Name: Oren Family

We started the planning of our volunteer period a year ago. It was our dream for many years and finally it also fitted our position in life. Shirly, just finished her internal medicine internship, me, Sagi, just felt that I need a break from the Hi-Tech run and our girls (4 & 6 years old) were in the right age (but I guess any age is the right age). So, we decided to take a year off and to volunteer as a family somewhere in the world. Finding a place was a hard mission. As a family with small kids one needs a suitable place to stay. There are also huge gaps between the needs and what appears in the Internet or other media. Eventually, with the help of Israid, Topaz and friends we found a Tibetan hospital, “Delek”, located in Dharamshala North India, which welcomed us as a family for about six months.

We started our adventure with three months of traveling in India (mostly in the south) we survived the Tsunami and this period was very important as a preparation to the volunteering period. It forced us to overcome all the problems of being in a new country, new culture, being together 24 hours a day and to get used to India conditions. When we got to Dharamshala, in the middle of a January snowstorm, the basic conditions still seemed to us as luxury.

Dharamshala lies at the feet of the Himalayan Mountains, at an altitude of about 2000 meters high. The whole area includes the Indian town of Dharamshala, Mcleod Gang where most of the Tibetan refugees live and some more small villages. The place is well known because the Tibetan government in exile and His Holiness the Dalai Lama the 14th are located there. The Delek hospital provides medical services to a variety of patients, Tibetans, Indians and tourists from all over the world. The health problems of the patients are partly similar to those one meets in the western world. In addition you face here many diseases that are typical to India and especially to this area. For example: Tuberculosis, Enteric Fever and other infectious diseases, Gastroenteritis with heavy dehydration, malnutrition and anemia, especially in children.

Shirly’s first week in Dharamshala was quite dramatic. We arrived at the end of January in order to get settled and start as planned at the beginning of February. Nevertheless she decided to start immediately because the only volunteer doctor, working at that time, was leaving and there was a real shortage of staff. It was not an easy start. Low temperatures, snow, and power breaks were quite common. But still, the main problems and challenges were getting used to the unknown population, foreign language and culture, medical fields she had no experience in and new standards and routines.

The medical staff consists of a mixture of Tibetan doctors and volunteer doctors. The routine work at the hospital includes 6 days working week and 7 – 8 on call duties per month. The day-2-day work is much different than what an internal doctor is used to in aspects of children, antenatal clinics, deliveries and minor surgery procedures. Another interesting part is the work with the traditional Tibetan doctors from the "Men-Tsee-Khang" institute and the medical visits to the monasteries in the near area.

As for me, as a computer engineer I found my way as a part time volunteer in the computer center of the Tibetan government in-exile. This institute is less in readiness to volunteers so you must find the right ways to contribute by yourself. The work includes coordination of the local support groups and lately, following a donation of computers to a local school, the installation of these computers and teaching basic computer skills to teachers and other staff.

Our Girls, Gali and Mika, are going to the local Tibetan school. Yes, they learn Tibetan and also basic English. As kids with Hebrew mother tongue it is very hard for them but with no better alternative and being away from other kids company we found it very helpful. Each girl has her own friends from school and it looks like in Israel. They are playing only with girls, the language barrier is solved by waving hands and in the end of the day they all love to play with dolls, paint and being naughty. I guess that children will find joy wherever they’ll be but it looks that they are really having fun here.

The accommodation is very basic and includes a small room with common kitchen and toilet. With all the difficulties we are going through, like long hours, stressful work, foreign language, cultural gaps and more, we feel very lucky. We have time to be with the girls, enjoying being part of a wonderful and caring team and having a tremendous experience, which for sure will affect our future life.