Wow! My life has been a bit of a roller-coaster since I last wrote - I finished my master's degree, a week later flew to the Solomon Islands to teach homoeopathy for two weeks, and then flew back home (to hospital) with none other than dengue fever! I'm now on the mend and feeling a little less sorry for myself so thought I would share some photos from my wonderful trip. I will save the dreaded dengue for another blog!
Located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Islands is made up of just under 1000 separate islands. Many of these islands have no access to medical care and if an islander gets a viral infection, is bitten by a crocodile (yes!), or has complications during childbirth they may need to travel a day or two by boat to get medical help.
In the 1920s a group of missionaries arrived in the Solomon Islands with a small kit of 36 remedies and trained some islanders in how to use and dispense the remedies. Since then the South Sea Evangelical Church (SSEC) has been spreading homoeopathy throughout the islands. In the 1970s the Medical Services Mission UK spent time in the islands training more dispensers, and then in 2010 two Australian homoeopaths went over to train more dispensers. At this stage there were over 150 dispensers across 6 regions of islands, treating up to 80,000 people annually.
Below is a photo of Roslyn. Her grandmother was the first dispenser trained by the original missionaries, then her mother took over and now she runs the dispensary. You'll see a large bottle of water next to her - due to lack of supplies, all remedies are dispensed in water bottles and so homoeopathy is locally known as "water medicine". The other photo is of a bottle of Arnica brought over by the missionaries and which is apparently 100 years old now!
In November this year I joined a group of 9 volunteer homoeopaths and we arrived in Honiara (the capital city), ready to train 50 new dispensers. Thanks to Jane Lindsay and The Aurum Project who had raised funds for us, we were able to take 50 beautiful homoeopathic kits with 60 remedies in each and also a training handbook which Australian volunteers had spent months preparing.
However, we were in for a bit of a shock when we arrived and the training turned out to be more of a challenge than we thought it would be. 58 people arrived to be trained (and we only had 50 new kits); some of the students were experienced in dispensing whilst others were brand new to homoeopathy; the 'classroom' was open to the elements and so no one could clearly see the lovely presentation slides we had prepared; and to top it all...some of the students didn't speak English (and so couldn't use the handbooks or understand what we were saying)! It was one of those situations in which you reel from one crisis to the next and all you can do is laugh!
However, we somehow made it work. We found a translator and instead of only standing up front lecturing with slides we regularly broke into small groups so we could spend time with the students and make sure they were all understanding what we were teaching. In my many years of teaching natural therapies, I have never had students so hungry for knowledge and so dedicated to their learning. It was truly rewarding. Here are some photos of the open-air classroom and the final graduation.
Despite the chaos, it was such an inspiring trip and I truly witnessed the power of homoeopathy. We were blessed to have Dr Niri Pandit with us. Being both a medical doctor and classical homoeopath with over 30 years experience, she guided us through the daily afternoon open clinics where we used homoeopathy to treat patients with conditions ranging from malaria, to congestive cardiac failure, osteomyelitis and cellulitis. We even had a patient with neurofibromatosis which I had never seen before!
Most humbling of all, were the stories the experienced island dispensers shared with us - how they regularly use homoeopathy for women feverish with retained placenta after childbirth; for dengue fever (ahem!!!) and malaria; for accidents and injuries; and for the aptly named "belly run" (diarrhoea) and "belly shut" (constipation). After spending a few days with the islanders we began to feel a huge weight on our shoulders as we came to understand the great responsibility that was on us to train our students as best we could knowing each of these students would go back to their island and be the only medical help available to their village. When one of the students asked us what remedy they should use for crocodile bites we didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
All in all, despite coming home with dengue fever, it was an experience for which I will always be grateful. It was so special to spend time with other like-minded souls who share my deep love for homoeopathy and it was awe-inspiring to witness the power, gentleness and simplicity of homoeopathy in everyday life. Thanks to everyone involved and to my beautiful new friends: Niri, Katie, Caroline, Sarah K, Sarah W, Adele, Ilma and Lina.
And for those of you curious about where we stayed, here are some photos for you. We stayed with the very generous and kind project coordinator at the SSEC, Tom. Some of the photos are from the balcony of his house and the rest are of the street he lived on and the shopping markets. Such a beautiful, vibrant, colourful place - but very hot and humid! PS - please note the pot-holes! Oh my gosh!!!
If you're struggling with your own health and looking for a homoeopath to help you then please get in touch.