VISITING EDEN

Investigating Herbal Health in Zimbabwe, Africa

  

“You take five handfuls of freshly picked tips of this herb,” Angela began, “chopped and pounded in the pestle like this… Then add twenty five drops of the oil…” she continued as she instructed me in what she called “learning by doing.”  I had been pounding dry herbs the day before, making the usual novice mistakes and spilling the mix all over the ground… but with practice and coaching I learned.  The fresh herbs were easier.

 Angela was diagnosed with HIV over six years ago when her husband died.  Weighing just 34 kilos doctors gave her only two weeks to live.  She sought the help of a Catholic sister who introduced her to an herbal remedy regime.  Today at a bouncing 78kg she is a qualified herbalist and, under the guidance of nursing sister Judy Ervine, she runs the hands on day to day functions of Eden Herbal Clinic, the health division of Eden Children’s Village in Doma, north central Zimbabwe. 

Pounding herbs for medication

ECV hosts an orphanage, a school, and a clinic as its main functions.  Judy’s husband, Rory Ervine, an evicted white farmer from the Doma area serves the operation through a few hundred hectares of agricultural land leased now from the local government.  Food crops and dairy cattle are raised for food, milk and butter, as well as an abundance of various produce which serve the herbal needs of the clinic.  All the crops are raised here under the conservational minimum tillage system of “Farming God’s Way”.

 

 Following my return to Zimbabwe in March 2008, every mention of being a “Wilderness EMT” and “Wilderness Medicine Instructor” sparked comments of “Bush Doctor,” of Great-Grandma’s home remedies, or competition with the African Traditional Healers.  Such conversations connected me to various HIV-related orphanages and associated herbalists, herbal remedies being the only affordable solution available for improving health and healing on necessary budget restrictions in the crumbling economy of Zimbabwe, 28 years after political independence.    

Infection treated with Nasturtium leaves

 

My interactions with these fascinating associations rekindled an old interest in natural health.  So I found myself in Eden, scrubbing out wounds, treating infected injuries, debrieing dead tissue from third-degree burns, being appalled at the STD’s, and dressing everything with natural remedies made on site.  Later I learned how to create cough mixtures, antibiotic ointments and eye and ear drops, among others.  I even learned the consultancy system and began to get a handle on which treatments to give for particular ailments.  It is fascinating the power in the simple plants we often take for granted, when it comes to health and healing of our natural bodies.  Surely, God made things good, their fruit for food and their leaves for healing [Ezekiel 47:12].

 

 

 

Delicate work on Epileptic burn victim...

 My week of intense instruction gave me a great grounding on which to build.  I have since begun two of my own herb gardens and shall return to ECV to work again in the clinic later in the year.  With more time for exposure and experience, and the good grounding already established, I am sure I will be able to operate more confidently in this field of study and ministry, later incorporating it into my daily practice, and teaching it as an add-on to the greater Village Medic program.  

 

 

 

 

My hope is that the principles of Farming God’s Way will enable us to grow (food and) the herbs, and the Eden Herbal Clinic training will empower us to use them wisely in our village communities.  With a firm foundation of the SOLO Village Medic course, then adding these divinely inspired skills, mission staff should be well prepared to empower their appropriate appointees to establish and maintain good health and wellness in their rural African village communities, freeing them from the problematic “dependency syndrome” so prevalent in foreign-aid-addicted  developing nations.

Please pray for me as I seek God’s hand of direction, and discipline in pursuit of the right balance of these amazing gifts He has entrusted to me – knowledge, skills, and the ability to teach others… doing it all in His Love.

With love from my Africa, I miss you.

Rowan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilderness Medicine – First African Students!

Back in Zambia this September at Overland Missions’ Rapid 14 Base I was joined by fellow Solo instructor, missionary and friend, Rachel Campbell, to teach a Missionary Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course to the latest intake of students in Overland’s Advanced Missions Training Program.  With nine American students and four local Zambian students (part of the pastoral and greater ministry team) the course posed many interesting and positive challenges for students and instructors alike.

