Loving Leprosy Community — Measure in love

About 6 months have passed since the last formal report about my work this year at the Gandhi Leprosy Seva Sangh (aka Loving Community) in Ahmedabad, India.

Reflecting on that time, the numerous activities, and the full and expansive experience it has been, a single term comes to mind to describe the one theme, the one process underlying everything...

Family.

I’ve said before that this small community of people bound by their shared, painful story of the leprosy disease and the social and familial exclusion it created, has become my home away from home, my family away from family. I wake up in the community. I go to bed there. Take my meals there. Play with the kids there. Work there. And many of the members have become like close relatives there.

Take for instance, Jyotiben, who during the Raksha Bandhan festival, told me sincerely that I am now her brother, that there is no difference between me and her biological brother. Or Induben, in motherly fashion, who often and randomly delivers chai and some sweet to my room typically at moments when I’m wanting some (and just recently did so when it was raining because it was raining).

Like all special experiences that are highly personal to us, it would be a near impossible task to communicate a total understanding of just how profound and sacred my time at this loving community has been—and also an unnecessary one.

In this update, I will share the activities and work that’s been happening over the past many months and trust that at least a few drops of the ocean will come out to give you a feel for the process behind the projects. Where possible, I will relay relevant personal learnings and insights for you.

I would like to extend my gratitude both to Jayeshbhai Patel and Virenbhai Joshi from Manav Sadhna (my sponsoring NGO) for handing me the opportunity to serve at this community without any form of expectation. The depth of appreciation I feel can’t be communicated ... only demonstrated. The best way I can and will honor their gift, which extends way beyond this opportunity, is to take what I’ve learned, live it, and share it with others.

I’d also like to extend my gratitude to all the donors and supporters who made this trip a reality, without you none of this would even have been possible.

Effortless Reality

I’ve never liked the question, “What do you do?”

It comes from a mind that is trying to assign an understandable label to your nature, a nature that, in essence, is not able to be communicated or mentally understood, a nature that just is.

The truest answer I have to this question is, “Nothing.” Maybe I should start saying that but more often than not, I yield to the cultural mindset that this response would be considered odd.

Now that I’ve come into my life’s work, that question is even harder to answer because the proper response is all the more true, as I don’t consider what I do work, in the sense of using personal effort to create a result.

That’s because I don’t feel there’s anything personal to what I do and this is because more and more I don’t feel as if this entity known as Christopher Lowman (or Krishnabhai at the community) is something personal, split off from the whole, and capable of doing stuff solely on his own.

Close your eyes for a moment.

Do you think that silent, still experience is any different from mine? Anybody else’s?

A great example of what I’m talking about is found in Guru’s story.

This is the young boy with Cerebral Palsy—a brain disorder that prevents Guru any effective use of his body—who has become a hallmark of my time at the community because of how deeply my heart was moved by his situation, as well as his tremendous and inspiring process of change.

Understand this change was waiting to happen.

Again, the change from Guru’s near hopeless, traumatized state to one where he is now smiling and has a far more optimistic looking future was waiting to happen, it was ordained before my arrival. I didn’t cause it.

I did show up at the right place, at the right time, with the right skills and understanding to help facilitate that change, just as the jumper cable funnels current from the full battery, to the battery in need.

This is action through inaction or effort through effortlessness and is achieved through a natural surrender of the personal I that thinks it needs to do something, to something much greater that informs action, indeed performs action through you.

We are called by no accident Human Beings, not Human Doings.

Nobody Needs (Your) Help

You can’t do this kind of work without an understanding of karma or without an understanding of the relative nature of good and bad.

The conventional paradigm holds that anything deemed bad should be eliminated right away, that something needs to be done, similar to how you would rush to fight a newly diagnosed disease.

And in this relative Universe where everything is everything, this paradigm does work in certain situations—if a snake bites me, I need that poison gone and fast. If I’m choking, please use the Heimlich.

Guru though needs the experience of being in a highly restricted body to meet karmic obligations for his life. He will learn from it, he will grow from it, as will all those he comes in contact with. It’s the right body for him because it’s the one and only he has.

His condition is not meant to be removed or improved overnight just because we think it’s bad. (This is mostly true of all the bad, all the suffering, all the seemingly negative in the world.) To do so would be to chip away at the dignity of his fate.

Every fate is special, every fate has its right place, no matter how seemingly tragic. This is particularly important to understand when you are working with the poorest of the poor or those who are suffering mentally or physically. Otherwise, you might feel like something has to be done, something is wrong. Something then gets corrupted. Your ego gets involved. You want to help.

