There’s no better ending to the year just passing than the peace that has descended over Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, a region for long decades embroiled in never-ending battles with government troops that left thousands dead in a bid for independence.

It took a tsunami to change all that.

Now that the independence rebels are no more, and are set to govern the staunchly Muslim region after unprecedented local elections earlier this month, our thoughts turn to the still-devastated lives of the tens of thousands of Acehnese who lost loved ones and homes, many of whom remain without shelter two years on.

At least 25,000 families in Aceh are still homeless, according to the British aid organization Oxfam earlier this month, and only 48,000 of a projected 128,000 homes had been built.

So it was vexing to learn this week that of the billions of dollars donated from ordinary people in every part of the world to the countries affected by the killer waves on December 26, 2006 – most of them in Aceh, where 168,000 of a region-wide death toll of 220,000 lost their lives - half of the funds remain unspent.

Just US$3.4 billion of $6.7 billion pledged has thus far been spent, and around one-tenth of donors have yet to make good on their pledges, according to figures obtained by the BBC from the United Nations Department for Aid and Development.

Meanwhile, two years later, some Acehnese are still living in tents.

It was never going to be easy, the rebuilding process in wiped-out areas in countries rife with overbearing bureaucracy and corruption, with essential documents like land-title certificates swept away by the racing waves, and indeed foreign aid agencies have been battling – sometimes losing – against local authorities to get things done.

The Red Cross admitted this week that the rebuilding efforts were “incredibly difficult” and that it would take time before all the donated monies were spent “in a responsible manner.”

However, the UN’s special rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, properly argued that “It should really not take this long to build permanent housing.

“I do not accept the explanation that it is going to take four to five years, in some cases seven. I’m an architect. I know how long it takes to build a house.”

Meanwhile, for many in Aceh, their lives remain on hold, their only consolation that they are now living in a province of peace, where war was swept away with so much else.

Playtime: Members of the Canggu Club’s Dramarama group pose for the camera before a performance of the play Santa’s Workshop. The seasonal production was produced and directed by Australian actress Heidi Da Silva.

SEMINYAK ~ A leading Australian private security company has been conducting a security audit of Bali to assist in making improvements to the safety and security of the island.

“Bali has recognized that it simply can’t flourish without a viable tourism industry – it’s the island’s number-one revenue generator – and this realization is reflected in the upgraded security status across the island,” Tom Roche, managing director of SNP Security, which carried out the audit, said.

“Things have improved in Bali and the local population, along with its visitors, mutually share a ‘sentiment of security’ which works at many levels around the island,” he said.

There had been a visible improvement in security on the island, better than ever before, noted Roche.

Visits by SNP personnel to Bali were unannounced and covert, both day and night, so that a true picture of the security situation could be determined, the company said.

“Things have improved in Bali and the local population, along with its visitors, mutually share a ‘sentiment of security’ which works at many levels around the island,” said Roche.

“In essence, there are two major policing organizations in place – the very vigilant community security (pecalang) and the official government organizations such as the police, military and counterterrorism units.”

The security assessment was carried out to entice visitors, particularly Australians, back to Bali.

Said Roche: “Bali is better prepared today than it ever has been to cope with the kind of threats we all face, and I can confidently say we are now ever-vigilant and well-prepared.

“These recourses, combined with upgraded, international-standard training for the island’s many private security companies, have ensured that the overall situation has taken a positive leap forward.”

Robert Goldman, M.D., Ph.D.

and Ronald Klatz, M.D., D.O.

Diabetes is a medical condition in which a person’s blood glucose (often called blood sugar) is too high. While the blood always has some glucose in it because your body needs glucose for energy to keep you going, too much circulating glucose can lead to problems with the eyes, kidneys, nerves, and gums and teeth. The most serious problem caused by diabetes is heart disease. The World Health Organization reports that heart disease accounts for approximately 50 percent of all deaths among people with diabetes in industrialized countries.

Type 2 diabetes (adult-onset diabetes or noninsulin-dependent diabetes) is the most common form of diabetes. People can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. This form of diabetes usually begins with insulin resistance, a condition in which fat, muscle and liver cells do not use insulin properly. At first the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by producing more insulin. In time, however, it loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals. Being overweight and inactive increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), recently compiled data show that approximately 150 million people have diabetes mellitus worldwide, and that this number may well double by the year 2025. The International Diabetes Federation reports that a person with diabetes incurs medical costs that are two to five times higher than those of a person without diabetes. This is due to more frequent medical visits, purchase of supplies and medication and the higher likelihood of being admitted to a hospital.

