23 January – Comings and Goings

This was to be posted on 23rd but I was taken away by a wedding (see later) and since then the internet has been somewhat introverted and today, Sunday, is the first I have managed to get it to behave at the same time as I have had time.

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This morning Thorsten left us. He slipped out at about 05:30 on his way to catch the early flight to Mumbai. Yesterday he asked me to check his English spelling in the piece he has written for Colin at the BMA for the website and was telling me how he had to get the bus when he came here. He had worked in the garden before and brought along some good quality new pieces of equipment – secateurs, clippers, knife etc. He had talked it past the Swedish baggage checkers on his way here ( it was in his hold luggage) but in Mumbai his Hindi was not up to the explanations that they were working tools and even though the bag was destined for the hold, he was not allowed to board. He thinks he was lucky that they weren’t confiscated and he held as a suspected terrorist as they seemed reluctant to let him go but eventually agreed he could take them if he left the airport. So he had to travel on the bus as he could not get a train ticket at short notice.

We both anticipated that his return would be easier as he has left it all behind as gifts for the gardeners.

Tomorrow evening Paul and Helen will return home to New Zealand. Paul has clearly done much research about Bhopal, the explosion and the legal/political issues. It was he who pointed out that, although it can be argued that campaigners and others should just accept that the government of the day reached an agreement about the ‘disaster’ claims, no matter how inadequate, but that there is still a case to be answered about the pollution of the site and surrounding land and water as that was nothing to do with the disaster and nothing to do with the settlement. It is a separate issue and when Dow took over UCC they would have known about that. He was telling me that there is written evidence that the UCC scientists advised against the

evaporation ponds on the grounds that there would be later claims for illness and death when they leaked.

There was another report done in 2013 about the pollution to the site and surrounding areas, including the water. It also looked at all the other reports that had been done over the years and concluded there is still much pollution in both ground and water.

Paul is going to do some more research and thinking, probably consulting friends who are more knowledgeable about the water aspect and hopes to be able to return, maybe to really DO something.

I met Reena in the library. She is here representing the ICJB (north America) and is from Canada. There is a meeting this weekend (Friday to Monday) where the agenda for the next year will be set. It is usual for the survivor organisations to set the focus.

In the last year they have been making relationships with campaigns on other environmental disasters, partly to stay relevant and current and partly to build the strength of numbers and opinion.

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I was going to post this last night when the internet access was not too bad, but in came Devendra with a marriage invitation. We have had loud music for the past week from just over the road, it’s a narrow road. The preliminaries to a wedding tonight. Our vegetable supplier, Prappy, is involved and we had all been invited along.

Hindu weddings are BIG affairs as I am sure many of you know and this was taking place just up the Berasia Road at DIG Bungalow, about 10 minute walk away. So we all toddled off. This is the second wedding I have been to in India as the last time I was here one of the Sambhavna staff was married nearby. There is a lot of milling around and eating food , mostly in the open, and everyone was pleased it was a fine night as yesterday it rained bucketfuls at about this time. You need a lot of stamina to see both bride and groom as he turns up quite late in the evening. In this case it was about 22:30 and he came, riding a  white horse and accompanied by a throng of dancing men. The former is a sight indeed just here but the dancing men, maybe not.

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On Friday I had a text from Sathyu that there was a “brilliant” sarod player on at the arts centre, so decided to go. There were two young players performing, the other was played the stringed instrument that uses a bow – I don’t know its name, but it was probably either a dilruba, sarangi or esraj. Two excellent tabla players accompanied, and the drone was provided by an electronic box.

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And just a brief note on the weather – it has been cold, damp, mizzly for about four days now and I understand from locals, unseasonally cold – well, that is probably not the correct word since it is the cold time of year but colder than usual and lasting for longer spells.

There is no heating anywhere other than in warm clothing! I may have to do my yoga today in a track suit!

