Lamu Training
March 22nd, 2010
Malindi Training with TCMCH
March 22nd, 2010
TCMCH in Lamu, Africa
March 16th, 2010Friday March 12, 2010
Last Sunday, after a long, bumpy and over-booked bus ride, we arrived in one of the most beautiful and serene places I’ve ever known. Lamu, a small island off the northern coast of Kenya, could quite possibly be the most tranquil and serene place left on planet earth, with its unbelievably friendly residents, the cool breeze of the Indian Ocean always in your hair, and the complete absence of motor vehicles. It is a world heritage site, and the spectacular culture that has survived for centuries emanates through every nook and cranny.
But all its tranquility disappears for one week each spring when approximately 20,000 Muslims migrate to this tiny island for the annual celebration of the Prophet Mohammad’s birth. This year’s festivities began on Tuesday with donkey races and tug-of-war contests, continuing on Wednesday and Thursday with dhow boat races and other events, and the culmination is on Friday night around 11 pm when everyone gathers at the mosque for dancing, drumming, and rejoicing. Celebration is in the air, and the town is pulsating with excitement.
We too have been able to take part in this amazing festival by offering acupuncture to the thousands of gatherers. For the last three days we, along with around 15 men and women that Megan and her apprentice Athman trained this week, were able to set up shop along the sea front of downtown Lamu. The trainees were extremely excited about their new tool and were able to rile up several hundred participants over the course of a few days. There was hesitation initially, but after the first brave few received treatments the word spread like wild fire, and we quickly found ourselves without enough chairs to accommodate all that were interested. For an overwhelming majority of the people treated the results were felt almost immediately, and everyone walked away feeling much more relaxed and at peace. The trainees did an amazing job, and Megan will reward them for their hard work tomorrow morning with a certification ceremony. They all seemed to take much pride in their accomplishments, and I am without doubt that they will all use their new found knowledge to serve thousands of people in the near future.
I am sad to say that I (Stacey) will be returning home in a few short days, but I am so incredibly grateful for the time I was able to spend here in Kenya. I’ve witnessed some of the most beautiful displays of love and compassion, and the Kenyan people will forever be in my heart.
Commencing with Omari Project NADA training
March 8th, 2010Saturday March 6th
An incredible week has passed, commencing with the Omari Project NADA training in downtown Malindi, with Megan conducting training for 15 project staff and volunteers, all of whom are dedicated to the good work of providing resources to reduce drug addiction in their warm hearted but struggling Kenyan community. The training facility is the Omari Office, a cement hot box, where Megan has kept her cool through some challenging dynamics. Establishing a clean field, for example, was quite a concept. Even the Kenyans are wowed by the incredible heat this week has brought, which tells you how the mazungu (white folk) have been feeling. But with clear and heartfelt intention leading the way, the trainees slowly worked their way toward understanding and literacy in the simple but powerful concepts and tools of NADA, led by their very dedicated teacher. The pride reflected in their introduction of Megan as their teacher was fierce.
Stacey and Jacqui have been assisting with the training, as well as practicing NADA wherever and whenever possible, which took us on Tuesday to the Kenyan Prison outside Malindi. Has there been a more moving application of this simple and powerful tool? Twenty six men watched by machine gunned guards took a 1 hour break in their otherwise forced work day, hard labor in sweltering heat, without shade, water, tools or shoes gathered in a small sweltering cement room, while 2 small white TCMCH students came bearing needles for NADA treatments, which Omari Project has miraculously managed to force into an otherwise un-penetrable penitentiary, with the idea that these men are in that place because of the addictions that drove them, and that through NADA (supported by a very basic 12 step adaptation and the raw passion of the Omari staff ) they may leave with a different understanding of addictions, and themselves. Most of the men had had this treatment prior to our visit, and without emotion were clearly there because it truly served them. They made it easy for us to work the room, get the needles in, and let them go to work. Knowing we could be removed at a moment’s notice, we worked quickly to accommodate all takers, despite the heat, the small space, the lack of light. After the treatment, our Omari guides asked the men specifically the value of this treatment, translating from Swahili, reporting calming of mind, deeper understanding of addictions rather than just knowing judgment and shame, reporting hope. To see something as universal and and simple as NADA help foster such hope in the face of otherwise sheer brutal hopelessness, we left with more emotion than can be described.
Another outing was arranged for Stacey and Jacqui to provide NADA treatments at the Omari in-patient facility, one crazy bus ride out of town in the country (while Megan continued with the week long NADA training in baking Malindi). Our patients there have regular NADA treatments to help them with their process. Most folks initially resisted our requests to interview them and understand their story, especially our desire to understand the benefit NADA has been (beyond the other great drug rehab support provided by the Omari staff). After the treatments, and talking story, they began to let down their guard, sharing their stories, noting that acupuncture is a very important tool for the hard process they have the courage to be in. The outing ended with taking pictures together, and exchanging phone numbers and emails, and leaving in a climate of faith and hope.
