Emperor - For further homeopathic studies

I was much inspired by our trainee homeopath and clinical director of the Mafi-Seva Community Health Centre, Emperor. A small team of homeopaths and 15 of our Ghanaian students joined to offer homeopathic treatment to the rural communities of the lower Volta region. We saw over 400 patients, some with acute presentations and many suffering from chronic complaints. Many good results have been reported and new patients are arriving daily at the Mafi-Seva Community Health Centre.

The Ghana Homeopathy Project would like to support Emperor in his development as a homeopath and we are fundraising for the travel costs to take Emperor to train with some wonderful Indian homeopaths in Kolkata, who have 30 years experience treating patients and conditions similar to those found in Ghana. Emperor is now becoming well known in the area where local people sometimes travel for hours to see him.

We would like to help him gain more experience with long term chronic case management, much needed now. He shares what he has learnt with his 2 trainees and the students at the new school and this way we can spread training and skills in homeopathy in Ghana, sharing our love for homeopathy across continents.

We have created a fundraising page which makes it easy for anyone who would like to make a donation:
http://www.justgiving.com/ghanahomeopathyproject

We appreciate your continuing support of our work to educate local people and promote homeopathy in Ghana for the benefit of the local communities.
Many thanks
Kind regards
Angie Metzger
Ghana Homeopathy Project – Co-ordinator

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The course was very hands on. In one village we saw up to 250 patients. It called for very quick and decisive prescribing by our teachers. Luckily we got opportunities later in the course to learn by discussing the specifics of many cases.

Download Angie’s report from the Ghana study trip in October 2011. (PDF)

I had never been to Africa before, and had never worked for a homeopathic charity before either. So it was a big experience, the effects of which will last until I am able to go again!
The course itself was beneficial. I enjoyed studying with the Doctors Battacharyea, and found their complementary way of teaching differential diagnosis and materia medica very appealing. For me there was just the right amount of clinical experience and lecture time. I especially benefited from the clinical setting. Although treatment decisions were made quickly, there was often time to discuss a case later in the day, and also to talk about related disease processes and materia medica. It was amazing how both doctors could lecture on the spot in such depth, without any preparation time. I also enjoyed taking cases myself, and having some supervision from the doctors if I felt I needed it.

The clinical experience was excellent, with a wide range of pathology seen and a good number of patients. It would have been nice to see more follow-ups, and I would really like to hear from Emperor how our patients are doing over the next 6 months. The trips to outreach clinics were a valuable experience as well, especially in Mepe, where we saw so many amazing cases of pathology and where the numbers posed such a challenge. I actually enjoyed the pressure and the buzz of those two days. I wish I could pop back to take the follow-ups! I enjoyed the challenge of using an interpreter, and of having to adapt to such a different client base from what I see at home. The trips to Vane and Ehe were also challenging and adventuresome, and helped to open our eyes to the task of developing homeopathy in Ghana.

The accommodation for the course was good, our room and beds were very comfortable, and I loved the outdoor showers. The food was good and I found our meals together to be a very pleasant time of camaraderie and mutual support. The information given to us before leaving the UK was adequate and we were fairly well prepared for what was to come. It was unfortunate that Angie’s Ghana phone had no signal at Mafi Seva. I would get my own sim card next time, I think, as I ran up quite a bill on my UK phone.

The morning excursion to the market was really fun and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. It was good to experience some of African culture. The trip to Keta was disappointing, as the beach was beautiful and we got so little time there. I would recommend that future study trips have one day off in the intense two week period so that participants can enjoy the beach for a day. The last day spent in Accra was also good, and I would feel comfortable enough to go there on my own next time if I were travelling to the college or to Dr. Julius’s clinic.

To conclude, the study trip to Ghana was a life-changing experience and well worth doing. I have made a list of changes I want to make in my homeopathic practice, and I intend to further my study of the Organon, Allen’s Key Notes, and Dilip Battacharyea’s book on Psychiatry now that I am home. I hope to volunteer at Mafi Seva Clinic again in the future and will continue to support the clinic staff in any way I can from England.

