Diary - Wednesday, June 15, 2005 

It's a fairly quiet Wednesday afternoon here in the "Jam". Pat has gone to Mjini (Stonetown) for the weekly shopping run and also because she is now the Vice President of the newly formed Rotary Club here on Zanzibar. Pat is very busy as it is so for her to take on this responsibility speaks very highly of her desire to help and to contribute in whatever way she can. I admire her.

Well, for the very first time, we are here during the winter months and the so called cold season. Surprisingly, even though the temperatures in the morning and evening are around 24 to 25 degrees Celsius, it does actually feel a bit chilly. Imagine that!! Cool in the tropics. We used to say the locals felt it more than us but in fact it seems we are now locals too. Notice I said locals no loco!! :-)

Duncan and Sheryl have promised to put together a small contribution for our next update. They have been with us for two weeks now and are settling in with ease it seems. They are doing some very intensive work up at the clinic and especially with some of our more difficult cases, that is with people who have had strokes or similar neurological insults. They are a very dedicated couple and it is a pleasure to have then on board. They will be with us for another 6 weeks and a bit so there are still a lot of lucky patients out there who will receive the gift of some very focused and loving attention from these two.

We are continuing to see a very broad spectrum of cases in the clinic and now that the rains have finished we are also seeing increasing numbers of patients. Of course this is what we are here for so we continue to be grateful to be able to help all these folks that are finding their way to us.

Our schedule is pretty full each day with the clinic open from 9am to 2pm, the classes running from 2:30pm to 5:00pm and of course the fairly regular visits from friends, patients with wounds, children with infections and skin problems and individuals suffering from acute trauma such as fracture/dislocations, athletic injuries and other accidents. It is busy but somehow we do manage to squeeze in some downtime and not just when we are sleeping. :-)

If everything goes according to plan, Pat and I will be leaving Jambiani on September 30th and expect to be back in Victoria by the first week of October. We will have been out for almost a year so it sure will be wonderful to see friends and family again. Of course, we will be trying to fund raise for the project once again and already our dear friends Owen and Doris Seeton are planning a Halloween benefit at the 6 Mile Pub for the end of October. Stay tuned for all the details of that one. Also David Wong, the co-owner of the 6 Mile Pub will be hosting a party at the 6 Mile in July to celebrate the 150th birthday of this Victoria landmark. There is a possibility that some of the proceeds from this event will go to HABS so if you can, please try to get out on that day. It should be a lot of fun. Of course, we cannot thank David Wong and the staff at the 6 Mile enough for their continuing support for HABS and their dedication and interest in helping others who are much less fortunate than ourselves. We love you guys!!!

Our Web man Kent and his lovely lady Karen will be heading off to New Zealand soon so this may be the last update posted for a few weeks. Hopefully we'll have some great stories and news for you then.

We are all excellent here in Jambiani and we really appreciate all of you who continue to support the project in so many ways. As I've mentioned before, there is an open invitation to all of you to come out here to see what we are doing. We are in a position to arrange fairly cheap accommodation for HABS supporters so feel free to contact us in this regard if the spirit moves you to adventure.

So until the next time, be well, take care of each other and as the father of one of my best friends likes to say, "don't worry, the best is yet to come."

Much love and all good to you,

Alastair and Pat