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“To Do No Harm” Spiritual Care and Ethnomedical Competence 169

see themselves as victims, as everything they had being taken
away from them. We wanted to reinforce that we all have a lot of
value inside of us even if so much physical had been taken away.
I taught our teams, medical especially, to treat everyone as gods
and goddesses. They would not be treated as villagers are in Sri
Lanka when they came to the clinic. I taught the team to give vil-
lagers an honored seat and to treat them with the respect reserved
for deities. Villagers really noticed this love and reverence, and
they responded.
5. Symbolically compatible, ethnically homogenous, and nonevangelical
environments:
Also, Anu, my wife, is a Hindu doctor in an area of mostly Hindu
villagers surrounded by Christian doctors supported by mission-
ary organizations, almost militantly evangelical. Our medical
clinic had Hindu deities hanging on the door and a brown-faced
doctor. Villagers felt more religiously comfortable.

6. Rituals or ordinary practices retooled for recovery:
In play therapy, dancing was a huge thing. What we found worked
with the kids to raise their energy and spirits was Sri Lankan pop
music, which they adore. We would pull up with a van rigged with
big speakers, and kids would flock to that van. And that dancing
is what they would always do, so they took to it so naturally. We
often danced with them. Even if we didn’t dance, we were holding
the space there, just like with play therapy and satsang. From my
point-of-view, it was one of the most freeing things that they did.
In Sri Lanka, it is traditional for parents to watch, and not join
in with, kids playing. As we did play therapy, dancing, and sports,
select parents would be nearby watching. The parents would tell
us that “it makes such a difference to hear the sounds of kids play-
ing.” So then we would purposely set up our Happiness Clinic in
proximity to despairing adults to have the highest impact.

Earthquake in Pakistan (Subacute Phase)

Two months after the earthquake, I led a team of psychotherapists to teach
PFA, EC, and VT/SC education to nearly 200 relief workers in Islamabad,
Mansehra, and Muzaffarabad. Through the coordination of an educational
NGO, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi, these trainings brought together national
staff workers from governmental agencies (government of Pakistan), NGOs
(ITA, Rozan), iNGOs (World Vision, Save the Children), and UNICEF.