Finishing up work

While I've been playing hard during these final 2 month, I've also been working hard. The big thing we have been working on is our water project. If you are reading this you probably already know about it. During these final 2 months we did an Indiegogo fundraiser to raise money to build a new water system at our hospital. We did it. We finished it about 2 days before I left site. If you are interested in what we did you can check out this link and this video.

With all work here there were some bumps along the way. We had one day where we purchased most of the things, but we forgot others and added on more to the original project. So on 1 occasion I had to go back to Bishkek and lug around a 20+ pound water pump just to end up lugging it back to the village. We had to make 3 trips to Balackchy (about an hour) for other items. I like planning and these are all things that could have been avoided if we would have planned a little better, but at the end of the day those were all minor things and we got it done. There is a Kyrgyz proverb that means measure twice and cut once, but they say to measure 7 time and cut once outdoing our english version. We didn't and that's okay, but hopefully next time they do a big project they will think through everything a little more. One more bump was when they poured a cement foundation for a new toilet before checking the pipes. So after 2 days of the cement setting they connected the toilet just to discover that the pipe leaked so they had to go back and break up all the cement that they had just poured, fix the pipe then re-cement. That was a lot of extra work. I even got my hands a little wet fixing the toilets. No one in my village has flushing toilets so when they put them together, the mechanisms were not quite positioned correctly. As a result the float could not float all the way up so the water constantly ran. They assumed that was what toilets did so they disconnected the water from them to keep them from wasting water. We cleared that up and now they know. 

The mess from breaking up the freshly laid cement

For how often work is slow and often there is no work in Peace Corps these last 2 months have been really busy. Balancing saying goodbyes, traveling and seeing as much of this beautiful country as I could, and getting this project done have made these final 2 months be the fastest of all of my time here. The hospital staff could not be happier that this project is done and I know when winter comes and they know longer have to deal with freezing temperatures outside fetching water and ice cold water for hand washing they will appreciate it even more. I've said it many times but thanks to every one that donated this project was possible. You have made myself and more importantly a small village of 3000 people and a small hospital with 38 staff incredibly happy and given them the tools to have a more hygienic and sanitary hospital. Their health and daily lives will be improved thanks to this project and that is because of all of us and the work we did. So thanks again.

Also Kara and I went on our trip to Ala kul and we made it. It was completely frozen and we did not try to do the whole hike since numerous reports said there was a meter of snow in the pass and large unstable ice walls we decided to play it safe.

Ala Kul in June on our recent trip

Ala Kul in August from when I went during my first summer here

The final blog post will be about the goodbyes. 

The Final Two Months: Getting Outdoors

It is amazing how fast time flies. There are many, many really slow days here in Kyrgyzstan, but as  a whole these two years have flown by.  The final months have been great. We have been finishing up and as of this week finished the water project at the hospital, I have been travelling and seeing new parts of Kyrgyzstan, preparing for life after Peace Corps, and starting to say goodbye. It is amazing for how many days I’ve felt like I had  unlimited time here, but now I’m struggling to fit everything in I want to before saying goodbye for good.

A few weeks ago Kara, Eric, Taylor and I went on a hiking trip to a park called Ala Archa. It is about an hour or so drive outside of Bishkek, the capital. I’ve done a lot of hiking before Peace Corps and even though Kyrgyzstan is covered in beautiful mountains I have not had the chance to do as much hiking as I would have liked. However, in these final months I’ve gotten in two great hikes so far and have plans for one more. Ala Archa is a popular day trip spot for Kyrgyz locals looking for a day outside of city with an easily accessible waterfall, lush forests, and countless picnic spots near the parking lot. Beyond those spots are rugged mountains. That is what we went for. 

 

