Mission Accomplished

We just returned to Kevin's home in Lusaka last night. It was a very hard ride back. The bus was overcrowded and hot as can be, and no one would open their window, because they don't like the wind. I would drift off and wake up drenched in sweat. My skin is a mess. I would wake up and eat melted chocolate and try to fall back asleep. When I finally got a window seat and opened the window really wide, the man behind me yelled at me and leaned forward and shut it. I was afraid after that, and really angry. Really angry. It was hard to feel compassion, even though I know that's what I'm supppose to do when I'm angry. The anger I felt was really strong. Maybe intuitively I knew he was stealing my videocamera from under my seat. Yes, it's gone. It's been in my hands since I got here, and I put it under my seat, rather than the seat in front of me, because the foot rest was stuck down. It felt safe. Like a chicken sitting on an egg. But he took it. And I was either fast asleep or curiously watching Africa go by outside my window. What can I do, but accept it?

The morning in Livingstone was quite nice. We checked out of JollyBoys, revisited the Falls, and went swimming in the Zambezi river just before it drops off the edge! The Falls were even bigger after the rain we got the day before. We started to take a walk across the river further, but some locals were walking back towards us and told us not to go that way, because there was a crocodile in the water. I didn't think they came that close to the edge of the Falls! Scary. I'm glad I wasn't eaten, and that I have both feet to come home with. Sometimes you forget you're in Africa, and then you stop in your tracks and think, "wow". It's like you're on another planet, with very different rules. Lettuce could kill you. Swimming in water could kill you. The animals could attack and/or eat you. The bugs are trying to kill you. Cars will run you over. You must greet everyone. Cover your legs. Superstition and witchcraft are real. Own a cat or an owl- you're a witch. People ask for money. People push. There are no lines, only clumps, and you must push your way to the front if you want food or a ticket. Bugs are food. More than one wife is okay. There are more children than grown ups. There is never urgency.

Sunday was so amazing. Mission Impossible became Mission Accomplished. I got to teach BodyTalk Access in Livingston!! It really was fantastic. Imasiku (the Pastor) picked me up just after 14 hours (even though we were suppose to be there at 14 hours. I told you, no urgency). Kevin came along. We took a cab to the Lubasi Home Trust, an orphanage in the Maramba suburb of Livingstone. www.lubasihome.org There we were greeted by Christina Mutikitela, one of the administrators. Imasiku introduced us and told her what I planned to do. I was lead into a room with 40-50 children, ages 5-10. They were all sitting at desks, and had been for almost an hour. I was introduced and I began the class. I only had an hour! The class should be 6 hours. What could I do? They just HAD to have these techniques. So I taught them Cortices, Switching, Hydration and Body Chemistry before we completely ran of time. It was so fun to watch them learning, I even turned around to see the two supervisors practicing the techniques! After learning Cortices on each other I went around the room to see how they felt. Most said they felt relaxed and they could feel their brains buzzing. One girl had a knee with stitches in it, and she told me it felt better. Another girl had a swollen foot, and she said it felt better after all four techniques were done. After the class the Pastor spoke and read scriptures to back up what I was teaching. Scriptures about caring for one another. I think he said, if we do not love each other, we do not love God. Everyone is very superstitious here, and they think everything is witchcraft. I was blown away when I realized that I could not have taught what I taught without the Pastor. No doctor would have journeyed to the orphanage with me. They're all too self righteous. But the Pastor came on a Sunday after preaching all morning. It was amazing to me that he cared that much about what I wanted to share, and that he cared that much for the children. It was amazing he understood the concept of BodyTalk!! He's a young guy, 27, I think. After he spoke the administrator thanked me and told me the children would begin practicing the techniques that night. Wow. We talked a lot about how Cortices helps with sleepless nights, and she reminded them all to use the technique when they couldn't sleep. Then I wanted to work a little extra, and tap out the reciprocals of the two girls with the injuries. I worked with them while the rest of the children performed songs and dances for us. Even a solo and a duet!! I could never sing you anything as beautiful, or paint you a picture as lovely. It was very, very special. We left and jumped in a cab. Imasiku speaks Nyanja, the local language, so he got us very good prices.