The project has evolved in the intervening years in some very positive directions. My trip this time was divided into two distinct parts. The first week I spent in the peace and calm of Mafi Seva ( now on mains electricity) watching the daily routine going on around me, photographing the chickens, lizard,s goats and the children with huge bundles of sticks on their heads who mysteriously traverse the compound from time to time and ,of course, seeing patients.

People arrived, sometimes from a considerable distance away, and were welcomed to our table in the shade where they told us about their aches and pains and also about their stories. Even in the calmest of rural existences there can be tragedy and hardship. From the woman whose son had been imprisoned following an accidental but fatal shooting and who had had to pay a fortune to get him out of prison at the end of a four- year term to the young man who had himself been shot whilst gold-mining and whose friend had not been seen since; from people who had been cheated out of all their money to men struggling to support far too many wives and children; from violent itchy skin eruptions to IBS and the ever present arthritis, consequence of long years spent labouring in the fields. The rhythm of life is calm and steady, however, and the cares and worries of urban life in the UK just slip away. I walked around the fields of peppers and cassava and watched the women in the neighbouring village grind and roast the latter to make gari. This versatile tuber is also the basis of Ghanaian staples, fufu and banku, and of tapioca. Our clinic in that village had to be cut short, sadly, as the rain came and threatened to wash the road away leaving us there for longer than intended.

Emperor was my translator and co-prescriber in Mafi Seva, and Pastor John joined us for some of the time. It was good to see old friends again and to sit discussing homeopathy with two such accomplished practitioners and to see their continued enthusiasm for learning.

When the time came to leave we got a trotro from the village to Adidome, the district capital where Emperor and I had been invited to meet the Mayor and the head of the local administration, both of whom were delighted to learn of the homeopathic work going on at Mafi Seva and were very interested in the impending arrival of the Doctors Bhattacharyea. The contrast with the entrenched attitudes and prejudices of bureaucrats in the UK was stark.

On our return to Accra the change of pace hit me. The crowds, the traffic, the street traders and the roadside stalls are almost overwhelming in their profusion; it is an exciting place. It is also hot and a challenge to negotiate – especially when one is trying to follow one’s red suitcase as it disappears into the distance on the head of a young girl who is, in turn, trying to keep up with Emperor!

On my previous visit, when I was staying and working with long-term volunteer Mel Duprès, we had been based at Banana Inn, an urban suburb in the vast sprawl of Accra, but the second week of my trip this time was to be at the School in Kasoa.

Teaching at PISHAM

The Premier Institute of Homeopathy and …… is located in this market town on the edge of Accra on the way to Cape Coast. The building comprises a classroom and clinic rooms where the students can observe and participate in case-taking with Julius Berdie, the Director, or Grace Rhoomes, a UK trained homeopath who has come to live in a coastal village nearby; I was lucky enough to be staying with Grace and Openi in their house by the beach.

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There are two intakes of students in training at the School; I started with a four-day stint with the 2nd years and then had three days teaching the first years. Students come from a variety of work backgrounds. Many are employed in complementary health clinics already and will therefore have a head-start as they move into practice. Here they are not only having to learn the complexities of classical homeopathy and repertorisation but they are having to learn it all in a second language.
Their achievement is nonetheless impressive. We worked with role-play and the students’ own presentations of materia medica on the principle that effective learning is an active process rather than a passive one but the classroom is also equipped with projector and whiteboard to facilitate the more formal side of things. Seven days teaching is hard work, of course but, as anyone with experience of teaching knows, it can also be energising and very fulfilling. It feels worthwhile and constructive to be involved in training new generations of homeopaths who will in turn be taking homeopathy forward for years to come.

Having discovered on my previous trip how friendly and helpful Ghanaians are and how easy it is to get around I followed my time with the Ghana Project with a short trip of my own up to Cape Coast and Elmina to learn a bit more about the history of Ghana and to visit some conservation enterprises around the National Park. It was a fascinating, albeit thought provoking and at times disturbing experience. I would thoroughly recommend that volunteers consider taking a bit of extra time if they possibly can to do something similar.

