Dear CommuniChi Friends,
I’m sure many of you are reading the sobering reports of the disaster and the massive global aid response struggling to help those most in need. I just got word today that Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB)has officially partnered with Pathways to Wellness, a non profit in Boston, with plans being laid to put an acupuncture team on the ground there in February, utilizing the trauma relief acupuncture technique which was so effective in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Of course, the current focus needs to be on saving lives and tending to critically injured. The infrastructure of Haiti (such as it was, being the poorest country in the Western hemisphere), was completely obliterated. There is limited capacity to support aid workers who also need to be fed and housed. However, after this initial phase of the emergency passes, hundreds of thousands will still be in a state of shock. Few families will be spared from loss of life. Rescue workers from the developed countries of the world will have been working around the clock for weeks, and will be at severe risk for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) themselves.
This is the phase when acupuncture, even if performed on only a small portion of the population, can help begin to restore a state of social calm from within. Haiti desperately needs the shipping boxes of food rations, the crates of emergency medicine, clean water. But they also need help healing their spirits, calming their minds, releasing their psychic traumas, and restoring hope. I witnessed this collective healing as part of AWB’s first teams in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and returned for two additional volunteer stints as a team leader in 2005-6. Seeing the power of acupuncture heal collective trauma in New Orleans is what led me indirectly to decide to found CommuniChi.
Please consider helping me raise $2000 to cover the cost of airfare, food for the trip, needles, and other requisites. Any funds raised above and beyond what my actual expenses for this trip are will be donated to Acupuncturists Without Borders.
You can either drop by the clinic and offer your donation, or mail me a check made out to:
Jordan Van Voast
1707 Harvard Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122-2227
Thank you for your support and giving me this opportunity to serve the world in this time of tremendous need.
Tags: acupuncture, Acupuncturists Without Borders, communichi, Community Acupuncture, disaster, earthquake, Haiti, Pathways