Hands that heal, accompany, surround, embrace and give.
Cambodia, day after day, treatment after treatment, encounter after encounter, the desire to experience a moment together.
An, Sophea or Sun – the first name of that young lady with pink tracksuit bottoms.
She stood close to my treatment table and watched me.
She waited for me to gesture she could get on the table.
She was 12 or 13 years old and had already spent a number of years in this orphanage.
She looked serious with her intense gaze.
She paid attention to my instructions and settled on the table.
Sitting on the table, her eyes closed.
I placed my hands on her head and began the session.
There were people working around us, but at the same time there were just her and myself, yet we were all together.
She surrendered in my hands, rolled up her body, let everything go, her eyes remaining closed, in total trust.
No words between us, but I began humming a lullaby as my hands lay on her, supporting her and accompanying her.
She leant on me, on my hands, on my arms, on my heart, to brace the depth of her body and spread out on the table, in peace…
I knew why I was there…
Hands that heal
Jacqueline
Jacqueline Bodrero-Raffalli
Osteopath-physiotherapist, Gironde
She joined the docOSTEOcam team in 2017
Qualified as a physiotherapist in 1983 – Vocational training in osteopathy (Bénichou, Sergueff, CREDO, GEOS, SEOC, Tricot, ASETHEMA, P Jouhaud ).
Practising osteopathy since 1997 in Bordeaux.
She is the docOSTEOcam secretary.