STAY WELL & SPARKLE: Bubbling

Like a rock star, Alex Laville of Fitness Plus, that bundle of energy, dashed from one end of the sidewalk to another. Mass Aerobics was in full swing in front of the High Court of Justice building. Preeminent among others, Triple Kay tunes, “Love that body. Keep it bubbling,” pounded out the pulsating rhythm. With muscles rippling, Alex was leaping, punching the air, barking out instructions through the microphone attached to the side of his head. This CARIBBEAN WELLNESS DAY iflagship event had drawn two hundred citizens dripping with such sweet sweat, responding intimately to his directions.

They were as disciplined as Japanese workers dutifully doing calisthenics before their shift, moving with the precision of a massive North Korean military parade and the grace and passion of Zulu maidens in victory dance. As the golden disc dipped below the aquamarine horizon, the swelling throng of onlookers beheld the glorious spectacle put together by the Ministry’s tireless team of Health Promoters.

It was like a single, giant, vibrant organism. They roared. I groaned. They kicked high, I kicked low. They moved sensuously synchronized in this direction, I clumsily moved the other way – spoiling those people thing. I was gasping for air and sucking hard on that water bottle, feeling a bit of a zeh-zeh. But me, give up?! No boy!

You know people already: just standing on the side and saying, “That one not doing it good.” Right? Never mind. Instead I was encouraging fellow participants whose flagging movements suggested such notions:

“Hang in there! …We may be out of step, but at least we showed up…We’re working out….We too, are counted as ambassadors of fitness to the rest of the nation.”

First observed in 2008, Caribbean Wellness Day’s goal is to “Unite to Stop the Epidemic of Non Communicable Diseases.” This epidemic is being driven by four major modifiable risk factors: all of which are lifestyle related:

– Global increase in sedentary lifestyle such that one tenth of our students today are obese.

– Increasing fast food eating patterns: we cook less of what we grow locally, consume more processed foods, and eat out or on the run. Some surveys suggest more than half of students drink more than one soft drink a day and not enough fresh juice or water.

– More students smoke than adults – a disturbing trend. While some push for liberalization, substance abuse remains the leading cause of mental disease in our young people (drug-induced psychosis).

– In the old days it was Gonorrhea, and then came Herpes then AIDS. The major threat these days is HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), a major cause of genital warts as well as cervical and oral/pharyngeal cancers. In the old days the church turned a blind eye to those consequences of worldly lifestyles. Today, it is good to see our health promoters take this controversial matter to the inner sanctums. They coax believers to come and reason together about how the family can be affected by these pestilences.

Dr. L. Drigo and Dr. R. Thomas, Nurse Allison Samuel, Camille Leblanc and several others, led the charge in bringing the message to the public. Businesses, faith-based and non-governmental organizations are fully invested in increasing participation in these activities. But one thing: at the Mass Aerobics this past Friday afternoon, excluding Alex, only four (4) participants were male. Two of them were international volunteers attached to the Ministry; one Chilean and the other, from the land of Ricky Ponting. Let’s see now, how many Dominican men did that leave? I kid you not!…another big reason why I could not quit. For those who are good with numbers, what was the actual percentage of the Dominican male participation in the Mass Aerobics? Whatever your answer, that number is downright alarming.

A central mission of the church is to promote “life more abundantly.” No amount of reading can get you to “love that body. Keep it bubbling.” No amount of technology can make you decide right this very instant, to commit to get on board with these fitness activities. From all reports, 2013 Caribbean Wellness Day Observance, with or without you or me, will turn out to be smashing success. From Yoga on the beach in Mero, to health walks, to group discussions on relevant topics, there is something for everyone. The airwaves are flooded with high quality public services announcements of upcoming events. Evidently, I am excited at the high level of enthusiasm for fitness in Dominica at this moment in time. But we have keep to pressing forward until we develop critical mass and gender equity. Even as my fingers skip across the keyboard, my legs are itching to go again, like a puppy eager to take its owner for a walk.

Just watch. Someone is going to say, “OK, Dr. Sam. Even though I don’t care for group activity, I’ll join in next year. After all, I’ve got to give a brother some back up – poor fellah!”  To which I say, do it for yourself. Do it for the nation. There is still time to saddle up in your sneakers and participate today – wherever you are. How about you just turn off the computer, turn off the TV, and go outside. Your legs have a way of doing the rest.

Once at 5 a.m., I decided to power walk to Fond Cole. I met Kelvin from Statistics, an old childhood friend. He was on his way back from walking to Canfield. Guess how far I walked that day? That’s right, he inspired me, just like he later did at Alex’s gym. It only takes a spark to get the fire going – for us to reach our highest and best fitness goals. Get your 30 minutes in today and see what happens tomorrow! Indeed, we are closer than ever before in our understanding of what it takes to truly become that “people strong and healthy.”