A million thousand rupees

Oct 31, 2006

Today we traveled to an urban yet traditional village right outside a fairly large town about 3 hours from Hyderabad. If you think a village closer to an urban center will be suburban or have more modern amenities think again. Urban villages tend to be the slums and not suburbia. This village was no different. It was literally 3 blocks from the main road yet their huts were the merest of reed and rush. There were two adobe dwellings. We we met with the women in one of them.

The men in this village work in town and the women stay in the village. There are about 15 families and most of the women came to the meeting. After our problems the day before in the village where we had stayed for 8 hours, we had felt a bit discouraged. We decided to only meet with these women for 3 hours. We didn’t know until we arrived their children were in school for most of the presentatin which made it easier for everyone. This village is Christian and conservative Hindu and Baha'i.

At the end of the meeting two women spoke to Naheed. They were from another village and Muslim. They had seen our car arrive and wandered over planning to stay for 5 minutes and stayed for 3 hours. They were thrilled and couldn’t stop talking about how they were going immediately to the other Muslim villages in the area to share the skills.

This group was wonderful. First, they shared the same language as Naheed our translator. Bahia’s (another Baha'i woman) grown daughter came as well. She had worked as a teacher and shared Baha’i teachings in this village over the past few years so everyone was like a big family.

Most of these women delivered in hospital and laboured alone with a midwife sitting in the room timing contractions but not interacting much. When they scream the midwives tell them to take deep breaths in and hold them and that’s all. When they do deliver in the village then relatives are present. They massage the belly a lot during labour as their type of massage.

It seems in this village women were having trouble getting pregnant whereas in the other village they were overrun with children and wanted to stop having them. Often the women hope that I am here to treat them for one or the other problem. It's either family planning or fertility talks. This is not the case. They're all quite happy with The Pink Kit skills.

One of the delights of the day came from a comment Naheed made. She said that if she had come to the village on a request to speak about Baha’i, the Muslim women from the other village and many of the Christian and Hindu women would have left. Instead all the women attended the 3 hours even when the children came back from school they were sent away saying: ‘Your mother is in school now, go away’. Of course very young children always stay, nurse and sleep but in this village the women wanted the older children to go do something else.

My hosts and translators were thrilled with the response in this village. One woman told the translators the skills they had learned were worth more than a million thousand rupees.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Learning about Baha'i

Oct 30, 2006

Although my son and I visited the Baha’i temple in Delhi, India I knew very little about Baha’i except women and men are given equal status and world peace is a goal. My trip has been co-organized by Common Knowledge Trust and a Pakistan NGO called The Resource Centre for Development Alternatives headed by Hidayatullah and Nazli of Mensahra, Pakistan. They are a Baha’i family with three children. Although we have corresponded for several years to organize my trip, we have not yet met.

All the visits I am making now are organized through the Baha’i community in Sindh Province in the South of Pakistan. I have discovered many Baha’i do ‘pioneering’ work in villages. Unlike Christianity or Islam, Baha’i can not convert or proselytize their religion. They may discuss the Baha’i Faith when people ask them ‘what religion are you?’ By the way this is the first question people ask each other in Pakistan.

So, discussing Baha’i must come from a conversation brought about by the other person. Baha’i has other values:

• Service
• Respect for all religions and Prophets.
• Living within the political system of the country where you reside.
• World Peace (as mentioned before)
• Equality of women and men (as mentioned before)
• Oneness of Mankind
• Independent investigation of Trust
• Harmony of Religion and Science
• Relinquishing of Prejudice
• Universal Education
• Spiritual solution to economic problems
• World Commonwealth and others

Staying in Baha’i homes has been easy for me because women and men, young and old enjoy one another. I like that so many of them do service work. When we are in the villages, the villagers and Baha'i interact as equals. This has made my job much easier. The women who are translating are relaxed when in villages even the very traditional ones.

Because Baha’i accepts all religions the presence of Baha’i people in the villages are welcome. Village people don’t feel they have come to convert them. Because of this relationship and Baha'i values, I am able to explain The PK skills are universal and fit into and along side what other skills are familiar and used. People like that. They don't feel I've come to tell them 'what to do' or to tell them 'what they do is wrong'.

We have a great time.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

health care continued

Oct 30, 2006

Whenever I head to a very different climate, I know it will take me 2 weeks to adjust. If I can adjust carefully then I will not get sick unless something unexpected happens. Often when people go on vacation they get sick right away particularly if they go to a developing county. For me, this is important to avoid if I am coming to work in the villages. I don’t want to feel poorly on top of adjusting so I take time to adjust.

I rest a great deal, drink my oral rehydration formula and take appropriate homeopathics and vitamins each day as the need arises. This must sound like a traveling medicine chest and it is. Over the many years I’ve traveled both alone and with my children, I have avoided some of the more serious complaints.

So here are some other things I carry and what I do with them. I carry Tea Tree Oil and Grapefruit Seed oil. The GFSO is used internally for any type of digestive complaint. If used immediately you can avoid stomach problems by either contaimenated foods or water. It is extremely bitter. When I start I dissolve 1-3 drops in water then see how I feel. If I burb and pass wind then I usually know I’ve stopped the growth of the bacteria inside. If not, I take more and adjust.

I also use the GFSO and TeaTree externally. I bathe or wash 2x/day and put one or two drops of each into a rinse water I’ll use after I shampoo and wash. This I pour over my body and hair as the last thing before I dry. This keeps away the skin fungus, heat rash and usually calms the insect bits. I do not use any repellent. I don’t choose to use chemical ones and the natural ones haven’t always worked. But when I come to Pakistan again I’ll bring several and see if they work on whatever has been biting me. I’m not certain what is I biting me (no-see-ems) but I’ve been bitten a great deal this week only on my belly, hips and back and itch particularly at night.

This might be bed bugs.

I carry Psorinum and Mezereum. I take the former to block any scabies attacks and the latter for the night time itching. I carry Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide in 6c. The pollution is exteme here. I take them 1-2x/day depending on how much driving we are doing. I also take Tuberculium whenever my lungs are feeling weak. Next year I'll look for some other cough remedies. Everyone seems to have a pollution cough, me included.

