[ Pokhara, Nepal ]
First, Aamaa’s health:
- She is healing excellently from the surgery: wounds clean & without infections, lungs clear, good appetite, talkative, still annoyed with hospital staff
- She has been moved to a room for “General Patient Care,” which means no more ICU, and much lower daily expenses
- She will be discharged from the hospital proper to a neighboring, semi-outpatient “Patient Apartment” over the next three or four days, where family members can stay with her around the clock, medical staff occasionally visit, and she can easily be taken to the hospital a couple of times per week for doctor visits
Second, her financial situation and our fundraising efforts:
- Thanks to all of you, we have already raised ~$2300USD after PayPal’s processing fees.
- Those who contributed probably noticed that I didn’t claim the donations until today (a few minutes ago, actually). This was simply a matter of verifying the new PayPal account, which took a few days (this is Nepal, after all). We completed the verification process this morning, and all donations should now appear as “Claimed.”
This is fantastic news, on both fronts, but in both cases there is still a long way to go. Her ongoing expenses–especially once she’s moved into the $100/month outpatient apartment–should now be within the family’s means. The outstanding hospital debts, however, continue to threaten the family farm.
For those who haven’t done so, please consider a donation of any size. It helps, I promise. There’s no need to go digging around for the information–here’s the PayPal button for the Ganesh Kumari Shrestha Medical Fund, once again:
For everyone, please consider sharing the original fundraising post (or if you already have, consider reminding your friends, and resharing). Again, every little bit helps.
For my part, I have promised here to publish a new Transglobalist story for each $750USD raised. Most of these stories will be about my experiences in the Shrestha’s village, and I already owe you three of them. The first installment should arrive tomorrow morning, and involves the uncomfortable side-effects of sleeping on one side of a locked, latched, noisy door when the toilet is on the other side of that door and one’s need is desperate. The rest will follow slowly, as most of my time is taken with preparations for my four-month visit to the States.
And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you Transglobalistas, everywhere, for your generosity and kindness.
*****