The fog starting to let up

Kyrgyz winter takes a toll on the body here. I essentially hibernated. I spent most days indoors staying warm and doing very little physical activity. This led to pathetic results while hiking. Our first day we hiked up to a climbers camp called Rakset hut. Reading the 6.5 km sign with an arrow pointing up a nicely marked trail from the parking lot was very deceiving. We set off in high spirits but those were quickly dampened with the sight limiting fog and mist that set in. For the rest of the hike we could never see more than about 100 ft in front of us because the fog was so thick and did not let up until that evening. Past the turn off for the waterfall the trail got really steep and I slowed down a lot. I was sadly the slowest on the trip and the up-hill was hurting a lot. We kept on going though. I’m not sure if not being able to see in front of us helped or hurt in the long run, but seeing how bad the trail was on the way back down impressed me and me feel a little bit better about how much suffering I did on the way up. Once we got to camp we set up our tents and called it an early night since we were planning to hike up uchitel peak the next day. Rakset hut was at 11,000 feet so in that 6.5 km we gained a little more than 4,000 feet. That is a lot. We got started late the following day. We were all beat from day one but had an optimistic goal of reaching the peak. Uchitel peak is one of the highest non-technical peaks in the park if not the highest so we thought “okay it can’t be that bad.” The peak sits at about 14,800 feet which would have been the highest mountain that any of us have climbed under our own power. We failed.  As a result of a late start, a pounding headache from the altitude and being in bad shape we did not make it. Kara and I turned around at 13,500 with Eric and his wife making it another 500 feet or so up before turning around. Despite not summiting it was an amazing hike. We had glacier views, a beautiful day, and awaiting us back at camp whiskey and dinner. The next morning we hiked down and it was grueling. By this point our legs felt like jelly and the steep downhill was just adding insult to injury. We did see a small landslide/avalanche on our way down. Even though it was small the rock that broke off from the top was a very large boulder and served as a reminder to us all how powerful nature is and how much it would suck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On our way up on the first day we heard another landslide that was much larger but due to fog we could not see it. It was one of eeriest things I’ve ever experienced. If I return to Kyrgyzstan one day I would love to try to summit that mountain again, but I will be sure to get into better shape first!

 

Our trail, the arrow marks our turnaround point... so close...

The Glacier

The second night was amazingly clear 

Kara and I near our turnaround point

The At Bashy (horse head) statue

We just got back from our first trip to Naryn. Naryn is known throughout Kyrgyzstan as being the most ‘Kyrgyz’ region. They speak the most pure Kyrgyz, eat the most meat, and are almost entirely all ethnic Kyrgyz. We set out for Naryn to go to Tash Rabat. Tash Rabat is up in the mountains of Naryn and is fabled to have been a guesthouse along the silk road. The soviets rebuilt the guesthouse in the 80’s and the reconstructed guest now serves as a popular tourist destination with many yurt camps near by. Our friend and fellow PCV Tamara works in At-Bashy (horse head) and does a lot with the tourism industry there. She kindly helped arranged everything for us. That morning on the drive after turning off the main road one of my Kyrgyz dreams came true. Seeing Yaks! We asked the driver to stop so we could chase them around and take some pictures. When we returned to the car he laughed at us and said there are thousands of them up in the mountains. We did see quite a few more but the first is always the most exciting. They use yaks the same as cattle so for milk and eating, but they are only in the higher elevations and not found in many places outside of Naryn. After dropping off our gear in our yurts we headed to Tash Rabat to go on our little tour of the stone structure. Using our local language skills we scored the local price of 20 som (about 33 cents) for our ticket instead of the 100 som (about 1.50). We were happy. After a quick walk around and counting of the rooms we came out thanked the lady and she told us our count was wrong. As legend goes every time you count the rooms in Tash Rabat you get a different number and the 3 people in our group that counted the rooms all had different numbers and those were all different from what the woman told us. Who knows. You can read more about Tash Rabat on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tash_Rabat After Tash Rabat we headed up the valley attempting to get up to a pass that over looks Chatyr Kol (Roof Lake). Another failed attempt at reaching our destination, but after a 13 mile round trip hundreds of Marmots, eagles and yaks we were more than satisfied. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve hiked and the gentle terrain made it a perfect day hike. It was also the closest I’ve ben to China. We were only about 20-30 miles from the border. Back at our Yurts we made dinner and relaxed. The owners of the yurt camp were incredibly friendly and some of the nicest hosts I’ve experienced during my two years here. This is their website! http://www.tashrabatyurt.com/

Baby Yak

Larger Yak

One of the hundreds of marmots we saw

Hiking across some frozen ice

Tash Rabat seen from our yurt

Making friends on our hike

After two years I know I’ve seen and experienced more of this amazing country than most Kyrgyz locals do. I feel like I’ve been so fortunate not just to live here and get to know and love this country, but really experience all it has to offer. At the same time I feel like I didn’t take full advantage  of the opportunities for travelling within the country. I guess that gives me one reason to come back in the future along with many others. Next up we will try to do Ala-Kul again, but the season is still very early so due to high snow levels that may not happen. Coming next, finishing up work and saying goodbye.

