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The Presbyterian Church in Canada • presbyterian.ca issue 4, winter 2017
Seeking God’s Will in Nepal
By the Rev. Dr. Glynis Williams, Associate Secretary International Ministries
Dr. Nicholaus and Rebecca Bauman and family have now been in Nepal for 10 months, appointed by Interna- tional Ministries to work with church partner, United Mission to Nepal (UMN).
The most significant event in the life of this family has been the birth of baby Dorothy “Dot” on July 28, delivered at Tansen Mission Hospital, up in the mountains of western Ne- pal. Dorothy’s birth in Tansen has ini- tiated many wordless conversations
with Nepali friends. Becky writes: “When people learn that Dorothy was born here in their country, their faces fill with surprise and joy and wonder that we chose to be here in their home at such a significant and vulnerable time. Nepali people know well that bringing a child into the world is dangerous business. We are here in the messy business of life right alongside them. We chose to be in this beautiful place to bring our child into the world. I don’t have words to match, but faces tell me that it means something. I see that they are proud of their country and want us to love it too.”
After two months of language and cultural orientation, Nick Bauman has been working as part of the medical/ surgical team at Tansen hospital. There are two other surgeons—one Nepali, and one from the UK—as well as two Nepali surgeons who act as chief residents, and who are also quite skilled. Nick states that in many areas they “surpass my meagre ex- perience,” in spite of his nine years as a surgeon. In addition, there are about five other residents at varying levels of training. Nick is not a neo- phyte in international surgical prac- tises, having had experiences in Ken- ya, Uganda, Congo and India. In his
application, he quipped that he was anticipating the surgical adventures (and mis-adventures) that might be required of him in Nepal!
Each week Nick spends one or two days in the outpatient clinic, seeing people referred for general surgery. This includes anything surgical apart from orthopaedics. He gets referrals for gynecological, urology, abdomi- nal and anything “soft tissue” relat- ed. He has seen kidney stones, uri- nary retention, hemorrhoids, bowel obstructions, perforated ulcers, the occasional bowel cancer, paediatric and adult hernias, burns and blunt trauma. Not to mention bee bites,
goat trauma, bear bites, but no snake bites yet!
The workload in Nepal poses chal- lenges due to language. Seeing 40 patients with a variety of problems is a full day for many in Canada, but in Nepal Nick is working through trans- lation. Thankfully, Sunil, the MD gen- eral practice resident who has been attached to Nick is quite competent, and he writes “between the two of us—we muddle along.”
Nick notes an interesting situation from a Canadian perspective, which is the degree to which it is culturally acceptable for random strangers to
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Page 6...
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Interview with Dale Woods
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