A group of Australian students from James Cook University joined Volunteer Society Nepal health programme. They were here in Nepal for two months. They have taken part in number of activities in Nepal, including the following:

Orientation/acclimatization Phase
This phase was basically designed for acclimatization and to get acquainted with the Nepali culture and Nepali life. VSN arranged for all the students to stay at Dhulikhel guest house for five days where students were involved in number activities they had a four hour Nepali language and culture class everyday. After language class they enjoyed visiting local villages and sight seeing. They were also taken to Thamel, a tourist area of Kathmandu. One day they hiked to Namobuddha which is five hours walking distance. This was a good opportunity to experience the mountains and trekking. Apart from Nepali language and hiking, students were provided Health orientation, information on the caste system and the history of Nepal.
While they stayed in Dhulikhel they got to know their Nepali counterparts who helped them to learn Nepali language and culture who were going to support them for the entire period of volunteering in Nepal .Every day they had western and typical Nepali food and learnt to use non-western toilets, and Nepali bathing and washing. This phase prepared them to stay with their Nepali families and work in the rural areas in Nepal.

Preparation and Family Stay Phase
After accomplishing the orientation phase, students were taken to Duwakot village where they spent for ten days with a Nepali host family. Each house accommodated two to three students, some with separate rooms and some shared. They had to experience the Nepali life and culture. During their stay in Duwakot, students had Nepali language classes three to four hours a day, and orientation on the Health situation in Nepal. They also found time for sight seeing, including one of the ancient temples, Changunarayan. In this phase the students prepared for next program, conducting the health survey. Firstly they prepared draft questionnaires for the survey and those questionnaires were pre-tested in the village for one day. After pre-testing the questionnaires, students sat together and finalised their questionnaire. All the students were accompanied by Nepali counterparts to support them and were led by a Health Coordinator.

Gothatar village Phases
After the Duwakot phase finished, students were placed in Gothatar village, where they spent a total of forty days and where they accomplished a number of activities.

Health Survey
On the first day the students were provided with name lists of the villagers to interview randomly selected households. After selecting households, students were divided into groups. Each group consisted of two students and one Nepali counterpart. They had to interview at least 9 households each day with the questionnaires. The students conducted the survey for five days, and after conducting the survey the students had one day to analyse the data they collect. This survey provided the students to know about the health problem in the community, their attitude, practices and knowledge. This health survey helped the VSN and its volunteer to prioritize the issues to conduct awareness programme and organising health camp in the community.

Health Awareness Program
Students and their counterparts were provided training on facilitation skills which helped them to be able to run the health awareness program. More than 100 students from a public school and 50 members of the general public were made aware of general health education in Gothatar village.

Hands on Experience

At Health Clinic
Some of students were placed to a medical hall to hands on experience where they helped the doctors and Health Assistants with bandaging patients, weighing patients, history taking, checking blood pressure and temperature. In doing so, were able to learn about the general medication system, and common diseases in Nepal.

Working at Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC)
As these students are the final year students of occupational therapy, we wanted to involve them to share their skills and knowledge with healthcare workers in Nepal. Therefore, some of students were placed in Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC) Baudhanath for 8 days where they supported the Nepali occupational therapists and patients, and had hands on experience at the same time.

Assisting orphans at the orphanage
Half of students were placed in an orphanage where more than 40 children receive food, shelter, and education. Their main job here was to assist the children at the orphanage, helping them to do their homework, bathing them, organizing short excursions and helping the caregivers. Here the students gained deeper knowledge on how orphanages are run and how the children are looked after.

Organizing Health camps
Volunteer Society Nepal organized two health camps in remote communities of Kathmandu valley. 501 people directly benefited from these health camps. VSN involved the local communities, school children, local organizations and VSN overseas volunteers to make it successful. From these camps, overseas medical volunteers also got an opportunity to experience and learn about the health situation in Nepal. Volunteers were involved in arranging camps, taking patients personal history, weighing them, checking blood pressure, measuring temperature and assisting doctors.
Volunteer Society Nepal plans to continue organizing health camps in rural areas where there is no access to health facilities for the local community.
With this program all the health students were proud that they had made a great contribution to supporting the local people. They also benefited themselves, having first hand experience whilst adapting to working in a completely different situation and learning about a new culture.