Diary - Friday, December 12, 2003

Well, good morning everyone and this time it is from the loft of our house here in Jambiani. I now have to use our computer upstairs as the laptop we have been using has finally developed some problems with the cooling system and we need a new part to fix it. This will hopefully arrive from Canada with one of our next two volunteers, near the middle of January. This computer is a bit of an antique and the monitor seems to be on it's last legs too, so such is the nature of our technical reality here. We'll do our best to get by and if worse comes to worse we'll just have to hand write our updates and type them in town when we go in each week.

All continues to unfold nicely here. Sheel has been with us now for two weeks and he seems to be enjoying his moments not only in the clinic but out of it too. I'll let him relay his thoughts to you a bit later on in this update. We are still not back to full capacity in the clinic and in fact this may take a few more weeks as people get back to their usual routines after Ramadan and word spreads that the centre is in fact operating again after our temporary shutdown in September/October. In reality, it isn't such a bad thing as we get to take care of other business and jobs on our fairly extensive list of things to do.

The monsoon has made a definite shift now to the Northeast, which is generally an indicator that the summer season has officially arrived and for certain the daytime temperatures have increased a bit. We are not complaining though and in fact we had a conversation last night about shivering and how pleasant it was to feel warm most of the time. :-)

On the administrative front, we are planning to have a meeting soon with the Regional Commissioner for the Southern District, the Minister of Health, a representative from the Department of Immigration and hopefully the Minister of Education. This meeting ideally should have occurred many months ago however, things don't seem to follow any specific time frame here and this is something we need to become comfortable with as what we perceive as indifference and inefficiency is just the way it is and this way of being can be the source of a lot of frustration. These are good lessons for us and we are learning to use our breath more efficiently if nothing else. :-)

Anyhow, at this meeting we hope to establish a solid framework and put in place guidelines, essentially for the arrival of volunteers. To date, we have not had ideal support from the involved Ministries in facilitating the smooth arrival of volunteers here on Zanzibar. This generally means that we have had to pay a $50 US visa fee for each arriving practitioner, something we are not happy with and something we hope to eliminate. We also have drawn up a contract with the Ministry of Health and we hope to ratify this when we meet, hopefully next week. In addition, Pat wants to discuss her ideas for the establishment of a teaching facility in Jambiani. As they say here, pole pole or in English, slowly slowly. :-)

On the repair and maintainence side of the equation, Ali has finished the two temporary gates on our West wall and he has also made repairs to the East wall. We have purchased an additional refrigerator as we were finding one was just not adequate for our needs and we now have a third bed and mattress up in the loft of the accomodation. So we are now ready for any overflow situations that may arise. I hope to repaint the house and clinic before we leave at the end of May as the original paint that we used is of very poor quality and we cannot wash it. We have found some better paint that comes fom Dar es Salaam so we'll try to get that over in the next few weeks.

We are expecting our next two volunteers in mid January. Dr Jabeen Jussa is a Chiropractor from Vancouver. She'll be with us for almost two months and we are really looking forward to welcoming her to Zanzibar and Jambiani. Jabeen was born in Dar es Salaam so she has some historical connections to this part of the world and I believe she will be doing some travelling on the mainland after her time with us is complete. In addition we are fortunate to have Alva Nolla coming from our home town of Victoria. Alva is a registered nurse, as well she is a Breema practitioner. For those of you who do not know what this is I would highly recommend a session or 20. Breema is a very gentle system of stretching that is done actively by the practitioner but received passively by the recipient. It is wonderfully nurturing, relaxing and I feel very beneficial to our general well being. I'm sure Alvas' skills will be put to good use here in Jambiani.

We continue to be well and feel very positive about our progress at this point. Until the next time, be well and as all-ways, much love from us all here at the Jambiani Wellness Centre.

Ali Baba and Mama Patima

Greetings from the other hemisphere!

