review after clinical sessions

The repeated clinical sessions give trainees valuable experience.  During these sessions, the residents at Detroit house had uniformly positive responses.  After the first sessions here the clients who received treatments were so enthusiastic in their responses that all other residents decided to take part in the next session.

more clinicals

At the Bombay house, there were mixed responses to the first treatment session. One client complained of headache after the treatment, another man said he felt dizzy and weak, and yet another said that his regularly good sleep was disturbed after the acupuncture. We discussed these responses and how best to provide a safe and supportive treatment environment, and how to best manage a variety of treatment responses.

fine tuning

We adjusted treatment times, number of needles, had a round table discussion with the residents, and offered but did not push them to receive further treatments.  Some of the residents here had had really positive experiences and they also shared these with their housemates.

Bombay house

Almost all of the residents decided to participate in subsequent treatments, and by the last day were all feeling the benefits of the treatments.  They repeatedly thanked Shosi, Athman and myself for coming down from Kenya to assist, and asked for a group photo.

Group shot, Bombay house

On the last day we had our certificate ceremony.    There was lots of applause, lots of jubilant shouts, and afterward one of the trainees asked me if I understood what was being said when she came up for her certificate.  “They were saying what a mess I was when they first met me [when entering  rehab] and to look at me now.  I’ve made so much progress and can now help others with their recovery!”

exhuberance after the certificate ceremony

This group was wonderful to work with.  They have excellent teamwork, creatively problem solve, and a strong sense of community.  We established a communications network, a way to resupply their needle stock, and a team leader.  Congratulations to the hardworking staff and volunteers at Drug Free Zanzibar!

Zanzibar training group 2011

Detroit house in the morning

The trainees were raring to go the 2nd day.  It’s a tightly knit group - most have seen each other through extremely rough times, & they spend tons of time together both at the sober houses & in their spare time.  Very much a community, and most feel closer to each other than to their families, who don’t always understand the journey they’re on.

1st treatments for co-trainees

We did mock treatments on each other.  This group of trainees was interesting in that they vied to be needled, and were clearly benefitting from even these mock treatments.  During other trainings, the trainees sometimes avoid getting needled or complain of sore ears, but I didn’t see anything like that here.

practice treatments

pretty good for day 2!

There were a few ‘naturals’ in the group – both for point location/insertion, and for oral presentation of the protocol & in answering questions.  Because this group had very little if any medical background, we had to spend a lot more time on ear anatomy, clean field, and safety protocols than was necessary for the group in Nairobi.

Detroit & Bombay sober houses are on this street

We usually caught the #507 ‘dala dala’ public transport buses to the sober houses in the mornings, and most days Mani or Sabri gave us (& a load of others) a ride home in Suleiman’s jeep.  Suleiman is in Mombasa on holiday, and left the car for these guys to use.  I found it very interesting that my friend in Dar, who has a high-ranking job with a foreign NGO that advises for groups like the UN and the Swedish government, has not had a Tanzanian license for 2 years (paying appropriate bribes as needed) but both Mani and Sabri have current licenses and drive extremely well.  Sabri said that as ex-users they have to do everything ’absolutely correctly.’

my Kenyan colleagues arrive!

I spent the first few days of training as the lone trainer.  Because of communication challenges, my Kenyan colleagues were unable to reach me or the local organization (which was also the reason for my own challenges when arriving on Zanzibar).  Eventually they found someone in Mombasa who verified that I was on Zanzibar so they took a leap of faith, took the ferry from Dar, called Sabri while we were driving home one day, and we all met up on the waterfront in Stone Town.  I was sure glad to see them!  The training had been going well, but I knew it would go quicker with better instructor/student ratios, and using more Kiswahili.

Yesterday I connected with Suleiman, the man who arranged this NADA training for me with Drug Free Zanzibar. 

article on Suleiman

He took me to meet his boss, who naturally had lots of questions for me about my qualifications, safety issues and protocols, and why one would want to stick needles in their ears.  After we spoke for a while she seemed pretty excited about the whole thing, and wondered whether we shouldn’t be planning to get this treatment over to the mainland (where she’s originally from).   Suleiman then took me to one of the Sober Houses where I was introduced to some of the staff and we were able to make some initial plans for the training, which started today.

"Detroit" sober house

If I understand it correctly, Suleiman began this organization a few years ago and it remains a completely grass roots sort of project.  There are now 9 sober houses based on the first one’s model, and I haven’t met a happier, more connected bunch of people in recovery.  There are 12 people in the training, most of whom are in recovery themselves with 2 months to 2 years of sobriety under their belts.  Many of these volunteer full-time at the sober houses and doing outreach. 

During one of my doubtful moments yesterday, a mentor from grad school reminded me via e-mail about the contact bliss one gets from working in these sorts of settings  And sure enough, all my doubts about coming here to do this training completely fell away today when I began working with this amazing group of people. 

I had printed the manuals and collected the supplies yesterday by wandering around town, and this morning I felt the usual butterflies about starting this process up with a new group in a new setting.  I imagine this is the first NADA training in the country, and it seems so important to keep short term and long term goals in focus as things get established here.