 

The mixed class was a great blend of characters, ages and cultures. Adding to that a crash time factor of a ten day course to be completed in just 7.5 days!  The students did well, however, and Rachel and I were very proud of their progress.  They faced some prominent challenges discussed below.

 

Familiarity:  Young Americans are continually exposed to the emergency medical arena – the world of “911” – through the mediums of News and TV, encouraged by a nature of morbid curiosity.  However, although the facility exists in most African city environments, few people in rural areas, even have medical insurance!  The concept of dialling up a phone number in case of a medical emergency is almost a last resort, rather than a “first response”!

 

Language and terminology:  Medical terminology and American slang is difficult for the average Zambian to grasp.  Although those whom we were teaching have a fairly good grasp of the English language, it was taught to them in a British-based education medium (Zambia being a former British colony), and probably as a third or fourth language to their native dialects – remember, Zambia boasts 72 different languages!

 

Culture:  An interesting debate arose between the students as we entered the exciting field of Wilderness Bites and Stings, the realm of African belief and superstition fuelling the banter (of course I blew a little on the flames!)  Myths, legends and false beliefs about creatures that may bite you in the African bush have been the sole responsibility for the deaths of some native people who believed so strongly in the effects of a bite that they convinced themelves to death!

 

The result of this for Rachel and I as educators was to realise that we first needed to teach the Zambians foundations for understanding the functions and structure of the human body in terminology they could relate to from an African’s experience, before we could deal with ailments and restoration techniques which promote healing and health. 

 

Being born and raised in the African system I delighted in discovering ways to reveal the mysteries of this fascinating creature that God has so fearfully and wonderfully made in his own image – Man!  Following the course I remained at Overland Base for an extra day to work with the four Zambian students, going over any misunderstandings (they are often too polite… or self conscious to stop the lesson, inconvenience the teacher, to request  further explanation of a point they have not fully grasped).  We had fun through that day as I also learned ways to communicate essential lessons in a more appropriate manner. 

For example:  The structure of an egg helped to explain the structure and functions of the skull, cerebrospinal fluid and the brain.  Our standard test for circulation, sensation and motion (CSM.’s) in the fingers or toes of an injured limb would determine the presence of Blood, Feeling, and Movement (BFM).  Such definition and purpose of function made it easier for the Africans to understand and remember.

 

A fall while snow skiing is far out of their grasp, but a soccer injury, coming off a bicycle at speed, an amputated finger while chopping wood, or being blinded by a lightening strike to the hut are definitely things Africans can relate to.  Climbing a tree for honey, getting stung by bees, then falling from the tree with resultant fractures, contusions, possible lung injury and potential anaphylaxis from an allergic reaction sounds complex but is a realistic scenario!  So is the goring of a man by an elephant when chasing it from a field of corn!  Hyperthermia is a difficult one to understand – because when a man is termed “frozen” here, he is actually dead and rigormortis has set in.  No one in a rural village possesses a working refrigerator, so freezing is an unfamiliar term!

 

So, armed now with a new way of thinking for the African villager student I shall return to Overland Missions later in October to train a short but essential Basic Wilderness First Aid course designed on our Solo WFA but as suitable to our students’ needs as possible.  The target is the newly appointed pre-school teachers who will fulfil this function in the newly established Life Learning Centres in each of the target villages Overland Missions’ Life Project is now working in.  They must be prepared before the first of November.  This will be a learning experience for me also, and essential feedback for Solo and Mandate 3 as we press on to launch the full fledged “Village Medic” training program to the rural people of Zambia and other peoples of the world.

 

Please continue to pray for me?  A letter of encouragement is always appreciated, and I long to hear how you all are.  If you care to write, I will respond.  Meanwhile, pray for my ongoing work to be full of safe travels, divine health and godly wisdom, full of joy – doing all things in the spirit of God who is Love.  Love opens the way to the hardest of hearts and heals the deepest of wounds, overcoming a multitude of sins.

 

Love deeply, and laugh much, give generously and thank God in all things at all times.  Despite what it seems, He is working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called to His divine purpose and pleasure.  Bless you.

 

With love from Africa,

Rowan