Her Farm, growing hope in the Himalaya

The village where Her Farm is located has a population of roughly 300 people. The village, Mankhu, sits at the midpoint between the town of Madav Besi and the larger village of Goganpani. Both Madav Besi and Goganpani have government health posts, Mankhu does not. The residents of Mankhu must walk to one of these locations for any healthcare needs. What's important to know about that is the conditions of the walk itself. If you are a strong, fit hiker with only a daypack, you can walk the rough and rocky trails either one hour uphill to Goganpani or one hour downhill to Madavbesi without much difficulity. However, if you are sick, elderly, injured or pregnant, that's an entirely different matter. Suddenly a brisk walk turns into an ordeal, one that in for the very ill, seriously injured, elderly or women in their third trimester are simply unable to make. No one in Mankhu owns a vehicle and there are no ambulances capable of making it up the rough farm road that leads to these villages. In the summer, the rainy season, the road is completely closed in any event so even if there were a vehicle, Mankhu is not accessible by road at all from late May through early to mid-September. One of the photos attached to this report, from google, gives some idea of the terrain involved. 

With the financial help of our donors, and the hard labor of many volunteers, we now have a well equipped health clinic at Her Farm to serve the needs of the people of Mankhu. I'm including a link to short film that's hosted on Vimeo called "The Making of Her Clinic" and urge you to watch it. It's short, but compelling. In just under two minutes you can witness the birth of this health facility as well as the instant success it's become. For the grand opening we held a health camp and in two days over 200 people came for routine health screening. Before we could even fully finish the clinic, villagers were coming for care. One man had cut his finger badly while harvesting rice, an elderly woman was suffering with respiratory distress from an upper respiratory infection and another man had injured his leg. Our local staff and a volunteer doctor who was visiting Her Farm attended to their needs even before the paint was dry on the wall. 

The clinic was designed with the help of an OBGYN doctor and has many educational tools for teaching local women about health issues that are specific to them as well as training materials for pregnant women to help them prepare for childbirth and childcare. 

I've attached some photos, but they don't do this project justice so again, please view the video. Thank you for helping us bring this clinic to Mankhu. Her Farm is now growing hope, and healthcare in the Himalaya. 

Links:

• The Making of Her Clinic Movie