Jane Wilson-Howarth

Blog

 
 

Year Fives

Sunday, 26 August 2018
I’ve temporarily fled the pollution of the Kathmandu Valley and am back home in England for a few weeks. This has given me the chance to give some talks and my first was to a class of Year Fives in a Cambridge primary school. My presentation was based on my children’s adventure stories set in Nepal and as the books are populated with wildlife stars, it seemed fitting to describe some less well known Himalayan animals and get the children guessing the species. The children were wide-eyed and seemed to love my stories. My favourite question from my audience was, “did it take you more than a whole day to write your books?”
I was also invited to lecture another set of Year Fives but this time they were medical students. Undergraduate medics – especially Cambridge students – are exceptionally gifted at absorbing facts and passing exams, and take their studies very seriously. This stimulated an urge (arising from the mischievous little girl that is still within me) to tease them for their fact-hunger: challenge them to think and discuss. I wanted to address them as I had the other Year Fives, “Now children, I want to tell you about a creature that makes a horrible smell if it feels threatened (no, no, not a skunk) or if happens to fall into your tea – indeed before it dies it renders the tea so badly tainted, it is undrinkable. Do you know what kind of animal it could be?”
Of course, I didn’t start like that. I was there to talk about the challenges of training health workers and of the tremendous difficulties there are in improving health and healthcare in low income countries. I gave an example from Nepal where health professionals are forever going on “trainings” but although participants say how much they enjoyed the experience – especially the snacks and freebies – such workshops and short courses aren’t terrifically effective at improving clinical skills, critical thinking and problem solving.
“I was sitting at the back of this august lecture theatre during the previous presentation,” I told them, “and observed that many of you had your laptops open and at least half appeared to be taking notes but others were booking cinema tickets, on-line shopping, looking at Pinterest, checking emails and a couple of people were even gaming. This nicely illustrates how even when people attend lectures and training events they are not necessarily listening to any of it.”
Students looked at each other and there were embarrassed smiles and some laughter.
I went on to describe some of the clinical mentoring I’ve been doing, working with Health Assistants and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives employed by the impressive charity PHASE Nepal. PHASE employ bright and highly motivated young men and woman who support Nepali government health workers in helping provide 24/7 clinical services in remote mountain communities. They are all many miles from home and loved ones: parents, husbands, children.
The health workers function as GPs but they also have to deal with the results of accidents, complications of pregnancy, malnutrition, psychiatric emergencies and indeed any medical problem that occurs yet they have little backup and limited scope for prompt evacuation. Furthermore, sending a patient to hospital could mean organising two teams of four men (one foursome carrying, the other ‘resting’) to stretcher the casualty down the mountain. This can involve negotiating narrow paths cut through vertical cliffs above 2000m drops. Then once they reach where the nearest dirt road they’ll cadge a lift on a truck.
By this point, the medical students seemed less interested in their laptops and some were positively wide-eyed and rather reminded me of the other Year Fives.
I hoped they left our session a little wiser (if not fully fact-stuffed) and even if they asked less interesting questions than the primary school children. I really hope that the talk got them thinking. Those of us who live in the UK know that the NHS may be struggling but we do still have an excellent health system and there’s always scope for prompt evacuation to a good hospital if things go badly wrong. And many of us have reason to be grateful for that.

Thanks to Betty Levene for the excellent drawing of a stink bug, which is featured in the adventure books Himalayan Kidnap and Himalayan Hostages.

 
Posted: 26/08/2018 13:50:34 by cmsadmin | with 0 comments
Filed under: Cambridge, Himalayan Hostages, Himalayan Kidnap, medical Students, stink bug, year fives



