Carmen Hurtado
Elqui Valley, Cochiguaz, Chile
Severe burn

• During final preparations for an overseas trip a pot full of hot oil that I had set up for frying, slipped and the hot oil ran over my right hand.
• My hand changed into all kinds of colors and in that moment it was time to prove my faith in the Agnihotra ash, which I had given to so many others.
• I put my hand in a clay pot filled with the ash of many Agnihotra fires and spent the whole night like that.
• The next morning I decided not to go to the hospital, and not to receive any type of treatment, because being a nurse I knew that they would carry out a surgical cleaning and I wanted to leave after two days for my trip to Switzerland.
• I left with a package of Agnihotra ash and my hand wrapped in many gauzes with lots of ash.
• I spent the two months this way, renewing only the bandage with the ash, without surgical cleaning.
• To my surprise, after going through the blister stage, the hand was healing and never became infected.
• This way it was drying out and when I returned from my trip, two months later, the skin on my hand was smooth and there was no scar.
• I didn't have any mobility problem with the fingers although I had suffered a severe, second degree burn that would probably have left scars using conventional medicine.

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Subject: The truth about Haiti

Quite often, the question is asked, why is Haiti such an eyesore and basket case to the Western world? Most often we are fed the dogma of corrupt politics, black politicians with no conscience and less morals, and no one really gets to learn the truth about why Haiti is the way it is. This article may serve to elevate Haiti as a nation and restore respect for its people! Sir Hilary Beckles is a black, caribbean intellectual, vice
chancellor of the University of the West Indies and a fellow Barbadian for whom many have the utmost respect. Please take the time to read the following article. You will never think of Haiti the same again!


The hate and the quake

BY SIR HILARY BECKLES

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES is in the process of conceiving how best to deliver a major conference on the theme Rethinking And Rebuilding Haiti.


I am very keen to provide an input into this exercise because for too long there has been a popular perception that somehow the Haitian nation-building project, launched on January 1, 1804, has failed on account of mismanagement, ineptitude, corruption.


Buried beneath the rubble of imperial propaganda, out of both Western Europe and the United States, is the evidence which shows that Haiti's independence was defeated by an aggressive North-Atlantic alliance that could not imagine
their world inhabited by a free regime of Africans as representatives of the newly emerging democracy.


The evidence is striking, especially in the context of France. The Haitians fought for their freedom and won, as did the Americans fifty years earlier.
The Americans declared their independence and crafted an extraordinary constitution that set out a clear message about the value of humanity and the right to freedom, justice, and liberty.

In the midst of this brilliant discourse, they chose to retain slavery as the basis of the new nation state. The founding fathers therefore could not see beyond race, as the free state was built on a slavery foundation.


The water was poisoned in the well; the Americans went back to the battlefield a century later to resolve the fact that slavery and freedom could not comfortably co-exist in the same place.  The French, also, declared "freedom, fraternity and equality" as the new philosophies of their national transformation and gave the modern world a tremendous progressive boost by so doing.


They abolished slavery, but Napoleon Bonaparte could not imagine the republic without slavery and targeted the Haitians for a new, more intense regime of slavery. The British agreed, as did the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese. All were linked in communion over the 500 000 Blacks in Haiti, the most populous and prosperous Caribbean colony.


As the jewel of the Caribbean, they all wanted to get their hands on it.  With a massive slave base, the English, French and Dutch salivated over owning it - and the people. The people won a ten-year war, the bloodiest in modern history, and declared their independence. Every other country in the
Americas was based on slavery.


Haiti was freedom, and proceeded to place in its 1805 Independence Constitution that any person of African descent who arrived on its shores would be declared free, and a citizen of the republic. For the first time since slavery had commenced, Blacks were the subjects of mass freedom and
citizenship in a nation.


The French refused to recognize Haiti's independence and declared it an illegal pariah state. The Americans, whom the Haitians looked to in solidarity as their mentor in independence, refused to recognize them, and offered solidarity instead to the French. The British, who were negotiating with the French to obtain the ownership title to Haiti, also moved in solidarity, as did every other nation-state the Western world.


