Healing Plants of the Ancestors
This year marks ten years since I qualified as a Medical Herbalist. Over this time, I have had a changeable relationship with my role as a herbalist. I have stepped away from it during times when I've needed my own healing and returned to it when the call of being a healer became impossible to ignore. The way in which I approach the treatment process and prescribing has changed drastically throughout the years. The emotional and energetic health of a person have become just as an important factors as their physical health - sometimes even more so. There has also been a shift towards minimising the amount of herbs that are prescribed, opting for simples where possible, merging the gap between what we consider to be herbal medicine and food, and really focusing on enhancing a person’s innate healing potential.
My training was based on Western herbal medicine, which included many herbs native to Europe, some Chinese herbs and a few Ayuvedic remedies. When I was planning to move to Barbados, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to source the herbs I was familiar with using and that I would be lost with the local herbs. What I came to realise is that I was already familiar with many herbs in Barbados but by different common names. For example, Acerola (Malpighia emarginata), a tea and supplement prized and priced for its antioxidant properties, is in fact Bajan Cherry. My re-education has enabled me to consider how these herbs are used today and how these uses compare to how they were used throughout history.
On a late evening bus ride home two men, who had probably been enjoying a libation or five, were discussing the history of Barbados. In between their argument about how much sweets cost in the 1960’s, one man said something that resonated with me. “Barbados is geographically and energetically closer to Africa”. I don’t feel he meant to discredit the connection other Caribbean islands have with Africa, but his statement has some reasoning. Barbados is the easternmost island in the chain of Windward islands, making it the closest Caribbean island to Africa.
Barbados was pivotal to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It formed the blueprint for the control and treatment of enslaved Africans, essentially becoming the first slave colony. The number of Africans in Barbados had risen by such a rate that the Barbados Slave Code (1661) was passed into legislature to essentially protect the rights of plantation owners and establish a legal basis for slavery. Today, the remnants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and connection to colonial Britain are still visible in politics, the judicial system, architecture, religion and language. One of the major elements of this history that is in danger of being lost is the knowledge of herbs that were used during this time. One woman who is on a mission to ensure this information is not relegated to the vaults of a London museum, is Dr Sonia Peter.
Dr Peter is a natural products chemist, the former head of the Department of Chemistry, Division of Natural Sciences at Barbados Community College, the executive director of the Biocultural Education and Research Programme, she was instrumental in the formation of the Barbados chapter of the Society for Economic Botany, a founding director of Heritage Teas Barbados, and if that wasn’t enough, an author of several non-fiction and fiction works.
I first reached out to Dr Peter when I was writing my dissertation. I had started researching the rates of hypertension in people of African descent in the Diaspora and was alarmed by what I was discovering. Her research echoed my findings of higher rates of hypertension in African groups throughout the Diaspora, particularly in women. Dr Peter had also suggested that ‘late onset diabetes due to changes in diet and lifestyle are a challenge to the health care system’. Unfortunately, these issues and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) persist and have now started to affect younger populations.
Dr Sonia Peter during her lecture Healing Plants of the Ancestors
The question then follows, what has happened to the herbal knowledge or herb lore of our ancestors that would either prevent or help to treat these conditions? During her recent lecture, Healing Plants of the Ancestors, Dr Peter outlined the uses of herbal medicine for enslaved people – either forcibly, as detailed in Practical Rules for the Management and Medical Treatment of Negro Slaves in the Sugar Colonies by Dr Collins, or as a form of preservation, as illustrated in stories of enslaved people hiding seeds in their hair.
Our biocultural knowledge, what Dr Peter describes as the connection between humans and plants, is being forgotten, lost with the elders who are passing on and not able to share their wisdom. It is a language and way of approaching health which is in serious danger of being replaced with drastic and invasive forms of healthcare. In 2016, The World Health Organisation estimated that NCDs accounted for 83% of all deaths. Stress, whether real or perceived, recent or early traumas, can cause or negatively affect the progression of chronic conditions. NCDs are a representation of the emotional, energetic and spiritual health of a community or nation. It suggests that now is a vital time for us to explore, not only the use and potential of traditional herbal medicines, but also the history of herbal medicine in the Caribbean that is so closely linked to African approaches and traditions.
My apprehension about herbal medicine before coming to Barbados was not completely unfounded. I have to essentially learn a new language and also a new history surrounding the herbs. It is this language and history that Dr Peter is rightly passionate to preserve. By doing so, it is possible to sustainably and holistically approach and treat these chronic conditions, and it will ensure that the best quality herbs are grown. The Organic Growers and Consumers Association are currently developing an organic medicinal garden and have recently set up a seed bank. A resurgence to herbal lore will also encourage research into the various uses of herbs as alternative treatments for many conditions. If we stand still for long enough and listen carefully, we may hear what the plants and ancestors are trying to tell us.
