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" Ras metat alles hi (Do you have a headache?) Are you hot? Does your tummy hurt? Eshi, I will make up something for you, and you can go to sleep and when you wake up you will feel better. Guie, please fetch some Demakese and I will make it up for this poor girl for her fever! "
We were in Fiche, Ethiopia, and my daughter May, the journalist on the team, was unwell with fever and headache. Shikerke roasted some green coffee beans on a small brazier then threw some frankincense crystals onto the coals and while the smoky fragrance filled the room she pounded the roasted coffee beans into a powder. When the coffee was brewed and poured into a small cup from the clay pot, she added the leaves of the Demakese {Ocimum lamiifolium) to infuse in the cup. When it was cool enough to drink May obediently took the brew. The patient then slept for several hours and awoke without fever, whereupon another woman fetched some leaves of Nech bahirzaf (Eucalyptus globulus), demonstrated rubbing them in her hands to get the juice and fragrance, and proffered the bruised leaves to May to inhale the strong scent. After a further long sleep, May awoke free of illness and able to continue her work reporting on the progress of the "Botánica Ethiopia: A Living Pharmacy"; a project to support this community in saving their herbs and their knowledge for future generations.
I was in Ethiopia to conduct research into the use of herbal medicine in Fiche, which is a rural town 115 km north of Addis Ababa at an elevation of 2700 metres above sea level. The research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Hans Wohlmuth at Southern Cross University as part of a Masters in Clinical Science (Comp.Med.) degree, with the support of Addis Ababa University and the Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity. Over a period of two months I visited the community to conduct focus group interviews, individual interviews, "walkabout/talkabout" sessions and a market survey. It was a family team affair with my son doing the film camerawork and my daughter recording events for future website and blog reporting. Hooray for volunteers!
My time spent with the community taught...