    Pontifications
    Travel
    Wildlife
    Writing
    March 2024(1)
    August 2023(1)
    July 2023(1)
    June 2023(2)
    May 2023(1)
    April 2023(2)
    March 2023(1)
    April 2022(3)
    March 2022(2)
    January 2022(2)
    October 2021(2)
    August 2021(1)
    June 2021(1)
    May 2021(5)
    April 2021(3)
    March 2021(4)
    October 2020(1)
    August 2020(2)
    July 2020(1)
    June 2020(1)
    May 2020(1)
    April 2020(4)
    March 2020(4)
    January 2020(1)
    October 2019(2)
    June 2019(1)
    April 2019(2)
    March 2019(9)
    January 2019(2)
    October 2018(3)
    August 2018(3)
    June 2018(4)
    May 2018(5)
    April 2018(3)
    March 2018(1)
    January 2018(4)
    October 2017(4)
    August 2017(3)
    July 2017(2)
    June 2017(2)
    May 2017(1)
    April 2017(1)
    March 2017(4)
    January 2017(1)
    October 2016(7)
    August 2016(2)
    July 2016(1)
    June 2016(1)
    January 2016(3)
    October 2015(1)
    August 2015(1)
    July 2015(1)
    May 2015(2)
    April 2015(2)
    March 2015(2)
    January 2015(3)
    October 2014(4)
    July 2014(1)
    June 2014(4)
    May 2014(1)
    April 2014(1)
    January 2014(4)
    October 2013(1)
#righttobreathe / . / 100 word story / 100-word story / 50 Camels / 50 Camels and She's Yours / A Glimpse of Eternal Snows / A Wide Woman on a Narrow Boat / Aberdeen / Abuja / accidents / Active Fairness System / Adam Reta / Admissions / adventure / adventure stories / advertising / affairs / age concern / aging / agouti / air pollution / air quality / Akwanga / albatross / alcoholism / Alicia Ostriker / Ama Dablam / Amadablam / Americanisms / Amharic / animal reservoirs / ANM / Annapurna / Antarctic / Antarctica / antelope / anthology / Argentina / Arrivals / Asad / assisted suicide / audacity / audible / audio / audio musical project / audiobook / author / Author from Hull / author interview / author reading / author-to-author / Auxiliary Nurse Midwife / ayurvedic toothpaste / Bagarchhap / Baglung / Bagmati / Bajaj / Bajaj Pulsar / Bajura / banknotes / BBC Radio Cambridgeshire / bear precautions / Belfast / Benjamin Langley / bergy bits / Bertrand Russell / Bethlehem Attfield / Betty Levene / Bhotang / bicycle / bike trip / birdlife / birds / birthday / black bear / black kites / black pine forest / Blitz / blood oxygen / Bloodshot Books / Blue sheep / book launch / book review / border guards / Boreal Wildlife Centre / bottled gas / Bradt / Bradt Travel Guides / Brahmin / brain surgery / breakfast / bridge / Britain / brown bear / buckwheat / buckwheat bird / buffalo cart / Bugs Bites & Bowels / Building Back Better / BuildingBackBetter / bulbul / camaraderie / Cambridge / Cambridge University Exploration Society / Cambridge writers / Cambridgeshire / camping hazards / canals / caracara / carcinogens / cardinal / caste / catastrophe / cave diving / cave fish / caves / caving / CBtoo / celtic / chaite-dhan / Chandragiri / Chele / childbirth / children's books / Chirang / Chisapaani / Chisapani / Chobhar / Chobhar Hill / Chomolungma / Chough / city cycling / civet / climate change / clinics / Clive James / cobbler / cold / cold desert / colourful hat / comfort / coming of age / coronavirus / Covid / covid vaccine / COVID vaccines / Covid-19 / cows / crab-eater seal / craic / creating characters / creative writing / cycling / cyclist / daisy chain / dal bhat / dangerous wildlife / dark tale / dawn / dawn chorus / Dead Branches / death / demonstration / Department of Roads / depression / desert / development / development work / Devon / Dhading / Dhading besi / Dhading District / Dhangadhi airport / Dhaulagiri / Dhee / dhulomandu / doctor memoir / doctors / Dolpa / Dolpo / domestic violence / Dr. Katrina Butterworth / dragon / dragons / Drakmar / drinking water / droppings / Dunai / dust / early marriage / earthquake / earthquake alarm / earthquake damage / earthquake today / earthquakes / East Anglia / eco-resort / eco-tourism / Edinburgh / efficacy / elbow sneezing / electrics / embankments / emergency / England / English journey / English language / environmental crisis / Eräkeskus / eternal snows / Ethiopia / ethnic cleansing / euthanasia / evacuation / Everest / evocative smells / Ewell / expat / expedition / expeditions / exploitation / Exploration / explorers / Fagu Purnima / Falgun / family / FCDO / feelgood read / Fens / festival / festival of colour / festivals in March / fiction / Finland / fire-tailed sunbird / fishing / fishtail / Fish-tailed mountain / flash fiction / flash literature / flash prose / flood / flood protection / floods / folk story / football / footbridge / footpath / forest / forest fires / Fox Chapel publishing / friends / friendship / frostbite / Gai Tihar / gaming / Ganesh himal / Gangetic Plain / garden / garment / Ghami / Ghemi / ghoral / giant crab spider / given names / giving birth / global warming / goodread / goral / gorge / Gorkha / gossip / GP writer / grandad / greater rhea / Greece / grey-headed canary-flycatcher / growler / Gupha Pokhari / Gupteswar Gupha / haiku / handwashing / hand-washing station / hangry / happiness / happyness / hare / Hatibhan / hawkmoth / health assistant / Heffers / Heffers bookshop / Hell's Grannies / Henningham Family Press / Henry Marsh / hill walking / himal / Himalaya / Himalayan Black Bear / Himalayan foothills / Himalayan Goral / Himalayan griffon vulture / Himalayan Hostages / Himalayan Kidnap / Himalayan serow / Himalayan Sunrise / Himalayan woolly hare / Himalayas / himals / Hindu festival / Hindu kingdom / Holi / Holi Purnima / holocaust / home care / home delivery / honey buzzard / hoopoe / hornero / horror / Horseshoe Bay / hospital / hot springs / Hotel Deep of Worldtop / Hotel Peace Palace / house crows / how long to write a book? / human kind / human spirit / Ibera / idyllic childhood / immigration / index / indexer / indexing / India / Indonesia / Indra Jatra / infidelity / inspiration / inspiring fiction for children / Ireland / irrigation / Is She Dead in Your Dreams? / jackal / Janajibika Hotel / Jane Wilson-Howarth / Jews / Joe Wilson / Jomosom / Jomsom / joy / jungle / Jungle book / Juphal / Kaag Beni / Kag Beni / Kali Gandaki / Kali Gandaki gorge / Kalopani / Kalunki / Karnali River / Kashigaon / Kashigoan / Kathmandu / Kathmandu Valley / Katrina Butterworth / kestrel / khana / Khartoum / Khumbu / Khumbu microbus / kickstart / kidnap / kindness / Kipling / Kipling's jungle / kites / Kolkata / Krishna / Kumari / Kurds / Kurentar / Kusma / labour / ladoos / lama / Lamjung himal / lammergeier / lammergeyer / landscape / landslide / landslides / Langtang himal / language / language gaffs / langur / Large Indian civet / largest tribuary of the Ganges / Laxmi Puja / leave no one behind / leave no-one behind / LeaveNooneBehind / Leaving no-one Behind / letter-writing / library / lichen / life lessons / Linblad / Livelihoods / living goddess / lockdown / lockdown project / LoMantang / Lombok / London pigeon / loneliness / Lord Ganesh / Lord Krishna / loss and recovery / love / Lukhu river / Lukla / lupus / Machhapuchare / Machhapuchhare / Madagascar / Makwanpur / Manang / Manbu / mani wall / married life / Marsyangdi / Martinselkosen / Mary Kingsley / masala tea / maskmandu / masks / maternal mortality / Maya and the Dragon / medical emergency / medical evacuation / medical memoir / medical Students / Melamchi / memoir / memoirist / memory / Mendip / Michael Rosenberg / microbuses of the Khumbu / microfiction / middle grade readers / Middle Hills / millet / mineral water bottles / Monsoon / morning mist / mortality / Moth Snowstorm / motorbike / motorbike trip / motorbikes / motorcycle / MottMacDonald / mountain / mountain medicine / mountains / mouse hare / mouse-hare / Muktinath / Mukwanpur / mulberries / Mustang / nag puja / nak cheese / names / naming / narrator / narrow boat / National Reconstruction Authority / nature / Naubisi / neighbours / Nepal / Nepal Communitere / Nepal road trip / Nepal roadtrip / Nepal Valley / Nepal wildlife / Nepali / Nepali food / Nepali tea / Nepali Times / Nepali topi / Nepali wildlife / Nigeria / Nigiri himal / nilgai / Nilgiri / Nilgiri South / non-fiction / Nonsuch Palace / Nonsuch Park / Northumberland / novel / nuthatch / Nuwakot / obstetrics / onions / on-line newspaper / orb spider / oven bird / ox-cart / Oxford / Oxford vaccine / oximeter / oxymeter / pampas / pandemic / Pangboche / pangolin / pantoum / parenting / Passer montanus / passing places / passive pleasure / Patan / Patan Durbar / Patan Durbar Square / patients / payer / PCR test / People in Need charity / percussion / petrel / Pfizer vaccine / PHASE / PHASE Nepal / PHASENepal / Phewa Tal / Philippines / Phoksundo / phonetics / photoktm2016 / pigeons / pika / pike / pilgrims / plastic waste / pleasure / PM 2.5 / poem / poet / poetry / Pokhara / Police My Friend / pollution / polytunnel / pony trekking / post earthquake recovery / post-earthquake reconstruction / Potatoes / powder / pregnancy / Pridhamsleigh Cavern / prose / public library / publishers / publishing / puja / Pul Chowk / Pulsar / Pungmo / Purnima / Purnima programme / Pyncnonotus cafer / Qatar / rabies / Rajapur / Rajapur bazaar / Rajapur Island / Rajapur market / Rajapur town / rat snake / reading / reading aloud / Real Fairness for Real men / reconstructed dialogue / recording / recovery / recycling / Red Dawn Rising / red-crested cardinal / red-vented bulbul / refugee camp / refugees / relief work / Remover of obstacles / Requiem for Potatoes / retirement / rhea / rhododendron / rhododendrons / rice / ricefields / Richard Mabey / Ringmo / risk takers / river crossing / river island / river-crossing / road trip / roadtrip / Rock Doves / Rock Road Library / rock shelters / Roe Deer / Royal Enfield Riders Club / Royle's pika / rubbish / Rufus-breasted Niltava / rupees / Russian border / rustling / rustlings / safety / Sagamartha / Sagamartha National Park / Sally Haiselden / samosa / Sappros / Sarengkot / sarus cranes / School rebuilding / scorpion / screening / Second World War / Seeta Siriwardena / self-harm / senses / serow / Setopati / Shackleton / Shadow Spark Publishing / Shaista Tayabali / Shangri La / Shangri-la / Shanti bazaar / Shey-Phoksundo National Park / Shivapuri / Shivapuri Nagajung National Park / Shivapuri National Park / Shivapuri Village / Shivapuri Village Resort / short fiction / short story / shrikes / silk / Simon Howarth / Sindhupalchowk / Sinhala / Sinhalese / Six degrees of Separation / skipper butterflies / skippers / snow leopard / Snowfed Waters / social isolation / solid waste / solid waste disposal / Soti / South Sudan / spaghetti electrics / sparrows / Speaking Tiger / species leap / spelunking / spider venom / Spiny babblers / spotted owlet / squirrel / Sri Lanka / Sri Lankan author / Stephanie Green / stink bug / stolpersteine / street art / street dogs / Subsistence agriculture / Sudan / Suli Gad Khola / Suli Gad river / Summit Air / sump diving / sunbird / sunrise / surgeon / Surrey / suspended bridge / Sussex / Suttee / Swildon's Hole / Tahr / tales / tar tattoo / tato pani / Tatopani / TBS Kathmandu / tea / tea shop / teacher / teashop / Teku / Teku Hospital / Teku infectious diseases hospital / Temporary Learning Centre / Tengboche / terai / Thamel / Thankot / Tharu / Tharu people / The Book Warren / The British School Kathmandu / The Lonely Cat / The Lost Spell / Thessaloniki / Thumki Danda / time / To be blessed / tongba / topi / totobobo / traffic / traffic jam / traffic rules / traffic uncles / transHimalaya / transHimalayan / translation / travel / travel anthology / travel health / travel health guide / travel narrative / travel writing / traveling with children / travelling with children / tree sparrows / trekking / Tribhuvan International Airport / Tsirang / Twin Otter / Type two fun / Uganda / UK / UK aid / UK aid in Nepal / UKAid / unbound / unplanned pregnancy / Upper Mustang / urban cycling / urban life / urban pollution / urban water supply / Ushuaia / vaccinating / vaccination / vaccine / Valley / vampires / vegetarian / velvet-fronted nuthatch / Viiksimontie / Village dogs / village life / village sounds / visa / volunteering / vulture / Wai / Wanderlust / water supplies / water tankers / West Sussex / western Nepal / white lies / WHO / widower / wild goat / wild places / wilderness / wildlife / wildlife stories / William Matthews / Wilson / winter / winter madness / winter Wheat / Witchford / women of a certain age / Women Travellers / wood fires / woodpecker / words / wordsmith / World Book Day / World Book Day 2020 / World Cup 1990 / World Environment Day / world herritage / world's deepest gorge / writer / writer in residence / writers group / writer's life / writing / writing a book / writing about writing / writing characters / writing exercise / writing for children / writing group / writing habits / writing prompts / xenophobia / yak cheese / year fives / yeti / young mother / young motherhood / Your Child Abroad / zoonoses