams of opening a smaller pediatric hospital, the estimated cost to get this off the ground would be 10 million rupees (~$170,000 CAD). This would cover property. The bank will then be able to provide a 110% loan at a 7% interest rate. The goal of this hospital would be to serve the people who need surgery but can not necessarily afford it. Patients who can pay will also be accepted. Currently, many of the patients that come to Kanti Children's Hospital (the only government children's hospital) come from the villages ( i.e. they will travel for days sometimes by bus and foot). Because this is the only pediatric hospital available to them, the standard of care is quite low. In my time here, I have seen some sloppy work, but also some very good work. this surgeon does exceptionally good work, but is hindered by the lack of resources here (ie. equipment that has broken or is in need of replacement parts.) The idea of constructing a similar hospital that provides quality patient care at a slightly inflated cost would create some competition and hopefully encourage the government to pour more resources into the hospital. But this also comes with a whole other problem with administration corruption. This I have also witnessed not only at this hospital but another highway hospital that I stayed at last week. I’m currently debating whether or not this is the best option for the people here, or whether efforts should be spent reviving a perfectly good hospital. ‘What to do?’ Ke garne!
The problem is, with corrupt administration it’s difficult to do anything, there comes and time when you just have to start from scratch. (I’m guessing, but need to know what to do.). One thing I know for sure is that I’ll probably have to do something. The situation here is ridiculous, but perhaps one might say the same about North America. Here you have education deficient people, in NA we have education obsessed people. Neither realizes the need to address the needs of people who need it most. People here, want to help, but end up making matters worse with their limited knowledge, people in NA don’t care. Stereotyping big time here, but show me your faith by actions as James 2 would say.
Psalms continue to be huge encouragement. Ps 43, 48. Hope!
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