17 January 2014 – What’s On in Bhopal 1

This has just been posted on the BMA website so I thought a general note mainly, but not only, for new readers could be appropriate.

Sambhavna, November 17 2013, 07:30 – I have just arrived at the Sambhavna clinic in Bhopal, for my second visit. It is a warm morning by the standards of an Englishman but getting that autumnal chilliness for the local people. It was almost exactly two years ago to the day that I left and had noticed it slowly getting cooler.

Monday is back to work day here after the one day of rest each week. Yes, they still work a 6-day week. It will be an hour before the clinic opens to patients so it is fairly quiet as I say hello once again to Raj, the security guard, who was also the first to welcome me just over two years ago.

Observation Room, January 16 2014, 08:40 – it is almost two months since I arrived here since when it has got colder and we have even had a couple of downpours of rain. But “cold” is, of course, relative and your lawns and tomatoes would still be growing outside.

As I wait for my 304^th patient session since beginning treatments, what has happened here?

 

The nurses Observation Room

Working with Pishorilal, who had a stroke. When I first met
him he couldn't straighten those fingers.

Just to clarify the last sentence, I am a complementary therapist in UK and am working here with the agreement and support of the doctors and Sathyu. In fact the doctors seem to be sending me all the difficult cases! Stroke, scoliosis, kyphosis, frozen shoulder etc but that gives me a challenge (sorry, opportunity) which I enjoy.

I should also say that there are two physical therapists here, working with the Ayurveda system of Panchakarma and doing great work for many years. 

They are the real heroes, working day after day, week after week, year after year, while I just flit in for a few months and, like a grandfather giving the grandchildren back to their parents, shall flit back home to the comforts of central heating and hot showers on demand.



 There is a difference in the way we work and what we do though, which makes my work valuable here. Panchakarma, as practised here, is mainly about getting an oil, impregnated with 23 herbs, into the tissues of a patient’s body by massage and steam. My work is about restoring balance to a body by releasing overtight tissue and then encouraging freer movement and realignment of the skeleton through whole body healing. So we can complement each other with our work.

In the two years since my previous visit, much has remained the same and there are changes too. Many old friends to meet again, many new ones to get to know, including a new washing machine!

In the volunteer rooms there has been much activity in two months. On my arrival there were just two volunteers, both from India – something new to me, Devendra and Harshit. I was soon to learn that some mothers here teach their sons how to cook, since that evening Jayshree, who cooks each evening for the volunteers, announced she would not be back for four days. We enjoyed trying each others cooking and discussing spices but the ‘British’ dish they really liked was cauliflower cheese.

Thorsten, from Sweden, joined us the following week, another returning volunteer, he had come to help again in the garden. There is always a need there. Pradeep, another Indian, also arrived.

Shortly after we were overrun by 14 young American women with one lonely young man plus two teacher/facilitators. They were in India on a study tour in collaboration with a school in Bangalore and were visiting many projects around the country. They swept in for an exhausting four days and it was a good thing the female dormitory was empty at the time. Yes, we were all male volunteers.

Since then there has been a steady increase in volunteer arrivals, including a host (it seems) of researchers. Accommodation is fairly limited here so it is important that arrivals and departures are managed, which doesn’t always happen – so, if you are thinking of coming here ask if there is room, check what that means, and be prepared to be flexible on your dates.

Also take some lessons in communal living and putting the needs of others first - it would seem it does not come naturally to most people! If we cannot clean up the kitchen behind ourselves, how can we challenge Dow to clean up the factory site? Sometimes there is a disconnect.

The main stupa at Sanchi

Social life depends really on who is here. Sometimes it is very quiet and at others we are out on all kinds of trips. We had a group outing to Sanchi, a nearby Buddhist site and another to the caves at Bhimbetka. I have been with various others to the Museum of Mankind and a recent 3-night festival of Khatack dance. Some of this I write about on my blog and for some you will have to wait for the book.

