My recent Rotary trip to Nepal lasted two weeks with a travel group comprised of Rotarians and their families from Jacksonville/Applegate, Medford and North Carolina. I was thrilled that my wife, Karen, and my son, Ayden, joined me on this trip of a lifetime.
The first part of the trip was exploratory while the second was medially-focused. Thanks to the organizational efforts by the Rotary club of Matthews, North Carolina, I joined a medical/dental team that included dentist Dr. Kai Reynolds of Medford, Dr. Mona McArdle, an EMS from Medford and Dr. David Shute, an internal medicine doc from Klamath Falls. We also traveled with an Optometry Team and Pharmacy Team.
The first week was an exhausting five day journey of trekking through villages south of Annapurna, rattling off photos of breathtaking scenery.
From there, our group boarded Jeeps in Pokhara and drove 2 hours to the town of Tikhedunga, where we were dropped off to begin our trekking adventure through the Annapurna Trail. The first day we hiked through a few villages and over suspension bridges before starting our ascent of over 3000 steps up to Ulleri at 6700 feet. This was quite the challenge but we made it to our Tea House in time to watch the sunset and enjoy a well-deserved beer or two.
The next day we hiked to Ghorepani and enjoyed the breathtaking views. By this point we realized we would never keep up with the kids and their porters! Our porter, Janak, stayed with us and always encouraged us on.
Our third day was the most challenging. First, some of our group woke up at 3:30am to hike an hour to Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. The fog and overcast was a disappointment but they were able to catch the end of the sunrise as we returned to Ghorepani. We then headed to Tadapani, reaching the summit of just over 10,000 feet. Karen had minor signs of elevation sickness—nausea, headache, loss of appetite—but overall the group was healthy. We then hiked down through a rain forest with the never-ending stairs in mud, snow and ice…only to be met at the end of the day with an hour or so climb up more stairs to Tadapani.
Our 4th day took us to Ghandruk where we had most of the afternoon and evening to explore the village. But a thunderous hailstorm limited our time spent outside so we found the village museum filled with history of the area istead.
The last day we started our hike back towards Nayapul…we trekked through Nepal’s largest rhododendron forest, saw cows, goats, monkeys and mules, endured high temperatures to freezing temperatures, enjoyed the local food along the way, the breathtaking sites, and made new friends along the way.
The second week of our trip was spent seeing patients at a small grade school located in the small town of Tillotama, south of Kathmandu and near the border of India. My “operatory” was a very old dental van, the only one in all of Nepal.
Each of the three days we treated patients from 9am until around 4pm.
At the end of the mission, the clinic as a whole had served 1,300 locals in need of medical and dental treatment.
Each day consisted of performing mostly dental extraction procedures with some restorative or “filling” procedures. It became apparent within minutes that the need for dental care was severe as the line of patients grew long very quickly… and the severity of dental decay was sadly widespread. Luckily, we had Nepali dental hygienists to clean teeth and provide much-needed homecare and dietary instruction. Karen, helped screen my patients, keep my schedule organized and enjoyed getting to know the local women and children. Our son, Ayden, spent time playing with the local children, teaching them how to play Frisbee, making balloons out of surgical gloves and making friends. On one day, he was Karen’s assistant and helped run the dental van.
At the end of the first clinic day, the USA team was driven by bus to the town of Lumbini, where we visited the birthplace of Buddha. The second evening was spent with dental auxiliary, local dentists, and members of the local Rotary club in Tillotama.
The third evening we were granted some much-needed rest by the pool to cool off from the oppressive heat and humidity.
Before heading back to the United States, we were greeted at the Kantipur Dental College by Dr Buddhi Shrestha, the Chief Executive Director in Kathmandu. We were then led inside the college, where we received decorative scarfs and certificates of appreciation from the college, plus banners from two of the local Rotary clubs. In exchange, I provided our hosts with two banners from the Jacksonville Rotary Club.
The local population expressed their heartfelt thanks repeatedly, and was genuinely grateful for our volunteer work.
Chalk another one up for Rotary!
Namaste,
Rex F. Miller, DMD