It had drizzled since morning, the weather was cold and the road so bad with several water filled pot holes, but none of these could deter us from seeing the healing specialist blessed with natural knowledge and skills on the use of traditional herbs. So much had been said about him and his group members by our community guide Mr.Hakizimana Jean de Dieu from SACCOLA cooperative, and all we wanted was to meet and talk to this great healer, and learn more about his work.
Traditional healing involves the use of natural/native
plants; in the past these herbs/plants were got from deep forests, and parks.
Traditional healers were largely elderly persons believed to be knowledgeable
and blessed by their ancestors to heal people. But over time, the trend has
changed, the younger generation has learnt most of these herbs from the elders
and through other formal learnings, and, they have started to take over the
practice. “In the olden days, tradition
healing was done by our grandparents, it was rare and also perceived odd for a
young man like me to administer herbs, but this has changed. The elders passed
on this knowledge to us and we have learnt to do the job very well. I have seen
many people get healed using herbs after their chronic complications had failed
in hospitals” explains Mr. Bizimana David, a traditional healer in Kinigi,
Musanze district, Rwanda.
However, unlike in the past when herbs were got from the
parks, causing destruction of the natural resources, modern herbalists are
environment friendly. They have been educated on the importance of
protecting/conserving natural resources, and advised on how they can still
treat people using herbs but also conserve nature.
According to Mr. Bizimana, whereas the forest is rich with
resources/herbs it is important to conserve it for its many benefits. He
explains that plants if well cared for can grow anywhere even outside the park.
It’s at this point that our healing specialist Mr. Bizimana invited us out to
see his gardens of
Mr. Bizimana explains that he and his group members (fellow
traditional healers) started these gardens as an effort to stay away from
destroying the forest/park, and to get the medicinal plants nearer to
them. “In doing this, we are demonstrating that even traditional healers can
conserve natural resources and that herbs too can grow in our gardens just like
food crops. Traditional healing is a source of income to us, it therefore gives
us reason to do it more responsibly – within reach, allowing for close monitoring
and proper care for the plants than going to deplete the park resources
everyday” Bizimana says.
With traditional medicine proving to be effective every day and the need to conserve natural resources, supporting and or working with traditional healers to emulate this example can only be the way forward to guarantee their contribution towards conservation of natural forests/parks and their wildlife.
Irrespective of the rain, cold and the mud, the smiles on Malin Wiberg’s face (WWF Sweden) were proof that she had enjoyed her time with the healing specialist and the tour of the gardens, learning about the different medicinal plants. Malin appreciated the group’s role as traditional healers in conservation, saying they had set a good example to other traditional healers out there.
Asked on where he sees the group in the next five years, Mr.
Bizimana says he envisions a stronger and dynamic traditional healers’ group,
with increased knowledge on conservation promotion as traditional healers and
larger farms of herbs. He appeals to conservation activists to supply them with
medicinal plant seeds/seedlings to expand their gardens, and to tourists to
visit them and learn about their work.
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| The community guide Hakizimana (in black jacket), Mr. Bizimana the healing specialist (middle) and Alyce Atholere |
