The plot extends from just left of the big tree – the border is the sugar cane which is in the next plot – to the line that goes from the building on the right just in front of the bananas.

The back boundary is a path/dirt road that passes behind the house on the right and in front of the hedge in front of the house in the middle. The front boundary is a stream which passes just beyond the maize field in the foreground.

This land is sloping so is ideal for demonstrating the use of vetiver grass on the contours. It has a stream along the bottom and a pool just beside the tree so has good water for agricultural use. It is cleared land so we will soon convert it with hedges and other trees to become a very different sustainable piece of land.

Time and Place: Starting 4.00 tea on Sunday October 17th 2010 and concluding after lunch on October 23rd 2010.

Venue: the Desmisse Sisters, Karen, Nairobi, Kenya.

Leaders: Rosalia Oyweka, Dr Roger Sharland and George Matengo of REAP

The cost is as for all Anamed seminars:

• The participation fee for African people or expatriates living in Africa is 250 Euro.
• For people travelling from Europe the price is 500 Euro.

If you want to pay in Kenya Shilling please contact Anne Sigei for current rates of exchange.

Course Introduction:

Anamed has already conducted several seminars in Kenya, in particular in Nairobi and South Nyanza, and REAP has been involved in a number of these seminars, as well as arranging similar training under its own umbrella. This training is very similar to that conducted by Anamed, and is based on both REAP and Anamed’s experience in Natural Medicines.

We invite either you, or someone from your organisation, to attend this training seminar in Natural Medicine, which is the second to be organised from within Kenya.

The aims of this training seminar are

1. to train 30 people (healers, pastors, missionaries, health workers, teachers and others active in the community) in

a) the recognition, knowledge and cultivation of several medicinal plants in a medicinal garden.

b) the hygienic production of effective Natural Medicines from those plants, e.g. teas, different medicinal oils and ointments and tinctures. We will also produce different soaps, black stones for snake-bites and learn how to use a solar oven.

c) the treatments of many medical complaints and diseases, including malaria, skin problems, diarrhoea, HIV/AIDS and wounds.

d) the influence of good nutrition and lifestyle on health.

Following the seminar, we expect the participants to:

e) create their own garden of medicinal plants,

f) prepare their own natural medicines,

g) treat themselves, their families and others within their area of competence, and

h) teach their families, colleagues and others in their communities.

Tutors: The main tutors are Rosalia Oyweka, Dr Roger Sharland and George Matengo of REAP.

Registration: Please write to Anne Sigei (email and postal address above). You will be sent a confirmation of your booking immediately, and final details in September. The demand for places is already great, so please write quickly.

Fees for the seminar: The participation fee for African people or expatriates living in Africa is 250 Euro for a one week seminar. For people travelling from Europe the price is 500 Euro. This is an all inclusive price, and includes food, accommodation, books, some seeds, a poster and all seminar materials. Transport costs and any insurance required remains the responsibility of the participant. If participants require more books and posters for their project, they will be available for sale at a reduced price during the seminar.

Payment of the fee: In advance (except by special arrangement) to REAP in Kenya.

If you sponsor a participant, please pay the fee in advance into the account that you will be given. Please inform your sponsored participant(s) that REAP will not pay any transport costs or “sitting allowances”, sometimes called “per Diem”.

The following are important aspects of our seminars:

1. Our emphasis on working at the grass-roots, encouraging and supporting local people in developing and extending the skills they already have.

2. We encourage traditional healers and formal health workers such as doctors and nurses to work together. We help them to recognise the positive contribution that each makes, and encourage them to work out practical ways in which they can cooperate.

3. By introducing Artemisia annua, we enable participants to become much more independent and successful in their treatment of malaria, in their families, communities and health centres. Each participant will be given seeds and be taught how to grow this delicate but extremely valuable plant.

4. It is important that all participants have a commitment both to practising what they learn and to teaching others, for example by conducting a similar seminar in Natural Medicine themselves, at least for a weekend.

5. All participants will work together in practical work and possibly in establishing a garden. They must bring suitable clothes with them for such activities such as an apron.

6. Participants must attend for the entire programme to qualify for a certificate; to come only on some days is not acceptable.

7. Those participants who are Christians should bring with them a Bible. (Every day starts with an ecumenical devotion, participation in that is voluntary.)

8. All participants should bring plant material of at least one medicinal plant from their region.

We look forward to hearing from you!

This seminar is very close to and based on the Anamed seminars. For more information about what is included in an Anamed seminar please visit the Anamed website – www.anamed.net and click on “Attend a seminar”.

Places are limited so please book as soon as possible to ensure a place and enable us to plan effectively.

Since many churches discourage traditional medicine for spiritual reasons, we have started to help churches understand the value of natural medicines as a strategy for the poor with no spiritual threat. See our publication “Working Through the Local Church” for more information.

In 2006 we held a couple of workshops with representatives of churches that we have been working with in western Kenya and from these we have developed teaching materials that churches can use to pass on the ideas. We are at the same time developing practical teaching on the use and cultivation of natural medicines so that we can encourage their use in the local communities.

Our focus is very much on what rural families can have available at home and learn to use safely in their families. The strategy is to introduce ideas of first aid using natural medicines for specific well-researched uses, while encouraging the use of professional medical resources for other more complex problems. Our teaching through the women’s programme (e.g. how to distinguish pneumonia from a cold) already emphasises the need to be able to identify when professional help is needed.

The women at right are making Chili Ointment at a recent workshop.