It has been over two weeks since my arrival but it didn't take long to get into the swing of things. My past travel experience to third world countries has prepared me for the different pace and detachment of even the most simple "stuff" that we use daily at home (and thus keeps us "busy"). Pat and Alastair have been gracious hosts and the staff that they have selected is truly a reliable and caring bunch. I applaud them for their vision of setting up here in Jambiani. It is such a beautiful and simple setting.

It is so rewarding to not only know that you are contributing back to your community, but to also witness the effects of your contributions on a daily level.

Working in the clinic can be a little difficult at times because of the language barriers, but Pandu is a great translator and is by my side while I work. He is fascinated by Applied Kinesiology and the phenomenon of muscle testing. There have been some cases that have come in where I can feel and test that along with a structural problem, there is an emotional cause to the problem. At first I blocked myself by thinking "how am I going to get this one across? They're not going to get this". Remembering the Four Agreements (if you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it), I remembered one of them, being "always do your best". So I began to explain to this woman what I was sensing. In her case she had an inexplicable itching under her skin which hadn't responded to creams nor showed any anomalies in her blood work.

I told her that sometimes we might think we have let go of an old emotional pain but we haven't let it out of the body, and it shows as a problem as the body's way of talking to us. Her eyes widened and she sat upright and started going off in Swahili so fast that I started laughing. She had always suspected this was the problem but just didn't know how to deal with it. She asked me to show her how, and we did a beautiful clearing. She now spends some time everyday with her body and mind, and is doing great.

There are some sad cases that wrench my heart, especially when it involves kids (as I am now a father). Kids whose nervous systems are fried because of vaccinations, high fevers, or malaria that could have been prevented by a mosquito net. The other day I had a grandmother bring in her 4 year old grandson because he fell one month ago and now could not extend his arm past 120 degrees. He had broken it but they didn't take him to the hospital, and now other than re-breaking it and setting it, this kid will have to spend the rest of his life with a bent arm.

How do you feel when you read something like this. These situations really bring up emotions and questions about life and it's fragility. What I would like everyone to realise is that there is food here. The food is not going to change their world. Education is lacking. I have made a brochure up to hand out to all new patients, in Swahili, regarding simple nutritional changes, etc that they can do immediately. What we must do when we walk this earth is educate or learn. What I love here is that I can see the project money in action, and see it being put to full use, rather than the first 20 to 40 percent of every dollar going to promotion or salaries of fundraising employees. If you wish to help out, this project is definitely on the A list.

In closing, I would like to also give special thanks to the family members and patients who support the volunteers such as myself, in being away for so long. While my family misses me over Christmas and New Years, they too are supporting a cause that is much needed on this planet.

May we all be blessed and may this New Year be showered in love.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sheel Tangri

Tuesday, 16 December 2003

Well thanks for that Sheel and also thank you for being here and for helping in your own unique way. We are all grateful. Actually, Pandu was not in the office today so Sheel and I worked together. I'm not certain why we call it work as it really is a lot of fun helping people even when the situation seems so desperate.

We continue to see an increase in patient numbers now and I'm sure it won't be too long before we are up to our former capacity. In a way it's probably good that we are not back to full pace yet, as Sheel tends to spend a bit longer with his patients and so he is able to do more with them than he might otherwise if we were busier. It is wonderful how life unfolds and even more so when we recognise it. :-)

At this time of the year, I do reflect on the season we are missing at home and I do genuinely miss the opportunities we would have to get together with friends and family for that special occasion. It has been several years now since we have been in Canada at Christmas time and I have to say we do not miss the commercial hype associated with this time of the year. Being surrounded by such poverty has made us all much more acutely aware of the extreme disparities that exist amongst people on this planet and how overindulgent our culture can be at times. Good lessons!

Anyhow, we are all well here and we are continuing to do our best to make life more comfortable for some of the folks here. As Sheel said before, we would welcome any contributions towards this project either material or financial, as the future sustainability of this project will ultimately rely on the generosity of individuals, groups and funding agencies who feel that what we are doing here and intend to do in the future is worthwhile.

Until the next time, be well and much love to you all.

Ali Baba and Patima