It’s the newly established Ganesh Himal Trading Intern.
Before I begin I want to share my excitement about a product I discovered while exploring the Ganesh Himal Trading inventory: the little felted elephant bags. They had caught my eye when I was browsing the website and during my tour of Ganesh Himal Trading. Between the adorable design and the story behind them, I couldn’t resist featuring them in my blog post. The design reminds me of a bag I had as a child, a horse purse, who was a stuffed animal with a zipper across the back and the bag compartment was his stomach. Adding to the whimsical design of these bags are some wonderfully unexpected color combinations. Long story short, I may soon be walking out with one of these bags for some young girls who live next door.
The elephant bags are created by a group of crafters that was formed by a former employee of the Association for Craft Producers (ACP), Hari Basnet. Hari, with the help of ACP and Ganesh Himal Trading started his own business, and up until his recent death employed 15 women with steady work and fair wage. The women have been able to continue on carrying on his mission. I find his mission and commitment to women very admirable.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]I had a fun time herding up some bags for this photo
In addition to Hari Basnet, I also loved hearing the individual stories of producers from Denise at the Spokane City Forum on the 17th. The stories of the women are so empowering, how through their employment they have become strong and are now advocates for their communities. I hope to bring the same empowerment to women in my career. I was very excited to attend because my dad, who works at First Presbyterian Church, has been encouraging me for months to attend City Forums and I’m glad I finally received the opportunity. What I loved almost as much as I loved hearing Denise and Kim speak, was seeing how the audience reacted. They were completely hooked and when Denise passed around some examples of the products made from what was considered trash (tire innertubes and recycled billboards)–the audience was tickled. Each person examined the products with glee, smiles and whispers of admiration to their colleagues.
After my first day I was given some reading to do, “An Overview of Fair Trade in North America” which gave the basics of Fair Trade: its history; its principles, importance, major names, challenges and personal impact. Everyone should read or a least skim through a copy. The pamphlet may not be every one’s cup of tea, I would say a lot fact based reading isn’t, but it gives a great overview of the subject including a conflict I found particularly interesting. The concern is over the emerging differences between certification guidelines.
The overview mentioned the specific coffee and how different groups are now allowing hired labor and plantations to have their coffee certified. I would like to avoid becoming pessimistic but I believe caution should be taken to ensure there are guidelines. The typical consumer is most likely unaware of these differences. While this may be good for business and while I am not condemning organizations for altering guidelines to encourage larger companies and corporations to apply for certification to encourage the shift to fair trade practices, I am worried this could dilute the reputation of the fair trade, much like the USDA’s organic certification and corporations strategic use of phrases such as “100% natural”.
All of this being said I fear preaching to the choir. What are your thoughts readers?
Until next time,
Lauren
The Ganesh Himal Trading Intern[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Hello Blog Readers, my name is Lauren Merrithew. I am Ganesh Himal Trading’s first intern! I am a senior in high school and I am taking a class that partners me with an organization of my choice whom I than intern with for around 3 hours a week from the beginning of October to the end of May.
I had a rather interesting way of becoming connected to Ganesh Himal. I was interviewing with another organization when the interviewer stopped me and said their organization wasn’t the place for me. I was shocked, wondering when in my description what I love and value went wrong before the interviewer smiling, sat me down and showed me the Ganesh Himal website that prominently featured aspects of their business that summarized everything I had mentioned in my interview with her.
What I would like to do is become a fashion major and eventually start my own business, a business based on fair trade, empowering women, and sustainability.
Ganesh Himal has been an incredible fit thus far and within the less than six hours I have been here I already feel at home. Their message, mission and process is genius—for lack of a better word–and I have learned so much already as to what it takes to run a fair trade minded business. And I am hooked.
Already I have been exposed to Ganesh Himal’s incredible mindfulness towards the producer, which became evident within minutes of Denise elaborating on product design, including how designs are chosen for specific producer. Each one of their transactions with their producers is thoughtful, and because of their consciousness, Ganesh has been able to facilitate amazing change, which I love. (Read how Ganesh Himal helped build a Medical Clinic below if you haven’t already).
I will be posting throughout my internship, sending updates on my experiences and what I am learning. I’m excited to see where this internship will take me.
Until next time,
Lauren Merrithew
Ganesh Himal’s Elated Intern
Once a year Ganesh Himal Trading has a chance to sell their products to their local community in Spokane, Washington. A 28 year old tradition, this event brings people from all over the Inland Empire, and is a celebration of friendship, community and fair trade. Please see below for more information.
