Diary - October 15, 2003 

Well, good morning from Jambiani and as all-ways, both Pat and I hope that you are all well and happy and enjoying life wherever you may be. We have had a wonderful reunion with many of our old friends since we returned and it does feel good to be back at the center and in this community once again. The place is looking excellent and we are amazed at how much the garden has grown in just five months. Simai and Maulidi have taken great care of things and all of the plants, flowers and trees are smiling with appreciation for the love and attention they have received. We will be opening the clinic again on Monday 18th and rumors have it that it will be hopping. :) Of course this is all good and I'm personally really looking forward to getting the hands and heart back into action. We will definitely have the place warmed up for Dr Stan when he arrives on the 31st. Actually Stan is preparing to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro as I type this and as well, he will be doing a safari before arriving here so he will be well and truly acclimatized to this African vibration by the time he gets to us.

On the day of our arrival, we had a brief meeting with the Regional Commissioner for the Southern District, Mr. Mustafa Ibrahim, and we will be meeting with him and the Minister of Health in the next couple of weeks to discuss our pending contract with the Ministry and to brief them on our ongoing evolution. He indicated to us at that time that he has had discussions with the President and that the President is personally aware of our project and is very supportive of what we are doing. Of course, this is reassuring for us and we are very grateful for having such recognition from this ultimate level of government.

Presently, we have two friends of ours visiting from Holland. Ocke and Norma Schuttevaer lived in Uganda for five years from 1966 to 1971 and were friends of Pat's father at that time. They are both interested in doing some fundraising for our project back in Holland so they have come out to see things first hand. It is great having them here and it is a real treat to be able to show them around. Of course we are very grateful for their interest and offer to help. Thank you Norma and Ocke.

Pat has already started planting new seeds in the garden and we are also finishing some fine touches to the front wall by the clinic and the wall around the garden. I'll be starting some painting once this work has been completed. We also need to re-surface the sea wall as it is starting to corrode a bit and we don't want to leave it too long. As I mentioned in one of my previous updates, the maintenance requirements here are substantial and we are very diligent with keeping up with this work. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. :)

Anyhow, all seems well here and I will add to this after my first day back in the clinic. We will be taking Norma and Ocke to the airport next Wednesday, so I'll be sending this off to Kent then and hopefully this will be on your computers soon after that. Be well, and much love to you.

Monday, October 20, 2003

Good afternoon from a very wet Jambiani. It seems the short rains have arrived a bit early this year however, this is wonderful news as it has been extremely dry since we left in May and all this rain, which began this morning, will be much appreciated by everyone including the plants in the garden. Pat has gone on a Spice tour with Norma and Ocke and I have just finished my shift up at the center. Pandu and I had a fabulous first day back at "play" and it does feel great to connect with the patients once again. Today, we saw mainly new people, although we did see a few old patients. As always, lot's of challenges right off the bat. The first three patients were all children who were neurologically impaired. Two from high fevers and one who appears to have some type of cerebral palsy although this is pretty hard to accurately diagnose. We do our best to help these kids and to instill some essence of hope for their parents who are frequently distressed and uncertain as to what in fact is wrong with their children. Of course our main concern is that they leave well adjusted and that we have eliminated as many sources of spinal dysfunction as possible. I must say even after 25 years of practice, I never cease to be amazed at just how effective a Chiropractic adjustment can be. The wonderful thing about practicing here is that we get to adjust patients who would not likely get that opportunity in the west, as they would be screened out medically long before we would have a chance to assess them. Maybe this will change with time as governments evolve and monopolies are abolished.

We are continuing with our work projects, and the front wall is almost complete now. As I mentioned before, we are also in the middle of getting some estimates to re-surface the sea wall and we should be starting that project within the next two weeks.

All in all, everything is unfolding beautifully and we are very excited about the progress we are making and the events that have yet to unfold.

Dr. Stan should be on Kilimanjaro by now, so we all send him our best wishes for a successful expedition and we are looking forward to his arrival at the end of this month.

Anyhow, I think that's about it for now. I'm sure we'll have lots of news to relay to you over the next couple of weeks or so. As always, we send our fond wishes to those of you who are taking some time to read these updates. We appreciate your interest and support very much and look forward to keeping in touch with you over the next 8 or 9 months.

Take care and much love to you in all-ways.

Ali Baba na Mama Patima :)