Nobody needs (your) help.

The moment is perfect and always will be because it’s the only one we have. Those who are suffering (and that’s all of us, minus the rare exception) need the suffering to learn from and evolve—this is the good in the bad.

This doesn’t mean we go cold to suffering or turn our back when we come across it in others. We are human, we have hearts, and if you are modestly in touch with yours, it will be moved when you come across those with real needs, like starving babies, victims of atrocities and oppression, penniless beggars, and so on.

We are, by nature, compassionate creatures.

What it does mean is that the activism, campaigning, or fighting against typically found in humanitarian, charity, or non-profit work to alleviate human suffering is removed. The result dependence is removed, allowing for much more harmonious relationships to be established and far more effective work.

Guru did not need my help when I arrived. I didn’t take any pity or think, “Poor him, what can I do?” Instead, I saw the perfection of his situation, the difficulty of it, as well as the opportunity in it. I was, quite literally, moved.

Moved to reach out to him and his family, to offer my service as a loving gift (rather than a tool to fix) with the simple intention of seeing what wanted to happen. I listened from within throughout our entire journey, following inner impulse and sanction, even up to the point where it became clear that our formal work was complete.

Trust and Permission

A share these details because they form the foundation of my entire approach to service work. These understandings and approaches are the result of over a decade of training and preparation, and for now at least, are ones I am passionate about and compelled to share. Perhaps later they will just be demonstrated and not openly communicated.

I’m also convinced that they have played a major role in my ability to fully integrate into the Loving Community, to have become like a resident, as opposed to a volunteer or social worker there to help. It is mostly because of this loving, family-like relationship we’ve established that all the work and projects you’ll read about in a moment came to be and had the relative success they did.

(Keep in mind that I’ve never once held a normal conversation with anyone in the community because of the language issue. Maybe words aren’t needed to get to know someone, perhaps even a hindrance in some cases?)

We often hear from Jayeshbhai that Gandhi put “Love All” before “Serve All” for a reason, not just because it sounds better this way. I have a better understanding why now. It’s the first step to service.

Again, I don’t think anybody at this community needs (my) help. Not even disfigured elderly lepers with missing fingers and toes, who beg daily for less than $1 and live in one room homes without electricity, thus no fans where temperatures can easily soar to 120 degrees during the summer.

They need the experience for their evolution and never a day goes by where their basic needs are not met—it’s just hard, daily work to meet them.

Therefore, I approach my work as if I were an empty container or vessel. Empty of expectation. Empty of agenda. Yet, at the same time, held by a loving service intention.

I am passionate about humanity. Human potential. Traditional medicine. Indigenous peoples. I enjoy the fulfillment that comes from being a part of a process of change. These qualities are part of the fabric of me.

God knows (as I do) I do many things wrong but these understandings and approaches have always come naturally—I think they are gifts—and particularly suit me in foreign territories, as they are conducive to establishing trust, permission, and connection with those who I come in contact with—people know something deeper besides basic charity is going on.

That’s enough about me, here’s what we’ve been up to.

Loving Leadership Program — Planting seeds

photo by Robin SukhadiaOverall, my attention turned to the Loving Leadership Program, which comes in at a close 2nd in terms of work that has defined my experience at the community.

This was a program designed for a brilliant group of 12 youngsters, ages 9 - 18, who all had a certain glow to them that I noticed within my first few weeks living at the community. They demonstrated extraordinarily caring characters—caring about Nature, caring about fellow human beings. All were (for the most part) willing to help somebody or do something, if asked, even if something else more fun was going on around them.

Check out these photos from a pro photo shoot on the Gandhi ashram, I think you'll see what I'm talking about, especially in their eyes and energy.

The idea was to take this group aside and in a process oriented, non-outcome dependent fashion nurture their natural, loving qualities to plant seeds for future compassionate and Nature-connected community service leaders. We also have been playing with the theme of cultivating optimism for those interested in working towards a dream that might not have anything to do with staying in the community their entire lives.

The program, which recently concluded, has been a successful experiment.

All the kids have grown tremendously in demeanor, gained confidence, and are now seen differently in the community—having been introduced on more than one occasion as future service leaders at important functions. Each got something different from the program and despite the struggles of getting the group together regularly, when something is on the line and we need to get something accomplished, they organize quickly and work well.

For more on the program, see this dedicated thread. A major, concluding update is forthcoming.

