History 3

Flying into Colombo, Sri Lanka was surreal as rows and rows of clouds lay beneath us like perfectly planted plots of cotton. It was hard to imagine the horrors of war that had ravaged this country for over a decade were being experienced at this very moment somewhere, someplace. I have to admit that I felt that Pat would feel an immediate affinity for her place of birth but this was initially not to be the case. After spending several days in Colombo we packed ourselves into a very cramped 3rd class railway car and headed south for the beaches of Tangalle and some much needed R and R.

Fortunately for us (me) :-) Pat has one of those families that has connections all over the world and Sri Lanka is no exception. We checked into a lovely B and B, the home of a friend of one of Pat's aunts and soon we were experiencing what we referred to as "terminal relaxation", as our stress levels dropped along with our blood pressure and standing for extended periods of time became increasingly difficult.

Soon the synchronicities began to occur, coincidences that would eventually take us to the central highlands of the country and a meeting with the Director of the Tea Research Institute.

Tangalle is quite a small village and it so happened that one of the local medical practitioners, Dr. Ranjit Attapatu, who had also been the Minister of Health, was a close friend and neighbour of Kumi, the woman whose home we were staying at. He had heard of the work that I did and being somewhat unfamiliar with Chiropractic invited me into his office to examine some of his patients who he felt might benefit from Chiropractic care. Simultaneously, Pat was feeling somewhat unsettled and was still not getting that sense of coming home that I had thought she would. As her father had been a superintendent on a tea estate in Sri Lanka, she had a strong urge to go to one and to spend a night or two. It turned out that our friend, Dr. Attapatu was very close friends with Dr. Wester Modder who was the Director of the Tea Research Institute and whose base of operations was St. Coombs estate in the highlands of the country. Dr. Attapatu suggested we call Wester and Pat wasted no time in securing us an invitation to go up to St. Coombs for a visit and a chance to return to a part of Sri Lanka that was perhaps more familiar to her. With a letter of introduction in hand, we set out for the "hills" and the next episode in this most intriguing journey.

Although Pat's father had worked in Sri Lanka, Pat did not know the name of the estate. When we arrived at the TRI (Tea Research Institute), a quick survey of the local archives revealed, to our amazement, that in fact it was at St. Coombs that Pat's father had been Superintendent! Soon I was to see just how much Pat's father was loved and appreciated as old friends and employees started to arrive to see and kiss the hand of the daughter of Mr. Elias, the man who had given them opportunities they might not otherwise have received. This was very touching for both of us and I know Pat was feeling that she had finally "come home".

Part of the mandate of the TRI is Human Resource Management and at the time, Wester was dealing with the reality that the older women who were plucking tea in the country were retiring and the newer generation were looking for alternative work that paid more and was less demanding. On any given day in Sri Lanka there are 250,000 women plucking tea. The job is physically hard and not that lucrative. Wester was compelled to make the job more appealing by improving living conditions, increasing pay schedules and improving the availability of adequate health care. I had noticed that the women were using a tea basket that was supported by a strap that essentially rested on the top of their heads. It was obvious that this would create a lot of load bearing stress on the necks and shoulders of these women and inevitably would cause discomfort. I suggested to Wester that I would be prepared to do a clinical evaluation of a sample population of these tea pluckers, produce a report for him with my findings and then make recommendations that might enhance the wellness of the women. Wester felt this would be a good idea so a few weeks later we returned to carry out this study.

We evaluated about 100 women and found that many were indeed experiencing musculoskeletal distress and pain. I completed the study and in my report, I indicated that it would be beneficial to develop a new and user friendly carrying system for the women. A move to a backpack type basket would eliminate much of the stress on the neck and upper back and would help to relieve the many symptoms the women were experiencing and would also serve as a preventative measure. We delivered the report to Wester and wished him well and went on our way, finally making it home again in the summer of 1998.

History
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