When we arrived in Bangladesh yesterday, it seemed rather surreal that we had finally made it. I was so unsure of what was to come. I knew we would be ok, though I asked myself if I could really fulfill this role completely, or would there be some children left behind because we didn’t have time to see them or their ailments were too severe to treat. I’d like to think that I’m Superwoman and can tackle any role or experience that comes my way with ease and grace, yet I still felt a little unsure.
It took ages to get through Immigration at the airport. The address we wrote down for our accommodation was incorrect according to the officials. “Do we know the number of the house?” a bored Immigration Police Officer asked. As if!!! Do they even have house numbers here? “No, we don’t have a number,” I said. We called Dr Hakim and handed the official the phone to figure it out. We wrote down the address on the form. After a long time we could go and collect our bags.
Finally, we met Dr Hakim. His daughter, Najim had wanted to give us flowers to thank us for coming. It was really beautiful and touching to receive them. We met the whole family as well. We piled into a minivan with all our luggage and drove miles to our accommodation for the next two weeks. Our apartment is beautiful and well looked after with views of the big river with all the boats plying up and down. We feel like royalty. We have some refreshments and more family come to meet us. Then more. And more. And more. They wanted to stay with us for the night and we said no. I think I was too excited about the day ahead to sleep. I was quite restless, though I managed a few hours of dozing.
Wednesday dawned cooler with a heavy fog. A good day. After a yummy breakfast of vegetables and rice (we’d had it the night before and asked for it for breakfast), at the clinic where we would be working, we were ready to face our little patients.
Our first patient was Anjuman Ara, an 8 year old deaf girl who had never spoken to her parents. I realised she could lip read and follow conversations. I explained this to her father and that if he spoke slowly to her and mouthed the words, she could do the same and speak. We tested her, and sure enough she spoke with a mild deaf lisp. Her father was ecstatic. So was Dr Hakim. He’d never seen anything like this. Everyone thought it was a miracle, but it was simply a matter of being observant to the way she communicated and following through with a way of communicating that she understood. We recommended some supplements for her and said goodbye.
A succession of young children sat down in front of us, one after the other, all with similar ailments. Mostly, cerebral palsy or Autism, mental disorders, Down’s syndrome, inability to speak, and all very dehydrated. We constantly gave water to them before treatment, to improve the body to become relaxed. We treated drug addicted children, dribbling adults, and incoherent children whose hopes of saying “Mumma and Pappa” were only a dream.
One little boy, Sajin, was almost ready to die. He was 3 years old and so riddled with toxic chemicals that he was the size of a 6 month old baby. I prayed he didn’t die in my arms. It was awful to hold this little boy knowing he is only days away from dying. I could feel the life seeping out of him. I sobbed and sobbed for him. I think everyone cried with me as I rocked him in my arms. I handed him back to his parents and told them he would die soon and to take him home and love him until he drew his last breath. His parents had tried for 13 years to conceive. Now their hopes of an heir will soon die along with their little boy. They knew that this was the end and were ok with the outcome. Bless them!
A highlight among the many challenging patients we worked on was an 11 year old boy, Al Amin, who couldn’t walk properly, or talk at all. But he could make sounds. I did some bowen therapy moves on his jaw and neck and he was able to start speaking. Sometimes the children don’t want to talk, and stay mute, but with encouragement they start talking. This was the case with this boy. After doing some moves on his tightly muscled legs, he was able to walk better and jump up and down on the spot, whereas previously he could not. Everyone was very happy. Dr Hakim cried. It was a beautiful moment. Below the gallery at the bottom of the page is a video of Al Amin after his treatment.
It has been an incredibly long few days. And we’ll be back at it again tomorrow. Colleen and I work exceptionally well together as a team. I do the Energy Systems healing work and Colleen expresses her vast knowledge of natural remedies and uses her exceptional intuition to diagnose the conditions and the causes. Micheal takes lots of pictures and videos while dispensing supplements and keeping us all hydrated. We are an awesome team and I look forward to the days still to come.
Eleni xx
