Karma !

Karma is the spiritual principle of cause and effect where the one’s actions and intent influence what happens to you as a result – the reward or punishment you may open yourself to by the nature of the deeds you do, good or bad. Most of us try to live good lives and do good in the world, and we don’t think about there being a reward for doing so – it is just part of people's natures. Conversely few people do bad or evil deeds with the expectation of being punished. But it is nice when something happens that gives us a little reward or ‘thank-you’ for some little act of ours.

Last April & May, Jeanne and I and a group of our friends helped our friend Carolyn in quite a minor way with her work helping French student nurses to speak English in their jobs. Knowing how difficult it has been for us to build our own confidence to speak French since we arrived here, most of us taking part went out of our way to be positive, encouraging and non-judgemental and most of the students seemed to enjoy the sessions. We thought of it as an opportunity to give something back to the society in which we had come to live.

In France the state does not provide an interpreter for when individuals bump into authority or need health or legal help, as often happens in the UK. Culturally the country is much more nationalistic and believes that if you come to live here, or even to holiday here, it is up to you to learn the language well enough to manage in whatever situation you find yourself in.

Jeanne and I have lived here full time for over four years and our French language has got to a reasonable level, but when an emergency happens many people, including us, lose some of our ability, me especially. About a month ago I had a very minor accident whilst cutting down part of a huge Leylandii hedge. It gave me a pain in the back and one leg, and seemed to get quickly worse. Despite a few weeks of physiotherapy I had a crisis a fortnight ago and ended up in ‘Urgences’ at the hospital in Saintes. (Same as A&E in the UK or ER in the US).

Jeanne was not allowed in with me until after I’d been examined, and much of the examination was conducted by questions in French! Of course, I forgot most of my French, but eventually I was admitted and I was given X-rays and painkillers. That night, one of the first nurses who looked after me was a man who had been in Carolyn’s English class, who we had helped a little with his English oral. He was amazingly helpful and considerate and only spoke to me in English.. Over the next ten days while I received a very speedy MRI scan, pain relief with morphine and other drugs and an injection into my spine, I met several more of the English cohort and they were all tremendous helping me, if not all as confident of their English as they’d like. But they all tried and I was delighted that they all made such an effort. This even spread to one of the staff who gave me my menu choices each day, who asked me for the English names of some of the dishes that she then wrote down in a little note book. Meanwhile I continued to try to use and extend my own French and whilst most of the nurses were happy just to use English it made me want to try all the harder with my own French. So I used Duolingo every day and practised with the nurses at every opportunity.

So, back to my point about karma, I am sure that if I and we hadn’t helped all the nurses the way we did last April/ May I would have had a much more difficult time over the last two weeks. We weren't thinking of anything like that at the time, but were just glad to help then. 

I’m back home now, the MRI scan showed a herniated disc between my sacral and lumbar vertebrae in my spine, inoperable, that should eventually get better but may need more injections and certainly needs more painkillers, and the right sort of gentle but increasing exercise. I am so grateful to all the staff at the Centre Hospitalier de Saintonge in Saintes, especially those who were happy to use their English on me, to Jeanne for putting up with the tremendous disruption to her and our lives and to Carolyn for the opportunity to do something to help the student nurses in the first place.