Last post until July 10th

Julley everyone! (this means hello, goodbye, thank-you, etc. in Ladakhi)

Here are a few more pics before we head off to the villages for 2 weeks.
We are busy prepping/packing today and will hopefully go to the Tibetan Childrens' Village (school for 2000 Tibetan children) tonight for a dance performance. No computer access while we are out in the villages, but there is sure to be some great pics when we return on July 10th!

The pics today are:

1) 2 girls that Eric, Deb and Lex met en route to a monastery on Friday. We got lost trying to find it, which is meant to be good karma!

2) The finished product of Iqbal's wheelchair! We had a whole team watching the Canadian women work-it was too funny. Thanks Jen for all your help- the chair worked out really well!

3) The revolutionaries (Izzy, Lex and Tree; Lea is taking the photo) at work gluing the foam together for Iqbal's seating system. It was so smelly!

4) Song time at the Moravian Mission school where Kate, Izzy and Lea went to work with Ladakh-Hilfe a few days ago. The little guy in Lea's lap is sound asleep (he has a seizure disorder) but with lots of sensory processing tricks, they were able to wake him up to work on a puzzle- the most that Ladakh-Hilfe has seen him awake in a long time!

5) Deb and Eric skipping rocks by the river with kids from the Tibetan Childrens Village. Deb, Eric and Lex went to the public ceremony for Ling Rinpoche (the re-incarnation of the His Holiness' senior tutor) this morning and after sitting in the blazing sun, we needed to seek shade by the river. We thought the ceremony was going to be in a monastery, but it was in a huge field similar to the folk festival setting- we were a little unprepared!

Hope everyone is well, miss you all,
The gang

Week 2

Hi all,
Some more photos with captions this time (and captions from last post).
Last post:
1st pic: eating breakfast at the guesthouse: Eric is taking the picture; from left to right is Kate, Theresa, Deb, Alexis, Isabelle and Lea.
2nd pic: East view from Shanti Stupa (a religious site that is a short but very steep climb from the guesthouse)
3rd pic: Northern view from the courtyard at the guesthouse
4th pic: a view of Leh from Shanti Stups- not sure which direction?? we think N-E
5th pic: the group from the Mental Health discussion: from L-R is Thinlas (translator); Lhamo (traditional healer); Deb; the cook; Amala; Anila (Tibetan Medicine Amchi); Theresa; in front is Alexis and Stanba (director of HEALTH Inc).

Photos from this post:
1st pic: Two monks in Leh
2nd pic: naptime for the dogs in Leh
3rd pic: Deb & Eric en route to Leh
4th pic: Kate, Theresa and a random cow
5th pic: Lex at the top of Shanti Stupa

We'll post at least once more before our 2-week trip out to the villages on Monday.
Jullay,
Deb & Lex

Photos finally!

Hi all,

After several computer gliches and an email home for help, we finally figured out how to attach photos!

We had a great day today- our team split into 2 groups. One group (Izzy, Lea and Kate) went to a school with Ladakh-Hilfe to see some kids who have various disabilities and who receive treatment twice per week from Ladakh-Hilfe. It was great to collaborate with the PTs and share ideas about communication, language development, sensory integration and positioning. We will continue to do some more collaoborating in some viallges around Leh and also after we return from our village visits with HEALTH Inc.
The second group (Deb, Tree and Lex) attended a historical meeting with Dr. Gulam, a GP in Leh, and some Onpos (traditional/spiritual healers) to discuss mental health issues. This is the first meeting ever of this kind as Onpos and allopathic practioners do not collaborate in Ladakh. They all shared their forms of healing which varied from being an oracle to Tibetan medicine to astronomy and astrology. We were able to share ideas about mental health in Canada. Deb gave an incredible presenation that was culturally sensitive and very well recieved by all. Dr. Gulam has now invited us to the hosipital to give a presentation to the doctors about mental health (after we return from villages).

Please enjoy the photos.
Talk again very soon,
the gang

p.s. we hope the photos are on but if not, we're in the middle of the Himalayas and will keep trying- at least we know how to do it now!

Day 3

Hi all,
We are adjusting well and sleeping much better now.
Off to Leh with a helper, since yesterday a few of us got lost! and its only a 20 minute walk from the guest house- we chose to wrong fork in the road and ended up near the military airport where we landed!
Doing lots of planning and yesterday Izzy and Lea assessed Iqbal for his new wheelchair. This will be a big job for sure, but he already said he was much more comfortable in it.
Halfway there to getting a photo on this- later today.

Talk soon,
the gang

We're here!

Hi everyone!
We made it and have arrived safely in Leh. Happy to leave Delhi, although it was the coolest June 16th in 5 years at 34 degrees!
Had a white-knuckling time in Frankfurt when Izzy's plane was delayed, but she made it with minutes to spare and we were so relieved.

Have now been greeted and treated like royalty since arriving at the Oriental Guest House. It is so beautiful here and the flight over the mountain ranges was unbelievable. So now we are under strict instructions to rest and drink 8 litres of water today. Feeling light-headed and a bit short of breath but so far so good. It is only 10 degress here and it feels so much better.

HEALTH Inc. is so organized and we are all feeling really excited to start working! We will have a meeting on Tuesday (today is Sunday here) with the local docs and German PT team (Ladakh-Hilfe) to start discussions. A lot of planning this week and then we will head to the villages in Sham on June 25th to July 9th.

More updates to come....
Warm wishes to everyone. We will get some photos up very soon.

Alexis and co.

2 days to go...

2-day countdown until departure!
Madly packing and checking our lists...and getting super excited!!