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Our Problem Children
(January 2007) |
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Without
our help, some of our children would have had to die. Tsering
was suffering from Tuberculosis in an advanced stage. In the hill resort that
belongs to my friend, Shyam, he received an eight
months' therapy. Now Tsering has recovered, his
face is no more pale, and he smiles. In Phugmoche, he teaches his mother tongue, the Sherpa
language. It was comparatively easy to help his friend, Ngawang
Tharchin, who now studies in an Indian Buddhist
institute. His heart trouble could be cured. Soman's life was saved by a 'last minute'
operation. He was only twelve years old when we discovered that a middle ear
infection had inflamed his scull bone. The inflammation was just about to
affect his brain. Today he is a happy boy in his teens. As soon as he notices
the European woman climb up the steep rock to Phugmoche,
he runs into his room, and greets me with a scarf of honour. Recently
we were able to have Pasang operated so that his
leg did not have to be amputated. Two years before, while playing, he fell
against a rock. For a long time he had haematomas, and he suffered from pains
in his thigh. As he never complained, nobody was worried – until an infection
of his bone was diagnosed which without our help would have turned Pasang into a cripple for all his life. Just now
Cheji's eight months' Tuberculosis therapy is
coming to an end. Children often bring diseases from their homes on returning
to school after the school holidays. In their families they are not well
nourished, most of them do not have a bed of their own and sleep on a mat
spread on the floor.
Our sick
children cause high expenses. There are not only the medical costs, but also
the air fare from Phaplu to Kathmandu and back to Solu Valley. Sonam Dolkar, for instance, still has to go to Kathmandu for
regular check-ups which result in continuous expenses for transportation and
medicines. We have just taken Tsering Dorje who already attends school in Junbesi
and Chepal to Kathmandu for thorough examinations.
We are still looking for a place to stay for them as they do not have any
relatives in the city. |