Research studies have found that moderate weight loss and exercise can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes among adults at high-risk of the condition. As such, preventive measures may delay the onset of diabetes, and help manage the condition in people who have it. In this article, we present potential preventive strategies for consideration.

Packing on the Pounds Increases Diabetes Risk. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people at high risk for diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their weight. A 2005 study by researchers at University of Newcastle upon Tyne found that men and women with a higher body fat and higher waist-hip ratio adults are more likely to have increased insulin resistance, a risk marker for type 2 diabetes. Childhood factors, such as birth weight and nutrition, were found to have little impact in the risk for developing diabetes, discounting the notion that poor health in later life can result from earlier experiences.

Diabetics at Increased Risk of Heart Disease. Diabetics with a particular form of a blood protein, called haptoglobin, have as much as a 500 percent increased risk of developing heart disease. In a study by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel, researchers found that Vitamin E supplements (both natural and mixed forms) helped diabetic men and women who have the 2-2 form of haptoglobin to reduce their risk of heart attacks and dying from diabetes-related heart disease. It is estimated that 40 percent of diabetics have this blood protein variant, so as many as two of every five diabetics could benefit from taking Vitamin E supplements.

Delay Diabetes. New data models derived from the Diabetes Prevention Project by the University of Michigan Health System show that men and women who walked briskly for 30 minutes five days a week, lowered their fat and calorie intake and achieved a weight-reduction goal of 7 percent of body weight over a three-year period were able to cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent.

Exercise Melts Pounds, Wards Off Diabetes. Physical activity can help diabetics control their blood glucose, weight and blood pressure, raise their “good” cholesterol (HDL) and lower their “bad” cholesterol (LDL). It can also help prevent heart and blood flow problems, reducing the risk of heart disease and nerve damage, which are often problems for people with diabetes. Generally, diabetics should engage in moderate-intensity physical activity for at least 30 minutes on five or more days of the week. Some examples of moderate-intensity physical activity are walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming or bicycling. If you are not accustomed to physical activity, you may want to start with a little exercise, and work your way up. As you become stronger, you can add a few extra minutes to your physical activity. Do some physical activity every day, rather than an extended period of activity once a week. According to the WHO, even moderate reduction in weight and only half an hour of walking each day reduced the incidence of diabetes by more than half.

“Diabetes prevention is proven, possible and powerful,” reports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weight loss through physical activity is one of the most dramatic ways in which you can reduce your odds of succumbing to diabetes and the potentially adverse medical effects of the disease.

Drs. Goldman and Klatz are the co-founders of the anti-aging medical movement and serve, respectively, as chairman and president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of technology to detect, prevent and treat aging-related disease and to promote research into methods to retard and optimize the human aging process.

Bali ‘Safe’: A leading Australian private security company has been conducting a security audit of Bali to assist in making improvements to the safety and security of the island.

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SEMINYAK ~ To bring wonderful new things into your life, you must first make space for them. To create more flow, give more. This explains how.

Case Study

A client, Peter, came from Jakarta, bringing just about every single problem or negative belief that I had come across in the past three years – all in one person! A whole series of ideas about worthlessness, suffering and struggle had caused him to attract terrible treatment, neglect, the loss of his children and possessions and on and on. We got down to work (he was willing) and whizzed through a huge list of beliefs in an hour and a half, changing them all. He looked and felt so much lighter. The session felt like a review of my past three years’ work, appropriate for this time of year. Afterwards I dreamed all night of all the issues involved, and awoke to write a whole new list of beliefs that will help more people – in fact, some helped this same client again when he came back two days later. It is a wonderful thing that all the knowledge that comes from each person can be shared and passed on to help others. We are all the sum total of consciousness, creating consciousness. We contribute merely by being who we are.   

How will you help others during the New Year? And if you already help a lot, how may you encourage others to do the same?

Meditation – Review of the Year

Relax, breathe and find yourself sitting in a fireside chair next to Father Christmas. He jovially offers you a silver-and-red, shiny cracker. You notice he is wearing a red clown nose. You pull the cracker and five or six little silver charms fly out into your lap. As you pick up each charm one by one, it grows into a significant event from the year and you take a moment to savor it. Carry on picking up the charms, watching the scenes and listening to Santa talking to you. When ready, gently come back to the room.

Now write some free-form writing about your year. If you have regrets, write “I wish I hadn’t…” and “I wish I had…” and list them. Acknowledge what you have learned in the process, and forgive yourself for whatever you didn’t know at the time.