Sita Gurung, Denise Attwood, Ric Conner (Ganesh Himal Trading)
The Story of the Baseri Health Clinic, Baseri Nepal
How does a small, locally owned, grassroots health clinic in Nepal get a start! Here’s the story of how the clinic in Baseri Nepal did!
Denise and Ric (of Ganesh Himal Trading) met Sita Gurung in 1984 while they were trekking through her remote village of Baseri, Nepal. She was 14 at the time! Sita was an enthusiastic girl in the village who walked long hours to get an education. They became lifelong friends. Over time all of them dreamed together of someday building a clinic in Sita’s village where there had never been any healthcare before. In 2006 Sita’s mother, Ama Gurung and Denise’s good friend Dr. Marilyn Ream both passed away. Their lives and memory gave Sita and Denise the inspiration to pursue that dream. 24 years after their initial meeting in Baseri they decided it was time to build a clinic!
In the fall of 2007 Sita went back to her village of Baseri in the mountainous region of NW Nepal and met with the village leaders. She asked them if they were interested in helping to create a clinic. The villagers were thrilled with the prospect of having their first health clinic ever! They formed their own non-profit, donated community land for the clinic and agreed to donate time and labor to help build it. The team was forming!
In the spring of 2008 Sita and Denise held the first fundraiser in Spokane and raised the money to start the construction. Carol Schillios, of the Fabric of Life Foundation, who works with women in Mali met with Sita and Denise, discussed the project and lovingly agreed to have the Fabric of Life Foundation became the home of the Baseri Clinic funds!
In the meantime, the villagers chose a site that they felt was accessible to everyone in the surrounding area and started building in the fall of 2008. They agreed that they wanted this clinic to be available to anyone who needed help and that they would not turn anyone away. They designed a 4 room, one story building in the traditional architecture of the village and located a local water source. Trees were cut from their local community forest and milled by hand. Slate for the roof was cut from a nearby quarry (all by hand). By the spring of 2009 they were able to construct the main shell of the structure.
Over the summer of 2009 the villagers were busy planting and harvesting their local crops of millet, barley, corn and rice. Sita and I were busy planning out the future staffing of the clinic as well as where to source electricity (the village of Baseri has none). Sita and I dreamed of finding a local woman to staff the clinic. We wanted to find a woman who could be a mentor to young girls in the area. Remarkably, just as we were investigating the staffing, a Spokane family approached Denise about helping the clinic. They wanted to help with finding qualified permanent medical staff. Sita knew of a young woman from Baseri who had dreamed of being a nurse but couldn’t afford the tuition. The Spokane family jumped at the chance to fund her training. So, Nisha Gurung, a Baseri village girl, applied for and was one of 4 rural Nepali’s accepted to the field nursing program at the National Medical College in Birgunj, Nepal. She started the demanding 3 year program in the fall of 2009 and Sita visited her at the college soon after. Nisha has been a star student and will be finished with her program this fall, 2012. When Nisha finishes she will be qualified to do minor surgery, maternal and infant health care and primary medicine and at that time she will become the lead medical personnel for the clinic. She is thrilled since this has been her life long goal and she never dreamed she would have the money to complete the schooling!
While Nisha has been in college, a local man, who was a medic in the Nepal Army and worked for 10 years in the Army hospital in Kathmandu, has filled the position of medical personnel for the clinic. In 2009 he come to Kathmandu to meet with Sita’s friend Dr. Holly Murphy, an Infectious Disease Specialist, who is working in CIWEC Canadian clinic in Kathmandu. Holly worked with him to make lists of the supplies of medicines necessary for the village clinic and to make sure that everything needed would be ready for the clinic opening.
Also in the summer of 2009, Sita was busy with a fundraiser in Seattle that raised money specifically for the solar, toilet and water systems for the clinic. The fundraiser was sponsored by the Living Earth Institute in Seattle http://living-earth.org/ and raised almost $5,000 for the clinic. There was a fantastic program of traditional singing and dancing by Sita and others and many members of the Nepal Seattle Society came to support the clinic. Sita, contributes the proceeds from her traditional Nepali music CDS to the clinic project. With this money we were able to fund a solar panel, five small tube lights (the first light in Baseri!), a battery, the design and installation of a toilet system, a 5000 liter water tank and piping and have them installed in the clinic.
