Impressions of 48th Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp January 28 – 29, 2016 at Sylviander House

It is the 7th Wellbeing Camp at Sylviander House, which takes place here since almost 1 year, starting in February 2015. 

As mostly, beautiful morning light welcomes the tibetan team, the campaigners and the patients … 

This time the team is:

Dr. Dorjee Rapten Neshar

Dr. Lhundup Dorjee

Yeshi Chodon

Tenzin Nangsel

Tenzin Dhonden

Always they arrive with heavy suitcases filled with medicine, tea, massage oil, balm … 

This time Victoria can join as a campaigner again, but Sethu couldn‘t come – we will manage without him. 

Victoria, Alexander and others help whatever is needed, also with translations between the doctors and the patients, who do not speak english.

Eswar is the chief of coordination! He informs the patients, hands them the application forms and tries to keep the timing. Also he will tell to Dr. Dorjee, how long he can take a nap after lunch, and then wakes him up in the right time. 

As always, Tenzin Nangsel writes the bills, Yeshi Chodon and Tenzin Dhonden distribute the medicines.

Everything goes smooth. Even so many patients come to see the tibetan doctors there is no hectic.

Families come for consultation, old and young people, meanwhile some foreigners consult the doctors regularly and take the medicine for 2 months. 

Among them my very good old friend Chandrakala from Germany, I haven‘t seen her for 18 years. In 1985 we met first time at Varkala Beach, which was not yet discovered by the tourists that time and so quite lonely – we were the only 2 foreigners there. She became the protagonist in a chapter of one of my books. 

Of course, there are always some patients who come without registration, which causes a delay every evening. But nobody complaints, it is convenient here to sit and wait and watch the cats playing.

Because the tibetan team will visit an ayurveda museum near Thrissur on Saturday, the January Wellbeing Camp has 2 days only. 

Normally on the last day of the camp, the tibetan team has to rush, packing their suit cases fastly to reach the train on early evening at Aleppey station to return to Bangarore. But on this Friday evening we can relax together and enjoy the tibetan food, Tenzin Nangsel and Yeshi Chodon are preparing for us …

Expecting his favorite meal, potatoes and milk-cheese-soup, Dr. Dorjee is happily playing some music and gives a short dance performance for our entertainment.

Then Dr. Dorjee carefully distributes to each one a bowl of soup … milk-cheese-soup! I couldn‘t imagine before, but it really tastes good … 

… and the potatoes are a perfect combination.

Since 1 year now we host this tibetan team, and as more I get to know these friendly people, it surprises me gladly, what a peaceful happy atmosphere they create when we sit together for our meals or in the evenings under the stars on the verandah. 

Thanks to Dorjee la for that homely evening with a simple warm food from Tibet … 

Thanks to mother nature for all the wellbeing given to us … thanks for these precious moments when spirits of plants appear in front of my eyes – in our garden …

Online Registration: www.friendsoftibet.org/wellbeing/ SMS: +91.9400354354 

Fax: +91.11.47615142 Email: wellbeing@friendsoftibet.org 

Triple New Year‘s Surprise at Sylviander House

In the morning of the 1st day of the new year 2016 some of our guests went for a swim at the nearby beach. Then on their way back a kitten followed them into our garden. It was lost somewhere on the small road to Sylviander House. 

It was a boy, probably 4 weeks old. We called him Eisbär. 

I gave him diluted milk with a filler and hungrily he understood immediately. Then I made him a cosy bed in an old cane bag, where he slept for hours in my writing room. 

Around afternoon, when I was watering my plants, we heard the scream of another kitten, the brother of Eisbär. We called him Sylvester. How happy they were to be together again. 

In one of the big paperboxes in the artist‘s studio, I arranged a little appartement for them, a corner with some cloth to sleep, in another a clay bowl with sand as toilet, which they didn‘t understand yet and used it to snuggle with eachother. I put another clay bowl with cloth for that purpose and trained them to use the toilet by taking one leg and pawing in the sand. 

The next morning as during night already we heard again a kitten screaming somewhere nearby, but couldn‘t see it. Then the sream stopped. Later a guest looking from the southern verandah saw the kitten squatting in the neighbor‘s garden and went there to fetch it: It was a girl. We called her Lissy. What a joyful meow, when I put her in the box of her brothers. 

Now they were three. And how hungry! 

It often happens here in Kerala, that people take the kittens from a cat around the house and bring them far away. Then the mother cat can‘t find her kids anymore and the kittens are to small to survive. 

The same must have happened to our foundling Leo, when he suddenly appeared in our garden, tiny 3 weeks old.

It was not possible to feed 3 hungry kittens with the filler. Of course they had no patience, all 3 wanted to drink at the same time. I had to teach them to drink the milk from the bowl. Then to eat dry cat food soaked in water. Hunger made them learn fast. 

