Diary - Friday, May 6, 2005 

Hello once again to all of you out there who are taking the time to read these updates from Jambiani. We do hope that life is not being too demanding for you at this time although it seems that these "demands" of life are essential elements of our learning process here on Mother Earth. Or as someone once said, "it's good to want what you get."

To begin with, all is well here on Zanzibar. We have had some wonderful rainfall over the past month or so and although the Masika season is gradually diminishing, we are still getting the odd shower. Of course, these rains are essential for this part of Zanzibar as we are in a relative dry zone on the southeast coast. The gardens are powering now and we seem to be able to watch the plants grow on a daily basis. The local farmers are also very grateful for this added moisture.

Here's a group of students practicing their typing skills on old computer keyboards. We do hope to be able to provide actual computers for them to use in the not too distant future. These kids are very keen to acquire further education and we are grateful that we are in a position to be able to help them achieve their goals and to give them some new tools so that they might create a better life for themselves.

Here's a picture of Ann supervising some other members of the typing class.

Since our last update, we have welcomed two new volunteers to the project. These two are the first "family" members to arrive in Jambiani and it has been quite a treat for us to have them here. Ann Taylor is Pat's brother's wife and her daughter Caitlin is of course our niece. They are both assisting Pat with her English and typing classes that she has formally started about one month ago. The classes are very popular and I'm sure if we had additional room they could easily double their present enrollment.

At the moment, all of the classes are conducted in the clinic after we are finished treating patients but we do hope to one day build a small school to continue with and expand upon this very worthwhile endeavor that Pat is undertaking.

Pat is presently putting together the final touches for her proposal to set up a small fruit juice and fruit processing facility. As I mentioned previously, this would be a tremendous project and it would create the classic "win win" situation for everyone involved. Eventually, we feel that we could expand the processing project to include some classrooms so that we can provide courses in a more appropriate educational environment instead of the waiting room of the Wellness Centre.

We will keep you posted as this next project gets closer to actualization over the next few weeks.

I would like to take just a moment here to recommend that you all take a look at Yvonne Poulin's website. You may remember that Yvonne was the first massage therapist to volunteer with us in our earlier days in Jambiani and since then she has gone on to develop a remarkable project in Nairobi. We think the work Yvonne is undertaking is absolutely inspiring and we would encourage you to support her in whatever way you can. HABS is committed to assisting and promoting the African Touch Project as it resonates completely with our mandate to provide health and education services to the developing world. You can learn more about this by visiting www.africantouch.org

On the clinical side of things, we continue to do our utmost to help those folks in need who find their way to us. There is no question that the work here is challenging and for any potential volunteers, you must be prepared to step out of your comfort zone if you are going to enjoy your time here. For example, one week ago, on a Saturday morning, a young man came to our front gate in obvious distress. He had brought a patient with him from Bweju which is a small town about 10 or so kilometers from us. Pat and I went to the clinic and proceeded to attend to a man who was in extreme pain after having his arm crushed by a heavy truck when the jack gave way as he was trying to change a tire. For certain he had multiple fractures in his forearm and a probable dislocation of the elbow. Not your every-day, run-of-the-mill, Chiropractic complaint.

A few days later a relatively young woman in her late thirties was carried in to our clinic. She was unable to walk, she could only lie on her side and in the fetal position. Needless to say she was in agony and had been for quite some time. I examined her and to be frank, I had never worked with anyone in such critical condition in my 27 years of practice. Her history indicated that she had had cancer a few years previously and I was convinced that this had metastasized to her spine and pelvis. She died two days later. The next day a young boy of 8 was brought to us after having caught his big toe in the spokes of a bicycle he was traveling on. The nail had been ripped off and the underlying tissue was quite a bit like hamburger.

No one ever told us we would be providing emergency services as well as wellness care. :-) Now, don't get me wrong, we are not complaining and in fact it is very humbling that we in fact get these opportunities to help people with these sorts of problems in the first place. We would much rather have medical professionals deal with these types of problems and we are working on that as you know, but for now we are up front and center and I can tell you this is character building to be sure. I have a much greater appreciation for emergency medicine than I ever had before and its hats off to those souls who have made this type of work their lifelong commitment.

So, that's about it for now. There is not a lot of new news at this moment. As we move into the "Fall" months, there seems to be a distinctive winding down of the energy, less tourists, cooler temperatures and the daily routines are quite predictable now. We have documents in the works with the Ministry of Health so we are hoping to hear about that in the next two to three weeks or so.

So until our next report, we wish that all good will come your way and that your connection with this life is fulfilling and rewarding and that happiness permeates each and every one of your moments.

Much love to you all,

Ali Baba and Patima