Diary - November 9, 2003

It's a very calm Sunday morning here and we are now entering the intermonsoonal transition once again. We had some much needed rain earlier, just before sunrise and this is usually another indication that the winds are starting to shift from the southeast to the northeast. Of course this phenomenon has been occurring like clockwork for centuries and has been the means by which the early traders were able to travel to and from Zanzibar buying and selling their wares.

Today is Dr. Stan's birthday so we are planning a little surprise party for him a bit later down at the Blue Oyster Hotel. Pat is presently making a cake and fortunately for us, Stan has gone snorkeling for a few hours so we can play while the cat's away. :-)

Stan finished up his first week at the Centre and although it was not too busy as a result of Ramadan, I think he had a great introduction to the flow of the clinic and he was able to see just how much need there for help there is here. We are also hoping to arrange a visit to Mnazi Moja Hospital before Stan leaves in December. We are wanting to look at the feasibility of setting up a treatment room within the hospital so that we can provide Chiropractic care to patients who may not be capable of making the journey from Stone Town to our clinic here in Jambiani. At present this would be somewhat difficult due to our limited resources however as this project evolves and we acquire more funding this could be a very viable possibility. We will keep energizing this thought form and who knows what may happen over the next few months.

We have completed several of our work projects. Our fundi Mrisho, and his crew finished resurfacing our seawall yesterday. This was fortunate, as the full moon tides are becoming quite high now. They did a great job and this should add many years of life to our front boundary. Pat has Simai and Maulidi establishing new garden beds along our west-facing wall and I have another day or two of painting left before that job is history. The garden is now providing us with fresh mixed greens so we are enjoying salads every second day and it looks like the peas, beans, squash and zucchinis are not far behind. We are trying to become as self sufficient as possible and in addition, as you all know, it's hard to beat fresh, organic produce from your own garden.

At the moment, there is not too much news to update you with. We did have an unexpected visit from the Regional Commissioner, Mr. Mustafa Ibrahim the day before yesterday. He came by to pick up a couple of letters from us and he has offered to help us get entry permits for our volunteers etc. So we are very grateful for this, as it is this kind of co-operation from the Zanzibar Government that is essential for the continuation of our work here.

Anyhow, I'll be back with more information as it presents itself and in the meantime, we wish you all good as you experience your moments day by day, just like us.

Ali Baba and Mama Pat

Diary - November 14, 2003

Goodness, how time fly's and I have to apologize for the late arrival of this update. We had sent off, we thought, an update two weeks ago, but it seems this did not make it through cyberspace for some unknown reason. So I'd like to just fill you in on the essentials of that last "dispatch" even though it is now several weeks in the past. We had a particularly intense week before that last update and although this isn't common it does seem to happen every so often. It all started with a call from the Regional Commissioner, essentially the Vice President of the country. We had met him before but only briefly. His family, all 11 of them, had been involved in a very serious car accident and several of them had been hospitalized with significant injuries. He was hoping we would be able to come into town to assess and treat if necessary. So Pandu and I were picked up by his driver and off we went to Mnazi Moja Hospital. The family members had experienced a variety of injuries. One had a very severe head injury, one had a broken femur, one had a fractured clavicle, one had fractured ribs and most of them had multiple cuts and bruises. Now I'm certain most of you realize that this would not be a normal lineup of patients for our offices back in Canada, however, I was definitely in the spotlight and in fact it was a pleasure to have been given this invitation to help. In fact I was able to adjust most of these people and we left the hospital with a sense that we had made some difference for these poor souls. On our arrival at the hospital, we were eventually introduced to Dr Rashid Said, the only orthopedic surgeon/specialist in Mnazi Moja. What a delight to meet this man. Not only did he welcome us with open arms but he also showed a genuine interest in the work I was doing without the slightest bit of arrogance or professional snobbery that is so frequent in the west. I later found out that Dr. Said had not slept for almost two days and during this time he had not only to attend to these accident victims, but he had also done several surgical procedures and in addition he had one pediatric ward and one very heavily populated adult ward to take care of. Despite this incredible workload, Dr. Said remained positive and optimistic that things could improve in the future. He welcomed me back to treat patients and to observe surgery anytime! What a treat. Can you imagine this happening in the west? I felt such respect for Rashid and at one point I had tears in my eyes, imagining how difficult this man's life was. He was a great inspiration to me and we will do our best to try to help him out.

After the hospital trip, we went to the Regional Commissioner's house to treat a few other younger patients and then we made our way back to Jambiani where we ended our day looking after several patients at the Wellness Centre. Whew!!

A few days later we were given the news that a very close friend and another acquaintance had been killed in another automobile accident. We had known Ronnie for many years, ever since our first visit to Jambiani in 1997. He was a fine person and a genuine human being. He will be surely missed. To top things off, that evening we had our first serious casualty of the soccer season. This young fellow, had probably fractured his Tibia and Fibula (lower leg bones) and all we could do was stabilize and ice the injury and then send him off to Stonetown for further treatment.

A crazy week for sure, but I feel even more passionate about this project than ever. We are constantly being given amazing opportunities to help people in significant need and we are making a difference in the lives of literally thousands of individuals.

Anyhow, things have mellowed considerably since then and we are back into the "order", at least for a while. :-)

Stan just finished up his second week in the clinic and I'm going to get him to add a bit to the end of this update so you can get a sense of what his experience has been like since he arrived. The early summer heat is building daily now, however, we still haven't used our ceiling fan and I think that has to be a first. It seems we are increasingly acclimatizing to this tropical environment.

Until the next time, be well everyone and as all-ways, much love to you from us all here at the Jambiani Wellness Centre.

Ali Baba and Mama Pat

Diary - November 19, 2003

Hamjambo.
Salama
Keribu
I've been in Jambiani for over 3 weeks and have valued every moment in this Garden of Eden. Providing handshakes, huge smiles and genuine gratitude has been worth the long journey to get here.

Working in the Jambiani Wellness Center has allowed me the opportunity to observe, diagnose and adjust individuals with conditions that we would very rarely see in our practices back home. For example, one individual's permanent leg deformity and gait problems are do to being dragged out of her tiny home, as a child, by a LEOPARD, which after mauling her knee, decided that she didn't taste very well!! How's that for a case history!! It truly is an eye-opening experience.

I have to congratulate Dr Alastair and Pat (Ali Baba and Mama Pat, as they are known in the village!) for the work they have done to build these great facilities right on the most gorgeous beach in the world. It's not a bad way to spend time helping those in need. I would strongly urge any Chiropractor, or other health professional, who might be interested in volunteering to help out in this Project, to contact myself, sdmarcus@shaw.ca or Alastair and Pat through this website, and ask questions. The people of Jambiani our very poor and need this Project. Therefore, your time would be a valuable commodity here. We also need to raise funds to keep the Center in operation. So get those creative juices flowing!

Thanks for being interested in this web site. It lets us know that you care.

Kweherini, Salama
Stay Well and Stay Happy
Dr Stan Marcus, DC