2011 Week 2: Friends & funny sights around Leh

1) Uncle and Tani's baby at OGH

2) Norboo and his daughter, Thinlas Dolma, hanging together at work

3) One of our fave sights on the way to the hospital- storefront full of western toilets??!!

4) Little Angmo plays dress-up and bursts into our room yelling "Jullay!"

5) Scaldon (Dolma's boy) showing Mom what a big boy he is!

Week 2: Kids & the new library!

Jullay friends,

We only have a couple of days left here this year and its been an interesting 2 weeks so far... we've managed to get some more planning done and looking at the bigger picture of how to improve the unit in the coming years. Still lots of work and training to do but this unit is an incredible start to what is possible for disability services in Ladakh!

Pic 1: Norboo and our excellent volunteer, Konchok, (recently graduated nurse who we really hope we can get posted to the unit once she is hired by hospital) doing an assessment with an 11-year-old boy and his grandfather.

Pic 2: Setting up the new library generously fundraised for and donated by Tamara Blesh, Traveling Librarian, (travelinglibrarian.org)

Pic 3: Cataloguing the new books- great resources for kids, parents and professionals!

Pic 4: Tamara, Kate and Dolma look through the new books

Pic 5: Konchok and Lex do a self-care OT assessment with a 13-year old boy

Stay tuned for more...

More jullays...

A few more action pics from the unit:

1) Norboo and Dolma working hard

2) Norboo having fun at work &

3) Dolma having fun at work!

We will post again very soon :)

Many jullays to everyone...

1st Jullay in 2011

Jullay friends,

We (Lex & Kate) are here for a short visit this year to see how the pediatric unit is holding up after its first year in operation. Norboo and Dolma are stars and have kept it going in full swing! They see about 3 new kids per month and several ongoing visits each week.

After fighting the altitude lags, we have had 2 great days at the hospital and looking forward to assisting the team here with applying for continued funding for the unit... and when we get home, the search for funding for us to keep training will start :)

Some pics...

1) Dolma and her little boy Scaldon, now 2-1/2 years and as cute as ever!

2) Dolma & Lex in the new staff room (it has switched sides of the unit to accommodate the new adolescent unit- focus will be mental health education!

3) Kate-the-techy shows the team fun speech therapy games on her iPad- maybe we should get funding from Apple ;)

4) Passing by our friendly donkeys on the commute to the hospital...