The building was completed in the winter of 2010 and then a grand opening ceremony was scheduled for February. Sita, Denise, Ric and Cameron were all able to make their way to Baseri for the grand opening. Two other Nepali’s, Harimaya Gurung and Dhane Gurung, who have been instrumental in the construction of the clinic were also able to attend. The grand opening ceremony was held on February 26, 2010 with all of the villagers turning out and much music and fanfare and a ribbon cutting ceremony!
On February 28 the first 35 people came to receive care! By Sept 29, 2010 1600 patients (an average of 10 people a day) had been seen at the clinic for everything from maternal health care issues to burns, breaks and intestinal disorders. As of Feb 2011 over 3600 had been served! They have been able to save 3 peoples lives, one pregnant mother and child and one very dehydrated young boy! The clinic is supplied with basic lab testing facilities for urine and blood tests an otoscope for ear infections, stethoscopes, a blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and saline iv drip system.
News travels fast in the remote areas of Nepal and now people living in even more remote areas than Baseri have heard of the clinic and are coming seeking primary care treatment. It is obvious from the popularity of the clinic that we will need to increase the staffing so in the spring of 2012 we hired a young woman of Baseri as a part time assistant to help with record keeping. Our next steps will be to explore funding for 2 full time medical staff people. The clinic charges cost for medicine and a small fee for those who can afford it and a bank account has been opened in a nearby village. Their goal is to be able to replenish their medical supplies with the funds that they receive. The villagers of Baseri take part in the care and upkeep of the facilities. Our organization has agreed to pay for the staffing.
In the summer of 2011, Greg Starling, a board member of the The Nepalese Women’s Health Foundation contacted Denise about their interest in helping to fund women’s health care at the clinic. Sita met with their board member Dr. Devi Dawady, and they agreed to fund specific women’s health care issues at the clinic for $1000 for 3 years. With the first $1000 granted we have been able to create 1) an emergency fund for pregnant women who may need emergency transport to Kathmandu, 2) purchase prenatal vitamins that are made available to all pregnant women who come to the clinic free of charge and 3) begin to explore hiring a teacher for an adult women’s literacy program at the clinic.
At present, in the summer of 2012, the clinic is serving on average 10-15 people per day. Last February Sita went to the clinic twice and held meetings with the village board, the medic and the village people in an effort to determine how to make the clinic more effective and self-sustaining. Great progress was made and the village board is taking on more responsibilities. Records are being kept of the illnesses treated and medicines distributed, vitamins are being distributed to women who are pregnant and much more.
Sita has been working hard to put a strong foundation in place by talking with the village committee members and organizing a plan for the future and her hard work is paying off! The clinic is truly growing from the ground up! In September of 2012 when Nisha graduates from nursing school Sita has arranged for her to attend a 3 month training in intensive care at the Dhulikhel teaching hospital in Kathmandu. When she is finished she will return to Baseri and become their lead caregiver! The first woman health care provider in the first clinic in Baseri! A dream come true!
Nisha has decided that she would like to live at the clinic so our next phase for fundraising is to raise $2500 to build a 4 room addition to the clinic. Two rooms for Nisha and two rooms that we can use for guest physicians, health care educators and perhaps women’s literacy or economic development groups in the future. This project will hopefully be completed this fall.
On this journey we have had incredible help from many different people. We have one 5 year old who raised over $70 selling bracelets he made and 10 year old twins who asked people to donate to the clinic for their birthday present. A 90+ year old man, Mr. Biele, who is a friend of Sita’s has been a great supporter and has donated more than $10,000. There are dozens of others who have given generously to this dream. This clinic is dedicated to the memory of two amazing women who have held the light aloft for many of us to follow in their service and love of humankind. Aama Gurung, Sita’s mother, was a kind and powerful woman who is from the village of Baseri and led by example. She gave Sita the opportunity to become the first female to have a high school education in the area. Aama Gurung instilled great faith and humanity in all she encountered. Dr. Marilyn Ream, a physician in Spokane who worked in many rural clinics throughout the world was bursting at the seams with compassion and love. Both were amazing healers in their own way and a huge inspiration to others.
Aama and Marilyn inspired this dream and so many of our friends have worked to make it come true! Thanks to everyone who has helped. We’ll keep you posted along the way!
To make a donation by check, please make the check payable to “The Fabric of Life Foundation” and send to the address below. Please write Nepal/Besari clinic on the memo line.
We wanted to share with you comments from our customers and artisans partners. We work with the best people on this planet, THANK YOU! Please feel free to post your feedback about Ganesh Himal Trading.