The week was full of challenge and miracles, and perseverance. The heat alone would stop most people from moving, much less working, training, arranging community treatment days under a hot tarp in a population that has never heard of acupuncture, limited by poverty and very little education. Jacqui fell down a three foot hole in the road (of which there were many), but was lucky to be travelling with a master international acupuncturist (Megan), so was quick to recover from those injuries. Stacey and Jacqui and Aidan set out to find a needy school to deliver donated school supplies to the poverty stricken zones of Malindi, and ended up travelling way out into the bush after meeting Pastor Michael, a humble man who has almost single handedly built a school for almost 1000 children from nearby villages where there is not nearly enough food or education. The need was greater than most Americans could ever imagine, and the coincidence and adventure that brought us there, seemingly divinely guided. The faces of these children, Pastor Michael, his family and his village personified the graciousness we have seen in so many of the Kenyan people. After facing armed guards in motorbike taxis and taking motorcycles into and out of the bush, we were grateful to return to Malindi and join the 15 NADA trainees perfecting their skills in ear needles for all those interested enough to see what the commotion was under the Omari Project tent.
By week’s end, the community NADA outreach event was a great success (free treatments to all who dared try it) had provided fertile ground for new NADA providers to hone their new skills. Their willingness and dedication in the dusty heat to provide these treatments brought benefit to 172 community members between the ages of 6 and 73 with positive responses reported by almost all! Megan never faltered in the mission at hand, despite all the third world technology and logistical challenges, and by weeks’ end had effectively established with the core Omari Project staff the launching of NADA-Kenya!
photos
March 1st, 2010
Sunrise over Honolulu
Paddington Station, London
Judah & Biba
Sunday Feb 28
March 1st, 2010Sunday, Feb 28th, 2010
Sitting at the dining room table of our 2nd story house overlooking the bougainvilea’d and glass-shard topped walls of Malindi. Roosters are crowing and Judah’s on the porch with Biba, the monkey who’s alternately bouncing off the walls and allowing herself to be groomed.
Jacqui and I met up in Nairobi, where we both arrived on Friday morning after playing tag through Honolulu, LA, London. We spent the day at Didi’s Abha Light offices. Didi was running full steam as usual, but we were able to sit and visit over a vegetarian lunch.
That evening our little group (now consisting of Jacqui, Aidan, Judah and myself) caught the all-night train to Mombasa. On the platform we met a family from Paris who were traveling in the same car, and it was lovely to visit with them sporadically throughout our journey. The Nairobi-Mombasa train has always been fun, with its rollicking rhythms and dining car with silver service, and sleeping berths, and sweepung panoramas of African savannas.
We rolled into Mombasa around mid=day, met our taxi man and rode two hours up the coast to Malindi where we’ll be for the next week. It’s been arranged that we’ll stay at this house, and it’s wonderful to have a place to spread out, dig in, and get ready for the coming week. The boys traveling with us are thrilled a the small zoo living in the compounds, and Biba the monkey and a few of the cats seem pretty thrilled with us too. The compound belongs to the uncle of one of the Omari staff, who lives in on e of the other houses with his Italian wife and their son who is Judah’s age.
Shosi, my Omari colleague (who helps arrange these trips and trainings), came by to discuss the coming week, and the events for next week on Lamu. Things seem pretty well in hand with enough give to be flexible. We’ll start the training tomorrow, and I’m revving my engines in anticipation. Stacey, the last person in our TCMCH group, will be arriving this afternoon.
When we got home from dinner last night we started receiving texts and phone calls from folks in the US about the earthquake off Chile and the likelihood of a tsunami in Hawaii. What followed were several hours of stress and worry as we tried to find out more without a tv, internet, or radio access. We were thankful to eventually hear that no serious damage was done, but I’ll be happy to get tot he internet cafe soon to verify our news, and where I’ll post this.
And now here I am at the internet cafe, but will have to rush off to meet the others. Just had a very full day of our first training, and spent yesterday afternoon on a Swahili dhow sailing and swimming off the coast. Somehow never a dull moment here.
Day of Departure to Kenya with TCMCH
February 23rd, 2010Tuesday, Feb 23
On the day of our departure:
If you go exactly half way around the world from Hilo, you’d probably end up somewhere on the border of Botswana and Zambia. The Swahili Coast of Kenya, where we’ll be by Saturday, isn’t so very far from there.
This trip will be an interesting combination of projects and people. Our main hosting agency is The Omari Project (TOP). I first met the staff of The Omari Project (TOP) in December 2007, and it’s been a great collaboration.
One of the trip’s missions will be two trainings in the NADA auricular acupuncture protocol. The first of these will be in Malindi, which is pretty comfortable stomping grounds for us at this point. The second training will be on the island of Lamu, a UNESCO world heritage site. Each training has 20-25 people expected, though there’s usually some attrition along the way, but I have 50 manuals in case of a full house.
