There was no doubt that Cambodia called me, and perhaps is calling me again...
But the main reason that I went several years ago was because of my friend: Victor Shibata.
Dr. Victor Shibata was a revolutionary doctor brought up during the time of the civil rights movement, his ideas were always focused on community and helping those that struggled in the way that the Barefoot Doctors worked in China. Dr. Shibata worked out of his house and treated most of his community, many of the elderly for free. Skilled in acupuncture, Chinese medicine and chiropractics, Reiki, muscle testing and a form of energetics pioneered by Kam Yuen, he was effective and changed many lives including mine.
I was immediately curious about the forms of medicine he used. After several meetings, he asked me if I wanted to learn.
Of course, I did.
He was very serious about taking on a student, and said he needed to know more about my outlook on life to determine whether I was a good fit. I tried feebly to describe my world view, something I had thought about a lot, written about equally as much, but had never tried to verbalize in a succinct paragraph before. I tried. And off handedly mentioned that I was Quaker.
Whether he had faith in me or my Quaker ideals,
I began attending classes at his house once a week. Learning the basics and then practicing throughout the week. Before long my best friend came to join us.
This began the years that we would spend together talking about medicine, politics, history, and everything in between. Staying up late into the night, the three of us would sit down at his house laughing, hearing all of his stories from the movement, and unraveling the unexplained mysteries of the universe. He became more than my mentor. He became our best friend, my family.
Dr. Shibata talked often about his medical trips to Nepal and Vietnam. He loved those areas of the world. His cousin had recently taken up a position in Thailand so we discussed taking a medical sabbatical to that area of the world. For me, it would mean some vital hands-on experience. I started looking in Thailand and even found some very good connections. Those fell through when we couldn't all agree on a departure.
I let the idea wane for a bit, but began looking again in early 2008. In February, I found a job in Cambodia, I thought this would create a good base for us, if I found a position at an organization and was able to make proper connections, we could easily set up a clinic in both Thailand and Cambodia.
The organization was Aziza's Place. And I eventually went on my own. The rest is history, written in pieces on this website.
But we never lost the dream of making those clinics a reality. I was able to apply some of the knowledge that I learned with Dr. Shibata., working on minor injuries and headaches. Nader was fascinated by the vitamin testing that Dr. Shibata taught me. This proved many ideas that he had theorized on his own. It was one of the reasons that Nader and I got along, sitting out in the courtyard dissecting the seen and unseen worlds.
My whole experience in Cambodia began with Shibata. In many ways, I owe it to him.
He passed away last week, very suddenly. I've been sitting around my house in a stupor all weekend. On the one hand I do not want to disturb the memories, they seem too sacred to tamper with. But on the other hand I want to recognize what an impact he made on the world.. and on my world.
This Cambodia journey finds its roots in him.
Thank you Shibat for everything. There are no words for how much I will miss you...