What I’ve Learned From Indiegogo

I guess a more appropriate title would be what beliefs I had that Indiegogo confirmed. I am a people person. I trust almost everyone at first, I have an easy time brushing off the experiences with bad apples, and I believe more than anything that people are good. We all want to live in peace, be healthy, love someone, be loved, and take care of those around us. Of course watching the news (or reading it online in my case) we would never think this. Instead we think ISIS, suicidal pilots, corrupt politicians, crazy people in Florida, bombings in the Middle East, etc… That list could go on and on. It is a shame that it is so hard to be informed about the world when almost everyone headline is negative because of the actions of a few not so great people out there. But that is not what this is about.

This is about the sixty plus people who have helped make an idea that a Doctor in a village of 3000 people had come to fruition. When we set out for this fundraiser I didn’t know what to expect. I figured my family and close friends would be bulk of donations and we’d maybe get a few from strangers. I could not have been more wrong. 1/3^rd of the current donations have come from people I have never met. 1/3^rd! That has blown me away. Some of these people I haven’t met are Kyrgyz nationals, some of them are returned Peace Corps Volunteers, some are future Peace Corps Volunteers, some are friends of friends, but they are all people that I have never met. I’ve received messages from some of them about how happy they are that we are working to make a difference in their home country, others have talked with me about their Peace Corps experience when they were in Kyrgyzstan fifteen plus years ago and the amazing humanitarian work they have done after, and others I have no idea who they are or how they came across this project. The bottom line is strangers, family, friends, and locals have all put their trust in this project and the impact it will have in a small rural village in a country some of them may have never heard and for people they will probably never meet. If that doesn’t restore or reconfirm your faith in humanity I don’t know what will. 

This is the current donation breakdown! 

Strangers	$1,520	33%
Family	$1,700	37%
Friends	$1,030	22%
Village	$335	7%

There are good and bad days living in Kyrgyzstan. There are days when you get yelled at for being an American, there are nights you are accosted by someone who has had a few too many shots of vodka, there are nights you get kicked out of an apartment at 10 pm because, well I still haven’t figured that one out. Then there are the days a stranger invites you into their home and shares their food and tea with you, there are the mornings you spend at a Kyrgyz relative’s home in the mountains hiding from the hail storm while they give you homemade onion bread, there are the times a student tells you how you have become a brother to them, there are the nights you are given shots of vodka by Kyrgyz military men in a yurt in the mountains, and this list could go on and on. There are about three specific negative events I can recall while being in Kyrgyzstan, but the lists of positives is countless. Even though so often those negative events left a bitter taste in my mouth for weeks after, I strive to forget about them because I have had so many more meaningful positive experiences here. Almost every positive experience here has involved people, being good people just because.

 

The Kyrgyz military defending the fatherland, one shared shot of vodka at a time!

That is the beauty of helping out with this Indiegogo campaign and having the opportunity to live in a foreign country. I’ve always believed in people and in my heart believe that people are good. I will leave Kyrgyzstan in about two and a half months, hopefully with Kyrgyzstan having one more hospital with running water than when I got here, and with a stronger faith in humanity!

Interview with Jangyl and Jaldush

In this interview I talk with the Director of the hospital (Jaldush) and the OBGYN (Jangyl) about the water issues at the FGP. Please see below for the interview transcript. Don't forget to visit the project page.

00:00

Andrew: Hello How are you?

Jaldush: Hello, good.

Andrew: Can you tell me about yourselves and your work?

Jaldush: I’m the Doctor and director of the hospital in Kara-Koo village. We work for six villages with a total population of about 8,000 people.   

00:34

Jangyl: My name is Jangyl Niazieleva, I work at the FGP in Kara-Koo. I am a doctor and the gynecologist at the hospital. I’ve worked here for 23 years. There are 3545 women in the Ak-Terek village region. I help not only the woman, but also the children and other adults.

 01:06

Andrew: Why do we need water at our hospital?

Jaldush: Not having water at the hospital is the biggest problem at our hospital. For 15 years we have tried to get water in the hospital but we haven’t been able, it is only outside. Since then the pipes haven’t been working. Now the pipes have holes and water does not flow. Therefore we really need water. Why do we need water? Because keeping the hospital clean begins with water.

01:49

Jangyl: Why do I think we need water? I think we really need water. Every time we see patients we need to wash our hands. My work is to see women, even when I do general check up I need to wash my hands. This is the biggest problem, we can’t even wash our hands all of the time. We also need water for cleaning instruments, and cleaning the floor. We need water for a lot of things.

