Sanj's Space

Medical Toursim kindly added me as their neighbour so I decided to log onto Vox, its been a while since I posted on Vox. I don't know why to be honest. Since my last post I have by graduated from University and spent the whole summer lazying around enjoying life now I am back at University doing a postgraduate course which makes my previous three years at Uni seem like a walk in the park. I should actually be doing some work right now instead of randomly typing stuff that may never even be read by anyone.

Nice to see some neighbours of mine are regularly posting stuff. I just dont have the time anymore.

George Galloway. Either you love him or loathe him. I wouldnt go as far as saying I love him but I think he is great for a number of reasons. You can't fault him for speaking his mind, whatever his motives he has brought the issue of Palestine and fought for their rights for as long as I can remember. He knows what he is talking about. He is always constantly questioned and everyone from the media, Canada, the Charity Commission, Government is trying to bring him down but you cannot shut him up, he laps up the attention. He always has something interesting to say whether you agree with him or not.

I am almost at the finishing line. Five weeks to go before I finish Uni (if all goes well that is and I dont have to re-sit any of my assessments)
For the last two weeks I have been burning the midnight oil, working to the early hours of the morning trying to finish my dissertation. In true family tradition, I started it two weeks ago even though I knew since January I had to do a dissertation. I have done to this date 9,500 words, not bad for two weeks grafting but today, right now I feel I cannot be bothered with it anymore.

Which is why I am here writing about my frustration instead of trying to finish it.

I am exhausted from the work. Disappointed as to the standard (my catchphrase when completing an assignment is; "Im not happy with it") Stressed. I have given up my social life (well ok the majority of my time wasting activities) and have put back all my commitmments "until I finish Uni".

This last semester has been very hard. I need some encouragement to finish this so if anyone has any please let me know!

What question do you ask when you really want to get to know someone better?

I dont think there is any one question that you can ask to really get to know someone as all people are different and I think we tend to judge people very quickly on their attitude to certain things. Depending on how well YOU think you know each other they may not give you a straight answer as sometimes when we are put under pressure we tend to give very different answers........

We are complex us humans.

If I met someone new to Islam I am always interested in how and why they became Muslim and a lot of Muslims who may have met me for the first time are often curious as well as to why I became Muslim. This is because each of our stories are different and a lot of the time inspiring. Again, depending on the situation I will tailor my answer to provide just enough detail. I don't really like talking about personal stuff to people I don't know too well as I am essentially a very private person. I prefer to let people tell me their life story, in exchange for a hot drink :)

What superpower would you most like to have?

Umm...Interesting. Me and my daughter were chatting about this today, to have an amazing memory like Charlie from Heroes (season 1) would help to facilitate learning........I would like to be able to extend time......not by changing it but just so I have enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted....or to be able to live with an hour's sleep that would have the same effect as I would be able to fit more stuff I want to do in a day. That's not going to happen so looks like I will have to manage my time more effectively.

I was lucky enough to try the ancient therapy of hijama (arabic word) also known as wet cupping or blood letting. This type of therapy is a recognised form of treatment for many illnesses and has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. However it is still largely unknown in Western society. It was one of the forms of medicine recommended by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who used to have hijama regularly. So for that reason itself I wanted to experience this therapy. It is also a recognised therapy amongst Western medicine but not well known to the average member of the public.

The lady who performed the treatment was very experienced and has set up her own clinic in London. She was invited to do talk on Hijama at a local event I attended and although I don't have any major health problems I was interested and intrigued to know more about Hijama as an alternative to Western medicine which is based on diagnosis and prescribing drugs. In her talk she talked about how Toothpaste and Shampoo has damaging chemicals in them and although initially sounding like a conspiracy therapist I read an article yesterday that said some products used in certain brands do have chemicals in them which are dangerous and have been banned.

Anyway back to the Hijama. The therapist came back to do another talk and offered to do a few appointments for local women so I jumped at the opportunity. She asked me about any illnesses or medical conditons I have  so she could know how to treat me. As this was my first time, she performed Hijama on my neck which is also a sunnah spot (this is a part of the body which the Prophet Muhammed used to have done) It is also done on your neck intially as it is hard to tell how a person will take the treatment so doing it on the neck first is a good idea.

She explained what she was going to do ( I have a strong threshold for pain after having three children so I wasnt too nervous) before making very small cuts on the back of my neck. This didnt hurt, it sort of tickled. A small plastic cup was then placed on the back of my neck, and air was taken out of the cup using suction to create a vaccum, blood was then released through the incisions and into the cup. In the olden days they had to use a candle/flame and small glass cup or bamboo to create heat when placed on the skin in order to create the suction. Nowadays with modern technology the lady who treated me had disposable needles, gloves and cups. An ancient method being updated using modern technology.

After the treatment I didnt feel any pain and the scars on my neck healed within a week. I was told that the blood was quite thin ( a good sign) although not a lot of it was coming out. I did feel very tired though for a week after the treatment.

