NEPAL TREK TRAINING

We are getting lined up to travel to Nepal.  Our team leader is Dr. Harold Pine from Galveston, TX. The group is up to 11 people now, mostly ENT doctors and friends.  We will be looking at establishing a medical mission in Kathmandu.  I have been reading up on Nepal.  It is a fascinating country with a fascinating history.  While part of me feels like I should focus on one location, there is a wanderlust that keeps calling me from every direction.  Three members of our team from Haiti last year are heading there again in April while we travel to Nepal. The Nicaragua group is also going back to Puerto Cabezas.  They are blogging from Global Passion Ministries.

There are more opportunities than a person can count for doing missions and I''m finding more every day.  I've become involved in the Humanitarian Section of the AAO HNS who sends Otolaryngologists all over the world and is committed to training the locals in addition to providing care.  The goal is to eventually make ourselves unnecessary.  The mission this year will not involve so much work as just planning and deciding how it could work.  We have a contact ENT physician in Kathmandu who we will work with.  The other object of our trip is the hike to the base camp of Mt. Everest, so it's much different than our usual missions, and although I'm feeling a little guilty about trekking more than working, I see this as the opportunity of a lifetime and just couldn't pass it up. I read the book "Into Thin Air" several years ago and decided this was the most exotic place in the world.  We are not looking for donations for this trip as it is more 'vacation/adventure' than work, but bear with us and follow the adventure.  We will be back at it next year with anticipation of DR Congo.

In the mean time, John and I have been hiking in preparation for this trip.  Stay tuned.