The Switch

 

I got here not a moment too soon. One more flight and I would've turned into this guy ---->
After 3 flights and one full night in Qatar airport, I finally arrived in Kigali. Customs process was fairly smooth and I was greeted outside by my fellow American coworker (the only one).

After meeting my other coworkers and visiting the Kigali office, Clare helped me find much needed sustenance. My first meal in Africa came from the hot food counter at the nearby grocery store- with zero complaints. I had an apple, banana, chicken pie and vegetable samosa.

Chicken pie

I spent the night in Kigali before meeting up with the other engineer, Eric and heading to my new home, Kibungo.

Adjusting

Luckily for me, we moved to Ashton when I was still pretty young because Kibungo is a lot like Ashton. One major road running through leading from the local school, University of Kibungo and IPRC, to the town center with stores lining either side of the street and the farmer's market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There are about an equal number of people growing things, farm animals and students. It takes about 2hours to get to the capital by bus (same as rush hour) and there's even a local hospital just down the street. Thanks Mom and Dad for the lifetime of preparation!

Temporary Home

On a serious note, while Kibungo is a smaller town/city, the presence of the district government offices and two large, technically oriented schools means that Kibungo is fairly modern. In Kibungo, I'm staying at the local hotel until my house search is complete.

 Dinner- Barbecue Goat Brochette and rice with veggies

Sunset over the hotel from the courtyard

My favorite part of my stay is the included breakfast. Although, being at the hotel this long, I know most of the staff and they've been friendly and helpful - albeit amused- with my attempts to learn more Kinyarwanda.

 Breakfast! Rolls, Spanish omelette, tea and fruit

I love the daily fruit plate- I think their goal is to see how many different kinds they can fit.

The Job

Check out the website--> http://sheinnovates.com/our-work/
It's just as crazy as I anticipated. My projects include (not exhaustive):

• Bioburden and Sterilization Validation
• 2 machine re-designs (including sourcing parts and doing a local build of one
• Structure design and construction (yes, that says structure)
• 3 R&D Product design projects

Any other ideas I have to improve efficiency and capacity... This will be a very busy next few months. Now just to get that house...

Nepalese Culture

So this post will point out and bring some clarity to things in other posts but I figured why not let it stand alone.

Food
In addition to our staples of Momo and chow mein, Nepal's primary fuel source is Daal Bhaat- literally meaning lentils and rice. This is consumed at every meal (see 'gallo pinto' for Costa Rica and Nicaragua).

(credit Google for the pic with only my annotations)

What made each Daal Bhat meal great at my homestay was the different "ochar". They also called this chutney and based on my experience it is a catch all name for sauce, relish, and chutney. This varied with meal in our home and made each a little different. Our house Didi (big sister) also would switch it up with a boiled fried egg (yes both, and it's good) or torkari- a cauliflower, potato soup that is much better than I'll be able to describe. Ochar and torkari made my homestay meals.

Drink
Chiya!  Nepalese spiced tea was my life force. Chiya is the Nepali word for tea and is typically a spiced tea (like chai, but that's just the Indian word for tea) served with chimi (sugar) and dur (milk).

Roxy aka Roshy aka Nepalese moon shine. This was offered to us at the New Year's festival Dec 30 (we declined) and at our farewell (we accepted). Warning: STRONG! Although we heard it's easier drinking warmed with a little water.

Religion
Nepal was a Hindu kingdom until 2007. Now it's top 3 elected officials are females- #girlsruntheworld
A Hindu hospitality custom is that "Guests are gods". This is not much different from Jewish and Christian customs to welcome and feed strangers and guests as friends or the Afghan custom of Pashwami that saved Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor.
As with any religious custom, this is practiced at different levels but ultimately means guests and foreigners receive warm welcomes and respect.

Pictures above (3): Temple in Damauli on the River

 Pokhara Lakeside Temple

 From the Pokhara cave!

It's also responsible for the constant placing of teeka (the red rice and adornments on my forehead) and why I was fed fresh coconut on several occasions.

Me after visting the Damauli temple and the very energetic old monks who tried to get me to climb through a cave in the ceiling...

After a visit from one of the house mates!

Nepal is also where Buddha was born so there is plenty of Buddhist love. Especially since Hinduism recognizes Buddha as an incarnation of one of its primary gods (I will not guess so as not to offend).

Gifts of Love- Buddha statue and Welcome scarf (center left and center right)from our host family

Far left- Yak Leather bag; Far Right- Elephant print Pashomina/Cashemere blend

Chocolate bar from a Mom of the neighborhood kids!

Nepal was however a country closed to outsiders until the 1950's when missionary Christian doctors (#ChristiansOnMission) were the first to show up. As a result, many assume - especially outside of Kathmandu and tourist destinations- that all foreigners are doctors.  So here I am with my "patients"

Pulse oximeter ready for use!

Suction machine almost ready for a final functional test

X ray light with some interesting standard wiring

Music and Dance
Iit's best to just experience it yourself soooo
Traditional-

"Panko Pat"- rougly translated ( and likely incompletely remembered) the song says symbol of love friends remember day and night. So it's a sound about friendship in the form of conversation between man and lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrwNiY2ZjsE
(start around minute 4:25 and listen for a minute or two- its a loooong conversation)

Modern (aka flash back to 70's and 80s)
Lot's of rock and metal, like Jimmi Hendrix and AC/DC, and some funk too

Final Flurry!

The last 10 days flew by!
Friday 1/6 we left Damauli to meet the group in Pokhara for some sightseeing. Gelu told us about the day we had ahead of us
-Sunrise at Sarangkot
- Boating on the lake
- Visiting a cave
- Seeing waterfalls
Bonus: Why not work in paragliding????

Action shot: Duck duck goose got serious

Welcome to Damauli!

As a I was sitting outside the barber shop, these ladies arrived to deliver fresh filleted fish to one of the barbers. They took the still squirming fish out from a basket and filetted it on a tarp on the street. Talk about service!

These guys were cutting some sort of stone just down from where the ladies filleted the fish. Busy Saturday afternoon!

Local fish from the lake prepared in the traditional Nepali way!

Devi's Falls

Stairway down into the cave

Devi's falls from inside the cave!

That was pretty much the speed set for all our final week in Nepal

Work Hard
In our final week in the hospital, there were more requests, repairs and ECG questions which some friends sent help so I could answer. Damauli hospital is part of a nurse training program. So the answers I was providing were the initial on the job training many of the ER nurses were getting in ECG!

In all we returned 8 machines to service, evaluated another 6 (requesting the necessary parts for some) and made some safety improvements!

Playtime!
There was a 10 day festival going on in the grounds near the hospital during our 2 weeks in Damauli. Including the New Year's festival the day we arrived, there was a party somewhere all but 3 days in Damauli. Our house mate and ER nurse in training, Sarah, took us to the festival!

Final Good Byes

Sadly, we had to say good bye to the kids we got used to playing with in our neighborhood as well as the nurses we lived and worked with.

Good Night and Good Bye Damauli!

Last Stop!

Back in Kathmandu, we prepared our final presentations for the conference. After an awesome morning of sharing experiences, suggestions and brainstorming awesomeness, we're all in the process of working out ideas to bring drone drug delivery to Nepal! And then of course, we celebrated.

While UnderArmour isn't part of the traditional dress, I was determined to give my presentation in a sari- even though it was only 48 deg!

Some of the smartest, most driven, creative people I've met

And they all will submit to some peer pressure and get up and dance!

Sizzling Brownie was a great choice with our red wine!

Sam and I at the gate at the airport!