I have successfully completed another 3 week long working spell at the Earth Medicine container clinic inside the Lesvos refugee camp.
WEEK 1
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| The camp |
During that first week, only a few people came for treatment, and we spent the quiet times doing paperwork accumulated over the years as there is never enough time for it. The people who came for treatment needed a lot of care so it was actually great to have enough time to give lengthy treatments to each of them. The highlight of the week was the arrival of an electric chair for our lovely 19-year-old Miss S, who has cerebral palsy. She had been moving around the rough terrain of the camp on a basic wheelchair, pushed by her parents and this was causing further damage to her body. She can't speak well but can communicate enough to know how she's feeling, she was elated and very quickly learned to operate the chair which was bought thanks to a generous private donor who answered Earth Medicine's call looking for funds to purchase it.
WEEK 2
On the second week, things continued to be changeable with some new arrivals in the camp while some of the people I was treating were sent to other camps. The weather was unusual too, extremely hot with strong cold winds.
Fabiola - Earth Medicine's director- and I spent a lot of time with Miss S, the 19-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who received an electric wheelchair from Earth medicine during my first week. We did a combination of body and scalp acupuncture and moxa followed by physiotherapy exercises with the scalp needles still in, as it is done in China. You can see a video of her doing exercises with Fabiola. We noticed more control in her arm movements and a greater ability to extend her legs. She also went from not being able to sit up without her back being held, to sitting up on her own. She is a little ray of sun, always smiling and very vivacious. Although she cannot speak, she managed to ask me if I'm married and have kids, and was able to dial her dad's number to get him to collect her when we were ready to send her home. It is hard to imagine her family's journey to the island, carrying on their shoulders a daughter with special needs and crossing the sea on a rubber boat with her.
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| Ms S having scalp acupuncture |
These are some other good treatment outcomes we saw that week:
A young woman with severe period pain and excessive bleeding had instant relief
in the heavy bleeding and 10/10 pain with one treatment with moxa.
A young man with severe muscular tension in all his muscles
and insomnia managed to relax completely and sleep for hours each night after a
few treatments.
They were both moved to camps in mainland Greece during this week but at least we had the chance to help them a little.
WEEK 3
The third week was busier than the previous weeks and we continued to have good reactions to acupuncture treatments:
Mr S, a young man from Senegal who had had severe lower back
pain day and night for a year and knee pain for 7 months, had no pain after
receiving one simple treatment with acupuncture and moxa. I gave him a second
treatment the day after to consolidate the changes and told him to report on
Friday. He came back just to say he was amazed that he was still pain free
after doing many different activities. He was really grateful and later brought
a friend who also needed treatment.
Mrs A, a woman in her 50s from Afghanistan, who looked much older due to a life filled with difficulties, came with constant epigastric
pain, very severe knee pain that didn't let her sleep or walk properly, and
insomnia from the pain and the stress about the future of her three young sons.
She fell asleep during the first treatment with acupuncture, moxa and a heat
lamp and had a lot of pain relief. On the second treatment I did much more moxa
and the frown of pain disappeared from her face during the treatment. I saw her
walking towards the camp entrance the day after her third treatment and didn't
recognise her as she was practically running!! When she saw me, she came to hug
and kiss me to thank me. She will need more treatment from the next
practitioner but she is going to be okay.
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| Treatment for knee pain |
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| Treatment for severe lower back pain |
During the three weeks at the camp, I spent a lot of time with Mr B, a kind Iranian man in his 40s who had type II diabetes for 15 years previously and developed type I diabetes when he arrived in Lesvos, quite possibly due to the massive stress of his journey and asylum process (many studies show the relationship between excessive stress and both types of diabetes). He developed very severe peripheral neuropathy in 2025 and was in great discomfort when walking and at night. He was very weak as he was not eating due to lack of appetite, not sleeping due to stress and neuropathic pain, and had anxiety and depression. In order to relieve his pain, I had to strengthen his system so that he had enough resources to respond to acupuncture treatment. I did moxa on ginger on his stomach to strengthen his appetite and ability to transform food into energy and blood, scalp acupuncture for the neuropathy and the psycho-emotional symptoms, and acupuncture and moxa on his feet followed by massage with oil. His progress was very slow because of the complexity of his issues but the neuropathy did start to improve. He told me that before these treatments he couldn't bear anyone touching his feet, after the last few of treatments he managed to sleep 5-8 hours per night instead of 1-2 and he was able to eat more than one meal per day. On the last day, I taught him a breathing technique to help with his anxiety and with his night-time discomfort. He has continued to receive moxa and massage from Fabiola and acupuncture from another volunteer practitioner, he is doing really well.
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When migration is weaponised to make us mistrust, despise,
and even hate those seeking asylum, we're never shown the real faces of the
people they want to turn us against. These faces could be of any of us, of our
brothers, sons or nephews, of our daughters, nieces, sisters, parents or even
grandparents. The reason that right now we're not the ones experiencing displacement, is not that we're better, it's
just that we're lucky. But natural disasters, wars, and violence are sparking up so easily these
days that it could well be us or our loved ones at any moment. Imagine what it would feel like to be the
ones being turned away, dehumanised, and demonised in our hour of need. Wouldn't we want to be the recipients of compassion and solidarity instead? We would benefit greatly from cultivating these qualities not only because we could reap their benefit later but because they are essential to counteract all the most destructive aspects of our present world and culture.
Once again, deep thanks to all those who helped make this trip possible. Without your support, I would not be able to do this work.
With love and gratitude,
Sandra
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