Tibet adventure: Local doctor treats nomads

Saturday, March 21, 1998 | 12:48 p.m.

A month ago, Benjamin Ip was living in a mud house, eating yak meat morning, noon and night and taking sponge baths using water from the Tongtian river.

A doctor from Las Vegas, Ip spent 10 months living in the southwest region of Tibet and volunteering his medical services to a nomadic population.

In Xiangda, in the Qinghai Province, Ip worked with Tibetan doctors, teaching them how to use western medicine and medical equipment.

"Being in an area that is closed to tourism, I was able to see the more traditional Tibetans who were living as they had been for the past hundreds of years," Ip said

Ip, 31, ended up in the remote area after joining "Doctors Without Borders," a nonprofit organization delivering emergency relief to populations whose health is threatened by war, civil strife, epidemics or natural disasters.

The organization went to Tibet two years earlier to help out when a severe snowstorm led to the starvation of tens of thousands of yaks, the primary food source for Tibetans. While there, the doctors discovered the medical clinics either lacked in Western medication or were using it improperly.

Established in 1971, Doctors Without Borders has offices in 19 countries and sends out more than 2,000 volunteers to about 70 countries annually. There are 45 volunteers from America.

Ip is the first doctor from Nevada to volunteer, Barbara Cancellbaum, a New York-based spokeswoman for the organization, said.

Wanting to do volunteer work since he was a student in medical school, Ip landed in Tibet in June. He teamed up with a married couple from France, one a nurse, the other an administrator. Together, they got in touch with authorities and met the people.

"We're very careful to be sure to make proper relationships with the people beforehand so that we're not imposing," Cancellbaum said.

Ip's primary responsibility was to teach doctors how to use the medicine that had been provided by the Chinese government.

Some doctors, known as "barefoot doctors," were traditional healers whose knowledge had been passed on from generation to generation and were mixing Western medicine with traditional medicine of herbs, fungus and roots. The latter, Ip said, worked better for chronic diseases.

"However, in using the Western medication without the training, it was sometimes done incorrectly and was very dangerous. Sometimes it was expired and they were using it anyway," he said.

Health problems included stomach disorders, respiratory problems, skin infections, wind burn and diarrhea. Cancellbaum said diarrhea was a main problem since the nomadic population is unable to build sanitary facilities.

Outdoor squat toilets were only part of the cultural differences Ip experienced. There was no electricity, telephones or indoor plumbing. The water supply, coming from the Tongtian, had to be boiled before drinking.

He shared a three-bedroom house, which also served as an office, with the couple from France. The house, made of mud brick, had a wood foundation and concrete floor. Like the rest of the area, the house had no electricity, phones or indoor plumbing.

He slept on what he called a traditional Tibetan bed -- a wood frame and a thin mattress made out of a cloth sack stuffed with wool -- which he said was a lot more comfortable than the thick rug that most Tibetans slept on.

Although Ip found the Tibetans to be kind and hospitable, he was often surprised at the differences in etiquette.

"During the meals they would slurp on their food and occasionally spit on the floor," he said.

"They also have a different concept of personal space," he said. "There is none. They get very close, lean over, sometimes swarming you. If you opened your wallet, they would stick their head in your wallet."

Most of the population had never seen white people before and always stared at the French couple, he said. By being Chinese, he was able to escape the stares.

Adjusting to the Tibetan diet of yak, which literally translates to English as "hairy cow," wasn't too difficult since it tastes similar to beef.

But the diet is in jeopardy. Tibet is again having another snow crisis. According to local authorities, more than 200,000 yaks have died because icy ground prevented them from grazing.

Ip spent the last month surveying the snow areas and sending reports to Geneva. He treated the Tibetans with frostbite, snow blindness and upper respiratory problems.

"I had to be flexible during the last month," Ip said. "I was a mechanic, a driver, a doctor, a translator, an administrator and a diplomat.

"But most importantly in the last month were the logistics. We had to decide where to get the feed for the cattle. If the cattle die, then there would be a serious problem since the cattle is the principal food source."

Doctors Without Borders has been providing for the people and yaks. The cost of food -- including 1,200 metric tons of barley, 80 tons of yak butter and 600 tons of animal feed -- is provided by private donors, Cancellbaum said. Doctors Without Borders takes charge of getting the food into Tibet.

"I only hope that I made a difference," Ip said. He has returned to Las Vegas and said he plans to rest for a bit.

"I'll recharge my batteries for a month or so then go on another volunteer mission, perhaps to South America, or Africa," he said.

"I need time to re-adjust to Vegas."

The bright lights of Las Vegas are no comparison to the stars, the Milky Way and satellites that he would see at night, he said.

Born in Singapore, he moved to Las Vegas when he was 14. He graduated from Bishop Gorman High School, attended college in San Diego, then moved to Texas for medical school.

"It's a good time in my life to do volunteer work," he said. "I have no attachments and no bills and everywhere I go, my food and board are provided."