Saturday, April 5, 2008

Anandaban 50th Anniversary Celebration

For the 50th celebration, some of the kids dressed in traditional clothes and performed a dance. This is Rebekah, Samen and Mumtah.

These are some pics also taken at the celebration.

Dr. Rachel and Elisa dressed for the occasion.

Rachel, Murdo and their kids James and Esther in front of the main hospital building.

Murdo and James.

Some of the kids dressed in traditional clothes to form the welcoming party for the honored guests and officials. (Left to Right: Samen, Alisa, ?, ?, Rebekah, Mumtah, Esther and Ankit)

I could never get the two of htem to look at me simultaneously!!

Caroling in the wards

Video left over from Christmas caroling in the hospital wards. This one is one of my favorite songs. Many of the songs are nepalized versions of foreign songs, but this one is an original Nepali one.

Hills, Mountains and Villages

There is no way to do justice in photographs to the Himalayas. Anandaban is in the foothills. On clear days, the Himalayas miles away become visible from Kathmandu. These videos are taken on the ride from Anandaban to the Kathmandu city, which is in the valley usually about an hour's drive away (16km). The road is "rough", but I promise you I am trying to hold the camera as still as possible. Even though, we could see the himalayas on these days, you cannot see much but maybe a seemingly insignificant white line of stuff in the photos. Because there are only a few places on the drive through which glimpses are good through the trees, some videos may have duplicate locations on different days. One has the gravel pit where women and men work from dawn to dusk. All those big trucks on the road are carrying rocks to gravel pits to be crushed. The actual crusher is a machine, but everything else is manual labor.

These next videos are clips from riding through some of the, I think 7, contiguous villages we go through before entering Kathmandu proper. Life is a little different.

Video's of Anandaban Hospital Grounds

A panorama in front of the main hospital building (there are more wards behind it).

From the front of the main hospital to the lab.

Internet in Rio allows for video posting!

On a Saturday, Saraswoti invited me to go with her and some other women on a "walk" to see some monkeys. We walked for about an hour and half, seemingly mostly up hill, before we reached the destination. It did yield some nice pic opportunities. This video is taken about halfway to the moneky place. The last mountain seen, covered in pine, is the one Anandaban is on - where I live. So this is part of the valley my workplace overlooks...every day. Beautiful.