A week later she came up for another visit so I took the opportunity to do it again this time in two spots on my lower back (as I have lower back pain for the last few years). This time more blood was drawn and I got to look at the blood which was disturbingly thick and dark (not a good sign, thick blood is usually toxic and since it was my second treatment the blood was coming out better). This time I felt a bit of pain where the cuts were, but overall I didnt feel lethargic after treatment as I was a bit more prepared for what to expect.

If you look at the videos on youtube they are quite scary which is why I didnt want to post them. If you cannot stand the sight of blood then this is probably not for u. Also the videos on youtube are extreme. I saw a video of this guy he had 3 cups on his head and about 4 on his back which must be very painful, I felt queasy watching that. Some people left comments saying it is barbaric. It is an alternative therapy. Don't knock it though until you have tried it!

The idea behind hijama therapy is that a lot of energy is not being used properly by our bodies. Our blood is getting clogged up and not being able to travel through our bodies properly leading to illnesses so the hijama releases the toxic blood allowing the blood to flow better. Depending on your body and the illness you have you may need a few more sessions before you see any overall improvements. An increase in circulaion is also very important which is why the therapist asked me to do some moderate exercise every day.(although I am not overweight I could do with increasing my circulation and keeping fit!)

Having the hijama done has made me realise how lucky I am in terms of having a reasonably healthy body ( i do have some minor health problems but nothing too serious) so I need to start looking after myself before it packs in through old age.

I am also more aware of my eating habits now and have made a few minor changes to improve my diet. Everything the therapist told me to do I am awrare of but unfortunately I am not good at implementing and sticking to dietary advice.

For those of you have read my posts on the Viva Palestina convoy to Gaza, updates are available on the website and many of those who travelled from the UK to Gaza have returned safe and sound to their families. A group called Justice for Palestine also travelled with over 23 tonnes of aid to Gaza on a separated route from the Viva Palestina convoy and they arrived home safely. They were very honoured to travel to deliver aid and got through with minimum fuss and disruption from all the authorities letting them through various borders. The majority of aid was allowed in and the Palestinian people are so grateful. The Viva Palestina convoy also managed to get through although there was trouble with the Egyptian authorities and a fight did break out between the Egyptian police and those who were part of the convoy.

I can't believe I have two months left before I finish my degree at Uni! When I first started three years ago I never imagined it would go so fast. I hope that I do not fall at the very last hurdle and that I get through these next two months in one piece!

I am very proud to say I finished an essay three days before it was due to be handed in!! As procrastination is my number one enemy this is a fantastic achievement!!

I still have a lot to do in the next two months, I have tried my best to cut down on social outings, visits to family and television and Internet time so that I can concentrate on my studies but this is hard. I cannot say no to a shopping trip with a friend or an opportunity to see my family or if a friend needs me to be there for a chat I will have to go........So secretly I have this morbid fear that I am going to mess things up and do badly this semester (i get the obsessive worrying from my mum even though I know that it's a waste of time and energy to worry!!) "After my exam (yes I only have one exam!)" or "When I finish Uni" has become my catchphrase lately whenever anyone asks me to do something for them or invites me to go somewhere........... This semester though has been the most demanding and challenging for me, in particular the topic Equity and Trusts..........I am just finding it difficult to get into the subject.

I came across this story now tragic, with so much poverty in the world people are starving and in some countries we have eating contests this poor unfortunate soul http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090310/twl-pancake-eating-contest-winner-chokes-3fd0ae9.html  was the lucky winner of a pancake eating contest, until he dropped dead after choking on a piece of pancake.........The contest (held in Russia) to mark the beginning of Lent.........after carting the poor Russian off the stage in the ambulance, they continued the celebrations..........don't let seeing a guy choking to death on a pancake on stage stop you from ruining your celebrations.......heartless. You couldnt make this up this story. Life is stranger than fiction.

Although the media has largely forgotten about Gaza these last few weeks in the UK (instead  the media is concentrating on a reality star dying of cancer) the citizens of my home town in Manchester havent forgotten.

Last week sisters from my local community got together and held a fundraising event to raise money for a much needed mobile clinic for Gaza. Despite very little publicity, a modest amount was raised considering the timescale in which to organise the event (we wanted to hold it during the school holidays).There are also regular fundraising events in around my local area for Gaza, one lady got together with the ladies in her community and organised an emergency fundraising event and many of the ladies donated their gold which was auctioned off. The good thing is that people are trying their best to raise money for Gaza, events are happening at least once a week, from small bring and buy jumble sales to larger more elaborate charity auctions accompanied by three course meals and guest speakers. People need to realise that it is still a disaster and emergency area there. Just because the cameras have stopped rolling, doesnt mean the Gazans are in less need of help/food/clean water/medicine/blankets etc.