Food and dancing at our Work Picnic ...

The technicians, where I work in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. organised a picnic for themselves, their family and faculty staff.

We all gathered on a cold Saturday morning at the foot of Kabilas hill, about 20 kilometers from the university. Nobody except for me, and Dipak who arranged the venue, had been here before. So it was a bit of a surprise for everyone to discover that there was no road access to the picnic site. There was no option other than starting the hour-long climb up the hill!

Here is a farmer we passed on the way up. He was ploughing his steep terraced land with a couple of indigenous bullocks. He will probably plant millet or corn when Spring comes.

Some of the men were already on top of the hill when we arrived. They had slaughtered a goat and were butchering it before cooking. Everything was used. Even the intestines were rinsed out and cooked as an appetiser!

Only 2 of us were vegetarian so we were provided with extra vegetables. Here are the mushrooms ... waiting to be cooked, ... and the broccoli ... already overcooked!

There were about 50 people at the picnic ... so the cooking pots were extra large size! Three ladies had been hired to do all the cooking. This was done outside on open wood-burning fires. You can see how the burning wood is placed on the lid of the cooking pot, as well as below it.

After we had eaten our meal, somebody produced a huge ghetto-blaster that blasted out Nepali music. And so we danced ... Nepali style ... without partners ... the men dancing in a group ... and the kids joining in.

I'm not sure why the ladies didn't dance. They usually do. Perhaps they were too embarrassed by the mens' antics?!

Maghe Sankranti ... another festival ! (Festivals, 2)

We have just entered the tenth month of the Nepali calendar. It is called the month of Maargh. Marghe Sankranti is the first day of the month and marks the beginning of the transition from winter to spring. It occurs when the sun enters the part of the zodiac symbolised by Capricorn.

Here is a photo which shows that the first of Maargh corresponds to the middle of January. This year, Marghe Sankranti was on the 15th of January. Can you imagine how confusing it is to work with two different types of calendar? I missed going to a wedding ceremony because I recorded the date in my Australian diary instead of using the Nepali one!

Marghe Sankranti is celebrated throughout Nepal. Special foods are eaten including Chaaku (solid chewy molasses), Til ko Laadu (black sesame seed covered sweet balls), yams, taro and sweet potato.

However, the most important religious event is bathing in a holy river. Especially at the site where 2 sacred rivers join each other. This includes the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and Trisuli Rivers to form the Narayani River near me (see September 2018 post: The meeting of two rivers). The Narayani continues until it joins the Ganges River.

The road towards the river was crowded with people.

The only way to cross the Trisuli river at this point is by a narrow suspension bridge. It is wide enough to take one row of pedestrians in each direction ... and it was packed with people crossing.

This is the view from the riverbank below!

However, some enterprising locals were ferrying people across the river by inflatable dingy. I counted over 35 people in each boat. Those on the outside wore a flotation device. Those in the middle had no space to put one on ... even if there had been enough available ... which there wasn't!

Here are some of the bathers performing their ritual in the river. Can you spot the ubiquitous cow among them?

People also performed rituals on the sand. I am not sure of the meaning of this assembly ... but the green leaves are often used as plates for food offerings.

Young men had their head shaved ... using a dry razor with no shaving cream. How painful would that be?! This is one of the rituals following the death of an older member of the family.

Boys reaching puberty were dressed in saffron coloured robes after having their head shaved. They can then wear a janai. This is 3 loops of twine worn over their right shoulder and under the left arm. It is one of the rituals that boys in higher Hindu castes follow before being eligible for marriage.

The same rituals were being performed on the other side of the river. Note the long narrow hollowed out log canoe that is usually used to navigate the river.

... and this resourceful young cow is licking the remaining food from disposable plates behind the Hare Krishna tent!

A day at the local fair ...

Every second year, a big fair is held on the banks of the Narayani River that flows close to where I live. It is enclosed inside a temporary bamboo structure that takes several weeks to build.

The fair runs for about a week and is very popular. This photo shows the crowd of people queuing at the entrance. The writing translates to "Chitwan Festival 2075" ( ... because Nepal uses a solar calendar which differs from our Gregorian one. Their New Year corresponds to 14th April with us this year!)

This is the area outside the fair where the people park their motorcycles ... like sardines!

In fact, the fair is so busy that there is a one way system for people to follow. Here is the avenue that leads to the Fun Park which has 2 big Ferris Wheels ...  as well as the usual assortment of rides that are designed to make you dizzy, scream, nauseous ... or even worse!

