MONDAY

 How many adults can you fit on the back seat of a Jeep? I think there were six today - we gatecrashed a taxi-Jeep this morning just as it left Siba for the higher village of Jima, two hours walk away. The road to Jima arrived 6 months ago. It feels safe to use it, despite the precipice alongside. 

We pay £3 each for the ride. 


PHASE is here to give a health talk about general sanitation & personal care. About 30 women gather from the surrounding houses, which must be a large majority of this small village. We all sit on the stone roof of one of the large houses in the bright morning sunshine. Three men are on the fringe. It becomes an opportunity for one of the women to harangue the owners of a row of dwellings just above us: she is very unhappy that their rubbish blows down onto her fields below. But there is much good humour amongst the conversations too. The one pregnant woman amongst them (of two months) is not taking folic acid.


After an hour or so we move on to the village primary school and speak to a class of 30 8-9yr olds about vitamins and sanitation. The children are very attentive and interactive; half of them say they want to be teachers. The classroom is very simple with four long low desks (enough for 16 children) and many square cushions. There is foam flooring, little natural light and no electricity. There are a few reading books on a shelf. The secondary school is one hour’s walk away. 


As we leave I ask about the 30kg sacks of rice that have just arrived. These are sold to the rural communities at a reduced price by the government (who buy the rice from the farmers in the Nepalese plains). 


During this time we gather that a full-term mother (who happens to be from Jima) with polyhydramnios (who was advised to stay in hospital for risk of complications) has had a normal birth in Siba supervised by two government midwives. She will stay at the birthing centre for three days and then walk the two hours home, for the taxi-jeep is too expensive for almost all villagers. 


We walk the two hours home to Siba. 

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