Treatment Work — Each part affects the whole

With leprosy patient complaining of knee pain

During the summer months—a subject in and of itself due to the extreme heat that had temperatures well above 105F daily for month after month after month (after month), with some days topping out at 120F and “cooling” to the low 90s at night—I was seeing 5 or 6 people a day for Jin Shin Jyutsu treatments.

I enjoyed the quiet, meditative time with all those who I was seeing, some with leprosy, some not.

During this time, I witnessed some powerful transformations. Here are a few that particularly stand out:

• A young woman with Typhoid Fever, a disease that typically takes weeks to resolve, was back on her feet and well after only 3 days of treatment.
• An older man with leprosy showed up one night with excruciating pain in his arm. I treated him that night. Within 20 minutes, he fell asleep on the bed and after that 1st treatment, the pain decreased to a whisper. Two more treatments later, over the next two days, the pain was entirely gone. No trip to the hospital or medication was needed.
• Another young woman reportedly under the influence of a black magic spell (common in small, rural villages) with debilitating full body pain (recently diagnosed as a blood deficiency). In this instance, our daily treatments have not been so result oriented but rather have brought her overall situation into a greater state of harmony, symbolized by a recent visit to a quality doctor who properly diagnosed her condition. (Doctors near to the community are inundated with patients and sometimes are unable to do a thorough exam and are quick to prescribe medicine that doesn’t always work.)

And, of course, there is Guru who I talk so much about and who has practically defined my entire experience at the Loving Community. His dedicated thread is here.

Since the last update, our work came to completion when care was transferred from me to a team of specialists at a hospital that specializes in the free care of children with severe disabilities. He visits this hospital—an hour away from the community by car, a feat on its own, as before his condition was such that he couldn’t really go outside at length without having trauma-related fits—for rehabilitative treatment weekly and is in the presence of other children with the same disability.

The doctors are confident that over time, slowly, improvements in his ability to chew solid food and hold his head upright, as examples, will be seen. They also quickly organized a custom built chair for him. The day that it arrived (pictured above) was an exciting one, as it marked the end of Guru laying on his back all day, as he has for the past 10 years.

Guru appears happy now and is usually seen laughing and smiling, especially when you interact with him—a far cry from the traumatized boy I met in February.

Though we no longer work together, I still visit daily in the evening to spend time with him and his family, a part of the day I always look forward to.

Guru’s story is beautiful on different levels and has come to inspire a number of people at Manav Sadhna and those who visit the community (his home is always a destination). For me, it is a great example of how traditional and modern medicine can work together and goes to show just how effective a loving, hands off (no pun intended) approach can be in an extreme situation.

This year, the value of effective, traditional medicine in humanitarian work has become abundantly clear to me:

• It offers a high quality, natural solution that works for people who are suffering. Otherwise, already restricted financial resources are funneled to doctors (who may not be the best) and potentially low quality prescription medication that may only provide a temporary fix, if any.
• It’s low maintenance and can be performed in small homes, on the floor (the site for the majority of my treatments, as most people I saw did not have a bed).
• Indigenous people respond particularly well to it because the ancient practice was and in some cases still is, an integral part of their history and lineages.
• I’ve also found that a little goes a long way when you are working with people who daily, struggle to meet the most basic of survival needs. The principle at work is similar to how a few drops of water can feel like an ocean to a parched mouth.
• It can provide grace to the receiver in the form of unexpected goodness.

Here’s something I wrote in the last update:

I always feel as if something greater is happening with each session and that not just one person is benefitting.

All the major problems facing the world are internal problems residing on the level of human consciousness, precisely the level that traditional medicine works on. Creating harmony on this level in one individual, to me, is a step in the direction of global harmony, albeit a small one. That and there is no question greater harmony in the community members, is greater harmony created in the community.

Though it would be difficult to prove conclusively, I’m convinced that all the treatment work, all the behind the scenes work, that yes, was geared to individual people, was also affecting the community itself. Similar to how meditating monks have decreased seismic activity in the Earth surrounding them.

Two recent projects, in particular, demonstrated this to me. The large tree plantation and clean up project, as well as the children’s playground whose construction is now underway—both were/are magical projects you’ll read about in a moment, that have unfolded elegantly and effortlessly.

Daily Dinner Program — Nutrition and companionship

photo by Shradha NarayananThis is one of my favorite parts of the day.

The program was launched by Manav Sadhna in conjunction with the community in April to provide a free, nutritious meal to a special group of approximately 20 leprosy patients (mostly elderly women) who beg for about Rs. 20 (~.50c/day) and are without family, having had to flee native villages upon developing the disease due to the stigma associated with it.

