Articles/Letters
Twenty years of Byron’s Amitayus Don Hansen
On October 4, all carers (past and present) – and friends of Amitayus – will be celebrating 20 years of serving our Byron Shire community. Those of us who work as volunteers with Amitayus often comment that the ‘gift’ of service is a gift that flows both ways: a shared relationship. And that’s the real heart of our celebration: the privilege of serving our clients at such an important time in their lives. Byron’s Hospice Service is a charitable, non-profit NGO whose trained carers offer compassionate support to people who are dying – or living with a life-threatening illness – and who choose to be cared for at home among family and friends. We work completely free of charge, and our trained carers are all volunteers. Our organisation is funded solely by donations.
A brief history In early 1994, a group of friends decided to help their friend Marcus – who knew he was dying – to spend his last days at home, in his own place, on his own terms, and with his close friends, all of whom had agreed to care for and deter excessive inflow of traffic. Use the money to repair roads, promote park-and-ride at the sports complex, or from the Belongil area, beach and surfing shuttle buses and vans and build really good services for tourists who will then ditch their cars. Another decent suggestion would be to move the weekly market to the sports complex where there is lots of parking to help ease Thursday congestion. Byron has to wake up and direct the tourists where they want them and not just whinge about the traffic that results from poor planning and effort. Edward Kent Suffolk Park
Shark drones
The recent tragic shark attack has prompted another round of debate about the best means of providing swimmer and surfer protection. While the overwhelming majority of regular local surfers and swimmers would be avidly opposed to any anti-environmental measures such as shark culling or netting, the usual proponents of these interventions have surfaced
Warm Sunlight, by Takashi Hososhima www.flickr.com/photos/htakashi
his practical and personal needs. Inspired by their experience of caring for their friend, a few of his friends called a public meeting on October 22 at St John’s Hall in Mullumbimby. Over 100 people attended and a working committee was formed to begin the process of establishing Amitayus Hospice Service. A Buddhist monk named Pende Hawter had been instrumental in setting up a service in Brisbane called Karuna Hospice Service. Pende’s help was invaluable in setting up a training program for carers, in determining that our service would provide inhome care only, and also in once again. What constructive shark surveillance measures are available, then? I would advocate the use of small drones that could regularly patrol the skies above crowded patrolled beaches such as at Byron, Lennox and Ballina. The drones can be equipped with surveillance video cameras that can interface with lifeguards or volunteers who could promptly activate a shark alarm or drive the shark out to sea. This preventive measure would be cheap and environmentally responsible. There are many people who would be willing and able to assist, I’m sure. I don’t know whether there are any precedents elsewhere for the use of drone technology for such a constructive purpose. The debit side would possibly be some noise and intrusiveness. Let’s start the debate and move forward to minimise the chance of another ocean enthusiast dying. Richard Lucas Lennox Head
Techno-addiction
The thinking that a materialistic lifestyle is the correct way of living and that any-
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
our calling ourselves Amitayus, which means ‘Buddha of Infinite Light’.
Constant need Amitayus was immediately very busy – for ten years or more – often with eight to ten clients at a time, with several carers per client, each doing one or two shifts per week for several weeks running. The coordinators were in constant need of new carers, which kept our team of trainer/facilitators very busy as well. Recently our work has been equally shared between hands-on care and training. The provision of palliative care in Australia has improved in recent years owing thing less is to deprive oneself is based in cultural relativity. That is, because one has been conditioned to a certain lifestyle, one is prone to believe that it is the true lifestyle and all others are wanting. The civilised are certain, for example, that everyone has to bathe in warm water to have a reasonable existence. Not all cultures saw it that way. Don Talayesa (or Sun Chief), a Hopi born in 1890, says in Native Heritage, ‘we were told … to wash our hands and faces in the snow, and to rub it on our bodies to make them tough. The old people said that warm water made wrinkles and shortened life. I saw them setting bowls of water outside to become ice cold before using it as a bath.’ Techno-addiction has been normalised in western society. However its ubiquity makes it potentially a more destructive addiction, with the ability to destroy a whole planet, than other addictions such as alcoholism that are limited to individuals and those who immediately surround them. In the short term, the addictive behaviour of materi-
to increased family awareness and support, as well as a welcome increase in the amount of care providers (public and private) working in the community. In addition to providing support for over 200 clients and their primary carers over the last 20 years, Amitayus – Byron Hospice – has enabled hundreds of people in Byron Shire to better care for their own loved ones, family and friends. Initially run as ACE courses, Amitayus now runs courses at Byron Community College. Called Last Aid: Caring for the Dying at Home, courses are open to those wishing to explore the mystery of death and dying; the personal, emotional and practical aspects of serving a dying person at home; grief and loss; and to learn about funerals, wills, advance directives, etc. The Last Aid course is also the first training required in applying to be a volunteer carer with Byron Hospice and is available online through Byron Community College: Term 4. To contact Amitayus/Byron Hospice, call 6684 3808 or email info@byronhospice. org.au. alism was seen by western cultures as a good or beneficial thing. Thus the West had 10,000 years of enculturated techno-addiction. As Alcoholics Anonymous recognises, the beginnings of a cure of an addiction lie in acknowledgement that one is addicted. This requires enough humanness to be in existence that one is willing to see the long-term consequences of the addiction, for it is only adult humans who are able to consider the longterm. Geoff Dawe Uki
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. War is hell. – William Tecumseh Sherman
TAX RETURNS • GET GOOD RESULTS FROM THE EXPERTS • ALL TYPES OF TAXATION • INDIVIDUAL RETURNS
6685 8129 BYRON TAX ACCOUNTANTS
WE HAVE MOVED Paul Enright Chartered Accountant Office Upstairs 109 Jonson St, Byron Bay
lightworksonline.com.au 80 Centennial Cct, Byron A+I Estate 6685 5744
Toxic industry
For many years the gas industry has claimed there is no evidence that unconventional gas drilling pollutes water resources. However, more and more cases of contamination are being exposed. Coal seam gas operations near Narrabri led to the contamination of an aquifer with salt and heavy metals. A Queensland government report found gas bubbling to the surface in the Condamine River was sourced from a coal seam that had been drilled continued on page 12 The Byron Shire Echo September 23, 2014 11