EWH's twenty participants in SI Nepal spent their first week in Nepal learning about the local culture and language. Now, the group has split into smaller teams and gone to their local hospitals to get to work. Thanks to the pre-course the group took in Denmark before arriving in Nepal, they are all ready to go! Here's a look at their experience so far:

"We spent the first five days in Dhulikhel in our own little European bubble. We started our language classes and learnt the most important do’s and don’ts in Nepal. We practiced eating with our hands and saying thank you in Nepali ( [daneebad] which I still have difficulties saying perfectly). The hardest thing about learning the Nepali culture and language is that the locals will never correct your mistakes, so you can go for weeks before you meet a kid who will correct you. The first time I was corrected was at the Sunrise orphanage because I didn’t sit correctly while eating." - Hilal

The view while studying

 "It's over the last two days we were able to repair two broken oxygen concentrators. Before we got there, the hospital had only one available. It has put some of the hospital staff in some uncomfortable situations where, among other things, they've had to prioritise between patients. That's why as soon as possible we took a look at them. Hopefully the hospital can now avoid similar situations." - Mads

Mads and Mathias working on an oxygen concentrator

"Namaste! After spending a couple weeks in Nepal any possible description of the experience so far would fall short. Every day spent in this astonishing country provides more things to digest. Cultural richness and differences to our westernized standards are very noticeable. After some intense language training and cultural introduction, we moved to our placement village (Bandipur, located close to Pokhara and with a magnificent view of the Annapurna and other Himalayan high peaks). Today we were able to visit the hospital for our initial inventory analysis, and conditions are far from what we could want.  However, the local staff is very friendly, helpful, and opened to new ideas. Even though our short language training makes it very hard to understand a full Nepali conversation, it at least gives us the basis to take a smile out of locals and to have a broad understanding of a conversation." - Luis

Monkey sitting above the city

"Yesterday we had a sunny moment, which is rare during the monsoon season. In the picture Sofie (NTNU) and Mathias (DTU) can be seen working outside in the sun, with a stunning view in the back. Besides our main work at the hospital, to repair medical equipment, a lot of paperwork has to be done including making inventory lists of the equipment at the hospital, documentation of our work(which reparations, spare parts and procedure that has been used) and interviews with the hospital staff. Paperwork like this will ensure a better distribution of future donations including both equipment and spare parts. Furthermore it will allow more specific training programs for the hospital staff." - Mads

The Summer Institute in Nepal will continue for a couple more weeks - we cannot wait to share everything our participants accomplish!