Well, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever been involved in. I knew
what was coming and hit the ground running. That must have seemed pretty 
aggressive to the Europeans, but we got it setup to function within 24 hours. It 
took 48 until the vibe started to settle down and the situation became 
predictable. All the right players took their places. Suzanne the pharmacist, 
the extraordinary and wonderful Dr. Ziad who worked his heart out, the COT who 
facilitated our requests. . .and I kept the overview and kept the requests 
coming until we had what we needed to protect and serve the community. . .
 
SIHA. . . Luthfiya and Latijah put out a call for assistance and were grateful 
they could focus on the many SIHA meetings and presentations.
 
COT. . .Were our anchor. We needed communications- a hand phone to be in touch 
with a COT partner, access to the key. Burhan, Martin, Ariella, Hussein. . 
."Just ask us for what you need." And the congress blue shirted volunteers 
helped me so much when I had no time to function to get bus tix, computer time 
for Aceh, or drinks in the clinic.
 
Front kiosk. . .we asked them to trust us to use their keys and phone. At first 
they didn't know what the H eeee double L we were up to. . . people running 
health services for people from 80 or so countries who didn't speak the same 
language. . . must have been very odd. Acting like they knew what they were 
doing. . .not their typical structure or plan. . .
 
The young Johanniter "First Aiders". They usually sit there on their behinds 
watching movies. This time, we all worked together, but at first they had no 
idea what was going on. When we were setting up to handle contingencies, they 
kept saying all they had to do was transport people to the hospital two minutes 
away. Ca-ching. We were not going to send everyone who needed to be checked out 
to the hospital. They were terrific doing the small stuff but were only on duty 
when we had a big meeting, like talk or testing. The COT would have spent a 
fortune had it not been for the Subud volunteer clinic team as they had to pay 
the Johanniter service. It was like an ambulance service, but the staff were not 
trained like EMTs or paramedics. They played a big role, though. When the child 
broke his arm (fell off the climbing wall) they took him straight to the 
transport vehicle and directly to hospital. The next time I saw him he was 
playing jokes on me in the elevator with the automatic door mechanisms.
 
So, we just did the work. . .saw hundreds of patients in the first few days with 
all the blisters, flu, old Harlan with sutures in his head, people with pulled 
backs and muscle strains, bad falls, stomach aches, then the kid broke his arm, 
the flu spread and people were hobbling around with bad knees swollen from all 
the travel and walking. Sigh. We barely took time to breathe, but it didn't seem 
like that because Ziad and I were sharing. I came late stayed late.. . He came 
early left early. We ovelapped when the midday cruch happened.
 
17 other providers either came in the clinic and did exams and treatments or 
wrote prescriptions and gave advice. Harris Smart who is amazing with 
craniosacral technique and Solihin Thom, plus a sister from Holland whose name 
escapes me, all gave me body treatments, so I was able to stay balanced.
 
The flow of it was pure latihan. When one patient needed a counseling, a 
wonderful German psychiatrist happened to be available, made an appointment and 
showed up the following morning for a gentle counseling session after latihan. 
Pure love.
 
When the older woman ended up with bowel adhesions and had to go to surgery to 
save her life, we played out a strange scenario of one thing following the next 
that eventuated in her illness manifesting right in front of us over a period of 
three hours . . .rather than in the night alone in some distant hotel. I played 
a role, then Dr. Jack and his wife and a friend played a role. She ended up 
being well cared for.
 
We took care of several people who put spiritual and emotional changes in their 
bodies. Helper/doctors went to hotel rooms. We took care of people who fell and 
entrapped nerves so their pain was excruciating. When this happened to one 
women, we just kept going through layers of it with her. I started with her and 
sorted out some gross level pain and emotional blockage. Then Dr. Ziad came in 
and began to work with her to change the feeling and examined her further. Then 
other healers came in and did energetic and further hands on work. We went from 
her sitting in horrible pain guarding her whole body with her arms and tightly 
clutched belongings, to an opening and unfolding until her spirit started to separate and rise. She took a step. She left in a wheel chair to go to dinner 
and slept. The next day we gave her more care. By the third day she came to the 
congress hall and was met, unexpectedly, at the front door by Dr. Ziad. She came 
through the building on his arm, walking slowly, carefully. We applauded. She 
had something new. . .
 
We had so many wonderful moments with people surprised that we would use an 
acupuncture needle, homeopathic medicines, allopathic and herbal medicines, body 
work, solid diagnostic techniques, and energetic work all in the same place. I 
found it most amazing to watch that when someone was needed who practiced a 
certain modality, often they spontaneously showed up at the very moment.
 
We had a little girl who had a painful condition of her elbow happen 
spontaneously. A wonderful pediatrician who none of us knew about happened to be 
there with her at that time. She brought the mom and child to the clinic and we 
watched as she adjusted the arm in just the right way to make the problem go 
away in about three minutes. I happened to have a nice big lolly pop in my bag 
for just such an occasion. We held it up to see if the arm was ok, and she 
grabbed that lolly with no trouble at all and the tears were gone in an instant 
with the pain. None of the rest of us knew how to do that maneuver.
 
When needed, we could also page individuals. The reception volunteers were 
gracious in allowing us to page and exchange notes through the information desk.
 
Dr. Ziad's story was an  amazing part of what happened. He was able to practice 
general medicine, perhaps having thought he would not do that again. He has been 
doing public health for people from Fiji in Germany. But he artistically and 
skillfully assisted everyone who came in while he was on duty, which was a lot 
of the time. My hero. His wife was very patient and we were grateful for her 
generosity.
 
We reported having seen approximately 500 patients (Ziad says more) and had 17 
volunteers during the two weeks. We supported the clinic on contributions and 
repaid ourselves for the supplies and medicines we bought. I actually brought 
everything I had from my medical kit in a separate suitcase. We used a lot of 
material from the Johanniter service. . . miles of bandages, bandaids and 
various supplies. Those young volunteers doing their government service became 
friends, and inquired about Subud as did Martin and the others at the porter's 
kiosk with whom we cooperated on logistics. We left materials with all of them, 
and in the end, the porters were saying this was a different type of group. . . 
not like anything they had ever experienced before.
 
When I was the sole provider on duty, I always felt the presence of our complete 
team. I always felt guided. I always felt we had all the resources needed to 
help our Subud family. And we did.
 
Obvoiusly, it comes to mind that if we had our own community clinic, hospital, 
etc., we would continue to work at a higher and more integrated level than what 
we experience ordinarily.
 
On the last afternoon I was in the clinic before the closing ceremony the next 
morning, I was sitting on the famous black sofa outside the clinic talking with 
one of the young members about some of his concerns about another young member. 
Ibu Rahayu and the entourage were leaving the building and began to pass by us 
in the wide corridor. We stood up. She stopped, looked at me and smiled, and 
nodded her head.
 
The following morning when Dr. Ziad and I were called to the stage, we held 
hands, were presented long-stemmed white roses, and bowed in thanks for the 
acknowledgement of our hard work. But the work was a pleasure. . . as it should 
be, a multidisciplinary team receiving what the patients needed and receiving 
the way to assist. And the only thought I had was "I love God, I love IBU, and I 
love all of our Subud family."
 
Thanks for asking about the experience.
 
:) Lucia
 
Lucia C. Cargill, RN, Ph.D.