Bouncing around in an older Jeep on roads that are like washboards for hours each day is tiring and bone crunching. Symphytum helps as does Cimicifuga. Doing some form of stretching or yoga whenever I find a floor space appropriate that also helps.

Vitamins are: probiotics, laxatives (taken 1x/week to have a good thorough bowel movement), liver herbs, hawthorn for the heart, herbal sleeping formula and sea vegatation. The types of vitamins I carry will depend on the place and what my particular health issues have been during the recent months. It’s vitally important to protect from intestinal parasites so cleansing the bowel every week is important.

The best cleanse is a Yogi one. Drink 2 liters of room temperature salted water all at once in the morning but don’t eat. It takes about 3-4 hours to work through your intestines and you’ll have 5-6 bowel motions. Your head will clear out and you’ll realize that even with all your care you still weren’t feeling well.

Changing weather, food, environment along with social behaviors is always challenging. Since I will remain in Pakistan for 2 months I will become more adapted. Heading to the mountains next week so I’ll need to use a whole new set of remedies and vitamins. I’m prepared.

I’m writing this at 1:00pm. I’m in my room. The mullahs are calling prayer from all the mosques with amplified speakers. The roar of buses, lorries and motorized rickshaws travels easily up the two stories, along with all the sirens and talking of people on the street. The courtyard is shared by many homes so all the talking is heard along with children crying. Life abounds and I’m happy to be part of it.

For people who do not travel or live in less developed countries, the pleasure of so much life reminds one of the lack of it in so many developed countries where families are isolated one from another and children absorbed by TV and computers.

Most people would be horrified at the children here. First of all they share the road with all the vehicles. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. The horn is used frequently but not aggressively and children from the age of 2 know to give vehicles the right of way. Gaggles of children wander the streets at certain times of the day. Pakistan does not have compulsory education so few children are educated and fewer girls.

Since we are in a poor area, the rags children wear are the colour of dust. It is the young girls and women who wear colour and wear colour they do. Their clothing is always remarkably bright and decorated yet they cover their heads. There are less women wearing burqa (full covering here) and these are always black.

I can’t imagine what it is like to wear black in this weather. Since there are many tribal groups the clothing is most often tribal with a head covering.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

How I stay healthy

Oct 30, 2006

Like all cultures where supermarkets do not exist, the food is freshly cooked and delicious. Because this family is one generation from Persia, much of their food is Persian in taste as well. The roti is much thicker than what one finds in India or Malaysia. They have tea at 10:30am, mid day meal about 2:00, tea again at 7:00 and evening meal at 10:30pm. People stay up late and sleep late. The weather is still very challenging and hot 35 degrees and we are headed into winter!

I’ve had to be very careful with my health. Being 62 is not so much a factor as the heat, dust and pollution. So I thought I’d discuss how I keep myself healthy. I’ve had a lot of experience over the years living in developing countires. When I work as a natural health provider in traditional communities, I bring about 300 homeopathic remedies so I can treat people.

Usually in developing countries I am filling in the health gap between their traditional health practices and the modern medical system. I also bring accupuncture needles and do lots of hands-on Gentle Muscular Relaxation.

This is not my relationship in Pakistan. I am here to share The Pink Kit skills however I do have about 100 remedies for myself and a few others with whom I will work. Like in every country there are unique health issues due to the climate, environment, food, availability to clean water and diseases as well as common injuries. In every village childbirth is considered to be very challenging to the health and wellbeing of both mothers and babies. This is real. It is.

I also carry two homeopathic books: Biochemistry by J.P Chapman from Jain publisher in India. Jain is one of the largest and best homeopathic publishers in the world. This is a book about the 12 tissue salts and I carry all of those with me. Then I have The Family Guide to Homeopathy by Alain Horvilleur. MD. I carry the small edition. This is a simple book to use and very thorough.

I customize my homeopathic kit depending on what I know about where I’m going and the problems I might encounter. When my children were small they also traveled with me. I carried remedies also suited for children’s complaints. I knew nothing about Pakistan and assumed it was sort of like India, so much of what I put together was a kit using some of the remedies I used in India and then some I realized I picked up when I worked in India in the early 1990s.

The first thing I had to deal with was the heat. This weather is between 30-35 degrees every day and lays me flat. I mix up an oral rehydration formula for myself with table salt and sugar … just a bit of taste of each flavour in one liter of water. I drink 3-4 liters of this each day. Water must be boiled so I don’t always have access to as much fluids as I would like.

Every room has a ceiling fan whipping around at a million miles an hour. This is very drying particularly to the eyes and ears. Fortunately I carry homeopathic eye drops and I put tissue in my ears so the wind from the fan doesn’t cause ear aches. Then I explain to my hosts I’m not yet hungry. This takes a bit of explanation. Every where people love to share food and rarely understand a lack of appetite.

When in dry climates I tend toward constipation rather than diarrhea. Either way it’s important to be thoughtful. I make every effort to stay healthy every day for the first few weeks. By then I will have adjusted. I'm still in the adjustment phase.

As soon as I adjust here then I'll head to high altitude and cold climate. A few weeks to adjust there.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Culture and Religion in Pakistan

Oct 30, 2006

The pleasure of getting to know local people can’t be expressed. I'm very privileged because of the work I do with The Pink Kit Method For Birthing Better®. Rarely do we have an opportunity to meet people as one human being to another. Usually all the differences of culture, religion, race, language, education, marital status, gender and age have a huge impact on our social relationships.

The Pink Kit Method is so universal and just plan common sense and practical, suddenly we realize the Truth ... we are all One Humanity. The Pink Kit Method gives us a common language to understand the way Humans give birth.

Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country and there are certain cultural social behaviors expected and adhered to. Although women are present on the street, there is not the street living one sees in other countries which are not Muslim. In fact you don’t even see many children. The streets are predominately full of men. The living takes place inside one’s home.

At the present time, I am in Hyderabad about 3 hours from Karachi. The family I am with is originally from Persia (Iran) and have been Baha’i for two generations. They live in the market area of Hyderabad in a house built around a central court yard. There are 5 rooms on one side of the court area and several more rooms on the other. Pakistan people live in extended families with many people sleeping in the same room.