The kitchen team, led by Jyoti, a warmhearted mother of three and wife, prepare the meals in the spirit of service and love. The dinner itself is conducted in a sacred manner, starting with an all religions prayer. The Loving Leadership kids are involved, assisting in the serving of the meals, taking dishes away, and cleaning the area beforehand.

What I enjoy most about the program is that it’s conducted with a high level of care and compassion—it’s more medicine than nutrition/money saved for the guests and somehow could be positively affecting their fate or making their difficult circumstances a bit more tolerable.

That, and I have fallen in love with the group of elderly ladies (my grandmothers) the program mostly caters to. They are so sweet, so adorable and almost every one after finishing eating will approach me and say, “Jai shri Krishna, good night” or utter some words of blessing. It is something to meet and befriend the human being behind the beggar we typically ignore and shoo away.

Loving Visitors

Manav Sadhna attracts a range of talented and caring staff and volunteers. Many of whom I invited to visit the Loving Community to do activities with the kids. Some did big things, some did small things but in every case, every single one always added something valuable—their energy, their presence, their love.

Consider how it might be from the kids’ perspective. They are living at a small leprosy community in poverty conditions. Though they are all ‘negative,’ meaning they will not develop leprosy, they still face exclusion and shunning from their peers for living at the community and having relatives with the disease. It’s guilt by association.

Warm hearted, loving people from around the world showing up to do things specifically for the kids is really special for them and I always say that whatever the activity and desired result is, it is 100% secondary to the simple act of showing up (this is a universal truth for anybody in your life—who you are is the gift, not what you do or say).

To anybody who may be reading that visited, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing up to do your part.

In mostly chronological order, here’s a recap of some who came and did specific, bigger programs (if I forgot you, I’m sorry, please let me know and I will add you):

Dhara and Mossina — commuted over an hour via bus for a week during the peak of the summer (not easy, not comfortable) to produce a 10-minute drama involving about 15 kids that was performed to the entire community. This was a true labor of love and they did an amazing job.

Shradha — and her ‘One Shot Thought’ experiment. She equipped the loving leaders with a Flip (humorously pronounced “Slip” by those who couldn’t make an f sound) camera for them to take short video clips of things, people, events in their environment they found inspiring. Shradha was also responsible for this incredible photo shoot that will be used in a professional grade brochure about the community.

Jyotsana — an angel, who has worked directly with the loving leaders on different occasions. She grew up in slum life and summoned the will power to pursue her dream and improve her life circumstances. She is a great example of somebody who doesn’t need to do anything to positively influence somebody, who she is does all the work.

Robin — the Tabla Pusher. Another remarkable human being who visited one day to teach about the tabla (a drum native to India) and its history, discussing his artistic journey with it and how you can get to know all about Indian culture and spirituality by understanding this one instrument. He also took these amazing photos of all the loving leaders.

Nikita — a Bollywood dancing enthusiast from Long Island who over several Saturdays taught girls the moves from their favorite songs.

Trupti — she came for about a week and did team building and leadership related activities.

Mukeshji — a peaceful man of compassion who draws inspiration from Ramana Maharshi, came one day to do a brief meditation program that the kids whole-heartedly embraced and benefited from.

Jesus — has been at Manav Sadhna for a couple of years designing and building pre-schools in a slum (he’s a formally trained architect from Spain). He and Lahar (also an architect but from Mumbai) collaborated to design a very cool children’s playground for the community. The kids call him “juicebhai.”

Lahar — besides being involved with the playground construction, she also facilitated a wonderful t-shirt painting event recently for the graduating loving leaders and has gotten to know several kids from the community on a personal level during her visits.

Planting Trees and Cleaning Up

This project started off as an idea within the loving leadership group and grew into something much greater than any one of us imagined.

I wanted the kids to work together on a sizable project within the community. Aruna (my partner and language issue angel) and I chose the project but instructed the kids that they were responsible for visioning the end result and making a plan to realize it, a plan that would ultimately be presented to Jayeshbhai.

The project we chose was a clean up and beautification of the first piece of land you see entering the community (pictured above)—a filthy, barren area littered with trash and animal waste that you wouldn’t want to walk around in at all.

Being the first piece of land you see, it doesn’t make the best first impression for the community. Also, having a sore spot like this has a psychological effect on the nearby residents.

