The Gift of Light for Nepal
Tax deductible
In September 2018, the annual Nomads Clinic will again make its way into the high altitude remote regions of Dolpo Nepal; one of the poorest, most rural areas in the Himalayas. Led by Roshi Joan Halifax, founder of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe NM, who first began bringing clinicians to Nepal in the early 1980s. The efforts to serve have grown into a synergistic partnership between Eastern and Western clinicians. The Nomads will provide healthcare to the kind, and incomparably resilient people living in these isolated mountain communities; treating a variety of conditions ranging from minor injuries, illnesses, and infections to major burns, traumas, and chronic or widespread disease; as well as providing basic medical and preventative care and education. We will also travel with a dentist and a midwife!
When Dr. Charlie McDonald, a pulmonologist, joined the Upaya Nomads Clinic in 2012, he discovered a host of chronic respiratory problems resulting from the burning of wood or dung indoors for heat, light, and cooking fuel. Now one of the Nomads medical directors, Charlie returned in 2013 with hundreds of Little Sun solar lights—known for their unique sun/sunflower shape and packing a powerful charge of bright light. The Nomads team distributed Little Suns to the people of these high remote villages and were able to observe profoundly positive effects, the most significant being:
-light for children to study in the evening
-longer work hours for greater income
-improved safety in work environments
-increased socializing in communities after dark
-enhanced safety for medical care needed during the night, such as giving birth
-light for cooking, reducing or replacing unsafe and toxic sources for indoor lighting
…and much more
Please consider a donation so that we may bring a Little Sun solar light to every family in every village we serve. We are hoping to bring 600 Little Suns to Nepal with this year's Nomads Clinic. Our deepest gratitude for your generosity in joining our efforts!
Stories of light shared through Nomad experiences:
“Little Suns were used for throat, eye, and ear inspections, for dentistry, for preparing tuberculosis slides, for changing dressings, and for looking closely at infections inside dim rooms. In one of the links, a doctor treated a newborn baby with pneumonia, Charlie reports: ‘We were able to give him antibiotics and would’ve air-evacuated him by helicopter, but the helicopters were all grounded at the time because of a late season typhoon. When we left he appeared to have stabilized. In this family four sons had died in infancy, and this was the fifth.’”
“Another time we had come into camp near a hotel and it was just at dark. I went by the hotel kitchen and they had a little solar powered lamp that was barely enough to show itself let alone cost light on anything, and there was a man preparing food for the guests. I couldn’t even distinguish his fingers from the vegetables on the cutting board, so I turned on a Sun and put it around his neck. It totally lit up his work area, and he exclaimed, ‘I am safe.’”
“They illumined our clinics, were given to young monks in gompas where there is no electricity, given to women who sew and weave to support their families, and given to village children who used them to study by. They are a beautiful way that technology, light, and love can be transmitted.”
For more information on Upaya Zen Center and the Nomads Clinic, please click the links below:
http://nomadsclinic.org
https://www.upaya.org
For more information on the Little Suns Organization, please click the link below:
http://littlesun.com
Photography courtesy of:
Cira Crowell
https://ciracrowell.com
Dan Lin
http://www.danlinphotography.com
When Dr. Charlie McDonald, a pulmonologist, joined the Upaya Nomads Clinic in 2012, he discovered a host of chronic respiratory problems resulting from the burning of wood or dung indoors for heat, light, and cooking fuel. Now one of the Nomads medical directors, Charlie returned in 2013 with hundreds of Little Sun solar lights—known for their unique sun/sunflower shape and packing a powerful charge of bright light. The Nomads team distributed Little Suns to the people of these high remote villages and were able to observe profoundly positive effects, the most significant being:
-light for children to study in the evening
-longer work hours for greater income
-improved safety in work environments
-increased socializing in communities after dark
-enhanced safety for medical care needed during the night, such as giving birth
-light for cooking, reducing or replacing unsafe and toxic sources for indoor lighting
…and much more
Please consider a donation so that we may bring a Little Sun solar light to every family in every village we serve. We are hoping to bring 600 Little Suns to Nepal with this year's Nomads Clinic. Our deepest gratitude for your generosity in joining our efforts!
Stories of light shared through Nomad experiences:
“Little Suns were used for throat, eye, and ear inspections, for dentistry, for preparing tuberculosis slides, for changing dressings, and for looking closely at infections inside dim rooms. In one of the links, a doctor treated a newborn baby with pneumonia, Charlie reports: ‘We were able to give him antibiotics and would’ve air-evacuated him by helicopter, but the helicopters were all grounded at the time because of a late season typhoon. When we left he appeared to have stabilized. In this family four sons had died in infancy, and this was the fifth.’”
“Another time we had come into camp near a hotel and it was just at dark. I went by the hotel kitchen and they had a little solar powered lamp that was barely enough to show itself let alone cost light on anything, and there was a man preparing food for the guests. I couldn’t even distinguish his fingers from the vegetables on the cutting board, so I turned on a Sun and put it around his neck. It totally lit up his work area, and he exclaimed, ‘I am safe.’”
“They illumined our clinics, were given to young monks in gompas where there is no electricity, given to women who sew and weave to support their families, and given to village children who used them to study by. They are a beautiful way that technology, light, and love can be transmitted.”
For more information on Upaya Zen Center and the Nomads Clinic, please click the links below:
http://nomadsclinic.org
https://www.upaya.org
For more information on the Little Suns Organization, please click the link below:
http://littlesun.com
Photography courtesy of:
Cira Crowell
https://ciracrowell.com
Dan Lin
http://www.danlinphotography.com
Fundraising team: Nomads (2)
Barbara Burggraaff
Organizer
Raleigh, NC
Upaya Zen Center
Beneficiary
Jen Johnston
Team member