This family is middle class and has three TVs. The International Cricket Competition has been playing. Pakistan just lost to New Zealand and New Zealand has gone into the semi finals with South Africa, Australia and the West Indies. Since both Pakistan and India have lost, there is less interest in the outcome of the competition.

Pakistan families are extended. This means that the woman’s familiy and man’s family are the social relationships. I am learning a little bit about cultural practices. Unlike in Muslim families in Pakistan, Baha’i do not marry their first cousin. The people I am meeting in this family will extend all the way to the grandparents sybling’s children’s children and sometimes back to another generation and the lineage which springs from those relationships.

Baha'i people are very social. Although there are 3 TVs (and cable) in this house there is much more socializing then in Western countries. Baha'i people love to talk and love to laugh. This is both a Persian and Urdu speaking family as well as English. I understand little but enjoy the energy.

People of all ages congregate and enjoy each other. Because Baha’i is a religion that expressly says women and men are equal, the relationship between the genders are relaxed and informal.

When we are presenting to Muslim women or in Hindu villages there is less interaction between women and men and certainly less socializing. This is the first Muslim country I’ve been in. I’ve been in many traditionally living villages in other countries where men and women are generally more relaxed than in either the Muslim or Hindu communities.

This in no way detracts from the enjoyment of sharing. In fact, once Muslim and Hindu women recognize The Pink Kit as universal skills both the culture and religion give way into a place inside which is just about being a human being. This is nice.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Oct 30, 2006

Let me speak about some other aspects of my journey here. I am being hosted by local families who all belong to the Baha’i religion I am living with local people and their customs as well as having discussions about the Baha’i religion. There's nothing 'tourist' about my trip to Pakistan. The enjoyment is always immense. We live in a world of 'travel illusion'.

I’d like to speak about some of the things I am seeing as we travel. I’ve already mentioned the lorries and buses and how beautifully they are painted. At night time they self illuminate from the reflection of on-coming headlights. Scrolling tin work and lots of reflectors make up part of the design. These they glow in the dark. Suddenly through the darkness comes this bright red, green, silver apparition that becomes a truck or bus once it’s closer. It’s absolutely magical.

Camels are used along with donkeys to pull carts. In one area we've travelled throug there were horses but in the drier areas it is camels and donkeys. The donkeys are tiny with carts loaded to the max. All the animals are well cared for and often have areas dyed orange or red.

At night the camel carts travel together hauling hay. The loads may not be heavy but the size of the loads are enormous. All the loads are loaded in the same manner, within sacks arranaged in a particular shape for better balance. When driving at night, the headlights will reflect this massive shape and you know you are about to pass several carts. All the camels have bells attached so the movement and sounds are just beautiful.

There were a few lorries carrying hay loads. The lorries here are incredibly big and don’t look like trucks I’ve seen elsewhere. It’s hard to tell whether they have a different shape or whether the decoration has changed their shape. They always have a high bow, decorated with studs and filigrees of tin or some other shiny silver metal. These filigrees surround painted areas and reflectors. Beautiful and symbolic pictures as well as birds and plants cover the lorries everywhere, wheels included. Often there are beautifully carved wooden doors.

The sides of the lorries are quite high, over 6 feet so when they are loaded and the loads rise above the siding, you now have most trucks carrying loads over 12-15 feet high from the base. Well, the trucks carrying the hay go way beyond that. The shape of the hay is determined by burlap. Imagine trucks with 6 foot high sides and probably 15 feet long. Fill that up first. Now put a complex burlap shape rising from the sides another 6 feet straight up. Now imagine that same continuous burlap shape growing out from the sides at a 35% angle and extending another 6 feet out on each side. Then imagine the sides of this extension reaching up another 4-5 feet until it is then covered on the top. A huge mushroom 15 feet long and easily 20 feet high. This then lumbers down the road almost hitting every over-arching tree, but in fact fitting into the tunnel of the trees covering the road.

I don't carry a camera so no photos. Any photos from Pakistan were taken by someone else.

Night driving is a delight. Also the pollution is hidden ... a blessing really.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Cesarean deliveries are frequent in Pakistan

Oct 30, 2006

In every village so far there have been several women who would be excellent at sharing the information, so we know we have to train village people to share the information through oral tradition.

Illiteracy is not an issue with village people. They may not know how to read and write however they have incredible memories and can often repeat what I say word for word. They have long range memory as well and the ability to remember a great deal of information. Their memory is not just ‘rote’ learning. Once they understand something then they remember it. The skills then become part of their thinking and knowing.

This has always been apparent to me in the years where I’ve spent time over the years. This means getting these skills out to village people will probably be much easier than getting the skills to urban, educated women unless Common Knowledge Trust can produce a simple, written Pink Kit resource Ministry of Health can distribute to pregnant women from the clinics.

Also consider this. Urban and educated women in Pakistan like many countries rely on what the doctors says. Every woman has had a c/s for a breech birth. Even in countries like Pakistan with a less broadly available and less sophisicated health system the concept of once a c/s always a c/s is applied. In fact, I was told many women arrive at an appointment toward the end of pregnancy and the doctor says 'something is wrong, you have to have a cesarean' without telling women what the problem is. Women don't question either.

Being a doctor is very high status. Everyone wanted to call me Madam or Doctor. Caste and class are still very real elements in Pakistan society. Women of high class value the doctor's opinion and never question. Women of low class do not feel they have any legitimacy to question.

However the village women who live very far from the hospital have no transport. They will birth in the village. They always try to make birth safe for the mothers and babies.

They see The Pink Kit skills as adding a huge dimension of safety and this excites them.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Well this didn't work

Oct 30, 2006

We drove to another village today to spend 8 hours. This village was very remote. Although this whole area of Pakistan rarely has rain for years and years, there was a major monsoon in July. There is still a great deal of standing water even close to many of these villages. This means Dengue and Malaria are very present this year.

This village was also a Sindhie speaking village and this ended up being a problem. Although Naheed spoke simple Urdu the women in this villlage struggled with the concepts of The Pink Kit due to the language barrier. We had also made one of those huge mistakes that happen. No one knew we were coming. The head man who was supposed to set up the meeting had taken ill the day before and gone to hospital 2 hours away without telling anyone we were coming. So four of us arrived (Naheed, Bahia, Nadia and myself … called ‘auntie) and dropped off before we discovered no one had expected us. There we were for 8 hours.

