The Children in the Mountains of Phugmoche	-	It is a long way	-	Our grown-up Children	-	The Children of Phugmoche	Table of Contents
		Our Problem Children (January 2007)
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. Sonam Dolkar and her brother Tashi 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.