One event that happened last month that we haven't shared was the Golden anniversary of INF's Greenpastures hospital. The story of how the hospital came to be and slowly developed over the years is an amazing one and we feel very fortunate to be part of the organisation now.

There were three days of events to mark the occasion – a church gathering where God was praised for all that had been achieved through the hospital, an official programme where dozens of VIP's including the state minister for health went on a tour of the hospital and then took it in turn say their piece at the microphone, and a private gathering to reward the current staff members and thank them for their involvement. At the official event, there was a large tent covering a seating area, but there wasn't room for all who came and a big group of staff and patients spilled out of the back of the tent and sat in the on grass or in their wheelchairs in the sun.

There seemed to be three main head coverings of choice among the crowd: the traditional Nepali topi for the men, the scarf for women, and the pink woolen hat for either sex!

It all went off very smoothly in the end, which gave no indication of the amount of stress involved in the build up... There is a procedure for planning events in Nepal that requires nerves of steel. Nothing seems to happen until the very last minute, but somehow, things usually seem to come off! The guest list for the official event was a case in point. Although we knew the dates for the celebration, we hadn't actually been told if we were supposed to be coming.

About a week before the event I had a conversation with the chap in charge that went something like this.

Are we invited?

Yes, of course

Will we get an invitation or should we just turn up?

You will get an invitation, but we can't send them out until the chief guest has been confirmed. The Health minister should be coming from Kathmandu, but she has been invited to two different events and hasn't decided which one to go to.

So you won't send out any invitations until she has confirmed?

No

When will she confirm?

Some time this week....

The events went very well. These celebrations gave us a real sense of the history of the work that we are involved in, and the pride that staff so obviously took in that was hugely impressive.