Meaningful Massage

Gulnoza is 100 years old. Well, that’s her best guess. She sits all day on a pile of cushions sipping broth and bossing everyone around. When visiting her as part of our Community Health Education Project,  we gave her a long massage to help her blood circulate and to keep her from getting stiff.

We also asked the neighbor women who were cooking for the centenarian if they wanted massages too. After the massages they left, but five minutes later two more neighbors came bustling in. They heard this was the place to be! We gave them massages as we explained the values and vision of CDI and about our work here in southern Kyrgyzstan.

In the afternoon, after our home visits, the CDI staff came together at one woman’s home to teach that week’s massage lesson. Eight women were already gathered and were practicing what they had learned the week before.

This lesson was focused on hand and arm massage. Starting with a warm up, everyone then broke into pairs practicing what  Gulia demonstrated.

After the hands-on part of the lesson the women gathered around as another trainer led a discussion about clothes and modesty and how they affect our relationships.

The women thoroughly enjoyed themselves saying, “We need our daughters to learn this so they can give us massages!”