More On The Maun Homeopathy Project

Update on The Maun Homeopathy Project by Jane Thurnell-Read

In August 2005 I told you how we are supporting the Maun Homeopathy Project - a registered charity (No:1109958) dedicated to establishing a permanent homeopathic service for people living with HIV and AIDS and/or traumatised by rape in Maun, Botswana (southern Africa). The pilot project was completed earlier this year, and now the real work begins. Hilary Fairclough, a friend who started this charity, went out to Maun in October with another homeopath, Margaret.

She sends regular email updates, so I thought you might like to read some of her newsletter about how things are going:

16th October 2005
"Our first week has been has been mostly taken up with meeting everyone from the NGO's (local agencies we're working in partnership with). I was worried that people might have forgotten us or moved onto other new initiatives but we've been greeted with the same warm welcome and excitement about the homeopathy clinics restarting as last year ...

"We did our first clinic on Friday, and without advertising there were 9 people wanting to see us… All reports from the staff about the people we treated last year have been very positive – they are all alive and well. For example, Maria is someone who was very ill with HIV/AIDS then - she'd had a stroke and a very bad ear abscess, was depressed, weak, unable to work or even walk. We gave her 3 homeopathic treatments and at the end of our stay she'd just recovered enough to leave her home and visit the Support Group. Now, although she has some remaining facial paralysis, she is back at work as a cleaner, cheerful and able to support her family."

23rd October 2005
"Another week here and the Project is developing well. We now have a vehicle (thanks to Alison, a nurse who runs her own company and who is a great supporter of the Project) albeit on temporary loan until we can find one to buy at the right price - what we want and can probably afford is a ‘bakkie’ which is an all purpose small truck with a 2 seater cabin. A lot of Batswana have them, they're not four wheel drive but get around fine, even on the sandy tracks. This will be cheap and cheerful transport for us.

"We've fixed up all the clinics at our partner NGO's and have established a new one at the Lutheran Church next to the Maun General Hospital. This is a great location as people can get to us easily after attending the HIV clinic there. Already we've seen clients and word is spreading. We've also arranged a new base for our private clinic. This we'll do 2-3 afternoons a week and it's important for several reasons - it provides a small income for the homeopaths here, it means that homeopathy is available to the whole community, and long-term it means that there's an established homeopathic practice to provide employment for local people who we plan to train in homeopathy. We've been lucky to find the perfect location - a pharmacy in the centre of town which is used by all sectors of the community. It's bright, airy, has air-conditioning and we'll be able to use it as an office when we're not treating clients. Perfect.

"I have another 3 weeks here when I return to the UK. My job now is to make sure everything is established and running smoothly before I go. This is the next stage of the Project: making homeopathy an all year round and permanent presence in Maun. A team of homeopaths will be manning the Project, working in pairs for 6 week - 6-month stretches and overlapping so that continuity is ensured. So, when I leave here Margaret stays for another 6 weeks and is joined by Noam who will be here for 6 months. Other homeopaths will join him and so it goes on. There is an inspiring sense of commitment and partnership from all concerned in the Project - the NGO staff and clients, the homeopaths, the staff of DAMSAC (a local government body
that coordinates community HIV services), the HIV consultant at the Maun General Hospital, the local mechanic who has promised to find us a bakkie, Marty, our incredibly helpful landlady, many other people in Maun and everyone … who has raised or donated money to make this possible. The support has been fantastic and now the real work can start."

13 November 2005
"The clinics are now established and numbers of clients increase weekly. We also do a lot of home visits to clients too ill to get to the clinics and thus witness first hand the devastation that HIV brings to people - physical and emotional suffering, family breakdown, alcoholism and poverty. But the homeopathy brings relief even in these terrible circumstances.

"Kutlwano is a 28 year old HIV+ woman who used to work for a safari company until she became ill. Ironically this was when she started taking the anti-retroviral medication last March as side-effects can be severe. She was afflicted by continuous and severe vomiting and diarrhoea, neither of which she'd had before. Despite being admitted into hospital on several occasions for rehydration by drip, her medication hasn't been stopped or changed because her CD4 count has continued to rise. (The number of CD4 cells in the body can be measured by a simple blood test and indicate the functioning of the immune system. Healthy people have a CD4 count in the thousands, people with HIV have very low CD4 counts are prescribed anti-retroviral drugs when their the count drops below 200.) When we visited Kutlwano at home last week she was lying in bed, very weak, emaciated, and could hardly raise her head from the pillow to talk to us. She hadn't been able to eat anything at all for the last 5 days as the vomiting had become so severe and was only able to tolerate sips of water. She said: 'I think about when I was well, working for myself. Now I'm like a young child being looked after. I feel very sad and worried. I'm very tired in my body, I need to rest but I can't sleep at all.'

"We prescribed a course of homeopathic remedies and visited her a week later. This time she greeted us standing at the door to her hut, smiling and well. The vomiting had stopped completely, the diarrhoea had reduced in severity and frequency, and she was now able to eat, sleep, walk to fetch water and cook for herself. Her treatment continues and she told us: 'I want to be OK, a strong woman and find work again.'

"The Project is now the proud owner of its own transport. We have bought an old and battered Nissan Bakkie which goes like a dream. It seats 2-3 in the front and is an open truck at the back so we have become an impromptu local taxi service. People and school children hitch rides and pile in the back. It's great fun and sociable too."

If you'd like to know more or to support this very worthwhile project, click here to go to the charity's website.

(We give at least 12% of our profits every year to worthwhile projects such as this, so in buying from us you are also supporting a range of charities.)