yesterday was a wonderful day, i arrived in the morning to the treatment center and everyone was waiting there excitedly for the trainers to arrive, and when they did people were smiling and hugging each other, big handshakes everywhere. buzzing in general. people were even more thirsty for information than the first day. the day began with a review and several question, but quickly moved into the practical application. everyone was having so much fun. all morning people were finding the points over and over on different peoples´ears and they were checking one another instead of the trainers. then they started needling each other, and i have to say their technique after only one day of handling needles was impressive. they were catching on so quickly. after lunch there was a small examination where people were nervous but then laughed because they realized there was no actual pressure from the trainers. after the test there was a group of volunteers that came from the center to be the first test, and they all did phenomenally. after that, the training ended a full day early, with a nice little ceremony with the passing out of certificates. each person thanked the trainers at length, and said it was the best workshop any of them had ever participated in. they said it was the first time they all felt like a group working together, with each other, having fun, and learning so much. quite a compliment, i think.
the workshop concludes four days of workshops at the center, facilitated by the center and sponsored by the United Nations, as June 26 was the International Day to support Torture Survivors. Many international people were at the center, with many workshops.
many of the participants, being senior psychiatrists, psychologists, or counselors, had a difficult time at first with the "evidence" behind the method, but they were soon assured by the results that they were feeling and seeing. also, about half a day was dedicated to the understanding of the rest of the ear as a way to treat other physical and mental diseases, and people left with tremendous enthusiasm. one month from now the group will unite again to review and debrief, with the help from the trainers. i will try to add photos of the workshop soon...
after the workshop was over i immediately left with my friend abed to go have coffee. we went to a nice little place of a friend of his, a man born in brazil to palestinian parents. in the shop i met an iraqi man who showed me bullet wounds in his stomach, and he threatend to kill me, but soon calmed down and was kissing my cheeks. it was a strange incident.
over coffee abed began to tell me about his latest work with the unions here in palestine. there are serious problems, and they are just getting worse and worse. all prices for everything have been going up, and peoples wages are staying very low. only 6-7% of people make enough to support their families. there is a 47% unemployment, and a 65-75% underemployment. the price of grains has increased from 48 shekels (about 13 dollars) to 200 shekels (about 65 dollars) in just the past two months, and things threaten to only get worse. as gas prices increase the taxi and bus drivers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. they cant afford to pay for gas and charge the same amount, but the people cant afford to ride the transportation if the prices go up, so abed said a strike might happen soon, but i am not exactly sure, and neither was abed, about how anything might change. the situation is dark, he told me, nothing is clear in the future. he repeated, "only dark, nothing clear". as for labor the situation is, as you might imagine, unimaginably bad. there are no labor laws, labor standards, no minimum wage, nothing. everybody is squeezed by the occupation. people arrive and demand higher wages, the store or factory owners explain that they are losing money at the borders with israel and in transportation costs for thier goods, so they cant pay more. at the same time you have a desperate population with no work and very little hope, this makes for a massive pool for very cheap labor. the race to the bottom, and its happening fast. it certainly seems dire.
i then went with abed to his village of arora, where i was last year as well. he has invited me to stay the night with his family. we pass through two checkpoints on the way from ramallah, and the occupation is still everywhere, all the time. getting to his house we sit down in his living room, and have coffee. abed then starts to tell me all sorts of stories about his life, about palestine, and about his experience with all types of people in this world. he has a perspective and compassion that are heart breaking. he tells me of so many instances when, before the second intifada, life was relatively good. he had a car, he had money saved in the bank. now he has nothing, no car, no savings, only losing money each month. and he is going to sell some of his land now. when he travelled to jerusalem years ago to have his son operated on, he tells me of the exchanges he had with israelis and international peoples. in the hospital he was assumed to be a jew, since he was in jerusalem. when a dutch man was watching tv and there was news about gaza, he yelled at the tv and said look at these fucking animals. and abed asked him politely what he meant by that. the dutch guy looked at him and asked, where are you from. he said the west bank, i am palestinian. the dutch man got up and left the room. the doctors would come in the room. abed shared a hospital room with a zionist settler and the settler´s son and had a long conversation with him, ending in the fact that the settler said that abed should be grateful for any little bit that the israeli government gave to the palestinians. he said that all palestinians are animals. abed said, dont you think this isnt about you or me, but about our sons, cant we find peace? the man said he didnt want it.
to know abed, such a gentle man, so noble and kind. it gives me so much pain to imagine a situation where someone would treat him in this way. and this is the way that so many others are treated, with such disrespect.
more and more stories came from abed, talking for hours. i just sat and listened, trying to hold back tears and not be angry.
after talking abed asked if i could help him with his back pain, and numbness in both feet. of course, i said. i left him with needles and went to play with his children. i am happy that i was able to bring a small toy and some colored pencils for his children, and abed almost got mad at me for a moment. he said, gifts are for friends, i am your brother. give these presents to a friend somewhere, you dont have to give us anything. this is too much. his humility was almost unbearable to me. in the end he allowed me to give them, and his little ones were happy too. if for just a few hours or a few days they can have happiness, it makes me feel a little bit better. they were so pleased to get such a small thing. its very difficult to understand that moment.
when i returned to abed he opened his eyes and they were filled with tears. i asked if the needles were causing him pain, or if his body pain was too severe. he said, no i feel very good, just surprised at the things that were coming to his mind and heart. he felt good.
afterwards we walked in his garden. it was dusk, the sun going down, beautiful evening, warm breeze, olive trees and dusty hills in the distance, the quiet of the village. he took me around his garden, and picked me a fuzzy little baby cucumber straight from the ground, snapped it in half and gave me half and his little son the other half. then we walked around the village all night until midnight. abed said, you are my brother, you are home.
in the morning (tuesday) i recieved a call from tel aviv letting me know that my package has arrived. i think i will travel there today, stopping for a while in east jerusalem to see a friend, then on to tel aviv tonight. there i will meet with harry tomorrow (who works with the middleway organization and physicians for human rights, and i will travel with him to harduf to see his family for the next few days. saturday i will return to ramallah with the package and continue on to nablus and then jenin next week. at least this is the plan for today!
and thanks for the kind messages, friends, they are nice to see, and give me energy. salaam.
1 comment:
what an amazing range of emotions in one post! i can feel the excitement of the workshop, the sadness and helpless frustration of hearing painful stories and ignorant comments, and the joy of friendship shared on many levels. if anything, it is clear that you are on the right path passing on the beauty of this medicine. true change is slow but still inevitable. i am happy to hear things are going so well so far, my friend!
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