Most of the women were working in the fields. Although this area of Sindh Province has more green than the other villages this area is still a desert. The shrubs are thorny with large tracts of sand between. Cotton is grown and grasses such as rice. Most all the food grown is for sustainance. There is a huge irrigation system coming off the Indus River.

The women were out picking cotton. A few older women and two pregnant women arrived. The indoor space they put us was very small and cramped. Eventually about 20 married women squeezed in. I was able to share the breathing skills with them. They liked what they understood.

Then I made mistake #2.

In previous villages the women wanted to break to cook mid-day meal for the families about noon and then return about 2:00pm. So after 2 ½ hours, I suggested the same to these women Well, two hours later only 5 women returned. In this village they don’t have a noon meal so the women had returned to the fields to pick cotton. They never returned.

The women who stayed for the afternoon were old women and one pregnant woman having her first baby. This village is very conservative Hindu. The pregnant woman was the second wife of a man. His first wife had arthritis of her hands and could no longer massage him after his work so he had gone to another village and bought another wife.

Conservative Hindu women are also not able to show their face around certain men so they cover up as soon as a man arrives anywhere near the hut. The Dai from this village was one of the older women. She was in her late 80s, about 4 feet tall and probably 60 pounds. She loved the information and shared some of her skills.

Unlike the other Dais, she does feel inside women during labour. She knew something opened up inside. In most villages the women do not relate the pain of contractions to anything particular.

In fact when asked ‘Where does the pain come from?’ They would answer ‘God’. So I had to change the question to ‘What causes the pain?’ They said they didn’t know.

Even when The Pink Kit is shared to well educated women living in modern countries, they don’t know either. Some may know it is caused by the dilation of the cervix; however, if women truly understood this then we won’t fight birth as much as we do. We'd just say things like 'Crikkey this hurts heaps but I know why it hurts. This amount of pain tells me my cervix is half way dilated'.

Once we truly understand something it usually becomes easier to work with the issue. The dilation of the cervix is hidden within us. It’s easy to understand why women don’t really ‘get’ where the pain comes from.

This Dai did know something opens and when this something opened up then she would wash the inside of the vagina to clean it for the baby.

In this village when the women are having pain they are pounded on the hips, legs and back with fists. This was different from another village where women patted the mother's shoulders and arms and upper back. In fact, every village did things their way and every Dai did things her way.

This has made The Pink Kit skills very easy and successful to share. All the women realize these are common skills that can be learned, practiced and used in any birth along with the skills they also use. All the women in every village have all said the same thing about the PK skills … these skills should be everywhere … they are common sense … we didn’t know them … we will share them with our friends, sisters, daughters and daughters-in-law. None of the women feel shame for not knowing these skills nor do they feel their skills aren’t good. They were just glad they now understood.

Anyway, we met with this small group of women for a few hours more but then they too left to bring the goats in for the evening milking. We waited for hours for Samsheer to pick us up. We all agreed 8 hours was too long for one session. We also acknowledged there had to be a fluent speaker of the language doing the translations. We also knew it was better to come 3 days in a row for 3-4 hours each than to try to do everything at once.

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Journey with Bheel women

Oct 28, 2006

We arrived in the first village so I could speak to the women there. This village was beautiful. It was small but well ordered. The grounds were adobe as were the huts. In every village there is always an inside space and a reed covered outside space. The charpoys (beds) are moved in and out as people like. The bed mats in all the villages regardless of tribal origin are beautiful woven or appliqué. I had been taken to a Museum in Hyderabad and was able to see the beautiful work there. Every part of this village was spotlessly clean.

The village dress among the Bheel is still bright and full of embroidery, mirrors and beads but reflect their particular tribal origin. This village collected and dried buffalo patties for fuel. There are a million children who are dressed in rags and fascinated by seeing strangers. My hosts are known to this village. I have learned that many Baha’i become Pioneers. They do service work in remote areas. Unlike either the Christian or Muslim faiths, they do not convert.

They never talk to others about their religion unless asked and never discuss Baha’i unless requested. This village had adopted the Baha’i faith from a Hindu background. My hosts say Muslims in Pakistan consider Hindus to be an ethnic group but Hindus consider themselves to be a religion.

Unfortunately there had been two recent deaths and the women were away from the village. After a cup of tea we traveled to the next village about ¾ minutes away. This new village was from the same ethnic background and were also farmers. Their village however was much poorer and not as well tended. The women were keen for me to be there. About 50 of them gathered along with all the children (masses) and many of the men.

This was unlike the first Jogi village where unmarried girls, children and men were vigorously excluded. Here the people spoke Sindh which is the traditional language of this area. My hosts did not speak this language well so Naheed ended up using a baby-talk Urdu everyone seemed to understand.

Naheed had quickly become translator for the remainder of my stay in Sindh Province. Her daughter, Nadia ... a doctor, did not like 'gynocology', was unmarried and found translating to be quite difficult. Naheed, who holds a Master Degree in English loved translating. She had also lost her first two children in childbirth because they couldn't 'get out' so she loved learning skills she thought might have made a huge difference in her personal life.

I always explain things very simply so translation was quite good. The women complimented Naheed on helping them understand what I was saying. In this village with all the children, the noise was constant. There was absolutely no way I could have explained the breath skills so I chose to talk about our common birth language skills and the private birth talk a woman does when she is feeling painful contractions.

These women will only birth in the village. The hospital is too far away. The Dai arrived and listened. Both she and the Dai from the Jogi village loved the skills. They could see the benefit of working with women who are more relaxed. Like in the Jogi village, the dai did not see it was her role to teach the women these skills.

When we first settled down to the chat, I asked them if they knew why I was there and what I was going to talk about. They said they hoped I would tell them how not to have any more children! This village was absolutely overrun with children. We had a good laugh but no I wasn’t there to help them solve that problem just how to give birth with some skills I would like to share.

I didn’t have the opportunity to ask them much about their traditional practices because the volume of chatter all around was difficult. A few women spoke about how exhausted women are after birth and how they just scream and holler. They don’t listen even to the Dai when she tells them to relax.

Like women everywhere, we learn to cook to satisfy our natural physiological urge of being hungry but we seem to believe there is nothing we can do to work with the pain of labour. The old women spoke up about how important the Pink Kit skills I was sharing with them were.

