Narissa Puran

Namaste From Nepal! Mero Naam Narissa Puran ho.

For the past month, I have been working in Nepal as a Health intern. During this time I taught a 3 week health education class to students in grade 7-9 at Tarkeshwar Secondary English Boarding School in Jitpur, a marginalized community about 11 km out of Kathmandu. It was a great experience to be able to interact with the students and teach them about important health issues such as hygiene, disease transmission and basic safety and first aid. I learned a lot from having discussions and focus groups with the students and was so happy to see the students explain about what they learned in class and from group projects we conducted. The teachers and staff in the school I worked at were also so kind and helpful to me.

I had a chance to conduct a session with 2 women¡¦s groups in the community to teach them about reproductive health and breast and cervical cancer. The women were very interested and asked many questions about these issues. It was an invaluable experience for me to do this and I hope to come back and work with them sometime in the future.

As part of my internship experience, I also learned about health service delivery at the health post in the community and a private hospital in Kathmandu. It was very educational for me to learn about the types of treatment and common diseases found in patients at health facilities in Nepal.

In addition to the experience I gained through my internship work, I also had a great and memorable experience staying at host family in the community. The people were very kind and welcoming and I felt almost at home for the time I spent in Nepal. They are such wonderful people!

I would definitely recommend VIN because they have given me such a fulfilling experience both in learning about the Nepali health system and experiencing the rich and admirable culture of the Nepali people. Jai Nepal ho

Health Internship, NewYork University

Aug 1 to Sep 1 2009