Haiti was isolated at birth - ostracized and denied access to world trade, finance, and institutional development. It was the most vicious example of national strangulation recorded in modern history. The Cubans, at least, have had Russia, China, and Vietnam. The Haitians were alone from inception.
The crumbling began.


Then came 1825; the moment of full truth. The republic is celebrating its 21st anniversary. There is national euphoria in the streets of Port-au-Prince. The economy is bankrupt; the political leadership isolated.  The cabinet took the decision that the state of affairs could not continue.  The country had to find a way to be inserted back into the world economy.  The French government was invited to a summit.


Officials arrived and told the Haitian government that they were willing to recognize the country as a sovereign nation but it would have to pay compensation and reparation in exchange. The Haitians, with backs to the wall, agreed to pay the French.


The French government sent a team of accountants and actuaries into Haiti in order to place a value on all lands, all physical assets, the 500 000 citizens were who formerly enslaved, animals, and all other commercial properties and services. The sums amounted to 150 million gold francs. Haiti
was told to pay this reparation to France in return for national
recognition. The Haitian government agreed; payments began immediately.  Members of the Cabinet were also valued because they had been enslaved people before independence.


Thus began the systematic destruction of the Republic of Haiti. The French government bled the nation and rendered it a failed state. It was a merciless exploitation that was designed and guaranteed to collapse the Haitian economy and society.


Haiti was forced to pay this sum until 1922 when the last installment was made. During the long 19th century, the payment to France amounted to up to 70 per cent of the country's foreign exchange earnings.


Jamaica today pays up to 70 per cent in order to service its international and domestic debt. Haiti was crushed by this debt payment. It descended into financial and social chaos. The republic did not stand a chance. France was enriched and it took pleasure from the fact that having been defeated by
Haitians on the battlefield, it had won on the field of finance. In the years when the coffee crops failed, or the sugar yield was down, the Haitian government borrowed on the French money market at double the going interest rate in order to repay the French government.


When the Americans invaded the country in the early 20th century, one of the reasons offered was to assist the French in collecting its reparations. The collapse of the Haitian nation resides at the feet of France and America, especially. These two nations betrayed, failed, and destroyed the dream that
was Haiti; crushed to dust in an effort to destroy the flower of freedom and the seed of justice.


Haiti did not fail. It was destroyed by two of the most powerful nations on earth, both of which continue to have a primary interest in its current condition.


The sudden quake has come in the aftermath of summers of hate. In many ways the quake has been less destructive than the hate. Human life was snuffed out by the quake, while the hate has been a long and inhumane suffocation - a crime against humanity.


During the 2001 UN Conference on Race in Durban, South Africa, strong representation was made to the French government to repay the 150 million francs. The value of this amount was estimated by financial actuaries as US$21 billion. This sum of capital could rebuild Haiti and place it in a
position to re-engage the modern world. It was illegally extracted from the Haitian people and should be repaid.


It is stolen wealth. In so doing, France could discharge its moral obligation to the Haitian people.  For a nation that prides itself in the celebration of modern diplomacy, France, in order to exist with the moral authority of this diplomacy in this
post-modern world, should do the just and legal thing.
Such an act at the outset of this century would open the door for a sophisticated interface of past and present, and set the Haitian nation free at last.



Sir Hilary Beckles is pro-vice-chancellor and Principal of the Cave Hill
Campus, UWI.

I hope this day finds all of you beautiful woman and babies in health.  A few sisters have asked questions about what they can do to increase milk flow.  Here are a few examples of things that have worked for me and or my clients.  I hope this helps.  If anyone has any other things to share please post your comments. 

"Each one teach one, Each one reach one"  -Queen Mother Moore


1)  Get as much rest as you possibly can.  Sometimes our bodies don't produce enough milk simply because we are exhausted.

