August 1 – Things Get Tough

We finally figured out the whereabouts of Rajan today—by asking his cousin, we discovered his mobile phone, and managed to talk to him. Apparently, his child had fallen suddenly ill (jaundice and blood in urine, apparently), and he left for Nepalgunj immediately. Unfortunately, heavy rains the previous night had destroyed the road back, and he would be taking another day to get back.

Though Rajan wasn’t around, we had some immediate business to do. It is impossible to get internet in Sanfe, especially not the standard wireless connection we use, called CDMA. By bringing in some awesome US technology (a Yagi antenna and internal amplifier) we hoped to pick up on the weak signal found in this valley. The result: failure.

Bishnu took a photo of me that pretty much sums up this IT nightmare: I’m clutching my laptop, sweating profusely in the blazing Nepali sun, a disgruntled look on my face from seeing “Signal Level Not Sufficient” for the umpteenth time. We tried the antenna (which was theoretically supposed to work) at multiple locations and a multitude of ridiculous positions, but all to no avail. I had brought this clunky apparatus all the way from Connecticut to rural Nepal, and now I was going to have to take it back to the States. What to do…

Anyways, Rajan’s uncle (from whom we are renting the place) gave us the key to the clinic, and we had our first look inside. Due to Rajan’s son’s hospitalization, all clinic work had stopped. Nevertheless, the building didn’t look half bad, considering it was only half done.

An unforeseen logistical problem resulted, however, from the fact that the clinic is apparently a bit further from the projected housing than we thought. Bishnu was quite clear about the fact that if he were to be expected to make night calls, the current housing was not an option. He would need to hike 10 minutes from the SEBAC house to the river, cross a rickety suspension bridge, hike up the side of a hill, then pass Haat Bazaar at night in order to get the hospital (which is right in the middle of a rice paddy). None of us had ever thought about this before.

While we contemplated this development, Rajan’s uncle came to meet us and tried to convince us that it was he who had shut down the clinic work (despite the fact that he has absolutely no control over this process whatsoever). Apparently, he had put 40,000 Rupees of his own money into the project, of which he had not received any from Rajan. In addition, he claimed that Rajan had been overselling the clinic as something much greater than what it actually was (advertising it as a posh medical facility with high-tier lab and fancy radiological equipment). How much we wanted to believe him was difficult, though. For some reason, Rajan’s uncle had always opposed the work of Nyaya, seeming to have his own agenda when he leased the location to us. Little did we know that the nagging nape of politics had begun to rise from the water.