 

Last night of the Khatack

Incidentally, one volunteer discovered the book of my last visit and said she found it interesting and also helpful in her preparing to come here. (It’s called 3 Months in Bhopal and is available as a kindle from Amazon – all profit to the BMA.)

So what about the actual work here for volunteers? After all this is the focus of your visit. This is another reason why you must arrange your visit dates as the staff here really cannot cope with too many simultaneous volunteers. It matters not whether you have special skills or not, there will almost certainly be something you can do. My case is a bit different as I am doing treatments and, before my first visit, I went through a process of e-discussion with Sathyu about what it is that I do and then with the doctors on my arrival. They need to know I am an ‘OK’ guy and my work is effective.

The garden always seems to need help, and you don’t have to be a gardener either, though on my last visit, Linda was here and she is a gardener in UK. I tell Sathyu the walls could do with a lick of paint but the question we need to ask is whether it would be better to employ a local person so would a donation be better for that type of project? 

Thorsten helping in the garden

 My take is that the best work for volunteers is that for which there is no ready local skill and where there is a well-defined task. Support in the library can often be beneficial, especially if you have computer skills. There is about to be a digitisation project started which will take several years to complete and I am sure there will come along tasks associated with that which will be ideal for volunteers.

Helen painting signs

Helen, here at the moment has a well-defined job of re-painting some of the signs giving information about plants – these are for patient information and helping picking them. Such one-off tasks are also very helpful to the staff. Helen, and her husband Paul, are apparently the first volunteers here from New Zealand.

The pictures were taken on the morning that I wrote this.

Keep following my blog here and ‘like’ my facebook page, Bhopal Today. Spreading the word about the long-term results of this disaster is the most important thing you can do – where it will go you do not know.

 

11 January – NO MORE BHOPALS, PLEASE

I just thought it appropriate to post this report of a chemical spillage in West Virginia, also the home of the Dow Chemical plant in Institute, sister to Bhopal. Let’s watch and see what the company and the Government do.

By Kiley Kroh

“Residents of nine counties in West Virginia have been told not to use or drink their water after a chemical used by the coal industry spilled into the Elk River on Thursday. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency as more than 100,000 customers, or 300,000 people, are without safe drinking water.

“Don’t make baby formula,” said West Virginia American Water Company president Jeff McIntyre. “Don’t brush your teeth. Don’t shower. Toilet flushing only.”

The chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM), is used to wash coal of impurities and spilled from a tank at Freedom Industries into the river. While the amount of MCHM that spilled wasn’t immediately known, West Virginia American Water has been conducting water quality testing every hour. According to Laura Jordan, a spokesperson with the water company, they believe the chemical is leaking at ground level and “there is a possibility this leak has been going on for sometime before it was discovered Thursday,” WSAZ reported.

Local officials described MCHM as smelling like licorice and looking like “cooking oil floating on top of the water.” The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said symptoms of MCHM exposure include “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non-stop vomiting, trouble breathing or severe skin irritation such as skin blistering.”

Though the spill occurred Thursday morning, West Virginia American Water didn’t provide its customers with a warning until evening and, as Al Jazeera reported, several were angered by the lack of information, particularly regarding what should be done if they had already used or ingested the water.

Early Friday, Tomblin announced that the White House approved a federal emergency declaration to help with the urgent water situation. Soon after the governor’s declaration on Thursday, residents flooded local stores for bottled water and disposable dishes. “It was chaos, that’s what it was,” cashier Danny Cardwell told CBS News.

West Virginia American Water has emphasized that once contaminated by MCHM, the water cannot be treated. As a result, schools in at least five of the counties will be closed Friday and hospitals, restaurants, nursing homes and other establishments in the area are also banned from using their water as the entire system is flushed out and testing continues. As of early Friday, Freedom Industries, “a full service producer of specialty chemicals for the mining, steel, and cement industries,” had yet to comment on the spill."