Diary - Sunday, April 20, 2003 

Greetings once again everyone. It is Sunday morning now, partially overcast and with a light southeasterly breeze wafting through our living room - a perfect time to send some thoughts your way.

Well, the time is really compressing now and we are now into the last two weeks of our stay here. The biggest item on our agenda at this point is the upcoming arrival of our next volunteers, Yvonne and Shawna. Both Pat and I and the rest of the community are very excited and grateful that these two wonderful souls have made this commitment to come and offer their hands and hearts to the people in need here. Shawna will be here until the middle of June and Yvonne until the end of July. Unfortunately our volunteer who was scheduled to arrive in August is no longer able to come because of personal and family commitments so it looks like the center may have to close for a couple of months in August and September unless someone contacts us before then. However, this isn't so bad and for our first year of operation we've done pretty well to cover at least 10 months. Hopefully next year will see the center operational for the entire year.

As and aside here, I wanted to tell you a bit about some of our patients that we see in the clinic. I am constantly humbled and amazed at the strength and fortitude of many of the individuals that seek out our care. Yesterday a man in his early seventies, who I had treated once before, rode his bicycle 27 miles one way to come for his second appointment. He did this out of necessity as he could not afford the 400 shilling (.40 cents) fare to take local transport but was feeling so much relief after his treatment that he didn't want to miss out. I can recall days back in Canada when we would get cancellations from teenagers because their cars had broken down. What a different perspective on life and certainly a different reality. We do see many elderly patients who will frequently walk several miles to come for their visit, something that is very rare in our culture.

Another patient, a young boy around 10 years of age was carried in by his not much older brother. I examined him and felt that he probably had a form of muscular dystrophy that had never been diagnosed. As this child still had some strength in his legs and excellent upper body strength I suggested they try to fabricate some crutches so that he could get around on his own to a certain extent and not have to rely on family members to carry him everywhere. For these two young boys the light bulb had been turned on and the look of excitement on their faces about this possibility was priceless. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this story turns out.

We have another patient, a young girl of 14 who is gradually losing all power in her body. I say gradually, because she has a spinal cord tumor in her neck, which is growing slowly. Her prognosis, without surgery, is extremely grim and yet there is only a remote possibility that she will get an opportunity to have this procedure before she succumbs to this unfortunate situation. It is at times like this when I think about the billions of dollars wasted on wars and other such reptilian endeavors and about what tremendous good that could be done if all this money was directed towards helping our fellow human beings.

A couple of years ago, we had a female patient literally crawl into our treatment room unable to walk because of the severe pain she was experiencing in her foot. We helped her up onto the examining table and soon discovered that she had been like this for almost seven years after cutting herself on a piece of coral. I removed the tattered and filthy piece of material that she had wrapped around her affected limb and was shocked to find that the entire sole of this foot was one large ulcerating mess, badly infected and in need of immediate medical intervention. We sent her off for an x-ray, which confirmed that this infection had penetrated the bony tissues of her lower leg and that in fact the only treatment that would give her relief after all these years would be amputation. We made the appropriate recommendations and sent her off, never to see her again before we left for Canada. This year, after several attempts to contact us, we finally met again. What a wonderful reunion we had and it was so gratifying to see this woman out of pain for the first time in many years. Of course she had been able to have the necessary surgery and was now missing a portion of her leg but she was so thankful that we had discovered her problem and had been able to advise her as to what to do. Pure magic!!

I believe experiences like this and others have really helped us to "count our blessings" so to speak. Reminds me of that story, "I had the blues because I had no shoes until I met a man upon the street who had no feet." Ultimately, we really have very little to complain about in our Western world. It all seems to boil down to a state of mind, a state of mind that we can choose. Perhaps some food for thought.

Now, with only a few days left in this journey, I know that I will miss the energy and the people of Jambiani however I'm very excited for Shawna and Yvonne who are about to enter into this experience. Perhaps sharing this opportunity with others may be just as important as the work we are doing. Time will tell.

I was just interrupted by some kids (teenagers) who had brought their friend with them. He had fallen playing soccer and had an obvious dislocation of his right elbow. I have never set an elbow before but knew I had to try to do this procedure, otherwise he was looking at a one and one half hour trip into town for questionable intervention. I actually had a little chat with God before this one. I am so grateful that the outcome was positive and I now feel that much more prepared to do it again if necessary. Isn't life amazing?

So perhaps on that note we should change topics and talk about the future of this project. We are confident that the evolution will proceed. We hope that more individuals will feel compelled to step out of their comfort zones and come to Zanzibar to offer their heart and hands to the project. We have dreams of a school here on our plot of land and Pat is already teaching cooking skills to one of our employees and another cook from one of the local hotels. Anything seems possible given time and, in this environment, patience. So we will try to maximize our potential here and from that will come nothing but good for all involved. For the locals, that means the possibility of relief from their pain, the opportunity to receive an education and a chance to meet other human beings who care and who would like to make a difference. For those that come, I believe each person will have their own unique experience and I am confident that everyone involved will agree that their lives have been touched in a deep and somewhat profound manner.

So now it's time to send you all the most positive and heartfelt energy we are capable of. I'm really totally unaware as to how many people actually read this update, so if you feel compelled, please send us a quick e-mail, just to say hello, we would be most grateful.

The next update will be forwarded from Shawna and Yvonne and I know I'm looking forward to hearing about their impressions of their first two weeks here in Jambiani.

As many of you know, Pat and I will be heading back to Sri Lanka to touch base with some old friends and to check on the project we did with the tea pluckers back in 1999. We will try to keep in touch as frequently as possible but we are uncertain as to how accessible internet connections will be in the regions of Sri Lanka that we intend to visit. You know that we will be thinking of you though and that our love will be sent your way on a daily basis if not more frequently. :>)

Take care everyone and until the next time,
Much love to you all,
Ali Baba and Mama Pat