Spotlight
Building A Foundation from page 41
five. The nearest upper level school was a
two-hour walk (each way) away.
In response to what we found, the Miles
Levin Nepal Foundation for Health and
Education (MLNFHE) was created.
Remembering Miles
Despite the best education and medical
care available, Miles Levin passed away at
age 18 in 2007 from a rare form of cancer.
The children of Khotang's education and
medical care bare little resemblance to that
of Miles. The foundation created in Miles
Levin's memory has the goal of improv-
ing the health care and education for the
children of Khotang — and narrowing this
gap.
The approach to charitable projects in
developing countries has changed dramati-
cally in recent years. Just "dumping in" loads
of money is most often not productive;
in fact, it's often harmful. In order for any
project to be longstanding and sustain-
able, the idea must be initiated, staffed and
maintained by the locals.
The Miles Levin foundation will provide
seed money for each endeavor; but the vil-
lagers will be required to submit a proposal
and have a vested interested from day one.
The foundation has been fortunate to
have the opportunity to collaborate with the
Dzi Foundation, an organization that has
been doing just this for the past 12 years. In
the past 31/2 years, they have completed 50
projects, including 966 new toilets, 50 new
Parent-Teacher Associations, 38 new class-
rooms and 20 new drinking water projects
in Eastern Nepal.
Mutually Beneficial
Our experience and interest in health-
care will complement their interests and
achievements. By pairing with experienced
nongovernment organizations (NGOs)
such as this one, we will benefit from their
knowledge and experience and be much
more effective.
I have just returned from Khotang. I
was blown away to find that 80 families
had each donated three hours of labor to
break ground (actually mountainside) for
our first school in Dipruk! In the Dipsung
village region, where all the water testing
was positive for fecal bacteria last summer,
the villagers have finished a proposal for
toilets. These will be built for all homes
and schools, serving a population of 1,500.
Furthermore, a hydroelectric project is all
but finalized in the village of Rakha.
We are working on novel approaches for
the health post being built in Seldang by
our collaborators from the Dzi Foundation.
This includes integrating the traditional
"faith healers" into the health post and cre-
ating a birthing center constructed within
it. Currently, all villagers go to the faith
healers for medical care first, and only to
the health post when they are much sicker,
creating a situation where there is almost
always a long delay in treatment. By having
the faith healers work within the health
post, the villagers will be a captive audi-
ence; and we can have them see the health
post workers at the same time.
By creating a birthing center with the
ambience of a home delivery, we hope to
encourage the use of the health post, and
decrease complications and obstetrical
emergencies that now occur during home
births.
Finally, one of the greatest hurdles for
health care in these villages is the lack of
education. We are currently working to
integrate a rotation during residency where
Nepali doctors during their training in
Kathmandu will rotate through our villages
and provide an educational curriculum.
Exam rooms within village health posts
are very simple and basic.
When you sit and talk with these won-
derful people in the villages, and ask them
what they want, it is no different than sit-
ting with parents in the suburbs of Detroit.
They want the same things we want: a bet-
ter life for their children, adequate health
care, adequate nutrition, a safe and healthy
place to live, the best education available.
And this is what I want for their children
as well.
You can help by contributing to the Miles
Levin Nepal Foundation for Health and
Education, 2035 Bayou, West Bloomfield,
MI 48323.
Dr. Keidan is a Royal Oak surgical oncologist.
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February 17 - 2011