Aftershocks in Nepal

Been reading up on earthquakes and aftershocks for an upcoming blog.  With the aftershocks going on - when do our friends get to go home - if, indeed there is still a home to go to? 

Some aftershocks or even earth quake swarms can go on for years as in the case of Christchurch, New Zealand (first quake September 4, 2010) or an aftershock or two. *

And I am close to choosing an NGO to help get money to our young men and their families.

But until then some good news -

Roshan - good young man! Safe

Rojina, lovely young lady and Roshan's sister

I also hear rumors that our other Banepa muscular dystrophy young men 

are safe but I'm gonna ask for a headcount.  Still have heard nothing from 

our friends in Kathmandu.  I'll keep hunting...

*  Morrin HR, Robinson BA. Sustaining a biobank through a series of earthquake
swarms: lessons learned from our New Zealand experience. Biopreserv Biobank. 2013
Aug;11(4):211-5. doi: 10.1089/bio.2013.0033. Epub 2013 Aug 6. PubMed PMID:
24845587.

In Memorium

Photo of Ben Cumbo courtesy of Parent Project.

Ben Cumbo: In memorium

Missing a singular young man. Debi and Tony our thoughts are with you.

Nepal

Nepal is in freefall.

wild and beautiful beyond imagination ...

Now fallen down in devastation.

Some friends are safe...

Grandma and Sunil

Nirmal

And some of our Duchenne boys and their families have not been heard from ...

There are our Duchenne Families and those that help them in Kathmandu ...

Unheard from

Where are you? 

Pray you are safe.

Putting together a means to get money to our friends to rebuild their fallen homes. I'll be in touch soon.

Part 2: Nepal and the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation Pictures

Anil Upadhyay- General Secretary of MDF

Karuna at the place she loves

Anil Upadhyay and Karuna Pokharel,  started Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, Nepal around 2000, shortly after they learned their son, Anushpa Nepal had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  Although Anushpa died in 2008, his parents still fight for the children that need them.

The roads in Kathmandu are in great shape compared to the rest of Nepal but in poor to damn awful shape compared to roads in the US.  Because of this children with muscular dystrophy usually stop going to school due to accessibility problems. They stop going anywhere.

The Center provides physical therapy and ambulance services with a full time Physical Therapist and a driver to go with the ambulance. The driver picks up kids to bring them to the center.  A couple days a week the PT goes to the homes. The center also provides counseling to parents and sisters of boys with muscular dystrophy.

The government supports the Center by paying for diagnosis through CPK or biopsy.  They provide braces and wheelchairs if necessary. 

MDF, Nepal plans to build a Center where every aspect of muscular dystrophy can be addressed, including genetic diagnosis and care of boys with physical therapy. 

A boy with duchenne at the MDF Nepal Center

Prabha Chaulagain offers counseling and runs the MDF office

Karuna and Prabha are in the MDF office every day.

After all of the talk and meeting the wonderful people who do so much with so little to help boys with muscular dystrophy, I did a little sightseeing and souvenir buying. It was so much fun!

Temple in Kathmandu

Me, at a temple door in Kathmandu

They do have cats in Kathmandu!

Hustle and bustle

The gods can be scary!

Anil and me

More temples

So many temples!

In Kathmandu, a local goddess appears once a year in the golden window in this picture

The story of the local goddess

The market street in Kathmandu

so happy

After the fun, I will remember Duchenne and a wonderful 12 year old and his family

Pictures: The first days in Nepal

Note from Umesh

Most days Umesh sits here

Umesh talks to me

A roof-top with purple flowers

Depesh, 31 years old

Nirmal's wife and son and me

Himalayas

Valley below; Himalaya above

Sunil - hamming it up in the mustard plants

Some kind of bull

Beauty

The grounds of an abandoned resort

Terraced gardens

Sunil with me at the abandoned resort

Azay, his family, and me

temple in the distance

Binita

Mixed use living

Another apartment building

Building in Kavre

haystack

Finding Krishna

A boy named Raju in a makeshift wheelchair

A Temple scene

Umesh and I talk

coming down the mountain

Winter Flowering

Winter Flower

Red Glory

Succulent Plant