Born in 1949 in Iran, Soroush showed an early interest in biology and zoology and things medical.  However, when he arrived in UK aged 16 he faced major language difficulties and after a year had to drop biology so that he could concentrate on physics, chemistry and mathematics.  This meant that he could not study medicine at university.

Soroush studied Paper Science at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).  He then followed this with a post graduate diploma in Production Management and worked in the paper industry until 1982.  He then formed his own exporting company and concentrated on that.

In 1991, purely by chance he saw BBC2′s QED programme which showed how effective homeopathy was and that its action was real and not due to the placebo effect.  He then attended two evening class courses and was then guided by his tutor to attend the London School of Classical Homeopathy, where he was impressed by the teachings of Sheilagh Creasy.   Having finished his second year, the turn of events forced him to be in Iran for two years.  Whilst in Iran he managed to attend courses there and to keep up with his studies. Once back in UK, he switched to the London College of Classical Homeopathy and in his final year was supervised by Sheilagh Creasy for a number of his college cases.

After graduation in 1999 he has spent much time promoting homeopathy both by delivering lectures or writing articles for the press.  He continues his study of homeopathy by attending lectures whenever possible and especially Sheilagh Creasy’s Master Classes.

He says he will do anything to promote homeopathy!  So when the opportunity arose to assist with the Ghana Project to enable Homeopathy to be taught and practised in Ghana, he pledged his full support because it is an opportunity to make a vast difference to the general health of a population by offering effective and importantly cheap medicine.

Angie and Bonsu prepare a big shipment of books to Ghana

This summer (2010) we were able to send over 1,000 homeopathic books to Ghana. Some of these will form the first homeopathic libraries in Ghana The others, especially Repertories and Materia Medicas have been distributed to our Ghanaian students. These books are not available to buy in Ghana so the students are delighted to receive them. Thank you to all in the homeopathic community who have generously donated books and educational materials.

My journey to Ghana started with an introduction to ‘The Ghana Homeopathy Project’ from Angie who I met whilst studying in London.  Having read literature about the project I then contacted Linda Shannon and set about organising a fund raising event in Guernsey for which she came over for.  That was two years ago and finally in 2010 I was able to book up my flight and along with Angie to make the journey myself, to see the difference a small group of homeopaths were making in the remote areas of Ghana.  After flying into Accra which like many cities was a bombardment to the senses (although I must admit I enjoyed the backdrop of reggae that seemed to follow us where ever we went) I was excited about getting out of the city and into the village at Mafi Seva where the clinic is based.
After 3 hours on the local bus service which had me narrowly confined between two local Ghanaians with a healthy appetite,  that was clear from all the food shopping they were doing out of the window from the street sellers…we arrived.
As a westerner what I liked most about Mafi was the basic living.   The day started with a cold open air bucket shower, the water for which is cloudy with sediment, leaving you wondering whether you were cleaner before hand but nevertheless grateful for the cooling off.  The lavatory was a long drop the smell of which one grew accustomed to quite quickly and the food was a mixture of locally grown produce- consisting of fruit, plantain, cassava, rice, tomatoes. What was interesting is although to an outsider the local diet seemed varied and healthy most of the locals never eat certain things like fruit because they could not afford to buy it.  For example a pineapple might be 1 cedi (50p) which for some villagers may be the sum total of earnings for the day and if they grow it they want to sell it.  Ideas one has about a country are quickly dispelled when you spend a bit of time in it as I continued to find out.
As a young homeopath it was a fascinating and highly educational experience.  On my first night in the village I was able to sit in on part of a labour in the clinic, a frequent occurrence in Mafi. At college we were told how effectively and quickly remedies work the area of midwifery.
The line between life and death was certainly a blurred one.  I was informed the infant mortality is very high with every 1 in 44 births not surviving.  Indeed whilst I was there a baby was still born from strangulation by its cord.  Any grief appeared to be quickly shaken off though as child death is a normal part of life.  The average female patient has about 6 children, almost an insurance policy for the ones they will inevitably lose.  This element is something one had to bear in mind whilst case taking as an event that in the west sounds traumatic is a regular part of life here, something the Ghanaians pick themselves up from more readily.  They don’t talk emotions so much and often present with physical symptoms so delving into the psyche is often pointless.