When life is a daily struggle, the cleanliness of your home and surrounding environment has a big impact on your spirits. If day in and day out you are seeing heaps of disgusting trash, animal waste and such in your environment, it brings you down making your routine more difficult.

The kids met and agreed about cleaning up all the trash and measured out 15 trees to be planted. They also wanted park benches and an apparatus to provide water to the roaming goats and cows. One of the senior members of the group presented the idea to Jayeshbhai, who liked the plan but then did something unexpected.

He took the project over and made a few phone calls to people in city government. Some time later, city workers arrived to clean the entire area and on a huge day in the community, in celebration of Jayeshbhai’s wife’s birthday, we conducted a tree planting (about 15 trees) ceremony in the space.

Though I would have loved for us to do the actual labor of the job, this was a really important lesson for the kids about taking the first step towards a dream, a project, some form of ambition. It’s the hardest part but in this case, they clearly saw that doing so can yield a great result.

Building a Children’s Playground

Playground site being clearedOne of the first notes I made in February was, “build children’s playground” because I noticed the kids had nowhere focused to play and were always improvising, e.g., by playing in construction sand pits. Now, several months later, this is exactly what we’re doing.

From this scribbled note, the process started with an international volunteer from Spain, Lucia—an architect—who measured out the space, took creative input from me, Aruna, and some of the kids, did research, and then designed an initial concept for the playground.

Lucia had to go home, so the design was passed to two other volunteers, also architects, Jesus and Lahar, who are here longer term, who refined the concept a bit and put together a budget.

Manav Sadhna openly publicizes their income, so I am not crossing any boundary to let you know that last year they raised $1M. Considering that $1 is the equivalent of 45 Indian Rupees (cost of a dinner meal), it’s an enormous sum of money but even more impressive is the fact they did so without formal fundraising. Without asking. Without campaigns.

It just comes naturally, on its own, when it needs to.

As it did with our playground. Jesus shared the design with his architect friend in Spain, Raffa. Raffa took it upon himself, without any asking from us, to raise all the money by emailing friends, family, and colleagues. He raised 1,200 Euros, around 80,000 Rupees (about $1,800), which is enough to cover the cost of the entire project.

Original design sketch by Jesus and LaharTruly magical.

As of today, the site has been leveled and mostly cleared. We’re ready to start building and installing the structures (swings, jungle gym, see-saw, slide, sand pit, etc.) and hope to be done by the end of November.

A Fitness Center Opens

Just this last week, we launched a community fitness center to much exuberance by the guys who all want to look like their favorite Bollywood heros.

The evening before launch, I explained the basic philosophy of the gym (named Sathya Shakti or True Strength) to the 20 or so initial members. 1) Health/fitness is one of the best personal investments to be made. 2) New found strength should equally be for the benefit of the community and others, not just for ego enhancement.

For anybody who manages public spaces, this point may be of interest to you. I noted the cost of the gym equipment (Rs. 30,000 about $700, a large amount by community standards) and stressed that members should feel as if they purchased the equipment with their own money, that they also have personal responsibility for its care. Otherwise, people might be prone to not care and treat the equipment with disrespect, thinking it’s somebody else's responsibility and they’ll do what they please with it.

The gym is open 5a - 7a and 8p - 10p, Monday - Saturday. You could tell the words had effect the first day we opened, as did the membership commitments each member agreed to before signing up (such as treating their bodies with respect, being responsible for the cleanliness of the workout space, being courteous to others and so on). There was a conscious sense of organized togetherness amongst the guys who showed up and enjoyed their work outs. They helped clean, were respectful of the space, and put the equipment away in an organized fashion.

Good signs the gym also is on its way to becoming a successful experiment.

Letting Go

I’ve been here a little under 9 months now, only a few months remain in the year so we won’t be starting anything new. We’ll be working to complete what we started and I’ll be personally winding down and potentially getting ready to go on to the next project in Africa next year.

This will be the last big update.

I’ve been asked if I’ll find it hard to let go and the answer is no, even with the family relationships that I’ve formed.

Being able to let go is as important as being able to show up. I never got personally involved and so never formed personal emotional ties that are typically painful when severed because of the sense of losing something personal that you might miss.

Every ending is a new beginning and every new beginning is an ending. There’s no point holding on, you can’t. This is the joke of dualism.

Plus, heart-centered relationships never end, you are always close in the heart with those who you love and have loved. There are many at the community who will occupy a special place in my heart and who I will remember for the rest of my life.

How do you measure a year in the life? Measure in love.

In gratitude.

Om amriteshwaryai namah