Between eating they took a short break to jump on my lap, to cuddle for a while, then running back to the meal … 

The similar behaviour I observed, when Bianca was feeding her kittens. They interrupt drinking, jump on Bianca‘s back or on her head, play and return for drinking …

    © Silvia Fouani 

The 3 foundlings grew every day a bit. After a short time I understood, they didn‘t like to stay in their paper box appartement anymore. So I let them run freely in  Alexander‘s studio. The cane bag was then their sleeping hut, mostly inside, sometimes on top of it.

What a yelling, always when I entered the room. They ran towards me, played around my leg, on my leg, on my lap, biting in my toe … 

Slowly I fell in love with Sylvester. He was the one, enjoying the most being cuddled and tickled. 

It was clear from the beginning, that we cannot keep the kittens. We have already 3 cats. But I would care for them until they are strong enough to be given to people who like having a cat. To find such pet lovers is not easy here in Kerala. Rarely somebody has cats in the house. If somebody has a dog, this poor pet will spend live long in a cage outside of the house. 

I was optimistic. In the right time we will find somebody. If not for all 3 kittens, then some could live outside the Sylviander House with the others, Bianca, Rosso, Apricot … 

Secretly I wished, Sylvester would stay … 

… but fate had other plans … 

When they were around 2 months old, our carpenter came for doing some works. He saw the kittens and immediately he wanted to have 2, a girl and a boy … 

… and when his rikshaw driver picked him up and had a look at the kittens, he also wished to have one. 

2 days left to say good-bye … 

After almost 4 weeks being a mother for these 3 kittens, they will get a new home.

I put them in a basket and drove them to the new place … 

The 2 daughters of the carpenter were exited and spontaneousely choosed Lissy and Sylvester. Eisbär would go then to the rikshaw driver who is a neighbor.

Of course, the 3 kittens were exited too, running through the room, under the sofa, into the kitchen … 

When they got a bowl of milk, they drank, but didn‘t even finish in need to continue their exploration of the new place. 

After one day we phoned the carpenter who told us, that everybody is very happy and the kittens had slept in his bed. 

How lucky these kittens are. 

Review 2015

Again we look back to a year full of new experiences … 

The new year 2015 welcomed us with colorful beauties of dance at the beach nearby our Sylviander House … 

… followed by an electrifying drumming performance … 

On the 2nd day of the new year 2015, a college class with their teachers visited our Art Museum to talk about Alexander's paintings and his connection with nature, which fuel his works …

When I decided one sunny day to make a jelly cake with pineapple, papaya and the plenty of passion fruits in our garden, Moojoo couldn‘t resist to taste it.

Sometimes rare animals visit our garden as that morning, when a big owl was sitting on the branch of a coconut palm in front of the house … 

End of January I was invited by a college near Changanacherry to give a speech about living in India as a foreigner connected with my literature work. What a colorful picture, the pink saris is the uniform dress of the teachers. 

These fellows – in white or brownish colors – come every day to walk trough the gras of our garden or along the pond in search for some delicacy … 

A neighbor cuts regularly the gras for his cow, from whose milk I make curd.

A rare surprise was awaiting me one day in the garden: a creature painted by artist nature. 

In spring I was very lucky with my little vegetable and herbal garden … Later of the year there was not much luck. Wether it was too wet or too hot, in total 2015 was the warmest year we experienced here. And statistic says, it was the warmest year globally since documenting the weather.

The elegant flowers of glove beans open their blossoms only at evening shortly before sunset. … 

… best for me, just to fry it in olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper. 

Bitter gourd is not my thing, but very, very healthy. However the cucmbers I like a lot for my salads … 

Moojoo as always on my side while I am gardening, more disturbing than helping! 

How many times the sky of evening or morning gifted us with colorful performances … 

On 11th February, Sylviander House became the spot for a new project: Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp organised jointly by Friends of Tibet Foundation for the Wellbeing and Men-Tsee-Khang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute of HH the Dalai Lama.

Many people had come to join the opening with speeches and ceremonies …

… lightening the tibetan butter lamps …

… honoring some guests with the tibetan shawl … 

… and finally having tea and tiffins together until  consultation started.

After the camp, Moojoo was in heat for her first time, practicing crazy acrobatic exercises with male cat Mia – luckily she got not pregnant.

For the first time in my life I experienced the overwhelming smell of coffee plant‘s blossom at our little hill place.

After drying the coffee seeds in the sun on our verandah, then after being peeled, fried and grinded we could enjoy the first cup of our own organic coffee. With every sip I swallow the spirit of this little piece of nature for which we care …

Then we harvested our own turmeric, which had to be dried in the sun too, then being ground to use the powder for cooking.

