The faculty has this Bioethics and Humaniora Programme (BHP), which strives to implant ethical values and cultural awareness in us doctors-to-be. Well, to tell the truth, most of the lectures on this module are not the most exciting lectures; but there is one activity that I die to experience: extramural activity :) We do this usually twice per semester. Basically it is an out-of-campus learning experience where we get to visit hospitals, pharmacy companies, etc.
Since I'm from one of the many families which have no background whatsoever in the medical field, these kind of activities really open up my eyes to quite a lot of things.
This semester's extramural activity was a one-day "field trip" to Tasikmalaya to visit a rehabilitation centre and a primitive
kampong.
The rehabilitation centre was.. hmm, how should I put it..
pitiable? It is called Inabah XV, and they only accept guys. The philosophy of the rehab centre is spiritual healing--which basically means that they teach the patients to be spiritual, to depend on God, to always be near Him, and hopefully that will clean their souls, furthering them from the drugs or whatever that has caused them to be checked into the rehab. Apart from praying and
dzikir, the guys were made to take a bath every two nights at 2 AM..
When the guy who ran this place was asked why did he believe in such therapy, he put forward that those are what written in Al-Qur'an.. bathe, pray, and do dzikir, it will bring you away from evil. It's wonderful, isn't it? I mean, I know that withdrawal symptoms from narcotics are really painful.. To be able to overcome such pain by nearing oneself to God, without any medical intervention or analgesics or whatever.. It just makes me wonder, is spiritual healing has been way too underrated? Have we, especially us who lives in the city, forgotten how tightly intertwined our mind, body, spirit, and environment that we only pay attention to the physical part of health?
While I was amazed that such therapy exists, I am disappointed to know that to divert their addiction from drugs, the patients are actually entitled to four cigarettes per day :( Now, I know that cigarettes, unlike addictive substances, are not forbidden by any religion (correct me if I'm wrong). However, we are all well aware of how toxic they are, right? Lung cancers, heart disease, loss of weight. You name it. Cigars aren't good for your body!
I just can't buy the idea of healing your soul while destroying your body..
The second destination was Kampung Naga.. this one is really pretty... it is a 111-house village that is located in a valley surrounded by forests. The people there are self-sufficient: they plant rice, veggies and they keep cattles. They eat rice, daun singkong and salt every day. And they're healthy to boot. Cool ;)
To get to Kampung Naga was easy, to get out wasn't so. We needed to climb 354 stairs (I counted!). Fortunately I was given the strength to climb through. We took a lot of pictures there, too, what with the serene, beautiful forest, paddy fields and rivers there.
Extramural aside,
this coming saturday it's a BHP seminar.. and as always, I was given the part to write the report.. haha.. not complaining. I love writing. I hope I could finish the report tonight.. want to relax tomorrow..
Anyways,
I've done watching the second season of
sex & the city.. very funny! Love the last episode. It reminded me of the TJC Guitar's Aurora days..
Just the way we were....Guitars. It's been more than a year since I last played it.. Probably because now I no longer have friends I could play with ya?
I actually miss singapore. Especially the friends
Sushi with Sherly and Erlin
Guitar rehearsals with Pat, Eng Hooi and Choong Yoon
Cleaning room with Fungus
Walking the CJC hill with Jaq and Yess
Detective moves with Jolene
Movies with Asih
Memories...Well, I don't think I can ever be over Singapore.. not that I have to be over her, right?
