DEVIN’S JOURNEY ~ PART 6

Story by Linda S Barth     Artwork by Carole W

~ Mahahanga and Manerinerina ~

Northwestern Madagascar

Carnelian

From the deck of a cargo ship, Devin gazed out at the Mozambique Channel, the arm of the Indian Ocean carrying him away. Tomorrow morning the ship would dock in Northern Madagascar. His stint as a maintenance worker, unnoticed and unidentifiable from others on the crew, would end, and his life as an adventurer, albeit for now a far more circumspect and prudent one, would resume. He’d find new work, select a new identity from his packet of possibilities, make choices he vowed would be far better than his most recent ones.

And for a while, in his quiet life as Harvey Smith, a desk clerk in a small hotel in Mahajanga, that was exactly how his days played out. Safe but stifling, serene but suffocating, serviceable but static. He grew increasingly discontented, edgy, unsatisfied, and, in retrospect, he was not at all surprised at what happened next.    

One evening, after an altercation in a disreputable bar, he discovered an intriguing – if highly unlikely – option for his next incarnation. As he chatted with the emergency room doctor patching up his cuts and bruises, he learned that in nearby areas, medical care was scarce and desperately needed. The majority of adults and many children risked their health and lives working in small-scale, artisanal mines. Extracting carnelian and other stones from the earth under poor working conditions put them at severe risk of injury and death from landslides, inflicted debilitating mental duress, and promised exposure to disease-causing dust. And in return for sacrificing their health and often their lives, they received meagre wages from highly profitable gemstone processing companies.

The plight of these families touched his heart. He had so many choices in life, and he was free to explore them. They faced lives of prescribed entrapment. He had hope and possibilities. They had none. The people whom the doctor described were far more deeply confined within the fate life had cast for them than Devin had ever imagined he had been.

In a heartbeat, the path to the next phase of his life opened up in front of him. He would welcome the chance to do good for others, perhaps pay back some of the kindness and generosity he had been given throughout his journey. Perhaps atone for what he’d almost become in Morocco. He could do it – he would do it – or at least he’d try his best to make it so.

He thought of the stones he carried with him and how their energy might best aid the villagers. Lapis to deflect negativity and increase confidence. Amethyst for courage and healing. Golden topaz for the power to manifest dreams, for protection from danger. Moonstone for strength and hope. Malachite as a shield against evil energy.

At one time, he would have found it difficult to believe in such things. But as the years had passed, he had in some ways changed. What he’d always held inside, whether in conscious reality or intuitive potential, had blended and melded him into the person he was always meant to be. And if the stones he’d been given had helped empower his metamorphosis, he would accept that possibility and be grateful for it.

Within days, ‘Harvey’ had become a doctor at a bare-bones clinic in the rural town Manerinerina. During his many years traveling the world, he’d learned a variety of first aid skills, including how to stabilize fractures and sprains, treat a variety of burns, perform CPR, slow severe bleeding, and even – after an unfortunate encounter with a scorpion in a rainforest in Panama – how to deal with poison-related emergencies. He would soon find his experiences would prove helpful and often life-saving. And what he didn’t know, he would learn as he went along.

He approached the residents of the village with kindness and confidence and was welcomed by those in need of his services. As time passed and he proved his worth, he gained their trust and gratitude. He gained, too, a sense of peace and fulfillment that came with meeting challenges that were often difficult in practice and unforgettable in impact. The people of Manerinerina gave him as much as he offered them.

When he wasn’t tending to myriad medical needs or grabbing much-needed minutes of sleep, Devin found ways to blend his life with those of his new-found patients and friends. He played soccer with the village children, helped elders with odd jobs at their homes, entertained anyone who wished to listen to stories of his travels and tales spun from his imagination.

Weeks slid by as he helped make changes for the good in those around him, while nourishing his soul and bringing light back to his heart. He saw and felt it all around him in the generous smiles and improved health of the villagers, in the peace that seemed to envelope his soul, even in the shimmers of rain and sunlight that gave life to a lushness of flowers and fruit covering the hillsides.

His existence took on a rhythm that, for the first time in as long as he could remember, did not include the urge to move on. Something told him this was where he was meant to be. He was making a primal difference, not only for himself but for many others, and that realization made him both humble and happy. The days stretched out in a smooth unfurling, a rhythm of healing within the ever-presence of need. 

On a hot, humid night toward the end of the rainy season, he was called upon to do far more than clean bloody wounds, set broken bones, ease persistent coughs and fevers. With only a battered book as his assistant, he delivered a healthy baby by Caesarean. It seemed to him a miracle – the way he knew just what to do, the unerring confidence of the parents that he would make everything right, the welcome cries of a newborn son. When he tried to make sense of it all, that was the only word that seemed right – a miracle.

The next day, the infant’s profoundly grateful parents insisted he accept one of the few tangible assets they owned as a symbol of their heart-deep gratitude. A stunning piece of carnelian had been given to the child’s father by a mine foreman after completing a job that was particularly brutal for the workers and lucrative for the owners. It had deep meaning for the little family, but, they told him, now – even though their gift could not begin to match the one he’d given them – it must be his.

Although he felt the precious possession should remain with them to become a legacy for their son, Devin could not insult the couple by refusing their gift. When he cradled in his hand the beautifully luminous crystalline quartz, it was as if he felt the heat of real flames burning in its vibrant colors. The baby’s mother explained to him the stone had strong powers said to enhance bravery, strength, and health, while inspiring courage to follow one’s heart with passion and conviction.

Her words especially reminded him of what he had learned years earlier in Ouro Preto when a piece of golden topaz had become part of his journey, part of his story. He offered his sincere thanks, knowing this was more than an act of generosity and kindness. It was another touchstone guiding him as he journeyed on, understanding and appreciating more each day the amazing life he continued to live.

Near dawn, still struggling to fall asleep on his cot in the clinic’s back room, he wondered if someday he’d tell Father of this night’s unparalleled events. It hurt to realize he still wanted recognition and praise from the man who’d always been so quick to blame him, so strict to hold him to higher standards, so willing to reserve a measure of the love he freely offered others. He shook his head hard. He didn’t need anything from The Old Man, not anymore. He’d already proven that…hadn’t he?

Two months later, it was time for his world to spin in other directions, just as he knew it must. But as years passed, he often thought of the families he’d come to know in Manerinerina, especially little Harvey as the baby had been named by his grateful, loving parents. When he thought of the child, he wondered if that boy’s life would end in a mine…another hole in the ground…and he hoped it would instead – somehow, someday – carry him away to find his own future filled with light and color along every step of his journey.