The fair is similar to the Royal Highland Show in Scotland and the Royal Melbourne Show in Australia ... except without the animals and heavy machinery. There is less produce and more stalls selling clothes. Here is a photo from inside the vegetable display tent. Unfortunately, the cauliflowers were past their best.

This turkey cock was very protective of his chicks.

Warm milk is stirred round this stainless steel container to produce a delicacy called Khuwa. It was quite tasty ... but a little too sweet for my liking.

The Tharu people are indigenous to this area. There was an interesting display of their traditional housing. They use local grasses and bamboo to form a framework that is then covered with mud.

Almost every Nepali that I speak with has a relative or friend who either studies or works in Australia. Heaps of adverts can be seen encouraging students to apply for places in Australian universities. Here is the huge one that was erected outside the fair.

I hope they are all treated well in Australia.

Me, ... at work ... in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Me, at work ... as a Veterinary Clinician, Planning and Development Officer

... at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Faculty of Agricultural Science,Veterinary Science and Fisheries, the Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal.

This all sounds rather grand, but the buildings here are outdated and run down. The students are taught a reasonable amount of theory, but they lack practical experience. This is mainly because the facilities are inadequate and there is a dearth of equipment.

Here is the entrance to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital

My role is to improve the students' practical experience, introduce them to diagnostic equipment and increase their exposure to international veterinary practice standards.

This is called 'capacity building' in bureaucracy speak. It has to be 'sustainable' so that the product of my work is still there after I leave.

The assignment is for one year. It is funded by the Australian Government as part of their overseas aid program. The government provides funds to cover my return air fare and basic living expenses as well as providing support and insurance cover.

Here I am in front of the livestock examination area and bike shelter. I think you can see my motorcycle in the background.

The vet school is in a rural area of south Nepal. There are many local poultry farms, as well as buffalo, cattle, goats, dogs, and a few sheep and pigs.

Here I am examining the udder of a big buffalo. She doesn't look too happy about it. Perhaps my hands were cold?!

I also go out on farm calls. The vets here travel by motorcycle ... with a bag over their shoulder and a stethoscope round their neck. 

Here is a relatively large, well-managed dairy farm. The cattle are fed freshly cut green fodder when it is available, as well as cereal feed and rice straw. They are all milked twice a day by hand.

Most of the cattle are very inquisitive and friendly.

Some are quite impressive and rather intimidating. This bull passed my inspection for conformation ... but I must admit that I did not check his teeth. The were too close to his long horns for my comfort!

Lots of families have a 'house cow' or buffalo. They sell her milk to neighbours to supplement their income. Here is one house cow with a damaged pelvis caused by a difficult birth. She could not fully support her weight so the owners installed an ingenious system to help her.

The students are generally eager to learn. Here I am demonstrating how to pass a stomach tube in a young goat. It gets quite cold at night and this goat was suffering from exposure. It needed nourishment and warmed up with some dextrose solution in its belly.

This is the laboratory with the Haematology Analyser that I am training the staff and students to use ( ... that's easy) and how to interpret ( ... not so easy!).

Unfortunately, the electricity power supply is not reliable. It varies in strength and sometimes cuts out altogether. This is not good for the new equipment being introduced so it needs to be protected from power surges. Inverter systems have been installed in some of the buildings ... but, since no funds seem to be allocated for maintenance, the batteries sit in the corner and slowly corrode until they are useless.

Here I am demonstrating the new Portable Ultrasound Machine. I had a bit of homework to do myself before using the machine ... coz I am no expert in this area. It didn't help that the instruction manual was poorly translated into English from some foreign language!

This pretty 3 month old buffalo benefited from ultrasound examination since I was able to demonstrate that his bladder was intact. He had not been able to pass urine for 3 days due to a blockage in his urethra. This can cause the bladder to rupture. In which case, the patient is beyond treatment. We knew the bladder had not ruptured in this guy so he was treated surgically to relieve the problem.

The students have few opportunities to learn surgical skills. So it is great that we had a visit from a couple of vets and their team from www.theonehealthfoundation.org.uk They organised the collection of local stray dogs and supervised the students neutering these animals. 

The next piece of diagnostic equipment for me to show the students is an ElectroCardioGram (ECG) machine. I am also in the process of contacting international veterinary schools in order to develop communications that may lead to an exchange of staff and students. In addition, I am collating a list of weblinks that students can access in order to further develop their education ... especially their practical knowledge. This new developing field called eLearning.

I'll finish with this photo of a rather unusual visitor to the vet school. A rare one-horned rhinoceros came sauntering down the lane past the main building last week. He didn't stop and was maybe just checking the place out for another time. 

I haven't treated a rhino yet. So let's hope (s)he returns for a check up before I leave in August!