SOLIDARITY
STATEMENT OF NADA PHILIPPINES
AT THE 24TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF NADA USA Denver,
Colorado May 2-4,
2013
We feel deeply honored to be part of this event as we express our
solidarity with NADA USA
on this, their 24th Annual Conference with the theme,
“Fostering Community Resilience and Healing”.
This
theme resonates very much with the vision that NADA Philippines has taken up
for itself, since its soft launching in October 2010. We envision “a
society wherein organized communities can provide their members with affordable
and accessible treatment for physical and mental health conditions through ear
acupuncture detoxification used in conjunction with other treatment
modalities”. In a country that is beleaguered with social problems
affecting a huge number of people and communities, harnessing the inner
strength of the people inside the communities can only be the best recourse for
healing and recovery.
To date, NADA Philippines has produced around 250 Acupuncture
Detoxification Specialists composed of community health workers, body
acupuncturists, alternative healers, mothers and housewives, medical doctors,
nurses, religious, social development workers, caregivers, psychologists and
counselors, , dentists, student doctors, and teachers. Their
practice have brought the NADA protocol to community clinics in various urban
poor communities where the poverty situation has given rise to high incidences
of drug and alcohol abuse resulting to criminal cases against person and
property. NADA Protocol has also been introduced to residential centers for abused and neglected children, home of the religious-elderly, Youth home for children in conflict with the law, Female detention center for women and an out-patient facility for addicts.
The biggest activities that the NADA Philippines has engaged in, both in the first quarter of 2012 and 2013 were in the south of the Philippines for the victims of the strong typhoons, Sendong and Bopha which caused widespread damage and devastation to life and property. It was on these two occasions when the NADA team really saw the importance of working with the community in order to effect healing and recovery. In 2012, the NADA team found itself working with the network of agencies providing various forms of support (medical assistance, relief goods of food and clothing, psychological first aid, etc.)to the evacuation centers and relocation sites in Cagayan de Oro. The team noted very dramatic results from the testimonies of the people in the community who received the NADA treatment. Even the first responders in the area (military men, social development workers and health workers, non-government agencies) benefitted from the protocol.
Among these included: First restful sleep ever in a month since the disaster, no nightmares, reduced body pain, reduced physical malaise, clear mind, able to focus on what to do next for family and for other people in the evacuation center and other centers. The people were asking for NADA training so that they could share its benefits with other evacuees in other evacuation sites which the NADA team was not able to reach. Lack of funds however, hindered the NADA team from staying longer or coming back to train the people. This was sad as there was no one left in the community to sustain the treatment of the people. NADA Philippines vowed never to leave a community without passing on the NADA Protocol . In 2013, when Pablo created havoc once again in Mindanao,
NADA doubled its efforts to raise funds not only for airfare and accommodations but also for an extended two week stay that included training of some fifteen identified high school teachers from one of the communities hardest hit by the typhoon. To this date, these teachers continue to provide ear acupuncture to the folks of the community and to the children in their school in a private room secured for them by the School Principal. The teachers pride themselves with the fact that though they themselves are victims of the devastation, they have picked up themselves in order to help their neighbors recover from the grief and depression over their many losses. The healers may still have fresh wounds…but in helping other people heal themselves, they too have been healed. For the NADA Philippines team, this is what fostering community resilience and healing is all about. This is what the spirit of NADA is all about. Given the chance, wounded communities can find their strength from within their members…and together they can rise up again on their feet not only for themselves but also for others.
Different parts of the world are now going through different kinds of crises; the bottomline is that these conditions continue to cause people undue stress and anxiety. NADA USA could not have chosen a better theme for their conference, for truly, we have yet to see the many benefits of the NADA Protocol as we continue to work with different populations in different settings together with other treatment modalities.
Congratulations NADA USA for this 24th Conference. Rest assured that NADA Philippines is one with you in keeping the NADA Spirit alive and burning. We can work together to make sure that this happens.
Mabuhay kayo!
In solidarity,
Janet P.
Paredes
President, NADA Philippines
NADA Registered Trainer
Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist
Certified Acupuncturist PITAHC-DOH