28 new Volunteers arrive in Nepal

The cool weather is now gone and the warm sunshine and clear skies welcome the new team of 28 Open Heart International (OHI) volunteers to the Scheer Memorial Hospital in Banepa, Nepal.

Formally known as the Cleft lip and Palate project, the Burns project officially commencing in 2006, makes this the 21st visit to Nepal for both projects.

As new and old volunteers faces mingle together with the Nepali colleagues you can feel the air fill with excitement and anticipation of what the next two weeks will hold.

We were ushered into the hospital chapel and warmly welcomed by the hospital CEO and key staffs. We each stood to introduce and share briefly about ourselves and where we were from in Australia. There were a lot of hooting and tooting when Glenys Chapman our Nepal Burns Project Coordinator stood to give the welcome speech on behalf of the team. Glenys has been volunteering with OHI for 21 years. It is so evident that she is loved and greatly respected after 24 years of coming to the Scheer hospital.

We enjoyed a yummy morning tea of sweet masala chai tea and deep fried donuts before heading into a full day’s work of assessments and surgery lists. One cannot help but feel a bit overwhelmed seeing some of the extreme pain and disability incurred by the burn patients. I beside a Nepali woman sitting her shoulder and head as she received gentle care from Wendy White (an Advanced Practice Nurse/Educator Volunteer) who dressed the woman’s wounds. I am sure the next few weeks are going to be a roller coaster of emotions.