02:30

Andrew: Why hasn’t the village region government or the rayon government given money to help fix this problem?

Jaldush: The village government and Tong region has not given money for this problem because they do not have money to give. They don’t have money to give for this water project so they cannot help.

Jangyl: They can’t help because they don’t have money to help. In the past they gave us simple things like portable sinks, but now they are old and many do not work. They are not good quality and only work for one or two years. Another thing about water. When the hospital water stops we get water from the street and other places with buckets. But the water can have bacteria and other microbes in it since it comes from outside.

03:44

Andrew: If we get water at the hospital who will pay for the electricity from the water heaters and other increased costs?

Jaldush: If we will get water at the hospital, the Tong region central hospital and the village government said that they will pay for the increased operating costs.

04:33

Andrew: If we get clean water and a pipe breaks who will fix it?

Jaldush: If we get new plumbing Asanbekov Kapan and Nurlan Adulif will work to install the new plumbing and if something breaks they will be responsible to help fix it.

Jangyl: We have talked with them and they said that if something breaks in the future they will fix the pipes.

Jaldush: Yesterday they said that they will be responsible to fix it. The new water system won’t have problems everyday, but maybe every few months something will need adjusted and they will do it.

Jangyl: If one of them is not available the other will be to help fix or adjust the new system.

05:50

Andrew: For how many years has there not been water?

Jaldush: For about 10-15 years, the pipes are old, they have holes and some have rusted.

Jangyl: The water has never worked well inside. In some places there is water, but in other areas the water does not work. It has been this way for 15 years. It has never worked well.

Jaldush: When they installed the pipes in the hospital they did not do a good job.

06:45

Andrew: Do you all have anything else you would like to say?

Jangyl: Another thing about water. We have water outside. However in winter the pipe freezes and we have to dump hot water over the pipes to make them work, when it works it is good, but sometimes it does not work. In the village sometimes there is not water for 2-3, 5, 10-15 days. If we will have reservoirs for water it will be very good for when the village does not have water.

Jaldush: In Kara-Koo village they put pipes in the village 30 years ago, but now they are old. They break in different places, water comes out, then they don’t work. The same thing has happened to the old piping in the hospital.

Jangyl: If the village does not have water, we don’t have water and sometimes we have to get water from the irrigation canals for cleaning the floors, but for other things when there is not water we have to look in other places. It is a very big problem.

Jangyl: If we get clean water, water heaters, the reservoirs, we will be so grateful to you. I want to say thank you from our hospital, our village government, or regional government, and the people of our village!

Jaldush: If we will get clean water as Jangyl said we will be very grateful to you all. All of our people in the village will be grateful too

Jangyl: Our hospital has 45 people who work at it. If we get water all of us will be very grateful for your help. Thank you very, very much!

Improving the Sanitation and Hygiene of the Kara-Koo Family Group Practice

Below you will find a much more detailed explanation of the project we will be undertaking at the hospital (Family Group Practice) in my village. Please read below and check out the pictures, budget, and the other information. If you can help out financially please follow the link to the indiegogo life page to donate. If you do not have the means to assist financially you can share this blog post and the indiegogo life link within your network and encourage other to donate or share. My counter part, Jangyl Niazieleva and I thank you very much for your help. It means so much to her, as her place of work and career and to me, finishing up my time here in Kyrgyzstan.

The Family Group Practice (FGP)

The Family Group Practice (FGP) is located in Kara-Koo village, Tong Rayon, Issyk-Kul Oblast, Kyrgyzstan. The FGP is the primary health care provider and hospital for the Ak-Terek village region, consisting of six villages with an estimated population of eight-thousand. The FGP consists of three sectors: a maternity ward, a general care facility, and a dentist. The FGP has thirty-eight staff members and sees about ninety to one-hundred patients a day between all three sectors.