We only had time and energy to go over the shared language. Whenever I talk about our inner voice and how we say bad things to ourselves when the pain is great, every one laughs with that ‘knowing’ laugh … yup we do.

Everyone asked us to tell them more and come back to teach them. Birth is such a common experience and something that, although might not be pleasurable, can certainly be manageable. They loved the idea of being able to work together for a common goal of working with babies efforts to be born rather than fighting the process.

We left knowing the women will talk this over and share these few skills with each other. If one woman can relax inside for one moment of one contraction then it’s all worth it. One pregnant woman talked about how hard it is to relax during the pain. I explained there is always some time to relax whether between contractions, just as they are starting or as soon as the worst pain leaves. Ah! A light bulb moment for this woman. She realized there was plenty of time to relax, she just hadn’t known how until now. With her new skills of how to relax inside, she felt inspired and more comfortable about her next birth.


Naheed

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com



Bheel Village ... having tea

Pakistan Lorries are a WOW

Oct 28, 2006

Today we drove 3 ½ hours from Hyderabad to another town and then another hour to village of a tribal group by the name of Bheel. As in India each ethnic group tends to follow one or several similar occupations. This is known as the caste system along with other aspects of this overarching social system. Pakistan also has this caste system.

The Jogi in the village near Karachi have the occupation as beggers, snake charmers and sell eggs and chickens. These people are farmers, farming sugar cane, cotton and rice.

Driving through much of the southern part of Pakistan is not visually inspirational but there are some interesting sights. Every truck and bus is its own work of art. I haven’t looked in Google Images but you might try searching for Pakistan Lorries, trucks or buses. I’m sure someone has taken photos. In this rather drab environment the transportation gives colour and inspiration.

For anyone who has been to India, Thailand or other SouthEast Asian countries, driving can be hair raising but not in Pakistan. People certainly drive mostly on the left but that’s a vague concept. There are busess, lorries, motorcycles, tuktus, private vehicles, motorcycles, donkey and camel carts, people walking and children playing. Yet, there is great consideration between drivers and pedestrians. They all watch out for each other in some sort of working relationship. Pakistan is not known for having a high auto accident rate as in many developing countries or even developed ones.

When I first visited New Zealand many years before I immigrated I was struck by how very nice New Zealand people are. But put them behind the wheel of their car and they turn into aggressive, rude folks. On the other hand, the rather brash and direct Aussie is an example of gracious driving. Thankfully NZ drivers are improving with a strong and consistent message on TV and radio. Pakistan drivers are polite and cautious (that’s the word they use for each other). Accidents are few although, of course, there are serious ones. No one wears seat belts but I felt comfortable and at ease.

The pollution however is a different matter. The streets are narrow and the dust and vehicle emission is extreme. Sometimes a car 40 feet in front of you is just a yellow, dusty image. I’ve been to some pretty polluted places but I think Pakistan stands out as the worst so far.

On our way to the village there was a wet spot from a leak in a pipe, a motorcycle slid and turned over with the two boys falling and sliding along the road. As with the father and children in the earlier problem, every car stopped and people rushed out to help.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

To Hyderabad

Oct 27, 2006

I went to Hyderabad by bus passing through very dry desert, herds of goats and camels. There has been no rain for 6 years except during July of this year that caused severe flooding. Staying water after all these months is still apparent. But that rain didn't change the desert.

Hyderabad used to be known as the City of gardens but the gardens are now gone. I was met and hosted by another Baha’i family. On the way from the petrol station where I left the bus and as we headed to my host family an accident occurred. A father was putting his three children onto his motorcycle when it tipped over on top of the 3 year old boy. We were just driving by as were a few other cars. Every car stopped and all the men rushed out to help the father. Within less then 5 seconds 20 people from the cars were lifting the motorcycle, helping with the frightened daughters, picking up the boy, consoling the father and making certain everything was aright. Fortunately the boy was not hurt. Everyone got back into their car and drove off.

Would people in your country help in that manner? I've never seen this happen in any of the many countries where I've been. Very unique and very touching. This actually goes hand in hand with how people drive ... all over the road, right up the tail pipe in front but very cautiously.

The daughter of my host family, Nadia, had just become a doctor. She was to be my translator. Our first meeting was with a group of Muslim housewives. These women were educated, middle class but not the upper class. They ran a small self-help institution focused on work opportunities for Muslim women. They a vague idea why I was there.

Whenever I give Pink Kit presentations, I always ask people about their cultural or religious preparations for childbirth and how they manage and help in labour.

This group said they focus during pregnancy on how to prevent of miscarriages. They do this by having good nutrition (not defined), not doing too much physical work and going to many doctor’s appointments. Many of the women birth in hospital and believe they should follow the instructions of the doctor and nurses. No one goes to hospital with the women in labour. Some of the women birth at home and a midwife comes. Then the mother or aunt usually attends.

During painful contractions they pray to Allah. They do not teach any type of breathing or relaxation to their daughters. When asked whether women ‘suffer’ in labour they said suffering in labour is the way it's meant to be so that women can bear Life. With that information, I had to ask whether they wanted to learn skills that might assist to reduce the suffering. I explained that I was not meeting with them to tell them their ways or beliefs were wrong.

Having worked with certain other individuals and religious groups there are those who believe 'suffering' is both a necessity, should be embraced and not avoided. Their interest is not to learn how to reduce the suffering but rather how to suffer gracefully. In these situations, the family and I have had to language these skills in a manner that achieves the latter without challenging the concept of the former.

These women did want to reduce the suffering but were skeptical anything could prevent it. They had no concept that having skills so a woman could work with the process of labour pain was possible. Keep in mind these women do no physical hard work as do the village women. In fact, Muslim women rarely leave their homes.

We only had time to cover the 4 types of breath patterns and which types to use in labour so the woman can remain as relaxed as possible. They absolutely loved the skills. Immediately they could see the benefit of passing on the good breath patterns to their daughters and could understand how important it would be for a woman to know these skills when she labours by herself in hospital. They also mentioned they would have to have the doctor's approval of these breathing skills.

We didn’t have time to share the language, touch, body preparation or any of the other skills. They were keen on finding a way to have The Pink Kit translated into Urdu and available for all Pakistan women.

