by Honora Wolfe

After one week in Nepal, Bob and I are beginning to get a picture of life here, the functioning of the clinic where we are working, what the problems are for clinics such as this one here in Boudha, and what life is like for the people of Nepal and especially those who live in the Kathmandu area.

SheChen clinic is just adjacent to SheChen monastery, which was founded by one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters of the 20th Century, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. The clinic seems to be funded through the efforts and generosity of a group of French donors and the director is a French woman who speaks Nepali and has lived here off and on for many years.

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In addition to acupuncture, they have a dental clinic, a Tibetan medicine clinic, a general medicine clinic, a gynecology and family planning clinic, a pathology lab, a pharmacy, and a hospice for late stage cancer and other terminal patients.

Bob and I work four days per week in two adjoining rooms with a total of four treatment tables and no real privacy. Our translator is a lovely young Nepali woman of Tibetan extraction. So far our patients are about half Tibetan-speakers and half Nepali-speakers. We’ve had all ages at the clinic and men and women equally. We have seen about 25 patients each day; the clinic is open 9 AM to 3:30 PM with an hour lunch break.

These people mostly cannot pay for any of the services, or they pay very little. Nepal is one of the poorest nations in Asia and the people in this part of the city come because they can get very cheap or free care. Many of the symptoms we see are due to the fact that most homes are not heated, except for the wealthiest Nepalis, and many live in places that we would not call a “house” at all. It is also quite damp here. Many come wearing many layers of clothes, which is an interesting challenge in terms of maintaining anything approaching clean needle technique. It’s pretty rough and ready care we are giving, but the patients are grateful and uncomplaining.

This service is staffed through the auspices of Grainne McKeown, a Chicago acupuncturist who started a non-profit called www.MindfulMedicineWorldwide.org, and she has been working to keep this clinic staffed on a continual basis since its inception a couple of years ago. If any of you have an interest, check out her website for more details. While not a situation for the faint of heart, it is a good reminder of how privileged we are to live where and how we do and even how spoiled we can become. Especially for anyone who is both an acupuncture practitioner and a Buddhist practitioner, this experience could be more than worthwhile.

Next time: About our patients and the conditions we are seeing.