Most of the trainees have pretty rough histories – rehabs and prisons across the globe:  Tanzania, Kenya, UK, Turkey . . . In fact one of the guys had received a fair amount of NADA treatments in prison in the UK which I found amazing.  I’ve sought advice from those who worked to get the treatment into the prisons in the UK, and here was someone who so clearly had benefitted from those treatments. 

1st treatments

The trainees received a treatment at the beginning of the training just so they would have a clear idea of what all was involved, and their responses were great.  There were about 2 people who were just starting to feel relaxed when the needles were removed (it was a short session to have more time for training) but the majority felt extremely relaxed, sleepy, calm, etc.  A couple of guys talked about flying and floating, and a couple of people said something along the lines of being able to see themselves clearly, feeling integrated in body/spirit/mind, and things along those lines.

Needle practice

Practice with oranges

It was a great first day & I’m hopeful about the good that could come out of this.

first needles

first needles

first needles

end of the day!

Mt Kilimanjaro

Reunion in Dar

It was a long and winding journey from Arusha, but in Dar Es Salaam I reconnected with friends from West Africa that I’d know 20 years ago.  It was really special & I wish we’d planned more time there.

Ferry to Zanzibar

Instead, we were rushed and crushed and virtually ambushed onto the ferry heading for Zanzibar where we arrived a bit bruised and battered on Wednesday.  Attempted communication with both my Kenyan and Zanzibari work contacts was fruitless so we had to resort to our wits – always a dangerous option.  There’s an exhilaration that can come from landing in a strange land with no directions and not speaking the language, but I wasn’t feeling it.  Instead I wondered what ridiculous notion got into my head to come to this far-flung place on such a flimsy premise. 

Welcome to Stone Town

the view from our room

With our usual good fortune, we landed at the Rumaisa Hotel just on the edge of Stone Town.   It is newly opened, but super luxurious compared to our usual fare, “in traditional Swahili style with all the comforts modern life demands.” 

the noodle factory next door

The owner has been really kind to us, especially once he found out the kind of work I am doing in Zanzibar, as he is strongly community minded.  Last night he drove us over to Rosani gardens, a public square that has a night food market with pancakes, grilled meats & seafoods, sugar cane & ginger juice fresh squeezed on the spot with a giant press, and traditional music wafting out of the ‘House of Wonders’ next door.  His father is apparently quite a musician, playing the traditional oudh, and I have visions of some kanikapila with oudh & ukulele dancing in my head.

We woke before dawn our last day in Nairobi to catch the Impala Shuttle to Arusha.  We had gone out for dinner with Claire and Nara the night before so had leftover pizza to take for lunch, & C & N had packed up some cupcakes for treats.  We arrived at the Silver Springs Hotel (very fancy, across from Nairobi Hospital) in plenty of time, so stopped in the coffee shop for some java before launch time.

The bus ride was pleasant:  sharing cupcakes with the bus driver (we were in the front seat), taking photos, & playing ukulele along the way.  We hit the Tanzanian border about 2 hours along.  Crossing the border entails getting out of the bus, queuing to hand in departure paperwork on the Kenyan side, then walking down the road dodging trinket sellers and money changers to submit paperwork on the Tanzanian side.  We didn’t have visas, so we had to stand in one hot sweaty line to get the forms to fill out, then another line to hand in the entry paperwork & visa application and register our fingerprints, then stand in yet another line to retrieve our stamped passports.  In line around us were American ngo workers, turbaned sheiks, Spanish tourists, an ‘algorithmic traveler’ (he had a whole theory about globe trotting & was on his 43^rd country or something), chic Kenyans over for holiday & all sorts of other East Africans on various missions & expeditions.

The countryside went from Nairobi’s urban sprawl to scrubby savannah to the green rolling foothills approaching Arusha.  Arusha is at the base of Mt. Meru which was stretching up into the clouds as we rolled into town.  Along the highway are mostly Maasai folks wrapped in blankets in warm colors:  oranges, reds, purples (is purple a warm color?).  Many of them have shaven heads, sometimes the men have ochre smeared over their scalps & the women have elaborate ear ornaments (‘earrings’ connotes too plain of an adornment) & necklaces.  We passed herds of goats & cows, saw impala peering over embankments, & saw lots of weaver birds darting in & out of their nests dangling from acacia trees.

Arusha is an incredibly green city – at least the bits we’ve seen so far.  The people seem more laid back than Kenyans, and there is a nice sense of space and ease.  Our hotel is comfortable.   I’m still researching whether there is actually hot water (which would be nice as our elevation means it’s still a bit chilly), but the food is good:  Chinese, Swahili, Indian & European options.  There is also a putt-putt golf course which J & I have gone the rounds on.  The grounds around the hotel buildings are full of greenery, and there are rabbits and turtles roaming around as well as a turkey and a rooster.  There are also monkeys in the trees of the neighborhood, little vervets I think they are.

Yesterday we talked with a tour operator as we research ways to get to Olduvai Gorge for Judah’s science project.  The game plan at this point is to walk downtown this morning to do some errands, go to the gorge tomorrow, and off to Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.  But right now is breakfast time.

I have scads of photos to add, but the internet here is too slow to accommodate, so another time . . .