After the talk and when the men joined us, one man said this was the first meeting in which women were given practical skills. He said every other meeting the women were instructed in the Qaran.

Tomorrow (Oct 28) we are headed to a very rural village again about 4 hours from Hyderabad.


Dr. Nadia Muslim women in Hyderabad

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http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Jogi Moor ... our final day

Oct 26, 2006

The next day Zeeba and I returned to Jogi Moor. This Pink Kit presentation lasted 4 hours after everyone had fed their family the noon meal. More newly married women attended along with most of the women from the day before. Men aren’t welcome but they buzzed around outside keen to somehow catch a bit of what was causing so much excitement in the village. Unmarried girls were also excluded.

We reviewed everything we had gone over the day before and it was like a group recital. As I was going over things, they would say the same thing but in Urdu. Zeeba had become so good at translating it was easy for me to understand what she and the women were saying.

Hand gestures work well. We then had to go over how women in the village understood the inside of our pregnant body.

Many of us who live in developed countries as well as traditional women are more than a bit vague about what’s inside us. I asked the women what holds the baby up inside so it doesn’t fall out for the months of pregnancy. They had no concept. In modern countries many women have heard of their cervix but really don’t have a clue where it is or what happens during labour even though they might know about the term 'dilation'. When it comes to feeling' what is happening inside, that’s very vague.

What's inside is hidden and it's hard to 'touch'.

Many modern women at the end of pregnancy might go to their midwife or doctor and be told their baby is engaged or 3/5 down, the cervix is 50% effaced and 2 cm dilated. Intellectually they may understand but don't have a clue what that feels like in their body. In fact, if we really understood what 'dilation' meant then we won’t be so afraid of the pain. We’d connect the change in pain with the change in dilation. In fact we'd embrace an increase in pain because we'd understand this means the cervix is further dilated and the birth is sooner.

We had one of those interesting moments when Zeeba drew the women a picture of the uterus just like we see in all the two dimensional illustrations. You could see the blank look that comes over so many of us when we see such an illustration. We can't relate that flat illustration to our body which is distinctly 3 dimensional.

To understand where the cervix is, we need to see something the inside of our pelvis like a large circle and a smaller circle (the cervix) as being inside and in the center of that larger circle. Fortunately in The Pink Kit Package http://www.birthingbetter.com/product6.htm
there's an simple to understand visual of where the cervix is, what happens to birth and how the baby does come out.

We only had only this short few hours to go over some of the body preparation.

Then I asked whether women tear during the birth or have problems with their vagina from giving birth. They said many do. I showed them how to do the internal work after telling them the story of the ultra orthodox Jewish women who ‘do their homework’ in each pregnancy because they are:

1. Comfortable with their body.
2. Know the internal work will really help to prevent tears, piles and damage.
   

Although the women in Jogi Moor are Hindu, they liked the story and immediately could see the benefit of doing it.

Like people every where they absolutely loved the hip lift, sit bone spread and Kate’s Cat. In most developing countries fathers are the birth coach. In Pakistan there is a strong cultural divide between women and men, however, I was told of a tribal group where the father helped in labour and birth.

They were amazed at how mobile their body could be. Like most of us, we never think about these things but they are so important in childbirth. We always have to keep in mind that a large object is trying to and must come out of our body (a container). Everything we can do to make our container more open for this object and more relaxed the better.

It doesn’t take education or schooling to feel the difference between tension and relaxation. This is the reason, The Pink Kit Method will become known throughout the World … we are all one humanity. The skills will help all of us give birth and also give those family members who sit with us the skills to really help.

Tomorrow is another day and I am off to Hyderabad for a week of meetings with both educated women and village women.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Moving from one birth skill to another

Oct 25, 2006

Finally we discussed a very specific type of touch that can really help a woman relax inside her body. Massage was common in this village. It tended to be a type of patting different places on the body.

The whole group was beginning to put these skills into the memory of many past births and also into future ones. They became incredibly eager to start now. There were a few young women who had not had children yet. One older woman asked one of these young women who was her daughter if she had understood what was being said. At first the younger woman said she wasn’t paying attention at all! This is so typical of many of us who aren't pregnant or having our first child ... hands over the eyes and ears.

However, when the mother pressed her, she then almost word for word repeated what she had just learned. Everyone laughed. The women could imagine the joy of passing on these skills to their daughters.

After lunch we continued. We brought the three skills: Breath, Language and Touch together. Even though they patted the labouring woman all over the shoulders and back telling them everything would be ok and gave encouragement, they could feel the difference in the type of relaxing Pink Kit touch.They instanteously understood the profound nature of this type of touch when put together with the breathing and language.

This is typical of village women in every country where I've lived in villlages ... practical. If something works it's immediately incorporated. To have something work, it must be immediately experienced as 'working.' Then it's not questioned. None of the women in that village would think of questioning whether or not these skills work. They know they will work because they feel them in their own body and know the woman sitting next to them does as well.

They were keen to have us come back the next day and share some of the body preparation. They couldn’t stop talking. We stayed an hour later just listening to them putting their new skills together for their future.

Zeeba had never heard anything about The Pink Kit. I arrived from Doha, Qatar to her family the day before. I had asked her whether she needed me to explain anything about The Pink Kit as the translator. She said 'no, I'll just translate whatever you say.' As a doctor for 28 year, I wondered what she would think about The Pink Kit. Doctors in developed countries have had no opinions really. Modern doctors love to see a woman cope with birth pain and fathers coach well, but if a woman isn’t coping they have their medical care ready and waiting.

Midwives have always been the more challenging group about The Pink Kit concept of having a skilled birthing population. Within the Natural Birth and Midwifery Model there has been such a strong belief birth doesn’t require any skills The Pink Kit Method has not been embraced by many families seeking ‘natural’ or ‘alternative’ birth.

There was no doubt the Dai who was present was absolutely delighted The Pink Kit was not a set of midwifery skills. She didn’t want more responsibility or to do more. She sat looking at the other village women realizing how much easier her job would be once they became skilled. Since most of women in this village both give birth then help the younger women when it’s their turn, the role of coach or birth provider is not as clearly defined. The Dai does not attend every birth. All the women present saw the benefit of having all the women in their village know these skills. They kept repeating … ‘Everyone should know these skills’.