New York

I lived in New York for a year when I was 25. I loved the brilliant blue skies of winter, the glittering metallic buildings, the freshness of the air, the excitement. New York had  “designer tramps” – hobos with attitude. One lady had a shopping trolley with funky attachments – bendy metal rods that made it like a spacemobile.  Another, filthy old guy in a raincoat tied with string used to lurch around with a wine bottle, yelling “save the whales – save the winos!” I saw him twice in one day in different parts of the city.  (Maybe his message was specially for me.) It’s 20 years ago yet I still remember him. He had style, attitude, a message and a cool way of delivering it. And he had not compromised on his living style – he was doing his own thing (however absurd). Who do you remember in your life, and why?

Role models guide us, giving us something to aspire to and emulate. We are role models for our children, friends and people we work with. Being a role model is a combination of style and deeply held personal values. When you discover the values of one of your own role models, you reveal some of your own deepest values.

One of my heroes is George Boole (1815-1864). The father of modern computing, he invented the eponymous Boolean logic, a way of writing logic using Ifs and Ands, which can instruct computers to do things. I’m personally grateful for his invention; it’s an invaluable tool in understanding the mind. Boole was a fellow of the Academy of Mathematicians and was also renowned for being a nice person and giving good tea parties. Another of my heroes is John Lennon. I admire the way he combined outlandish creativity with idealism, took no nonsense from people and had an acerbic wit. If you put these two people together and add a touch of Madonna and Marilyn Monroe, for me that would be about perfect.

Who do you most admire? Take a moment to reflect on one of your heroes. If you don’t have one, choose one. Write a few sentences describing why you admire them. Now see if you can identify the underlying values. 

To get you started; I’ll do mine: George Boole – persistent, intellectual, brilliant, inventive, kind, thoughtful, constructive contribution that can be built on. John Lennon – altruistic, witty, creative, idealistic, didn’t waste time, told people what he thought, did what he believed in and wanted. A pinch of Madonna and Marilyn Monroe would add glamour, daring, uniqueness, vulnerability and talent as well. What did you get?

Meditation – Presents

Relax, breathe and find yourself back by the fireside with Santa. He is drinking a glass of sherry and smoking a cigar, one leg crossed over his knee. He begins to chat, and offers you a drink and a seat. You hear sleigh bells outside, where it’s snowing. Santa’s sleigh arrives with reindeer and lots of parcels, some for you and some for others. Take your time helping elves distribute parcels, watching people opening and enjoying them and enjoying yours. Notice which you like best – giving or receiving? You notice a poor little boy standing at the edge of the crowd in a pale blue outfit, without any presents, blowing on his cold hands. You go to Santa and arrange a special present for him, send it over and watch him open it. Notice how you feel, what happens and what you want to do now. When ready, gently come back to the room.

Exercise – Out with the Old

Choose something to throw out, representing the old year (old shoes?). Something meaningful - not your toothbrush; that’s cheap.  Now invest it with all the things you would like to let go of, and as you throw it out, say: “I bless you, thank you, forgive you and release you.”

Exercise – In with the New

Next: time to shop for something new, symbolizing the brand New Year you wish to create. Think about the feelings you would like to feel and embody during the New Year. Love? Kindness? Abundance? Gentleness? Greatness? Power? Choose something that makes you feel that way, so you remember.

While you are out, also buy a gift for somebody else, representing what you want to give in the New Year. Choice? Freedom? Consideration? Love?

Review of Next Year

Relax, and find yourself at the end of next year, December 2007, about to do an exercise, reviewing the year. Imagine yourself sitting, writing some free-form text looking back and reviewing the year. You write “I wish I hadn’t…” and “I wish I had…”; “I’m so glad I did…” and “I’m so glad I didn’t” and list them. “If I’d thought of it, I could have…” and “If I’d known, I could have…” An angel comes and blows on your text, filling it with light and showing you some more ways. Enjoy the feeling and absorb the knowing. The angel hands you threads, the new beginning of each thing, and you hold them in your hands.

When ready, breathe and gently return to the room and write it all down. Now you have a whole year to make it happen!

(This exercise can be repeated during the year, reviewing the past month and jumping forward to review the coming month, if you like. It helps you learn from your experiences, plan and gain inspired ideas and new ways.)

Postscript: Peter loves to write, and wanted to write a book, sharing his experiences and helping others, and we discussed how linking this with his favorite charities could help his project to be realized more easily and quickly – and help a good cause - a win-win.

(Names and details mentioned have been changed to protect identities.).

NEXT ISSUE: Success in 2007

Jelila is an internationally renowned transformational coach and wellness guide who practices in Asia and Australia. She is now in Bali, offering coaching and workshops. If you have a question you would like answered in this column, please write to Jelila at jelila@thebalitimes.com. www.jelila.com; Bali Tel: +62 (0) 361 766259, +62 (0) 81 239 43354. Singapore: +65 6225 4381; www.sanctumsg.com

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