Human connections

My job here is to help Bayalpata Hospital with its logistics challenges.  But my mission is broader than that.  It includes connecting with the people here on a more fundamental human level.  This is challenging for me in at least two ways: I don’t speak Nepali, other than a few words ("Philip, my name is."  "Egg, is there?") and I’m an introvert.  So I’ve been thinking and praying about ways to make human connections beyond the traditional greeting, “Namaste,” which is so regularly uttered as to easily become routine and mindless.

I was blessed with such an opportunity when Abishek “interrupted” my day.  The first time he did this was when I saw him sitting on a bench outside the office where I was working.  His mother is a community health worker (CHW) who had come to the hospital for a weekly meeting at which the coming weeks work plan is hashed out.  It happened to also be a new mother workshop, so there were lots of infants around.  

Attendees of the new mother workshop at Bayalpata hospital.  Community health workers encourage new mothers in their communities to attend the workshop.

Abishek looked bored, so I rustled up some crayons and paper which he happily accepted.  An hour or so later I was working on my computer when I noticed my cursor seeming to move around on its own accord.  Looking to my side I was surprised to see that Abishek was moving my mouse around, turning it upside down, and generally inspecting it to see what fun things could be done with it.  This was my signal to end my work for the day and get down to the real business at hand.  So I went to the dorm to get my soccer ball and heard the first and only English words from Abishek – “yes, yes!”

We spent about 20 minutes kicking the ball around together, and were joined intermittently by some of the other CHW kids.

Abishek is the one with the bandaged head.  I never heard how he hurt himself but he was pretty energetic!