“Traditions Fair Trade cherishes its relationship with Ganesh Himal. Not only have the wide range of products offered been of very high quality and appeal to our customers, but the commitment to their partnering producers in Nepal is evident from their ongoing collaborative product development, their support of the needs and social programs of those producers, and their personal connections with so many of those artisans. And we know we will always have the kind of attention and personal service from Ganesh Himal that makes it very easy to conduct business with them.” –Traditions Fair Trade
“Ganesh Himal & Association for Craft Producers (ACP), both organizations stared business in the same year and share a strong bonding and long term partnership. ACP highly appreciates Ganesh himal’s untiring effort of promoting Nepali handmade articles for the upliftment of Nepali artisans. Ganesh Himal is one of our key partners in social development projects since the beginning and our relationship goes far beyond than just buying and selling relationships. Ganesh Himal has been actively supporting our various fair trade projects primarily Child Education Allowance. Because of support from Ganesh Himal, it has eased ACP to regularly allot a monthly allowance for up to four years to producers who keep their daughters in school. As incentive to excel, ACP supports the three most outstanding students for a fifth year. ACP has been able to play a key role in providing education to over 400 children till date. Similarly, support from Ganesh Himal has enable ACP to organize dental camp in Sindhukot among cobblers’ community. This has benefited not only ACP artisans & their families but for the entire community.” –ACP, Nepal
“We have worked with Ganesh Himal since 1993. For seventeen years they have provided us with consistently beautiful clothing, purses, jewelry, and handcrafts. They are standard bearers of Fair Trade with their excellent merchandise, educational information, concern for their producers, and fantastic customer service.” Thank you Ganesh Himal!! –Global Village, Billings
“Made By Hand, a 100% Fair Trade retail store located at the shore in Delaware, has had the great pleasure to work with Ganesh Himal for 16 years. Not only are their products fantastic sellers (superb quality and great prices), the staff of Ganesh Himal are a dream to work with. They represent the best of the best in Fair Trade. Ganesh Himal truly makes the world a better place. Adelante!” –Made by Hand
“Working with all of you at Ganesh Himal is truly a blessing! Your products are of the best quality, your price point can’t be beat and your customer service is unparalleled. All I have to do is wear one of your beautiful jackets in the shop, and I invariably sell it.” –Kizuri
“Our experience working with Ganesh Himal Trading has been delightful. We are always impressed with the originality and quality of their products as well as their ongoing commitment to their artisans.”–Just Creations
The variety of quality of Ganesh Himal products draws our customers back, again and again. Of nearly 30 different vendors products sold in our store, Ganesh products are the 2nd best selling! The personal care and attention given by the staff at Ganesh is equal to one!” –One World Goods
“Ganesh Himal places orders with and receives shipments from ACP every two months. In each of these orders Ganesh Himal always try to ensure that the artisans groups have sufficient work to keep them busy covering as much product category as possible and ensuring sustainable income to the artisans. Besides, time to time visit by Denise & Ric and new product development initiation has helped ACP to obtain updated market trend and remain competitive in the market. Ganesh Himal is currently working with ACP in textile, felt, copper, ceramics, paper, knitwear & recycled items. ACP started life with 38 producers in three skill areas and five full time staff in a rented building with 4000 sq. ft area. Today ACP is providing services to over 1200 artisans (women constituting 90%) from 15 districts of Nepal in 22 skill categories. All this is possible because of strong commitment & support from fair trade organizations like Ganesh Himal. ACP team would like to thank Ganesh Himal for its sincere dedication for the promotion of fair trade for the benefit of Nepali artisans. Your support means a lot to us. We look forward to receiving continued support in future as well. Thank you! ” -Gabish at ACP
“We love your Western Collar Men’s Shirts. The style is classic, we have half a dozen customers who collect these shirts. We kind of keep track of what colors they already have and call when a new colorway comes in! Classic style, great color and price point – AND it is hard to find great items for men! –The Fair Trader
This past week I got to do one of my favorite rituals of the year and I was reminded yet again of how wonderful it is to give. Every year for as long as I can remember we at Ganesh Himal Trading have given our sweaters and knitwear to Women’s Hearth here in Spokane. Women’s Hearth is this amazingly warm and welcoming day center in the city core where women can seek shelter from the streets, connect with services, take a shower, learn something new, express themselves through the arts or connect via the computer lab. Founded in 1991 The Women’s Hearth is a safe haven for any women seeking the safety and community of other women in a non-judgmental atmosphere and each day the doors open to welcome more than 100 homeless and low-income women. Women’s Hearth is a part of a larger organization here in Spokane called Transitions. Transitions helps women in need: those in crisis, at risk children, low income, homeless and those in recovery…they do a remarkable job.
