Dear donors and supporters,

we need your help again.

Don’t worry, there is no new catastrophe, no acute emergency in our projects in Nepal but in the cooperation with Ram’s beneficial society NHEFoN and with the population of Bhorle, Rasuwa a new task has fallen on us.

The construction of a primary school in 2015, after the earthquake, resulted from a catastrophe Nepal only gradually is recovering from. Our new project emerges from the necessity to further develop “our village Bhorle” together with its population so that the fundamental needs of the population can to an increasing extent be satisfied locally.

The Village Clinic

For some time now, there has been a village nurse in Bhorle, paid for by the community. During Ram’s visit in Bhorle in spring 2017 he discovered that this nurse had to do her work in an unacceptable environment. The most basic prerequisites for her work are missing. The existing building (cf. photo) is considered to be the “social centre” of Bhorle. For understandable reasons it is no longer being used and the nurse is working in a private household 2 days per week.

It is our goal that after construction of the clinic the nurse’s focus of work shall be in the new building and that perhaps a plain accommodation for the nurse will be included in the plans. Thus the further surroundings could be served from the location Bhorle.

The work of this nurse covers many aspects and sometimes has a lifesaving function.

Village nurses know the cultural and social background of the people and often find access to patients more easily than doctors.

Due to their education, they especially are competent in the following areas:

• obstetrics

• sexual education / birth control

• wound care

• treatment of simple infections

• dispensing of medicine

• confidante of people’s sorrows

With help from external experts, village clinic also address, among others, the following subjects:

• effects of alcohol and drugs

• premature pregnancy / contraception

• self-determined sexuality

• dealing with violence and abuse

To what extent these topics may and can be accepted by men for whom they often are taboo subjects, can not be foreseen. Clearly a change of mindset is beginning to take place, particularly among youths, which in future will be influential for the rural population as well.

We believe it’s worth a try!

Current Situation

The nearest fully equipped hospital (by Nepalese standards) is about 2 hours walk away. Most people can not afford the treatment there, and in acute cases they often can not reach it, particularly women needing to be delivered.

There was a meeting in 2016 with Ram and the village council to clarify

• whether the population itself sees a requirement for a clinic

• whether a cooperation for the construction of the clinic would be possible

• which contribution the population will make towards this project

• whether a site for the building will be provided by the community

• whether the responsibility for maintenance of the village clinic will be assumed by the village community / the district.

Result

The interest in a village clinic was great. The cooperation with Ram, Gecotec e.V. and NEPAL Bildung & Gesundheit was received positively. The building site was determined in March, the negotiations with the district have been completed. The village population will undertake the porter tasks, as they did previously for the construction of the school. The village council will take on operation and maintenance of the village clinic.

The Construction

Once again we could win architect prof. Dr. Kurt Rhyner of EcoSur/Sofonias from Glarus in Switzerland for the planning of the village clinic. He, together with his colleagues, also had supported us in the construction of the school in Bhorle. On the Nepalese side an engineer will lead the construction project on-site together with Ram and will establish the contacts to authorities, e.g. for applications for building permission.

Thanks to the successful construction of the primary school in Bhorle in 2015, Ram will be able to engage proven craftsmen again locally.

Professor Dr. Kurt Rhyner on the Construction of the Village Clinic:

"It is difficult to predict today what a rural clinic in Bhorle will look like. First we will have to know the norms, regulations and wishes of the government, and will have to inspect the potential building site. It will be necessary to assess the risks related to land slides, falling rocks and of course earthquakes. Since we already know the area, it is pretty clear which materials are going to be used. To the extent possible they will be stone and clay. Concrete, wood but also sand and gravel will presumably have to be fetched from elsewhere. There is only one road to Bhorle, and it does not pass directly by the building site. Thus the villagers will have to lend a hand for transportation as well.

We will address all these aspects in a pre- project and on this basis we can then draw execution plans without disturbance. This will be done by our team in Nicaragua. To obtain step by step the approvals for these plans and presumably to redraw them a few times will be the next task. Thanks to electronic communications, we expect to be able to do all this across continents and to extensively prepare the building.“

Funding

Realization of the project including basic functional clinic equipment will cost approximately 60.000,00€. 50 % of this cost are currently covered by Gecotec e.V. and our Swiss cooperation partner NEPAL- Bildung & Gesundheit. Ca. 30,000.00€ will have to be raised from donations. Building will begin in November / December 2018.

We very much hope for your support!

A cordial “Thank you” in anticipation for all support, however modest. The people of Bhorle will appreciate it!

Best regards, Namaste.

Anne Peter, president Gecotec e.V.,
Elisabeth Schwery-Kinzler, president NEPAL Bildung & Gesundheit Schweiz,
Ram Kumar Tamang, NHEFoN

Freiburg, Blatten, Kathmandu