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Diary - October 4, 2003Well hello everyone and a sincere wish that you are all well and happy and enjoying your moments to the max.Pat and I have just returned from Scotland and are now in Croyden staying with Pat's relatives, the infamous Aunty Gwen and Uncle Bill. We went to Scotland to return my father's ashes to his family plot in Edinburgh, something we had planned to do a few years ago before he passed away. It somehow feels reassuring that he is "home" again and that he can now truly rest in peace. It's crazy sometimes, the things we do for love. :) It has been quite some time since I've added an update to the site so consequently we have a considerable amount of news to pass on to you. It is hard to know where to begin, as we have been exceptionally busy since we returned to Victoria at the beginning of July. As many of you are aware, this project that we have started continues to evolve and expand and both Pat and I were starting to feel somewhat overwhelmed with an ever increasing work load and associated responsibilities that were required to keep the momentum of what had been initiated going. It was shortly after we arrived back in Canada that another "Angel" came into our lives in the form of Cathy Turner. I first met Cathy at my brothers' home and she introduced herself as a "cleaner". It didn’t take long for me to realize that Cathy's idea of cleaning dealt with much more than just the dust, the dirt and the cobwebs. We had a short chat and I gave her our website to look at. I think it was the next day when she called and offered to help us in whatever way she could. Since that day, this most amazing woman has poured out her love, shared her compassion and energy and has worked non-stop to help us with just about everything you can imagine from fund raising to, yes, cleaning. Presently, Cathy has taken on the position of our local spokesperson for the HABS, is our events coordinator and will also work with our new found "team" of volunteers to ensure that the reality that is building here continues to intensify. What is so wonderful about all of this is that this is exactly what Pat and I knew was required if we were to continue to maintain the status quo. Thank you so much Cathy. :) The miracles continued when we had a call from Dr Wayne Quinn and his wife Mona. Some of you will recall that they were our very first volunteers in Jambiani. It turned out that they are members of the Chase Rotary Club and after giving a presentation to the group after returning from Zanzibar, the members decided to donate a new Thuli Chiropractic table as well as cover the costs of shipping it to Zanzibar. For us, this was a "godsend" as the portable table we had been using was definitely not going to endure much longer and we had no back up at the time. The Oak Bay Rotary Club donated $1000 to the HABS and they along with the Brentwood Bay Rotary, the Harbor Side and the Chase Rotary Clubs are looking at the possibility of taking us on as their international project focusing specifically on the problem of water delivery in Jambiani, something that has been a concern for many years now. The problem is not with the water itself but with an old and antiquated system of delivery that is no longer capable of meeting the demands placed on it by an increasing population and expanding tourism industry. What an amazing gift this would be to this community. We shall keep our fingers crossed and imagine that this can be accomplished. We also updated our friends at the Oak Bay Kiwanis Club and to our amazement, they made another donation of $500 to the HABS. This was totally unexpected and for that we are truly grateful. Thank you!!! Lynne and Cliff Ketcheson and their son Clinton are also some of the most wonderful people we have had the pleasure of knowing over the years. They opened up their home and hosted an incredibly successful garage sale that netted over $5000 for HABS. In addition, Lynne, who is a practitioner of TCM, not only donates a portion of her proceeds to the project but is also planning to come to Zanzibar to volunteer. We love you!!! Of course Kristi Falconer, our deaf and hard of hearing interpreter continues to amaze us with her enthusiasm and hard work and is as well planning a return to Zanzibar next year to continue with the wonderful work she started earlier this year. We have had so many friends and organizations contribute to this project, that we would like to set up an additional page to publicly acknowledge their support. :) One of our goals has been to have the Wellness Centre staffed year round and we are delighted to report that that is rapidly coming into place. We have an amazing line up of practitioners scheduled for this year and for the majority of 2004. As well, we are starting to place volunteers into 2005 already so this is very encouraging. Thank you so much to everyone who has made the commitment to come and for those who will in the near future. You will not be disappointed. We plan to profile each of the volunteers as their arrival time approaches and will get them to add their own updates to the site so that you can follow their personal accounts of life in Jambiani. In November, Dr Stan Marcus from Victoria will be joining us after a climb of Mt Kilimanjaro. Stan has been a friend and colleague for many years and brings with him not only fantastic clinical skills and experience but also a contagious enthusiasm for Chiropractic and we are really looking forward to spending some great moments with him. In December, we are very fortunate indeed to welcome Dr Sheel Tangri to the team. Sheel, also of Victoria, is a world renowned Chiropractor and Specialized Kinesiologist whose bag of therapeutic tricks runs very deep. I'm certain he will make a big difference in the lives of hundreds of people in need during his one month stay. The New Year will witness the arrival of many more talented and special volunteers and as I said before, we will highlight these practitioners as our schedule progresses. This next trip for Pat and I will be one of fine-tuning and consolidation as well as the usual work routines. We plan to sign a contract with the Ministry of Health and to update the District Commissioner, Mr. Mustafa Ibrahim with our progress to date. We also plan to meet with the Minister of Education to discuss Pats desire to build a small school/training facility on our site in Jambiani. This is truly a wonderful concept and I really admire Pat for her dedication to seeing this possibility come into fruition. We need to raise between $150,000 and $200,000 US to do this but with volunteer educators already waiting in the wings for the go ahead, we feel confident that this too can be realized. Needless to say the impact of this type of school on the community would be positively transformative. On the medical side of the equation, we have a retired MD from the UK (Pat) and his wife Janie who will be coming out in January to determine what level of medical care is currently available on Zanzibar and what if any resources could be provided to enhance the present situation. They would then like to return for up to three months to provide volunteer services perhaps in the form as advisors with some clinical work as well. In Victoria, we have two Medical practitioners who between them bring expertise in the areas of surgery, gynecology, obstetrics and pediatrics and who have expressed an interest in coming to help. This is amazing as in fact, these are many of the specialties that are presently inadequate on Zanzibar and there is a huge need for these types of skills. We are so inspired by the increasing levels of support and recognition that we are receiving and we will continue to do our utmost to maintain what we have already accomplished and to increase our services to the community as time and money permits. Anyhow, I think I have rambled on enough here for now. We will begin bi-weekly updates from Zanzibar once we arrive, so stay tuned for I'm certain this year and next will bring forth fantastic stories of hope and progress and we look forward to providing you with those stories as they evolve. Be well everyone and please keep in touch with us too. We love hearing from you and always look forward to the surprises in our inbox when we go into town. :) Much love, Ali Baba and Mama Patima  |