At Ganesh Himal Trading we focus a lot on women in need in Nepal and have a fundamental core belief that women, when given opportunity in a caring and just environment can heal and lead their communities in creating a more just and caring world. Women’s Hearth works on that commitment to women closer to home. We feel grateful that we can partner with this like-minded organization that works to empower and comfort women. We thank them for their dedicated work in our community. I look forward to next year when once again I hear the whispers as I open the door to Women’s Hearth with my bag of sweaters on my back and see those beautiful smiles and hear those wonderful words ….”It’s the sweater lady! She’s back”. Happy Holidays to all!
Even public schools cost money in Nepal and producers often have to pull their children out of school because they can’t afford the fees. Usually it is the girl children who are pulled out first because families will look to their long term care by their boy children. In an effort to encourage producers to keep their girls in school Ganesh Himal has given an annual contribution since 1990 to the Association for Craft Producers “Girl Child Education Fund”. This producer benefit program was set up by ACP to provide a monthly scholarship allowance to producers who keep their daughters in school for at least four consecutive years. As the program has grown ACP has been able to give the same allowance to some of the producers boys as well.
This year ACP was able give scholarships to 85 children from ages 6-17 years old. In April they invited the students to come and see the workshop at ACP and participate in some of the craft activities that their mother’s do such as blockprinting. The purpose of the program was to familiarize the children with ACP, its work and help them learn about Fair Trade. The children were given a tour of ACP and an explanation of the work they do. The three outstanding scholarship students also received a prize and special recognition from Meera Bhattarai, the Executive Director of ACP.
Ganesh Himal Trading has been proud to help this girl child education fund prosper and be successful.
Travel has always been a big part of our family life and our 14 year old son has seen more of the world than most adults will in their entire life! That wasn’t by accident! We planned it that way because we wanted our child to grow up as a citizen of the world and to be in love with all of its diversity. Having just returned from 6 weeks of travel in Peru, I think our plan is working! I watched as our son fell in love with yet another country and its people, cultures and natural wonders. In his short life he has filled his heart with the memories of his friends in Nepal, Turkey, Greece, Australia, Mexico, Peru, Europe and more. These are no longer just places on a map to him, they are places filled with people he knows and cares about and places he wants to preserve.
Night before last we got to see Rick Steves, the budget travel guru, talk on his new book “Travel as a Political Act” and his talk really struck a chord because travel, when done thoughtfully, opens your eyes to the beauty of the world we live in and opens your heart to the amazing people we share the planet with. Having just opened his book I am struck by his words “We travel to have enlightening experiences, to meet inspirational people, to be stimulated, to learn, and to grow….Travel has taught me the fun of having my cultural furniture rearranged and my ethnocentric self-assuredness walloped. It has humbled me, enriched my life, and tuned me in to a rapidly changing world. And for that, I am thankful.” He goes on to say “Travel challenges truths that we were raised thinking were self-evident and God-given. Leaving home, we learn other people find different truths to be self evident. We realize that it just makes sense to give everyone a little wiggle room.” These words ring true. We won’t all come home with the same impressions but we’ll all have our eyes opened wider and have the faces of those we’ve met and who have treated us so well indelibly etched in our hearts. That makes it more difficult to see them as our enemies. Travel, by connecting us to others, can truly be “A political act”.
As I sat and listened to Rick Steves I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between “purposeful travel” and “fair trade”. Each is about connecting and recognizing that through our differences we have a beautiful shared humanity that should be celebrated as one of the most precious gifts on earth. We get to see through the eyes of others and glimpse their own version of the world and they get to see through ours. As I’ve stood beside women producers in Nepal who have far less materially than I do, I have seen a richness of spirit that made me feel as if I were poor. The beauty though is that they shared that richness with me without a single hesitation and made my life much richer for it. In turn I’ve shared some tools with them to help them access a market that will give them more monetary stability and help them plan for their future. Fair trade and travel, they are about the rich exchange of the gifts of humanity and working toward the betterment of all. When we connect, whether through travel or trade, we remember that place of brother and sisterhood and the true meaning of a global family. Happy holidays, safe travels and thanks for supporting Fair Trade!
