| AMIDA TRUST | |
Report: 2000 BUDDHISM AT WORK IN ZAMBIA by Sr Modgala |
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These words of Santideva were and are my inspiration. As I studied and practised I realised my calling was to be an "active" Buddhist. Little did I know that within a relatively short period of time I would truly see what this vow involved. That I would know in reality what it is like to experience extremes of hunger and sickness. Not so much in myself, but in companionship with friends in great hardship the other side of the world. Santideva's words came to life in a most wonderful and most awful way. Sometimes when I returned from being with the sick and the dying I would read a little by torchlight. His words brought comfort and helped me hold onto the determination and the patience that have to accompany the compassion felt in being with my suffering friends. To help them find some of the joy that lies round the corner. The joy that also is so abundant in this wonderful, peaceful, friendly country that is called Zambia. It is over a year now since I returned from the forgotten villages of the Eastern Province of Zambia. Forgotten by most of the world, as the people struggle to live with famine and AIDS, and the ravages of all the other diseases that occur where there is often no safe water supply. Measles is still a killer here, but the biggest killer of all is malaria, which goes cerebral causing brain damage and death so easily. But steadily AIDS is eclipsing this. Already a larger proportion of old and young inhabit many villages. Though I was very aware from my six months there that less than half the babies born survive to adulthood. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world. The Eastern province is one of the poorest provinces. The Kamulaza area where I stayed last year is about the poorest area in the province. Apart from one aid agency in the Eastern Province capital of Chipata, which trains volunteers to help the disabled, no health assistance was provided in Kamulaza. This area consists of fifty-eight villages, 15,000 people. Also no NGO'S (Non Governmental Organisations) ventured into this area. Most people had sunk into apathy; total despair as no help was forthcoming, and their situations were worsening, as failure of the rains in 1998 heralded a famine to come. Amrita Dhammika a member of IBRO (International Buddhist Relief Organisation) and a local man Masiku Nambo who had spent time as a monk in Amaravati monastery two years previously started the Tithandizane project two years ago. Together with a local committee they persuaded the regional government to provide a nurse for the unoccupied clinic. Tithandizane is a Primary Health Care Centre. It started, and still runs, on a shoestring budget. They started the project on bicycles, contacting and connecting with many of the villages. They found some sponsors who donated a vehicle and some medicines. But did not have enough themselves to eat. Amrita appealed to The Amida Trust in Newcastle for help, not just financially, but for physical help in assisting the project. The Amida Trust both helped by providing means of sustenance to keep the project running, and sent me there to help these fellow Buddhists in their work. The help given, is not just in the form of simple medical assistance and education, but is also a demonstration of a different way of being, and of acting to the people who are terrified by the spectre of AIDS. Buddhism was unknown in this area of Zambia; there are few Buddhists in this country. It is a largely Christian country, where the many different denominations co-exist very harmoniously. Vestiges of their original religion and its' knowledge of traditional healing remain. Bringing these facets together with the way of living that being Buddhist demonstrates offers hope of a more open way of working with the sufferers of AIDS and their families. The fear of AIDS results in denial and neglect. Much of our work was demonstrating the gift of "non-fear", as Thich Nhath Hahn would describe it. Demonstrating the compassionate caring in circumstances where all a bed often consisted of was a piece of sacking on a mud floor. Also, the numbers needing hospital attention sometimes meant a mattress on the ward floor. Where every movement of a patient meant agony, as there were few strong painkillers available. I spent a night in a TB ward with a friend who was dying of AIDS. Traditionally a family member stays in the ward with a patient, sleeping at night on the floor under the bed. They provide food and change the soiled sheets etc. and sit in many hours of what could be called meditation. My friends brother had spent many nights by John's side, he was distraught lost in fear and terror. While Amrita took him to a friendly farm for him to have a good sleep, I spent a night helping take care of John. It was an honour to do this. He was the first Zambian I met, as I came off the plane in Lusaka. His friendship had helped me settle and get my bearings in what was for me a very alien environment. But more than that, it was his determination that helped underpin the Tithandizane project. He was determined to ensure that others would not have to suffer as he had suffered, so that had fueled the creation of this project. His determination inspired us all. Tithandizane means, "we help each other". That is what this project aims to do. His main aim was to set up support groups for those suffering from AIDS. At least 30% of adults in his country, and I suspect at least 50% of his generation. Tithandizane is a Primary Health Care project. Its main aim is