In modern countries Pink Kit families have never defined themselves as being for natural or medical birth, they’ve just been interested in their own birth whatever that might be. The true success of The Pink Kit Method is that these birth skills are very everyone and every birth.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Birth is real!

Oct 25, 2006

I know many women who have the privilege of living in modern countries with sophisticated medical systems either will read what I’ve just written as a justification for every type of medical care or some might even deny that birth could be fraught with so much complexity.

Over the past 35 years since The Pink Kit Method began to evolve then come together into available resources, the Natural Birth Movement has was sort of pooh-poohed the notion childbirth is unsafe. At the same time the medical model unconsiders birth to be very risky.

It's funny how we think of things really. If you take a 24 hour period of your life, do you think you are likely to die, become sick or injured? If you are in labour during that same 24 hours, are you or the baby likely to die, become sick or injured? The answer to these questions are very curious. In reality, childbirth is obviously more risky for any one woman or baby. So, a woman in labour is more likely to have a problem during labour then if that same woman wasn't in labour.

However, in the broader reality any woman or baby is less likely to die, get sick or be injured than the general population. In other words dieing in birth is extremely rare compared to how much illness, injury and death there is every day in the general population.

It does seem sensible childbirth has many risks. The purpose of both the medical model and natural birth model is to reduce or try to prevent some of those risks. They just do this differently.

The medical model tries to prevent risks by taking birth away from women. It is profoundly easy to opt for a cesarean section rather than face any potential risks or even the naturally occurring pain in childbirth. It’s also easy to take medications for some pregnancy related problems that could be dealt with very successfully through exercise and diet.

The Pink Kit Method For Birthing Better® neither resides in the medical or natural model of childbirth and is a natural fit in both the medical model and the natural birth model. It certainly can’t prevent some potential problems (diabetes, toxemia, low birth weight etc) but the skills can can be used in every birth. Pregnant women and her support can learn effective and simple skills to work with the baby’s efforts to be born.

These women were fascinated. Once I had gone through the breathing skills, they were totally hooked. Each of them could feel the difference in their own body between relaxed breathing and tense breathing patterns.

That first afternoon we went over the language skills:

• How to recognize the internal monologue women carry on with themselves in labour and how to combat the very negative talk we can experience.
  

• Ho the birth helper can use the right tone, speed and words to help a woman in birth to relax inside.

A Dai (midwife) attended as well. In most traditional cultures the woman’s family are usually the people who help her give birth. The midwife arrives, sits around, does some massage, delivers the baby and aferbirth, does some more massage, cleans up and leaves.

This Dai had not been in practice for two years because she felt people became upset with her when something went wrong. All the women fully appreciated these skills were best learned by women during their pregnancy and their family members. They could instanteously see the benefit from all the women in the village having the same skill base. They also realized these skills were best passed on from mother to daughter or mother-in-law to daughter-in-law.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Discovering a whole world of childbirth skills

Oct 25, 2006

The women got very excited when they realized I was about to give them childbirth skills for pregnant women in many areas such as:

1. Breathing
2. Relaxation
3. Childbirth language
4. Body knowledge
5. Preparing our birth canal
6. Putting together our skills during labour
   

Their interest increased further when I told them there were skills for the mothers, mother-in-law, sister, friend or aunt who would help the woman. By the end of the first day I assured them anyone who helps a woman give birth will be able to see and hear when we help a woman and the skills to help her cope with birth pains.

Women in modern countries believe preparing for birth is gathering as much information as possible so they can make choices about their care. In this village as in many other traditional cultures preparing for birth will have more to do with dietary or work restrictions/requirements. However, traditional living women are very skilled and appreciate good, practical, simple skills. Modern women tend to believe 'others' have the skills necessary such as midwives, childbirth educators, doulas or doctors. Traditional women absolutely KNOW they have no one but themselves.

Many Pink Kit families have preparing for birth is a natural extension of being pregnant. When you come to think about it this makes common sense. Being pregnant does lead to a very dynamic experience. Birth may be different from an exam, sporting performance at the Olympics, one’s wedding or climbing Mt. Everest however, no one can deny how BIG giving birth is. No one can deny the woman has to do the work.

Who can deny the pain during contractions can be monumental. Although there were 20-30 women present at this gathering, not one woman considered labour to be pain free. We all laughed when the word 'pain' was mentioned in the way only women do when they are talking about something that is inevitable and they all share.

These women have no illusion about birth in their village. Too many of their sisters, friends and relatives had either died, had a still born, lost a new born or had post birth problems.

As I said, initially they thought Zeeba, a doctor, and I had come to fix the current set of problems in their village:

• There were a number of pregnant women who were feeling weak.
• One woman who was still bleeding too heavily after giving birth two days ago.
• A young woman whose first child was still born at 7 months pregnancy had just delivered a healthy baby (25 days before)who had then died four days after. She was having fevers since the birth.
• There were many women who had piles.
• Another pregnant woman had a massive herpes outbreak under her left breast.
• One woman who had developed an anal fistula after her last birth.

Visit:

http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

More on Jogi Moor

Oct 25, 2006

After the women had discussed their childbirth practices, they welcomed me to tell them exactly why I was there. At first there was confusion. Like many villages, when someone arrives who is obvioiusly 'different' they assume this is a Government presentation. To have someone arrive from overseas and talk about this common subject was a bit bewildering.

Besides, everything needs to be translated. In fact, the concept of that there are a set of universal skills that can be learned by all pregnant women and passed on from mother to daughter is challenging to grasp for many people not just tribal women.

Over the years I’ve come to understand there are two primary reasons:

• Are we really all one humanity or different by culture and religion?

• How can an experience that is so hard to predict have a lot of skills pre-learnable skills?

When I asked them what they had learned from their mothers about childbirth, they said 'nothing.' Keep in mind that this gathering had married women of all ages. There was no historic memory of any one particular approach to childbirth.

When I aksed them what they were taught about how to breath in labour, the village women said if they didn’t hold their breath then they moaned, groaned and sometimes screamed with pain. They said in their village women were consistently exhausted after birth. There is a great deal of malnutrition in Pakistan. These women are very thin and petit (5’1” and many 80-110lbs). Exhaustion would be a reasonable outcome.

