Siteki, Swaziland
4:30 pm 7/04/09
The world is full of tears.
Tears that would overflow the banks of any sea.
And yet I still believe in us. In humanity. In the power of love.
It has only been two days since I've been back on Swazi soil... The red dust is burning my eyes as I write these words at the 'veterinary clinic' which doubles as an internet cafe.
Each morning i spend an hour in clinic, before heading out into the communities to meet the people....
In every hut there is a story of sorrow.
Yesterday we drove up the most inhospitable hill.... Where there was a single hut perched upon rock after jagged rock.
In the hut we found a man with end stage HIV. He was lying naked in his bed, next to a pool of his own wastes.
Every bone in his body, literally every bone was palpable, visible. He had suffered a stroke secondary to complications of HIV/Toxoplasmosis and was unable to move his left side.
One of the wonderful Swazi nurses in the team explained that he had a caring daughter who washed him and fed him each day, but was only able to visit him once a day.
I cant remember a time ive seen someone so hungry.
We gave him an orange. He took it in his skeletal hands and devoured it.
We took out a bag of corn meal and the nurses mixed it with some milk into a paste.
He ate it faster than anything i've ever seen.
He held his hands in prayer and through wide brown eyes filled with tears said "Siyabonga" - Thank you.
There is a story of a sparrow, which my Dad told me once.
He was lying on a gravel road, with his little scrawny legs facing the open sky.
A horseman was walking past and seeing the sparrow, alighted from his horse.
He said "Little Sparrow, are you hurt? Why are lying there so awkwardly? Face up to the sky?"
The sparrow said "I have heard, that sometime today the sky will fall."
The horseman laughed and said "And you think you can keep it from falling with those little legs?"
The sparrow shrugged his shoulders and said "My friend, I will do what I can."
And that is all I am doing. What we are all doing here in this beautiful, little hamlet so filled with pain.
What we can.
From Siteki with love,
Maithri
36 Whispers of Hope:
Your posting reminds me of The Myth of Sisyphus. One must do what one must do in spite of the hardships.
My heart goes out to you and those you serve.
You truly epitomize these thoughts...
Serve with integrity, care about those you serve and share the love in your heart/soul.
May love and peace be with you always, my brother.
I have no words. My heart breaks for them. Please be safe dear friend.
Siyabonga Maithri.
From all of us..
for what you are doing..
for these people in need..
for those of us who cannot be there
Bless you.
xx
Thank you for helping those that many are too afraid or disgusted to even go near. God sent that man an angel and that was you dear brother.
That is so sad. We do live in alternative realities while all of us live on this what seems the same earth.
My heart swells with hope, with pain for them, with love for all you and the others do. Blessed be.
My hearts breaks for this man, and the countless thousands in his same situation.
I'm so thankful you were there for him.
ANd so nice that you are able to remain hopeful in the midst of such tragedy staring you in the face.
Bless you.
I've been looking forward to your tales from Swaziland. They are more heartbreaking than I imagined. Pour forth, Brother Maithri, do not spare us the reality. You are our eyes. You are their voice. We need both. Thank you.
Big Sparrows Can do much more than little sparrows. Perhaps instead of holding up the sky, the sparrow can fly up into the sky and lighten up the sky by dissolving the gravity of the situation so the pressure isn't as intense on human nature.
Welcome back,. Maithri. I love the sparrow story.
M~
such a plate full of words you have left to digest.
It is always such a blessing to be able to share in your journey.
No matter where your path takes you.
Your light shines in the darkest corners of sorrows heart.
My heart hurts. I'm glad you're there because I know how your presences soothes... we feel it, even here, through wires and electronic connections... I can only imagine how it must feel to stand beside you in person.
I've missed you and I know that's selfish... but I have. You have all my positive thoughts... be well and be in touch... Love you... XOXOXO
Beloved Maithri,
Your posts cry out to me. I feel so blessed and so ashamed to have been grumbling recently about my problems. I have so much!
I am sending prayers and healing energy to you and those who your life is touching. It is all I have at the moment. That and a poem from Rumi -
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about."
Love you!
Hi Maithri,
We are all with you holding you as you hold on to love.
We are one.
Sending peace and love.
I have looked forward to reading your words from that place in which you now toil with an open heart, to which you went so eagerly....I think to myself how much I have been given, how little so many have...your words come to me and open my heart in a way it could not be opened minutes before...your words tell a hard story to hear, my friend...horrendous suffering from a relentless killer, senseless deprivation, slow starvation, dying slowly and senselessly, without the help of medications to ease one's pain ...lying alone, dying in agony and knowing there is no hope...none... is staggering to my heart and my mind cannot comprehend and yet, this very second, it is happening, and the next and the next and the next...I have not one answer except to give what I can from this side of the world and hope others will do the same, who might read your words...how can we not, I would ask?
