
TREK REPORT 2004
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Maintaining KSP's vaccine fridges
By Rob Rowlands
This trek was totally successful. We spent just under two weeks in the Kangchenjunga area, the highlights of which were:
• The vaccine fridge at the
Tellok health post is working well, except for
some corrosion on the battery terminals. This post is well staffed and
has a good supply of vaccine.
• The vaccine fridge at Mamankhe fridge is also working well, although the
batteries were seriously short of distilled water. This fridge gets less
use than the one at Tellok.
• We got the vaccine fridge at the health post at Lungthun working again.
KSP installed this fridge in April 1999, but the two 53 watt solar panels
had been stolen two years ago. However, in the only apparent good
work achieved by local Maoists, the thief was shamed into replacing
them, and did so with two 75 watt panels! He installed the replacement
panels, but wired them incorrectly. We wired them correctly and
installed a new battery.
• At the Ghunsa and
Folay medical clinics, we replaced the fridge
batteries. The existing ones were 100AH truck batteries and almost
7 years old, so had performed well. The replacements are 98AH
deep-cycle batteries and should last at least 10 years. The Ghunsa
clinic seems to have overcome its personnel clashes. These were in
part due to the village's combined resistance to the Maoist, who were
extorting ‘donations’ from the three staff, to whom KSP pays small
salaries.
• We donated a baby scale to
the maternal health worker in Ghunsa.
The contraceptive program is working well as only two babies have
been born there in the last year.
• The pre-school classes at Ghunsa
and Folay appear to be very popular
and well run by the mothers’ groups. We distributed clocks,
toothbrushes, toothpaste, and hand towels.
• We took 1500 copies of Hannah
Nordhaus' Tibetan oral history books
to Folay for distribution. The local Tibetan community is delighted
with the result.
• Furniture (beds, shelves, chairs and tables) for
the girl’s dormitory at
Lelep is mostly complete.