They're called "Developing Countries" for a reason, but not because everything appears to be under development. It seems to me that very few things are, in fact, under development. In reality, most things appear as if they have been here for quite some time. Much of the infrastructure appears to be crumbling - roads were designed for carts and cattle, they were once paved and today they appear to be in a state of perpetual deconstruction. Sure, some things are new - there are new homes in certain places and new ideas coming in from around the world, new investments being made in people, education and healthcare, but I wish I could say that this also applied to power and energy!
Yesterday I moved into my new apartment - a four story building with a roof deck. While it came equipped with furniture, a refrigerator, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, a dining room, living room and kitchen, it did not have an alternative power source. Why is that so important you ask? Because the majority of Nepal's power is hydroelectric, it is most efficient (I am told) during the rainy season - summer months to we westerners - and when things dry out so too does the source of power. And when there is no power, the government takes matters into its own hands by rationing it - otherwise known as "load shedding". On April 8th, the latest 'load shedding' schedule was published. It calls for 14 hours without power during the current period....and you might not mind if the power were available to you in the morning while you were getting ready for work and in the evening while you were preparing your dinner. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The schedule changes every day and repeats for some unknown period of weeks. Fortunately, my water is heated with solar power and I am told that I may want to reconsider my showering habits so that I shower in the evening before the heat that was gathered from the sun dissipates otherwise by morning the water will have cooled down in time for a lukewarm shower - this will take some getting used to! How very blessed we are! (rather, YOU are!) The wealthy here buy generators or inverters. I have an inverter - basically two huge batteries that take two strong Nepali's to hoist them one at a time to a corner of my kitchen. It cost my landlord Rs75,000 to put this in place - that's 75,000 Rupees or approximately $1,100 - that's a lot of Rupees! My landlord, however is a terrific guy and seems committed to make me happy. In fact, he introduced me to Jumuna - my "Didi".
Didi means "helper" in Nepali. Jumuna will do any housekeeping that is asked of her and has committed two days a week to caring for my things - she does laundry by hand but I have insisted that my good shirts be sent out for cleaning - even if they need to go to a Chinese laundry in Shanghai!
Jumuna was here all day yesterday while I ran errands to set things up. She speaks very little English, and my Nepali is, well embarrassingly non-existant. Did I say "Namaste" to you already? Oh, right, I've exhausted my bag of tricks - but I am learning that a hearty, prayerfully pronounced "Namaste" will go pretty far with the natives and deliver a smile every time.
So now that I am settled in, the work begins. And nearly every International Development project begins with a mound of background reading - one would think that this could have been provided in advance so that I would be informed before I got here - but I think that's part of the trick - very clever when you think about it - if we knew what we were in for, would we really have come?
All joking aside, while the living can be difficult, the work is fascinating - at least at this point I can say that reading about it is fascinating. The fact that some places on this planet (and I'm not naming names) don't have policies and regulations to ensure for the safety of the national drug supply, or that the policies that are in place are not well adhered to - and knowing that the people who dispense pharmaceuticals often are uneducated or that a drug quality test could consist of evaluating the exterior of the package rather than the chemical composition of the product or even that the ability to communicate a supply shortage (aka "stock out") is obstructed because of an inferior communications infrastructure all suggest that there are some (we know who we are) who forget to stop to count our blessings and recognize that all men were not created equal.
As I move through the mountain of reports this week, my focus is to develop a plan of attack for the upcoming months and to determine how to improve access to quality medical products in a country with poor national infrastructure. I will be counting on your prayers to guide my work. With gratitude.
Yesterday I moved into my new apartment - a four story building with a roof deck. While it came equipped with furniture, a refrigerator, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, a dining room, living room and kitchen, it did not have an alternative power source. Why is that so important you ask? Because the majority of Nepal's power is hydroelectric, it is most efficient (I am told) during the rainy season - summer months to we westerners - and when things dry out so too does the source of power. And when there is no power, the government takes matters into its own hands by rationing it - otherwise known as "load shedding". On April 8th, the latest 'load shedding' schedule was published. It calls for 14 hours without power during the current period....and you might not mind if the power were available to you in the morning while you were getting ready for work and in the evening while you were preparing your dinner. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The schedule changes every day and repeats for some unknown period of weeks. Fortunately, my water is heated with solar power and I am told that I may want to reconsider my showering habits so that I shower in the evening before the heat that was gathered from the sun dissipates otherwise by morning the water will have cooled down in time for a lukewarm shower - this will take some getting used to! How very blessed we are! (rather, YOU are!) The wealthy here buy generators or inverters. I have an inverter - basically two huge batteries that take two strong Nepali's to hoist them one at a time to a corner of my kitchen. It cost my landlord Rs75,000 to put this in place - that's 75,000 Rupees or approximately $1,100 - that's a lot of Rupees! My landlord, however is a terrific guy and seems committed to make me happy. In fact, he introduced me to Jumuna - my "Didi".
Didi means "helper" in Nepali. Jumuna will do any housekeeping that is asked of her and has committed two days a week to caring for my things - she does laundry by hand but I have insisted that my good shirts be sent out for cleaning - even if they need to go to a Chinese laundry in Shanghai!
Jumuna was here all day yesterday while I ran errands to set things up. She speaks very little English, and my Nepali is, well embarrassingly non-existant. Did I say "Namaste" to you already? Oh, right, I've exhausted my bag of tricks - but I am learning that a hearty, prayerfully pronounced "Namaste" will go pretty far with the natives and deliver a smile every time.
So now that I am settled in, the work begins. And nearly every International Development project begins with a mound of background reading - one would think that this could have been provided in advance so that I would be informed before I got here - but I think that's part of the trick - very clever when you think about it - if we knew what we were in for, would we really have come?
As I move through the mountain of reports this week, my focus is to develop a plan of attack for the upcoming months and to determine how to improve access to quality medical products in a country with poor national infrastructure. I will be counting on your prayers to guide my work. With gratitude.
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