Another of the trip’s missions will be for a couple of Big Island folks providing NADA support along the coast, first to clientele of the local heroin detox organization and then at the Maulid celebrations on the island of Lamu.
The NADA protocol is the application of five fine gauge, sterilized, one-time use stainless steel needles in each ear which are retained for up to one hour while the client – in most cases – relaxes quietly in a comfortable chair. Clients usually sit together while undergoing the treatment, and in every population I’ve worked with, there are common reports of improvements to general well-being in terms of sleep, digestion, stress and anxiety levels, and even reductions in things like domestic violence.
Although the protocol was developed to address addiction issues, it is now being provided to populations with a variety of conditions including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For this reason the Kenya trainings are offered to hospital and public health staff as well as to addictions personnel.
A moving part of my last trip was meeting up with a woman who’d been a pregnant addict the last time I’d seen her in May 2008. She has now been clean almost two years, and is volunteering with The Omari Project. She took part in a massage workshop offered by an Irish service group I was facilitating for, and she gave me a very lovely massage.
The third piece of the NADA puzzle for this trip is that two of The Omari Project’s staff are earning their ‘trainer’ stripes. Several of the staff have been providing NADA treatments on a regular basis since May 2008, and they have a level of expertise in this locale and with this population that is unique. These two particular staff members will co-teach the March trainings with me, after which TOP will be able to share this technique with other agencies and organizations.
On our way back through Nairobi, I will be meeting with all sorts of remarkable people who are doing interesting things in the field of healthcare, and with whom I would love to explore collaborative potential.
But for now, with the sound of the surf crashing against the rocks and the occasional chirrup from a coqui frog, Kenya seems a long way away.
Cherry Blosom Festival
February 7th, 2010
Cherry Blossom Festival 2010
TCMCH hosted its annual Cherry Blossom Festival Open House on Saturday, Feb 6th.
At the Historic Home site was the TCMCH Traveling Road Show, with information about the medicine, the school, and the TCMCH clinics.
On campus, visitors got free ear acupuncture, experienced So Tai Ho, sampled (surprisingly tasty!) Chinese medicinal teas, read their Chinese horoscopes, and were able to purchase flowers, fruit, tea, clothes, and books.
Thanks to all our students and staff that made this event possible!
Welcome to TCMCH New Community Blog Events
January 17th, 2010Aloha!
Welcome to TCMCH new Community Blog entries! please come back often to visit our site and read our community projects, announcements, and events! We also have a RSS feed option to stay in touch! thank you for all the community support!
Mahalo!
TCMCH Supports Detox in Kenya
January 17th, 2010TCMCH’s Megan Yarberry traveled to Kenya in July and August where she formalized a relationship of support between the Traditional Chinese Medical College of Hawaii and The Omari Project of Kenya. The Omari Project (TOP) is a non-profit organization that provides services between the towns of Lamu and Kilifi on the coast of Kenya. TOP’s mission is to address drug addiction and prevent HIV transmission through rehabilitation services, public outreach and education, HIV testing, and counseling.
In May 2008 Ms. Yarberry, along with her colleague Beth Cole of Real Medicine Foundation, trained 17 TOP staff in the NADA protocol. The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) protocol, a simple auricular acupuncture treatment, was originally used in the detoxification and rehabilitation process of drug addiction, and has now been shown to be an effective treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and to promote general well-being.
Since the training, TOP clients can access the NADA protocol during the initial and follow-up phases of recovery, and members of the public have also benefitted from this treatment. Staff reports that clients are much calmer after treatment sessions, and the nurse says that the need for medications that support withdrawal has been cut in half. During a recent training session with similar organizations in Kenya facilitated by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), TOP was recognized for its high retention rates (one of the best gauges of success for this type of program) and the number of clients who are able to maintain sobriety over time. “We’ll need another year for further study, but acupuncture is the only tool that we have added to explain the improvements we’ve noted over the past year.” says Shosi Mohammed, a TOP administrator.
Beginning January 2010, TCMCH will provide training, oversight of acupuncture programs, and needles for TOP. Acupuncture needles are not currently available in Kenya, which has been a limiting factor in the availability and sustainability of acupuncture services in the country, says Ms. Yarberry. TCMCH will also facilitate the provision of clinical opportunities for American acupuncturists seeking NADA certification.
TCMCH’s Megan Yarberry traveled to Kenya in July and August where she formalized a relationship of support between the Traditional Chinese Medical College of Hawaii and The Omari Project of Kenya. The Omari Project (TOP) is a non-profit organization that provides services between the towns of Lamu and Kilifi on the coast of Kenya. TOP’s mission is to address drug addiction and prevent HIV transmission through rehabilitation services, public outreach and education, HIV testing, and counseling.