We arrived at Lushomo Trust, a home for girls escaping sexual abuse. http://danisfoundation.org/girlsprojectbrochure1.pdf Ten girls live there. The home was started by Antony, whom I had met on Friday with Imasiku. He was not there, but three of the "mothers" who care for the children were there, and they also took my class. I taught the whole class, but with less words, since two of them did not understand English fluently. It reminded me of one of Ka'imi's lectures (he's one of the acupuncturists I learned BodyTalk from). He went to Japan to teach the first BodyTalk class there, and after a 30 second sentence it took the translator five minutes to translate! He quickly had to change his lecture and say very, very little. It was a good lesson for me. What hasn't been a good lesson for me? I cry as I say this. Life is so mysterious and strange. If I hadn't taught all those dance classes to the children in Macha, I would never have been prepared to simplify concepts, and play "freeze" games, and teach them through their gigglying and distractions. If language and age were not barriers, then I never would have learned to teach so slow and with such emphasis. Pamala, I think I've finally got it.

Just as I finished the class, another thunder and lightning storm came rolling in. The Pastor said we should wait out the storm. We should have left then, because by the time we left we were slipping in the mud, searching for a cab, and laughing in the pitch dark and the dribbling rain, but fate had other plans. Kevin and I went outside under the overhanging to watch the storm and smell the rain. Several of the girls had started cooking inside, and the smoke from the coals and the exaggerated pounding of the rain on the tin roof was anything but pleasant. So loud you couldn't talk over it. Outside five of the girls joined us. I was stretching my hamstrings and the girls were watching, so I showed them how to do it. One girl (they're very protective of the confidentiality. I know her name, but can't share it), was stretching when she got a shooting pain in her ascending colon. I started doing Fast Aid on her right away, and then followed up with BodyTalk. The pain was gone and she was very pleased. Imagine what it feels like to help take away a child's pain. It's pretty incredible. Her eyes have no white in them. They are red brown all the time. The doctors told her she's allergic to copper, and she's originally from the Copper Belt, in northeastern Zambia. All of Zambia has copper, so she's basically allergic to Zambia. I'll post an article on allergies on my blog. Allergies are all trauma related. The Amygdala thinks there's a threat and the body responds accordingly. Imagine what she's endured. I worked on another really little girl, maybe 6, who had ear infections in both ears for awhile. We had done all of Access, so I started doing BodyTalk. While I was working it all drained into her nose. Very cool. For you BodyTalkers, there were Active Memory links and Lymph. The other girl had Active Memory links and Natural Cons. of the Large Intestine anchored to the Brain. Then the girls started singing. One of them is out of this world. Her voice is stunning. I wanted to take her with me. She's the one with the red brown eyes. I think I will go back for her one day. It wasn't appropriate to take any pictures, but her face is in my mind. They kept asking Kevin and I to sing. We'd sing to them and they'd listen mesmorized. They were adorable. We talked about allergies and viruses, and two of them asked me, "What if I'm positive, can it help me?" I lowered my voice to answer them. Thought carefully about my answer. You answer children differently than adults. "You're body can overcome anything." "Do what your doctor tells you, but do these techniques everyday." I couldn't tell them my real feelings about HIV. I don't think I can even say them on this blog. They're too controversial. The world is too brainwashed, by "scientific results" they think they can trust. Like the news, it's so unreliable. Who's opinion are we really hearing? Who's money is funding the research?

That night we had dinner at the only place left open on a Sunday and went back to the lodge. I tried to write, but a Swede started talking to me. He had gotten sick weeks before in Zanzibar, and after antibiotics, still didn't feel right. Not a surprise this man would be in the bunk next to me, in bed super early on a Sunday. I knew I had to tell him about BodyTalk. I told him he could spit in his belly button and hold is head and tap on his brain to feel better. He laughed and said it sounded like "Science fiction". "You're telling me" I said. But he sat up and I knew he was interested, so I told him I wouldn't watch and he could follow me and do the techniques if he wanted. I did them, and he copied me. It would have been too weird to do them on him, so I hope it worked that way. I'm sure it must have. These techniques are powerful. His friend walked in while we were doing them, and he said, "What are you, a Yoga teacher?" That was a first. "Nope. This is BodyTalk." The next morning, 12 hours later, everyone was up, but this man was still sound asleep. I'm sure his body was healing. Guess I'll never know for sure.