September 4, 2006 – Together as a Team in Khumjung

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I’m just going to give you a quick update from the team on the morning of September 4th where we are in the village of Khumjung.  Yesterday our walk from Thame was very enjoyable.  We stopped by the Khunde hospital and an interesting little exchange, Dr. Sean Moore who as you know is trekking with our group to Base Camp really hit it off with our old friend Dr. Kami Sherpa who’s been working at the Khunde clinic for many years and in recent months has been running it himself.  I could see two physicians who had an immediate understanding of one another.  Sean asked Kami how it had been going and he said "oh I’m very tired" and had not had a day off in more than 30 days and they see at least 35 patients a day at the Khunde clinic, Sherpa patients of course.  So quickly Sean said you know I’ll give you a few days off and sure enough Sean Moore from Canada will be sliding himself in at the Khunde hospital after he visits Base Camp with us and giving Dr. Kami Sherpa a few days off.  I think that is a great arrangement and we look forward to hearing how Sean’s experiences go at the Khunde hospital.

Something very special happened yesterday we finally got the entire group together.  Leila and Michael who stayed back in Namche, enjoying the amenities down there met up with us in our lodge here in Khumjung.  Also Jimmy Chin and Kami Sherpa from the past will be working together a lot on this trip [broken transmission]. 

At dinner last night we did a little toast with a glass of mineral water, tea and a couple of beers, it’s great to be together as a team.  Today we will be continuing up the valley and we are going to report day to day as we enjoy this trek to Everest Base Camp.