The Need

The FGP lacks the necessary facilities for it to run in a hygienic manner. This is a result of the lack of running hot and cold water, the lack of proper cleaning facilities, and the lack of sanitary toilets. The FGP has plumbing throughout, however the piping has rusted through and is no longer usable. Only two of the existing sinks in the FGP are in a usable condition, but they only have running water when the village has running water. The village has a water station that provides the village with water, but there is only water for three to four hours a day. The two sinks that do work at the FGP therefore only operate during those three to four hours a day. The FGP must have water to function. Currently, each of the three sectors has a cleaning woman who is responsible for carrying in buckets of water from the nearest working water source every morning. Depending on the season the nearest source may be in the yard of the FGP; however, in the winter that source freezes so these women must walk two to five minutes away to a street pump. They are only able to carry two buckets at a time so these women end up making several labor intensive trips a day to haul water to the FGP. During this time they are unable to focus their time on keeping the FGP clean and sanitary. Since there is not running water, most of the FGP’s rooms have portable sinks that store water in the top, and, using your hands, you push on a lever that disperses the water while you are washing your hands. These work, however in the winter the water is ice cold making basic hand washing a chore. There are also no working sinks in public areas for patients to use after they have used the outhouse. Some of the rooms even lack a portable sink so the staff uses recycled bottles to store water in for hand washing. This system is inadequate since one hand must be used to pour the water from the bottle over the other and proper hand washing is impossible. The gynecologist at the FGP uses this system, but she will sometimes go to her home so she can properly wash her hands. The FGP also lacks proper cleaning facilities. All dirty bed sheets and other linens must be brought home and hand washed since the FGP does not have the facilities for doing so. There is also no way for patients to bathe if they are having an extended stay. All women remain at the hospital for three days after giving birth in Kyrgyzstan, but aside from the cleaning the nurses do mothers are unable to bathe properly until after leaving the FGP. Lastly, there are no sanitary toilets at the FGP. Outside of the FGP there are several simple pit latrines. These are not sanitary, can be difficult to use if you are sick, and act as breeding grounds for flies. The lack of running hot and cold water compounded with inadequate cleaning facilities and the absence of sanitary toilets creates an environment that is susceptible to spreading many diarrheal and other preventable diseases.

Recycled plastic bottle used for hand washing

A portable sink used for hand washing

The Solution

In order to improve the sanitation and hygiene of the FGP, the existing plumbing will need to be replaced. All of the existing piping will be removed and replaced with modern piping. Thirteen new sinks and small water heaters will be installed in thirteen of the FGP’s rooms. One existing shower in the maternity ward will be restored to operating condition and one new shower and water heater will be installed in the general care facility. A new automatic washing machine will be installed in the maternity ward that can be used for washing bedding, the staff’s uniforms, towels, and other linens. The FGP already has the plumbing connections necessary for toilets, and they will be repaired so that they will work properly when there is running water. The FGP has an existing septic system that is in working condition, but the pipes leading to the outside of the FGP will all be replaced since they are rusted through in numerous places. The solution to the village only having running water three to four hours a day is to install two large reservoirs on the second floor of the FGP. A pump will pump water from the village water source into the reservoirs, and from the reservoirs, water will flow to the rest of the FGP. The reservoirs will be accessible for routine cleaning and have emergency shut off valves between the pump and the piping leading to the rest of the FGP. The installation will be done in a way that will allow for an easy transition to the village water source in the event that the village water source will one day provide constant running water. The reservoirs will be large enough not only to provide the FGP with water during the working hours when the village water is not running, but also provide water for the FGP for several days in the event that the village water system is not working, which happens occasionally. This solution will greatly improve the sanitation and hygiene of the FGP. It will also reduce manual labor and the amount of time the staff spends fetching water. Having hot water to use for hand washing, bathing, and the washing machine will allow for more thorough cleaning to be done in order to reduce the spread of germs and improve sanitation and hygiene. The sinks in the bathroom will be available for anyone in the FGP to wash their hands properly after using the indoor or outdoor toilets.

Implementation

The FGP and the local government will pay for all increased electric costs due to the water heaters and pump. The FGP will not have any increased fees for using more water since they do not charge for water used in the village. The FGP will provide soap, cleaning materials, detergent, toilet paper, and all other disposable resources used in the everyday operation of the new facilities. In the event of a pipe break or other unexpected plumbing problem the FGP has a man on its staff with the knowledge and tools to fix it. Three people will be responsible for the labor involved in the project. They are all knowledgeable in plumbing and building. Once funds are secured the first step will be to purchase materials from Bishkek, the capital. A truck will be rented to bring the materials to the village. From the time construction begins, it is estimated that it will take the three men twenty working days to complete the project. 

Plan of hospital showing sinks, hot water heaters, showers, and toilets that will be installed

Detailed Budget

Over the next month we will be adding video, photo, and other updates. Please if you are able to donate to this project follow this link and if you cannot donate please share this information within your network.  

Thank you very much for your support and helping to make a major difference in my community here in Kyrgyzstan!