There are 2,600 hospitals in Asia, Africa and South America which could  be classified as "Mission Hospitals" - far off the beaten path,  providing basic medical service to the poorest people of the world. The  Hospital at the End of the World tells the story of a nurse from the  USA and his first experience as a teaching nurse in Nepal.  Joe Niemczura brings to life the day-to-day realities of life in a  rural teaching hospital, literally at the "end of the road." The harsh  realities of a lack of modern medical equipment when mixed with the  humanness of endurances demonstrates that above all, it is the  individual who matters; both patient and caregiver. All else pales in  comparison. The strength of this story is in relationships with  students, physicians, other nurses, patients, families and most  importantly with Nepal itself. There is a sense of community  connectedness which the author brings alive as the reader becomes one  with the story. The heartbreak and grief of death to the celebrations  of life will elicit those same emotions. The thread through it all is  the author's own journey as he discovers himself and renews his  spirituality. The reader is immediately pulled into the drama and  nakedness, and the beauty and mystery of this incredible part of the  world.        Ellen L. Bridge, RN, BS, MTS       Public Health Nursing Consultant

The Hospital at the End of the World

Travel

Niemczura, Joe

Asia

Plain View Press

Updated April 27th, 2015. There's always been a small group of international medical aid workers who find their way to Nepal, and never quite find their way back. Matt is one such person, who came to Nepal as a trekker in college. Now he's back, after completing a surgical residency in Boston. On that fateful first trip he met Sushila. Matt did not know at the time she was the love of his life. Sushila was raised in Vajrayanic Buddhist culture, with customs and beliefs far from any that Matt ever knew. They shared the passion of young people with the world ahead of them.   By the time Matt returned, she disappeared, no trace other than a faded photo on a wall.  Sushila's Buddhist faith was challenged when the civil war came to Beni and to her house. Matt throws himself into medical practice in rural Nepal, immersing himself in the reality of medical care in a low income country.       It is these sections that caused the book to develop a cult following among doctors and nurses who get off the beaten path into global medicine. The Sacrament of the Goddess has been described as "required reading for every foreign medical person that wants to volunteer in Nepal" due to it's unfailing description of Nepali culture. and the challenges of medical care in this setting.This book is also a rollicking adventure story and tale of love and heroism. A small group of international doctors deliver care at a missionary hospital where there is only one missionary left.  The Sacrament of the Goddess also reveals events of the Nepal civil war in layers, as we meet the medical team of Beni Nepal and see their situation through their eyes. Superficially, it is a classic story of star-crossed lovers, but the events unfold partly in real time and partly as flashbacks - memories that may or may not have happened, meanings that only reveal themselves through gazing at the stars on the darkest of nights.   At it's core The Sacrament of the Goddess is about the choices people make in a civil war where the moral virtues of each side is ambiguous.  On a daily basis the doctors confront the clash between western-style individualistic culture and eastern-style collectivist culture. As we learn how they cope with difficult events we ponder how people's actions express their conception of God and the infinite in a culture with plural religions.  And the meaning of love.              

The Sacrament of the Goddess

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

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