We just completed the 27th Festival of Fair Trade in Spokane and what an event it was. We started this event to give the folks in Spokane a chance to shop for Fair Trade items before there was a Fair Trade store in here. It’s unbelievable how folks have loyally followed us from a basement to various other venues and now to the beautiful Community Building! We see people year after year who say they wait for our little postcard in the mail so that they know when to come and participate in this event! We are always so touched.
This year we had another incredibly successful event and were joined by 6 other Fair Trade vendors with goods from all over the world and we set up next to Spokane’s beautiful fair trade store, Kizuri. All of us were astounded at the huge amount of support and the fun and community that was exhibited. It was a beautiful contrast to the stories of pepper spray out in the big box stores. I commented to several people about how wonderful it was to see people running into friends and visiting, drinking fair trade coffee, admiring the beautiful handmade products, sitting on the couch and just having a great community experience while supporting Fair Trade. This is the world I would like to envision!
We also had great publicity from our community newspapers this year and for that we are so grateful. The Fig Tree ran two different articles on Fair Trade. One well deserved article on Ganesh Himal’s wonderful marketing director Sarah Calvin entitled “Marketing fair trade involves educating and connecting people” and another about the great Fair Trade event put on every year by the First Presbyterian Church here in Spokane. That article can be found here . The Spokesman Review published a wonderful story on the front page of their TODAY section called “Value Shopping” and that drew in a lot of new shoppers who hadn’t heard of the festival before. We had so many comments from people who had read this article and were thrilled to have the opportunity to come to an event like this! The Inlander chose us as one of their Inlander Picks and wrote up a great review of the show which drew in another large group of people! The media definitely makes a difference and we’re really happy to have gotten the press we did!
It’s hard to believe that 27 years have passed since we first started this show and it’s hard to believe how many people now understand the value of placing their gift buying dollars where they really count and can make a positive difference in people’s lives. I told many shoppers the story of Laxmi and how when we first met her daughter was 3 years old and she so badly wanted to send her to school. Now her daughter is 30 and has a masters degree in social work. These are the things that happen when trade works for the benefit of all. There are thousands of these positive stories in the Fair Trade world and as more people choose to support Fair Trade more lives, particularly women’s, will be changed.
So, happy holidays to all and thanks for all of the great support. I’ll post a few pictures of the Festival and look forward to the next. Keep Fair Trade in your thoughts and support every Fair Trade store out there with your holiday shopping!
First Entry: October 15th 
In the meantime, the villagers chose a site that they felt was accessible to everyone in the surrounding area and started building in the fall of 2008. They agreed that they wanted this clinic to be available to anyone who needed help and that they would not turn anyone away. They designed a 4 room, one story building in the traditional architecture of the village and located a local water source. Trees were cut from their local community forest and milled by hand. Slate for the roof was cut from a nearby quarry (all by hand). By the spring of 2009 they were able to construct the main shell of the structure.
While Nisha has been in college, a local man, who was a medic in the Nepal Army and worked for 10 years in the Army hospital in Kathmandu, has filled the position of medical personnel for the clinic. In 2009 he come to Kathmandu to meet with Sita’s friend Dr. Holly Murphy, an Infectious Disease Specialist, who is working in CIWEC Canadian clinic in Kathmandu. Holly worked with him to make lists of the supplies of medicines necessary for the village clinic and to make sure that everything needed would be ready for the clinic opening.
On February 28 the first 35 people came to receive care! By Sept 29, 2010 1600 patients (an average of 10 people a day) had been seen at the clinic for everything from maternal health care issues to burns, breaks and intestinal disorders. As of Feb 2011 over 3600 had been served! They have been able to save 3 peoples lives, one pregnant mother and child and one very dehydrated young boy! The clinic is supplied with basic lab testing facilities for urine and blood tests an otoscope for ear infections, stethoscopes, a blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and saline iv drip system.
There are dozens of others who have given generously to this dream. This clinic is dedicated to the memory of two amazing women who have held the light aloft for many of us to follow in their service and love of humankind. Aama Gurung, Sita’s mother, was a kind and powerful woman who is from the village of Baseri and led by example. She gave Sita the opportunity to become the first female to have a high school education in the area. Aama Gurung instilled great faith and humanity in all she encountered. Dr. Marilyn Ream, a physician in Spokane who worked in many rural clinics throughout the world was bursting at the seams with compassion and love. Both were amazing healers in their own way and a huge inspiration to others.
