Between Prometheus and Surgery (Satis Shroff)

Zeitgeistlyrik: Between Prometheus and Plastic Surgery (Satis Shroff)

Tags: children of nepal, satisshroff, hinduism, helping nepal, buddhism, freiburg, nepal, disabilities, twistinge, nächstenliebe, christianity, compassion, love, burns, plastic surgery, deformities, zeitgeistlyrik, devotion This time Satis Shroff tells you a story in verse of a western hospital manager who is trying to win over a Nepalese priest (bahun) to her medical, evidenced-based line of thinking. The priest, on the other hand, talks about his religious point of view that has been handed down the generations and written in the vedic scriptures. Will the two meet and agree? BETWEEN PROMETHEUS AND PLASTIC SURGERY (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

Preacher: Break your bread with the hungry, Speak a word with the dumb, Sing with the sad, Share your house with the lonely. Fire is important to us. I have come to ignite a fire, Within us, A fire that’ll remain burning. But an open fire is dangerous, For small children in Nepal. Today we have a guest from Nepal. A woman who has a big heart, For the children of Nepal. Christa: Namaskar! I greet the Godliness in you. I’ve worked twelve years in Nepal, As a hospital manager. The role of a woman, Is different in rural Nepal. The women and children have to work hard. I went to many Nepalese farmers And their families. In the farmsteads there’s always an open fire, Which is the central point. Children creep on their fours to the fire, Fascinated, Attracted, By the licking flames. Bahun: What to you is fire, Is Agni in our eyes. Agni is the God of Fire. We need Agni’s presence, In Vedic rituals. It is also a sacricifical fire. The Nepalese home fire Has to burn all the time. Wedding celebrations and nuptial knots Are tied around the open fire, When the priest recites vedic prayers Give butter to Agni to make it bigger. The funeral rites, At the burning ghats on riversides, Are performed with fire. Ever step in life Is manifested by rituals around Agni. Fire is one of the most ancient Sacred objects of Hindu worship. Even today it plays An honourable role In sacrifices. The Nepali kitchen-fire was always open.

Christa: People come with burns and deformities, Hare-lips, polydactylia, Injuries and infected wounds From the decade-long krieg In the Himalayas. Maoists versus the royal forces. 12,000 surgical operations were performed On 9000 patients in ten years. The wounded Maoist patients Couldn’t be quartered Near injured soldiers or policemen. A clash of ideologies, A struggle for rights, Repression against freedom, Leftists against rightists. Today, there’s a 50 bed hospital, Built with the help of other nations. In my western world, It was Prometheus who stole fire from Heaven. We are thankful to him for the precious flames. The Nepalese houses are built traditionally, But they have no chimneys. The dwellings are full of smoke, Emanating from the open fire. Smoke gets in the eyes of the Ama, The children’s bronchioles are clogged. This leads to heavy lung damage: Chronic pulmonary inflammation, Cases of choking, Massive blood circulation problems. Year after year 500 patients came, With burns caused by open open hearth fires. Most of the victims are small children, Who’ve fallen into the fire, Or have crabbled to the hearth. Small innocent hands That clutch the fury of the fire. There’s nobody to mind them. Keine Aufsichtspflicht. There are no qualified healers in the hamlets. This leads to disabilities For the rest of their lives. I have seen so much misery and poverty. The modern kerosene cookers explode, And women burn themselves, From the lips to their navels. Mothers come with their charges And say: ‘My baby fell into the fire.’ Stones are used outdoors to make a fire, Or cookers with three legs at home. Bahun: ‘Your surgeons are doing a good job.’ Christa: Plastic Surgery is good But it’s important to prevent burns. We even tried building a bamboo-fence Around the fire. It didn’t work. O Bahun! Kriya means ‘to do something’ in Sanskrit. Bahun: Yes, the performing of vedic rituals At the right time, As written in the Gita, To attain a balance. Christa: Would it not be better, To prevent a child from burning Or a mother from suffocating, By using a new kind of oven? Bahun: Righteous doing is without interest.

Christa: An oven that banishes the smoke Out of the kitchen, To the back of the house. The origin of evil is thus eliminated. Finally we made an oven with a chimney, To be used by the Nepali mother. The smoke-free oven costs only 8 euros. For us in the west it’s little money, But for a farmer it’s an enormous sum. We gather money for the ‘Die Offenmacherverein’ To finance the smoke-free kitchen oven, See to it that it’s used in Nepal, And organise the training For oven builders. Bahun: Datta, dayadhvam, damyata Shanti! Peace be with you. Peace which passeth understanding. Christa: Yes, Frieden sei mit Dir. Glossary: Gita:the holy scripture of the Hindus called the Bhagavad Gita Datta: means you give alms to the needy Dayadhvam: show compassion Damyata: tells you to practice self-control Escap: evergy sector assistance & organisations programme Danida: Danish international development assistance www.aepc.gov.np www.nepal-krankenhaus.de In Nepal: swasthachulo.nepal (ngo)i>