I give my paltry $25 and hope it helps a little to ease such misery. And I reach down inside my heart and ponder how, through this medium, I was alone in a stinking hut with a dying man who devoured an orange and some porrridge made of corn...I pray he no longer suffers as he did but realize that is probably not the case and for thousands, it is the same....as the children watch, as the children watch...
I pray for you, dear Maithri, and all those with whom you serve....may you be blessed by the hand of God to soften the pain of the afflcted ones of Swaziland, most especially the children, who's eyes have seen too much for me to bear.
Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love,
Love, Love, Love, Love, Love
Siyabonga, Siyabonga, Siyabonga
Siyabonga, Siyabonga, Siyabonga
Siyabonga, Siyabonga, Siyabonga
you are so loved my brother, those you are caring for, they are so loved too, those you work alongside are also loved very much
i love you
i miss you
your sister
I have been wondering how you were doing over there.
Thank you for this - so much love, so many prayers for you and for all whose lives you touch and encounter.
I'm glad you made it safely to Swaziland, Maithri. My heart ached hearing how the poor man laid in his waste and being so thin. The orange and the corn meal I know was a bounty for him.
Do what you can and know we all send our love and prayers with you. Remember to still find some beauty in your day so you can keep yourself whole.
Love,
Shell
Siyabonga, we are all there in spirit. You are, you have been, you will be, such an inspiration to all of us who read your words. My love to you, my dearest Maithri.
So much wisdom to reap from these experiences and stories of yours, my dear brother. Thank you for sharing the life of angels with broken wings. They are in my prayers, as are you.
"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."
Mother Teresa
Maithri...I know you are a doctor of medicine, but the best medicine you offer is that of the sharing of ALL that you have...time, oranges, thoughts, memories. Your love knows no boundaries & like all love, nurtured it grows...rippling down, out & over. It is said that it is not what we say in life, but what we do which counts and that if we can't do 'it' we can all still do something. We can all do many somethings and in the world of butterflies, big things become small and small things become big...
Graced with your words...
This post brought me to tears. It is hopeless and hopeful at the same time. God bless you for the work you do.
Sometimes I do not know whether to smile or cry when I read your posts. Such great loss and unhappiness and yet, I dare to complain. I do not understand this world, hate and strife are allowed to exist and the one thing that we all want, we push away, pretending it has never come to visit us. It is visiting us ... right now as you share and we read and then feel; we love. Why then my love do we do such things, when the world needs so much?
Soft love,
T
The selfless work you do enriches the world, one energetic vibration at a time. People are reminded to never underestimate the power of love and compassion. This is the answer. Collective consciousness is changing. This brings new awareness. Every person contributes to the world. As Gandhi said, "be the change you wish see in the world."
I do not stop by here as often as I should, but you are a boddhisattva, kind sir.
You are a buddha.
peace.
maithri, I hope some people contribute to your cause (I did!) --
I wrote about you in my yoga blog...
http://lindasyoga.blogspot.com/2009/04/talking-talk-and-walking-walk.html
peace!
Maithri: You brings tears to m y eyes whenever I read your stories.
You bring hope to those who you care for so compassionately along with your medical team. Blessings to you and prayers for the souls that you help.My husband and I are very moved. hugs to you.NG
Thank you for the amazing work you do there. Seeing you must bring some hope to people with little reason to hope.
Hello Maithri,
Your story of the man reminds us that just by doing as little as giving an orange to someone who is hungry is the greatest act of love we can do in that moment.
Love is all that matters in every moment, we may not be able to heal the whole world but lessening the suffering of one person at a time is all that we can do.
These letters are so precious, thank you for sharing these pieces, straight from the heart.
Soft, warm love and deep peace to you my friend!
Heeeeeeeeey!
Did you get arrested for Flying
While Brown?
Thinking about you so often. Keep pointing you little stick legs up to the sky, Maith; you're holding it up for the rest of us.
To the moon and back,
Susan
Siyabonga Maithri,
Namaste,
bless you and everything, everyone you touch,
♥ lori
how very fortunate the swazi people are to have you there, doing what you can. bless you.
love,
donna
I have blogrolled you over at Linda's Yoga Journey....
i gave you an award!
When Mother Teresa was praised as being a woman who did great things, she said, "No one can do great things. We can only do small things with great love." I think you must have known that truth all along.
You are a sparrow Maithri and it is now my favourite bird.
Love Renee xoxoxo
Post a Comment