Week 1 in Phortse

It has been a week in Phortse… the Sherpa people are one of the most homeliest people I have met. They are not true Nepalese as such but are of Tibetan origin that have settled in the mountain regions. They are well renowned for their climbing skills.

As it is the climbing season now, all the young and middle-aged men are out with the trekkers and climbers. Most of them are at Everest base camp. Occasionally they pop by the village to visit family on their rest days. (It’s a 2-day walk from EBC to Phortse)

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I have limited internet data.

Clinic

I have been seeing mainly children, women and monks from nearby villages. With the change of the weather (its getting warmer), most people are arriving with runny nose, cough and sore throats as well as eczematous like lesions. While Kumaran treated all the body aches that the men have (from carrying heavy loads and climbing), I am treating the wave of URTI as well as replenishing their stock of Ninja gel (diclofenac gel)

Interestingly, a lot of people here suffer from dyspepsia (indigestion). I wonder if a large proportion of it is due to H Pylori. (shall have to do a lit search on it once back home)

Besides the local population, there have been a couple of trekkers and porters passing by. Word has travelled about the doctor living in Namaste Lodge… and on some days I have been woken up with a loud banging on my door at 7am requesting for the doctor’s attention. (Usually it’s the porters requiring medications for the common cold)

The children are simply adorable. They have started to hang out just outside my clinic during the day. When not seeing patients, I attempt to teach them simple English words. One of the girls just kept laughing at me…. I later discovered she can recite A to Z… and the English words I was teaching her was a bit too simple.

Food

The food is great. Usually its Dhal Bhat. (dhal, rice and vegetables) The staple food is potato and buckwheat. I ate this potato buckwheat pancake with their homemade chili (mixture of garlic, salt and pepper) (pictures will be up later due to limited data space that I have).  The people were reluctant to let me try it as they thought my stomach wouldn’t be able to digest it. So far… so good.

Life

Sherpas are very simple people. They are an incredibly strong and resilient group. They speak the Sherpa language, which varies slightly from the Nepali language. The Khumbu climbing school is based in this region. It was started by Conrad to develop a formal method to train the sherpas in climbing.  A second climbing school is being set up in Phortse, just next to the Namaste Lodge.

The sherpas are the true heroes of the mountain. They have summited many of these mountains numerous times and yet remain humble to their conquests. Nearly every house has an Everest summitter. (they get a certificate from the government when they summit) Some have even summited Everest 10 times. The international trekking groups employ them. They lead the climbers as well as set up ropes and do nearly everything else required for the backbone of any expedition.

I will be heading to Kunde village in 2 days time,  where I'll be there for a week plus. After that, it will be back to Phortse to continue our work.