We discussed these two issues. Naturally these women see me as different from themselves. I’m taller, whiter, more modern, speak a different language and obviously have a different culture and more education. Yet, they laughed when I asked them if we all blinked, coughed or could tighten up our rectum?

We all can blink, cough and tighten our rectum ... even men. That’s the basis for The Pink Kit … our similarity. Once we had agreed our conversation would revolve around our similarities then interest increased.

There's no doubt that they imagined I was going to tell them 'your way is not right'. Instead once The Pink Kit skills are learned then people take them into their personal life and community along with their own set of skills.

Visit:
http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Jogi Moor ... continued

Oct 25, 2006

We arrived in the morning about 11:00am. Twenty women of all ages attended. At first they thought that we were there to treat them. This is a natural assumption since Zeba is a doctor and had previously run a free clinic in this village. It took a while for the women to realize something else would happen.

Whenever I start a Pink Kit presentation, I first ask about childbirth preparation in their own culture or within their religious beliefs. As Hindu tribal women, they explained that there is no preparation for birth really. When the woman started her pains, many women gathered with her. She was encouraged to always walk around, holding her breath and pushing throughout labour.

When the baby started to come, one woman would apply strong pressure on the uterus while another woman used warm oil to massage the outside of the vagina. The women held onto several ropes tied to the roof beams and that’s how they delivered. If there were piles (hemorrhoids) then the woman catching the baby applied pressure against the rectum with her heel, compressing the anus. Of course this had to be done with the woman's bottom close to the ground.

What they talked about were the huge number of birth problems. Women did die in childbirth both from blood loss and from infection. It was common to have one or more stillborn babies in each family. One woman who attended the presentation had given birth to 7 children… all had died before the age of 7. It was common for newborn babies to die within the first few days, weeks or months and again around 3 years and up to 7. If a child lived through the first 7 years, they had a good chance of growing up.

Women married very young in this village to young men and frequently had their first child at 15 or 16.

visit:
http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

Jogi Moor

Oct 25, 2006

The people in this particular village are Jogi (Joe Ghee). This is an ethnic Pakistan group. Having worked and lived in a number of traditional communities, going to this village was not a shock to my system, although the 35 degree C certainly was … having just arrived from wet and cold UK.

Zeeba, a Pakistan female GP, acted as my translator. Her family welcomed me into their home. In fact all of my host families are Baha’i and were most welcoming. There is no doubt they live one of their religious beliefs ... to be in service. Hearing about all the service work each person does is very inspirational. I feel right at home. I knew nothing about the Baha'i Faith before this trip. When in India many years ago, my son and I visited the Baha'i Temple there as many tourists do. I had worked in the north of India in the Tibetan community but work with people from many diverse religions.

A trip such as this reminds me why The Pink Kit is so important in my life and why I’ve been willing to persistent for so many years as this new concept (universal childbirth skills for women and birth coaching skills for her support) grows. Have you ever been told that expectant parents should teach themselves a set of childbirth skills that will suit absolutely every birth including cesearans?

Well, the women in this village like every where in the world were taught nothing by their mothers about how-to give birth.

In fact, the women in the village were a bit perplexed as to why anyone needed to prepare for birth.

Before I head down this path, let me tell you a little about this village. I never carry a camera and many women in Pakistan do not wish to be photographed. How does no tree or green sound to you? What about a path through the village wide enough for a small car but we’re the only car in the village weaving between charpoys (BEDS) that line the narrow streets. Imagine no garbage collection at all (not even in urban Karachi). In fact, there is no garbage collected anywhere in Pakistan. But cows as found in India are absent so garbage rots and plastic maintains.

Children are everywhere, dressed in rags. I forgot to tell you that this village is known for two things: children beggars and chickens. The women sell chickens and the children beg. The village is tribal Hindu with their own beautiful ethnic clothing. The men wear a simple long over garment and pants but the women wear bright dresses over pants, heavily embroidered and beaded.

The unmarried girls wear an over dress that hangs straight from the shoulders down, but the married women’s over dress have built in ‘breast areas’ that are part of the design. All the women wear lots of bangles and lots of earrings. Incredibly beautiful women, tiny and strong as the dry desert is strong.

visit:
http://www.commonknowledgetrust.com
http://www.birthingbetter.com
http://www.thepinkkit.com

My Trip To Pakistan

Oct 24, 2006

On 23 Oct I left the UK after visiting for two months and collecting Pink Kit interviews from Pink Kit moms, dads and grandparents … yes it’s the mothers and fathers of the mothers and fathers who are so pleased their children discovered the PK and wished they had had the information when they gave birth.

My trip to Pakistan is co-organized by our Trust in New Zealand, Common Knowledge and The Resource Centre for Development Alternatives headed by Hidayatullah and Nazli of Mansehra, Pakistan.

A number of years ago they requested a donated copy of the original Pink Kit. They maintain an extensive library of resources. Since we are both charitable organizations, it’s a pleasure to share.

Our relationship grew and we decided that I should come to Pakistan to share The Pink Kit with women in Pakistan. They were certain the women in Pakistan would very much like the skills and see the benefits.

Pakistan has large urban centers such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Islamabad. However even these urban cities are also the home of shantytowns and villages occupied with illiterate (no formal education) and extremely poor families. For those who have been to India, Pakistan is a great deal like that but far drier with even less access to fresh produce or clean water.

So I arrived in Karachi in the afternoon and was met by Naeem, a forty-something man who has been developing educational opportunities in one of the poorest rural villages (Jogi Moor) just outside of Karachi, a city of 12 million. Naeem like Hidayat and Nazli are Baha’i.

Baha’i (www.bahai.org)is a religion based on tenants of Peace, the oneness of Humanity, equality of women and men and service to others. It was in Jogi Moor the next morning that the first PK workshop was held. The Jogi are a tribal group who originally migrated from India. I was told they were originally of the snake charmer caste but now were beggars or raised and sold chickens. They follow the Hindu Religion.

visit:
visit www.commonknowledgetrust.com to learn about The Gathering of Traditional Midwives
Visit BirthingBetter.com for a positive childbirth experience.
http://www.thepinkkit.com