News – February 2011

hello to all of you who are reading this update. Happy New Year and from all of us here in Jambiani we hope that this note finds you well and with great energy and good health. Needless to say, we are absolutely rocking in Jambiani, with the clinic seeing lots of patients, the JTTI humming with activity, Alibi’s Well serving scrumptious meals and the JTTI team led by Mama Pat moving all ahead full as we prepare to initiate the Train the Trainer program and also prepare to begin new construction on our southern side. Never a dull moment takes on new meaning for all of us. I have to say though, that this frenzy is just so good that it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. So many people are presently benefiting from our programs and so many more will be in the near future that it is almost impossible to imagine the far reaching effects of what is transpiring in our quaint little town of Jambiani. I know I’m blowing our own horn but I recall Hans Selye years ago in his book The Stress of Life saying that there is no harm in being altruistically egotistical, that is you can pat yourself on the back for doing good work and feel great about it. I am doing just that. Just look at the smiles on the faces of some of our second year students and know for yourself that they are really excited about their prospects for a brighter future not only for themselves but for their families as well. These kids are coming from a background where the average annual income is maybe $100 so with their chances of earning more than twice that amount in one month they have good reasons to smile. Students practising service methods Students practising service methods Students practising service methods Students a little more relaxed Sometimes the students just need to get some fresh air and let loose 🙂 On the right you will see a couple of pictures of some of the students practising service methods in Alibi’s Well in which they role play and get an opportunity to experience both sides of the restaurant equation as a customer and as an employee. Here are a few words from Sine who is rapidly becoming a fixture here and whose dedication and selfless contribution to the project is truly inspiring. We love you Sine!!! I have been here now for almost five months, and time seems to be flying. After a quiet School over Christmas and New Year, our second term has started this week and we are back in the middle of teaching and organizing students. The first term has given me a great opportunity to get familiar with the School, its operation and its students. Teaching here is very different to what I was used to in the UK, but so enjoyable nevertheless. Of course, even here in the ‘Jam’ the teaching comes with the usual frustrations of a teacher, but the enthusiasm and impressive work that the students show in class, in the restaurant and in the kitchen makes it easy work. So what has happened in the last five months? I have been teaching English together with David, I have told the Year 1s a lot about Front Desk Agent, and I have explained Bartending in detail to the Year 2s. Every Sunday Dinner I am helping out in the kitchen first, and then make sure that the service runs smoothly. Besides the preparation that comes with teaching, I have also tried my best to help Pat with the World Bank Project, and at the moment we are both busy with curriculum development for the Train-the-Trainer course. In between, I had a chance to explore the island a bit more. As I am part of the VSO family, I got to celebrate Christmas and go on trips to Prison Island with my fellow VSOers and in early January I went on a weeklong holiday in Pemba (the other main island of Zanzibar). When I am off on Saturdays, I enjoy walking through the village or on the beach – always followed by some little kids, always discovering new things about local life in Zanzibar. Thank you so much for that input Sine and also thank you so much for being here and contributing in all the ways that you do. My days in the clinic continue to provide me with challenges, sources of inspiration and on occasions moments of pretty intense sadness. Just last week I had tears in my eyes as I saw a very young couple arrive at the Centre on a bicycle. They had come from a village about 15 kilometers to the north of us. As I watched them, the young man gently lifted his “friend” from the bicycle and it was immediately obvious to me that she was unable to walk and that he was very concerned for her and that he cared for her at the deepest levels. It turned out that she was 21 and he was 23, not yet married but very much in love. The inspiration was this young mans devotion to his friend and the challenge was to understand why this young woman could not use her legs. Of course as a Chiropractor I am able to “fix what I find” regardless of any presenting complaint. That is indeed one of the most exquisite elements of my chosen profession; however after 33 years of practice, I wasn’t convinced that her subluxations were the primary cause of her disability. It is in situations like these that I feel the most frustration for these two people would certainly not have the resources required to seek out and obtain the necessary diagnostic tests to pin point the cause of her paralysis and with no personal health insurance this necessary path would never be an option, at least for them. So we muster up the positive energy and I inform the young lady that although I am not certain as to why she has lost the function in her lower extremities recovery is a possibility and that every year thousands of individuals get better spontaneously from any condition you might care to mention. As he carries her back out to the bicycle and to the 15 kilometer return journey to their home village I am once again humbled by the magnitude of the challenges that face the average person here on a daily basis. Of course in life it seems that balancing forces are always at play and in that awareness I would like to recount an event that happened awhile ago. It was later in the evening and we were summoned to take care of two individuals who had just been in a motorcycle accident. Fortunately for me Pat was able to provide first aid to one of the individuals who was badly scraped and cut as I attended to the other young woman who had a very obvious fracture of her left femur. She was in a lot of pain and was crying and screaming quite loudly. In addition several members of her family who were in the room with me were in various stages of distress and were almost as vocal as the patient on my table. It happened like this. As I bent over to align her femur prior to splinting it, I accidentally passed some intestinal gas……..you’re correct, I farted!! It was loud enough for all of us to hear. What was truly wonderful about this though is that everyone in the room including the one with the broken leg immediately started to laugh with huge enthusiasm. We were caught up in this hysteria for what seemed like several minutes after which time we all settled down to a manageable level. Understanding that laughter is indeed some of the best medicine one can experience, I looked at the patient and asked her if she was feeling better (I sure was) and she said yes. I said, “Well then, maybe I should do that again” at which point we all started to take off once more. Now I’m in no way suggesting that this become a standard treatment for pain but it sure illustrated to me the power of laughter, something that needs to be our constant companion if possible. Now perhaps on that “note” 🙂 we should finish this off. I’m expecting to bring you all up to date on the progress of the TOT program and construction project in our next update. We’ll also hopefully be hearing from Dr Poupart who will be joining us next Tuesday and we are as usual looking forward to meeting him and welcoming him to Zanzibar and Jambiani. Take care everyone and until next time all good to you wherever you may be in this moment. Ali Baba, Mama Pat and the HABS team in Jambiani.