It was a great pleasure to meet Emperor after hearing about him from Linda.  He is a prime example of the kind, generous ever smiling Ghanaian and he has a great knowledge of materia medica.  Patients arrived at all times of the day and night and what is so brilliant is that now they are specifically asking for these little white pills over anything else.
During my time there we went to different village clinics by van (‘tro tro’) through the dusty pot holed tracks.  Our first clinic was Kumasi village where 30 patients were waiting patiently under a tree which we saw in our pairs of Emperor and I then Angie and another Ghanaian Christopher.  It made sense that the majority of cases were arthritic complaints, a result of the back breaking work the people do toiling on the farms and which Emperor gets good responses to.  A great many patients had blurred vision a problem that could be easily remedied with prescription glasses but which they cannot afford. ~Fortunately the project have been donated many reading glasses which are gladly received
Of the most memorable was a person suffering from epileptic symptoms which responded beautifully. After 10 years of fits on a daily basis, despite conventional medications, she reported no fits for the first two weeks after starting her remedy which was Cuprum. Of course more time will be needed to evaluate the response.
As a homeopath our job is to piece together the presenting symptoms to create an individual picture for that person which we then match to a remedy.  What is so interesting from a homeopathic point of view in Ghana is the clarity of the pictures presenting, with patients telling you symptoms which are so distinct and often bizarre because their vitality is so strong from the lack of medical suppression. The increased vitality means remedies work quickly too.
I found my Ghana experience truly thought provoking and life enhancing.  You don’t realise how fortunate you are in many ways until you see what people are contending with on a daily basis.  The other side of that coin is realising how far away from our roots we have come, a great deal of which is to our detriment.

After my personal education in the village it was lovely to be a part of the group education going on in the city with the project’s college in Accra.  The students had a wonderful enthusiasm to learn and they were sincerely grateful for us being there.    Each morning they had huge smiles and as I was taking their tutorials I was able to hear the grand ideas they all had about a larger college and spreading the word of homeopathy which is always good to hear- only time will tell if it is possible.
It was exciting to be a part of the training of these future Ghanaian homeopaths who have the potential to make such a big difference.

As homeopaths we all set out to help others find balance and no where else have I had such an education of how to achieve this until Ghana- to cast out the unnecessary baggage, slow down and reconnect to our very nature .We might know the principles but living it is harder.  Consciously or unconsciously we bring something to someone else whatever our beliefs medically, religiously or otherwise. Whether it is our next door neighbour or someone in another country but what I realise is that it is important to remember we don’t have all the right answers and we shouldn’t make people believe that we do.  We have as much to learn from the Ghanaians as they can learn from us and part of our job is to help them realise it-empowering them with the tools we have like empathy and kindness.

25 pounds per month can give a students a fully supportive bursary for an accredited 2 year diploma course in Accra to gain a  qualification in homeopathy

A 25 pounds donation can pay for a set of essential books for homeopathic students

A 25 pound donation can pay for an essential starter remedy kit  to start practising

20 pounds can pay for the provision of a 2 day introductory course in homeopathic first aid.

5 pounds can support the purchase of a homeopathic first aid kit

50 pounds a month can maintain our planned library and resource centre in Kumasi

150 pounds can pay for the a year’s regular provision of a homeopathic clinic in a remote village

150 pounds will buy a full set of 300 medicating potencies from India for our outreach clinics

300 pounds a year will pay for the upkeep of a mobile clinic to travel to remote areas

1000 pounds will by an infant incubator for Mafi Seva village maternity unit