After a day and a half of R and R in Kathmandu we said goodbye to our new friends from California, Washington and New Zealand and boarded the plane to Bangkok. The hardships and just different experiences we shared made saying goodbye more difficult but I think everyone was happy to be headed home.
Getting a last aerial view of Kathmandu from our plane confirmed our conclusions about this city. It is what we would call a very large slum, little modernity, no modern buildings, freeways or major highways, little or no traffic control, chokingly lethal pollution everywhere and organized chaos in the streets. The lack of electricity for at least 12 hours a day means many restaurants and other food handlers can’t keep food consistently cold, which leads to food born illnesses. We were all sick to varying degrees while in Nepal. The 4 or 5 major hotels have generators but smaller restaurants and guesthouses, even if they have generators, can’t afford to run them. Fuel (gas) is over 4 dollars a gallon and people have to wait in line for hours to fill up.
We got to know a local volunteer at the clinic. Her name is Sushma. She helped translate with the schoolteachers and children and was a huge help. She didn’t want to return to the clinic after our first 4 days because her motorbike was low on fuel and she didn’t want to wait in line. The clinic director offered to pay for a taxi but she refused, too much trouble and expense she said (the taxi would have been less than $5.00).
All of that said, we would not have missed this opportunity for anything. Every Nepali that we personally met has been so kind and gracious. It was a privilege to come here and very satisfying to be able to offer our little bit of help with dentistry to a few of the children of Kathmandu. We were able to experience this country from a different perspective than just as a tourist.
We understand there will be an election soon and we hope, along with many of the Nepalis, that there will be an improvement in the infrastructure of this struggling country.