education. Both in how to care for the sick, and in disease prevention, and in getting better nutrition out of the scarce available food. It aims to provide workshops for the disabled, and a short term in patient facility where mothers with malnourished babies can assist in their regaining weight and also learn skills to take back and share in their villages. Families of patients with AIDS would also learn how to care for them as the patients regained strength. Then they too would go back and support others. Gardening programmes will provide more nutritious food and education. A small library provides information, and much valuable work is being done with the young to help them learn safer sexual practices as they reach adulthood. Also too women's groups have been formed in several villages to heighten awareness and adopt practical steps to improve their lives. However it was from John, from staying with him in hospital, that I learnt much more about how it is our way of being that teaches most of all. I sat with him in his pain, held his hand, meditated and chanted. I lifted his frail body in my arms; time and time again to change his soiled sheets. I talked with him, and cried with him. I listened to his fears, and heard his aspirations. Helping him to face the death that was to come. But perhaps more important than the reassurance my presence gave John, was the effect of this care on others. The skeleton nursing staff was interested and intrigued. They were used to giving just the most cursory care. Understandable really in view of all the suffering they faced. As dawn beckoned we had some good, and for me, heartening conversation. Their spirits were lifted too. Also, as they went out in the morning many families of patients spoke to me, I could see that the apathy had been breached a little, and several even said thank you. Even weeks later this was re-iterated by a family member who had been there, when I was taking another patient to another hospital many miles away. But above all the thing that is imprinted on my memory is the sight of a dozen faces just watching me through the window that was behind John's bed. Just watching and I hope learning. I had forgotten the window was there, I was just being with, and caring for a friend. The shock of seeing the faces brought it fully home to me that this is what my Buddhist training is for. It is not necessarily for doing any great deeds, or giving great teachings but for being able to do whatever is most needed at any given time. This I think is what the Buddha is teaching me. This is what being a Buddhist means to me, and this is why almost a year previously I had renounced "the householder life" to go wherever there was the most need. The project continues. The struggle continues for this little group of Buddhists demonstrating the Buddha Dharma in a forgotten land. A small Sangha attempting big things, with the help of a community that has never known Buddhism, but which is now starting to understand its universal message. I had many wonderful conversations with Christian pastors while I was there. Often these took place as I was offering massage, or waiting for yet another meeting for the project. We managed to go beyond their incomprehension of a religion that has no "God up there". In fact perhaps they were able to go beyond their held views more easily than in some communities in the West. We had fascinating discussions where we compared the Ten Commandments and the five precepts. I relished the openness and acceptance that was evident in these discussions. I learnt as much from them as they learnt from me, and I know I have much more to learn. Amidst all the suffering and beyond the apathy, I found a vibrancy in a life where there is so little of the mental illness that afflicts the West. I also found vibrancy in my Buddhist practice. It made sense. In these hot and dusty surroundings the Buddha's teachings came to life. I could imagine his reaction to the four sights. I knew what he meant by "thirst" or craving. I saw the oxen pulling their loads. I knew why he made the call for us to go forth. I left reluctantly. There is so much to do there. I made many friends amongst these people who had taken me so deeply into their hearts, their families, and their communities. As I left the building materials brought from riverbeds, hills and quarries, as well as the home made bricks were accumulating. As I write I see a picture of the first completed building. The second, a community hall, which will hold the Buddha's shrine, is nearly finished, and the foundations are in for the in patient block. But the vehicle so kindly donated by Buddhists in Malawi is showing the strain of all the hard work. Equipment and support in feeding the workers is needed, as well as more pairs of hands to assist Amrita and Nambo and the others in the wonderful work they are doing. They deeply follow the Bodhisattva ideal. They are doing the Buddha's work in Zambia. "May the blind see forms, may the deaf always hear, and may expectant mothers give birth as did Mayadevi, free from pain. May they receive clothing, food and drink, garlands, sandalwood balm, and ornaments, and everything the heart desires conducive to well being. May the fearful become fearless and those opressed by grief find joy. May those who are anxious be rid of their anxiety and feel secure. May health come to the sick. May they be freed from every fetter. May those weak find strength, their minds tender towards each other. May every region be hospitable to all those who travel the roads. With whatever aim they set out, may their plans succeed." Santideva Modgala Duguid | |