End of February Mama cat Bianca gave birth to 3 kittens as usual in the artist‘s studio in the box where I store my books I‘ve written. 

It is stimulating happiness to watch them opening their eyes after 10 days and exploring the world then … 
Spotty, Rosso, Bionda!

Once in a while, flowers around the house enjoyed our eyes and mind with spirits of beauty: silence … peace … 

When I bake a bred, Moojoo has to taste it immediately – and not only she, all our cats love fresh bred. 

End of March, foundling Leo was screaming in our garden, skinny and very hungry … Somebody must have put him there, far away from his mother, who would find her kittens in the nearby surrounding. 

Thinking, he would be the red one of the 3 kittens who might have fallen down, I put him in the book box, where 3 kittens looked at me. Now they were 4! 
Luckily Mama Bianca accepted this foundling and did the main work with feeding and cleaning him. Still hungry, Leo screamed for extra food, mashed fish with rice, which he exitingly sucked in like a hoover … 

One morning I found a new born squirrel baby on the upstair verandah. I bedded it with some warming cloth on a hided place, hoping the mother would find it. Unfortuantely Moojoo found it … 

In April the gate of Sylviander House opened again for the Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp …

Many patients of all ages consulted the tibetan doctors and received medicines. 

Between the tough time scedule, campaigners, volonteers and tibetan team find a minute together for a talk.

These mornings bringing new born light have a divine energy …

Jackfruit, my queen of fruits!

Having a plate of these delicious fruits, I am the most happy person!

In the mountains fortunately we met a man, who is making ayurvedic massage oils himself. These oils we use for our guests having a Thirumal, a traditional Kerala massage at the Sylviander House. 

Mystic charm during full moon set one early morning before sunrise.

In the monsoon of June and August, next 2 Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camps followed, always with organic food for the tibetan team and all helpers prepared by Lilama …

Since Eswar had birthday while campaigning at the August Camp, a special program was created for him – which caused a lot of fun for all!

Few days later it was time for a children class … 

… as usually drawing and dancing …

This time the drawing class took place outside in the garden for training to draw what one sees … 
It was a very new experience for the children. 

They tried their best with full concentration and after proudly showed their results.  

New moon during sunset too has always something special …

End of August Moojoo had her 1st birthday!

Once in a while I met another strange creature from artist nature.

What flower is that? For the first time I saw the blossom of a cocoa plant in the mountains.

Reaching back at Sylviander House, Mama Bianca showed her secret to me: 3 kittens under the staircase! Later she shifted them upstairs into the artist‘s studio, as usual in the box of my books – Apricot, Julee, Lilli! 
Lilli became only 3.5 months.

One morning a Krishna Eagle was sitting on a branch of the cashew nut tree in front of my writing room.

Exceptionally after 1 month the next Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp took place in September. The special feature this time: The 5th anniversary of Wellbeing program with tibetan doctors in Kerala!

In November was the last Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp of the year 2015 …

… followed by a seminar about environment, inspired by the pope Francis …

The Institute of Coastal Research and Developement (ICRAD) invited for discussion in our Art Museum: Laudato Si – Care for our common home. 

Friends of Tibet supported this seminar with Environment of Tibet of HH the Dalai Lama, which Dr. Dorjee introduced to the audience after a prayer with his tibetan team.

Others were speaking to give a focus on the misdeeds of pollution and habits of harming nature along the coastal belt. Each speech ended with discussions. 
Eswar recited his poem: A Paradise named Tibet …

At the end, paper bags, in which the patients carry their medicines to their homes, were presented to everybody by Dr. Dorjee and Sonam. 

It will be a long way to change the mind coming back to a sustainable understanding as I witnessed once in the 70ties. Discussion had started, lets hope, results and actions in daily life will follow … 

Before everybody rushed home, we offered a vegetarian lunch. 

Between all these events and activities during the year 2015, we hosted interesting guests in our eco house, enjoying the many different conversations with them … 

Sometimes saying good-bye tunes a bit sentimental. It can happen, a guest leaves with tears … 

As every year for Christmas Eve I baked ‘Vanillekipferl‘, a traditional European Christmas biscuit, which we shared with our guests and cats on the morning tea verandah.

During the last remaining days of the year 2015 a yoga group from Switzerland exercised every early morning on the upstairs verandah, facing the garden with pond and biotope … 

… while Alexander was doing yoga with his neighbor friend Jose at the Art Museum … 

New Year‘s Eve we were sitting together on the verandah under the stary night. I gave a reading, a funny story of one of my books. We were talking about our traveling experiences and laughing, then dancing with the Vienna Waltz Die blaue Donau into the New Year 2016 …

Blended by the golden orange color of our turmeric, we are looking forward to the coming year 2016, wishing to everybody and everything living on this precious planet, a lucent golden orange color for mind and heart …