| In another village an eighty-year-old man came for treatment to help regain his ability to sleep. He recounted how he had been struck by the wave while sitting on the beach and had clung to a palm tree for safety. Eventually overcome by the strength of the wave, he let go and was carried into oblivion. His limp body was recovered and taken to the temple to be placed amongst the dead. When life was observed in him, he was then taken to the hospital where he was fully resuscitated, though he still struggled to fully return to his life. Our gentle treatment helped calm his distress and he thanked us, looking forward to now being able to sleep and enjoy his favorite spot on the beach. �We went to Muttukadu and gave many treatments for the child who has improved much, a great success. We have lighted one family�s brightness; many hearts will be very happy,� said Dhamodharan on our last evening in Chennai. �Thank you First Medicines for giving help to India and for spending this time that was very precious, like feeding a child, showing the way to calmness. We have helped provide good sleep for every person who was tsunami affected. We have received thanks from many who have benefited from your help. The advantage of First Medicines treatment is that it is very simple to learn, not only for the educated, but also for the poor and uneducated. I do not consider this an ending, but a starting place. Whatever lesson I have learned, I will implement for those people affected: a treatment, a medicine, a form of love.� Upon our return to Los Angeles the team initiated a fundraising campaign to help with material needs and provide funding for a follow-up mission. A second grade class in Lennox California is providing school benches for the Children of Muttukadu and many individual donors are now contributing to a fund for new boats for the fishermen. The project now underway will include development of a long-term program featuring a clinic and training center. From this center we will follow-up in the villages we initially visited, plus expand outreach to some of the most severely tsunami-affected areas of South India, where many are still suffering. We are carrying the same manner of trauma relief and lifestyle enhancement to other areas of this splendid, yet wounded land. While strolling through the streets of one small village, Dhamodharan turned to me and said, �I think that through this First Medicines treatment we can ignite a flame that will light the whole world.� Across Southeast India we are seeking to light that flame, not through the passing of a torch, but through the stirring of the embers of hope in the hearts of the Indian people. |
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| Muttukadu tent refuge camp with team and locals |
| Team treatment in Kunnimudu |