2)  Drink 3-4 cups of Alfalfa and Nettle Tea combined Daily.  It helps to make a gallon of tea at a time so you don't have to keep boiling and straining.  If you find the tea is not working for you try Alfalfa tablets (these can be purchased at most health food stores), some women need a more concentrated dose of the herb and this will usually do it.

3)  Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water (more if you can).  Keep a cup of water or tea without sugar by you while you are nursing.

4)  Avoid sugar and processed foods with sugar as much as you can.

5)  When possible, keep the room or area where you are nursing quiet and calm.  Dimming the lights also can help to keep you and your baby relaxed, especially if you are nursing a newborn.

6)  Meditate, Chant, Pray or do some spiritual exercise that helps you to de-stress.

7)  Nurse, nurse, nurse....sometimes the baby will want to initiate, and sometimes you may want to initiate.  The more you nurse the more your milk supply will increase.

Reiki Has Tremendous benefits during pregnancy.  For one every pregnant women goes through a combination of physical, spiritual and emotional changes.  Sometimes we are in the flow with these changes and sometimes we can be a little unbalanced.  A Reiki treatment can assist in restoring harmony within our bodies and help us to connect with our unborn children. 

A treatment can also help to alleviate any discomforts that may come with your pregnancy, such as nausea, back aches, head aches, hormonal issues, etc.

Give us a call today to have a treatment program designed specifically for you.

From November 20th to December 15th we are offering a special rate of $20 per half hour session and $50 for a one hour session. 

Prevention is the Mother Natures Best Cure.  So the seasons are changing and our immune systems could always use an extra boost during the colder months of the year.  "Thieves" an essential oil blend by Young Living is a great preventative treatment and the best part is it can be taken internally or externally.  1 Drop a day is all you need in a glass of water or rubbed on the bottom of your feet.  To place an order please call us at 201-503-0122.

So for those of you who don't know I am 29 weeks pregnant.  Last week I was having rushes "contractions" every 10 minutes all day.  I called my friend and midwife Sakina O'Uhuru, CM and she advised me to drink 32 oz of water every hour for 4 hours.  That means a whole gallon in those 4 hours.  So I drank pretty close to that and the contractions slowed down to the irregular Braxton Hicks.  I spent five hours between drinking and running to the bathroom to urinate, but the water definately worked.

I also spoke with a client of mine who is a nurse in Newborn Intensive Care at Hackensack Hospital in NJ and she said that many of the mothers who come into the hospital in early labor are dehydrated.  So lets take the H2O to the head ladies and hold onto our babies as long as we can. 

With my first son, I didn't really think twice about circumcision.  It was part of our spiritual culture and belief that this should be done to all males as stated by the Nazarite vow.  A vow that my husband and I took before we conceived. 

But then they brought my 2 day onld son back to me after having it done and I really began to question if I had made the right decision.  My son had tears all over his face and his penis was so red and tender.  It seemed like such tremendous shock to put a newborn child through, as if transitioning to the world of light was not enough, now he had to have a precious part of his foreskin removed and the hardest part was I wasn't exactly sure why.

Yes our culture said it was the right thing to do, but perhaps when these words were written thousands of years ago there was a neccessity for this practice, but is it still neccessary today?  I pondered over this even after my second son was born.  I gave birth to our second child at home, and we had an unassissted birth, so there was no one to perform a circumcision at the time, but for the first year of his life I went back and forth in my head about whether we would circumcise him.  I thought about what he would think when he got older and saw that his brother and father were circumcised and he wasn't.  I thought about if my older son would be upset with us because we did it to him and not to his brother.  I thought about the breaking of a vow that I took with my whole heart in it.  And then I saw a circumcision being performed and that was the end of my wondering what to do.

I knew that I could never put another child that I gave birth to through such pain without a legitimate reason.  And I made peace with the Nazarite vow which I begin to interpret as one can also be circumcised (or cleansed) in the heart.  Which I believe my whole family is.

I don't encourage or discourage anyone either way, but for us I learned what works.

www.nocirc.org is a wonderful site for Circumcision Information and Resources