The World Beyond Davis

Anna is a new mother and relatively new homeopath who lives and practices in the South Bay (Bay Homeopathy). Right now, she is in Russia, supporting her mom and family during a health crisis. Anna has been a homeopath long enough to begin experiencing the complications in helping one’s own family. In personal relationships, the trust required in any healthy healing relationship is absent. Respect and authority are negated by patient fear—in a mother’s eyes, we remain “daughters,” not healers.

Unfortunately, homeopathy is not readily available in Russia. While Anna prepared to fly to Moscow, she sent me an e-mail asking for guidance in helping her mother with homeopathy. I e-mailed Anna a word picture of my quiet morning as I read her mom’s “case”:

“Outdoors is sunny here and morning-quiet. I sporadically hear school children walking to the local elementary school. Looking out the bay window in our living room, I see a bright salmon geranium hanging from our fence, the yellow flowering of jasmine (gelsemium), the summer green of greenbelt trees in leaf.

Something in my e-mail stirred Anna’s emotions. She said she nearly cried and that this trip was very different from the others:

I am in the midst of a strong cold, no remedies with me, parents not feeling well, my brother (also with a cold) roaming the flat bored and not knowing what to do. Smoggy, dirty in the city. I was needed very much here though…. Connection is via modem here, so I am online for 20-30 min a day. I will become more appreciative of what we have in sunny CA: Air, freshness, lightness of being.

This brought to mind my conversation with a vendor at last night’s Farmers Market in Davis. He works at the Indyna Restaurant in Mansion Square (132 E Street, the previous location of Rosie’s and, later, New Delhi Chaat Cafe), and took a second part-time job as cook for Kathmandu Kitchen to support his family (both excellent restaurants). He brought his family to the United States eight years ago, to escape certain death. In the last 15-20 years, Nepal had changed from everything being free (as visitors, you and I would have received free food and lodging), to a dictatorship by a king who brutally killed several members of royalty in this man’s family. At a moment’s notice, without reason.

Hearing others’ stories expands my world. I similarly appreciated hearing details about Anna’s stay, and wrote, “We can remove ourselves with the TV screen between our eyes and life’s reality, so it’s good to hear it ‘live.’”