Echoes From Seminars

“Echoes of anamed’s work” - Excerpts from a few emails

ZIMBABWE: Samuel Mafa

By the grace of the Almighty Lord we have been saved from cholera to date. Following the training on herbal medicines held in Mutare, Zimbabwe in October 2008, we have reached to 108 volunteers, training them on malaria and diarrhoea prevention as well as treatment using herbal medicines. We hope that this would go a long way in assisting those who might be infected with cholera.

ZIMBABWE: Taurai Mpofu

I am very pleased to tell you that the preparations we made in our last seminar are working wonders here. For instance the artemisia ointment is doing well in treating ringworm and other skin conditions. The artemisia tea cannot be left out since it is working like an all rounder. Thanks also for the cholera treatment information that you sent us.

UGANDA: Ernest S

I should like to give you a small testimony about the Emmaus community of 10 adults and 3 children who are staying together in the same house, located close to a swamp with lots of mosquitoes. In the past almost every week one or other of the members had malaria. In the middle of August, Anna had been able to produce enough artemisia so that I could supply them with enough leaves for a big pot of artemisia tea every morning for breakfast. Since August NOBODY has had malaria (except some of the children who refuse, so the mothers claim, to take the tea even with honey. I suggested that they mix the tea with honey and milk or thin maize/ millet porridge). All said that they had a much bigger appetite, far more energy for work and an absence of flu, colds etc. I am so delighted about this break-through. They have seen artemisia works!!!

NORTH EAST CONGO: Akuma Tande, surgeon at Adi hospital

We have had 20 cases of bilharzia in the hospital – all were treated successfully with artemisia tea. We conducted very thorough checks to confirm these results.

TOGO: Agnes Ziegelmayer

It is very encouraging when former seminar participants are involved in the seminar leadership. For example, in Bassar, Derman Moussafoudou is called "Monsieur Moringa" because of his experience in the cultivation and use of moringa. I am always struck by how much interest seminar participants have in our practical sessions, e.g. ointment production.

ETHIOPIA: Beatrice Gill

We had an HIV positive woman who suffered from a terrible sore (mykosis) in her mouth. She couldn't eat any more. As we couldn't buy anything in Lalibela or Bahardir or Dessie, using a mixer we made syrup from garlic, fresh artemisia leaves and water. After two weeks, she was healed of the sore and she could eat again.

ETHIOPIA: Klaus Strub

There are more and more people who are seriously interested in my medicinal plants. For example, a young priest in the Catholic Church from the tribe of the Bilen near Karen in Eritrea and a nun from Eritrea were so enthusiastic about what I told them that I had to promise them to teach them the anamed programme. We will produce together "black stones" for snake bites. Theresa, the nun was very happy. Today I met a Nubian, who fights the Anopheles mosquito in Sudan with huge machinery and tonnes of DDT on behalf of the government. My hair stood on end! I promised to tell him about artemisia. There´s probably no cure for these chemical bombs

MALAWI: Manfred Schiess

I spent 3 months in malarial areas in Africa (Malawi, Tanzania). I drank 1 cup of my artemisia tea every morning and I discovered a new method: after straining the artemisia leaves I added a teaspoon of moringa leaves. I have been to Africa in the past, but now I feel healthier than ever ... I haven´t even noticed that I’m 65 years of age! All of a sudden all my friends in Germany want to eat moringa, ha ha! During the whole of the journey I was not ill at all, I caught neither malaria nor diarrhoea.

SWITZERLAND: Doctor M.F.

I have used artemisia tea on 3 HIV patients and I´m pleased with the result.

MOZAMBIQUE: Myriam Wahr

We´ve just run our first seminar for health workers with 26 participants here in Memba. The health workers had to walk many hours in order to take part in the seminar. A few of them are strict Moslems, singing, dancing and laughing aloud are sins for them. It´s quite a challenge to know how best to respond to this. We told the history of creation and the participants said that it was the same in the Koran. Here in our house in Memba we have an anamed health centre, where between 180 and 350 people are treated per month. The manager is Equia, who attended the anamed seminar in Malawi.

HAITI: Ciliane H.

… took part in the seminar in Malawi 2005 and now works in Haiti. She wrote: I would like to send you and all your team a big thank you over the ocean. I have finally harvested some artemisia here in Haiti. Growing of artemisia plants cheers me up. It is marvellous to see something grow and bud in this country. It is because of my contact with anamed, and in particular my journey to Malawi, that I haven´t left Haiti. I still dream of this alternative clinic, where prescribing artemisia and other teas are integrated into the range of treatments offered.

CONGO-KINSHASA: Ruth M.

In spite of innumerable welcoming bites from mosquitoes in Kinshasa, I returned home after half a year without getting Malaria. I drank my tea daily and looked confidently at my bites hoping and knowing that the tea will protect me. And so it did! I´m now off again to Kinshasa to carry on working on my solar cooker project.

INDIA: The surgeon Dr R.

… visited our stand at “Kirchentag” in Cologne: Dear Friends, I found a stand at “Kirchentag” which fascinated me. A small organisation from south-west Germany has produced a hybrid of Artemisia annua, an old Chinese medicinal plant, and this hybrid plant now also grows in the tropics, it grows larger and the people can cultivate it for themselves. I immediately bought a starter kit. Those who know me well, know that 110 Euro is a price that I think twice about. Today I believe this was one of the best investments I have made. Artemisia annua anamed plus chloroquine or Fansidar, two of the old and cheap agents, will hopefully become the therapy of choice for malaria. Artemisia also works well on AIDS patients and strengthens the immune system. Some patients in Africa choose not to take ARV drugs, or only take them later on. Some colleagues also use it to improve the general condition of cancer patients, I´m sure I´d try it. It´s not that I´ve turned into a plant doctor, but the work with this substance has fascinated me.

CHINA: J.B.

… a German architect, took part in the seminar in Korntal and wrote from Shanghai: You remember your anamed writings about malaria and AIDS, they´re now being translated into Chinese. I promised you this at that time. May God richly bless you!

ANGOLA: Dr. Joao Baptista

… wrote from Luanda: Words fail me as I seek to express my gratitude for the knowledge I´ve learned since becoming an anamed member. Many of my medical colleagues envy me because of the progress and success that I have in everything that I do. Our public university has given me the task looking after the young nursing students until they complete their studies. Furthermore, I receive a lot of positive feedback regarding the treatment that I´m giving my patients, which goes down well amongst the poor population. I have now been assigned the task of organising a conference at the university from the 25th until 31st of August, on the occasion of the African Day of Traditional Medicine, in order to interest students in Traditional and Natural Medicine and to motivate them to do research in this field. I feel very rich and I don´t have to envy any others. In short: anamed scores points for me every day. Even as I´m writing this to you, I am being appointed a member of the Scientific Council of the National Institute for Public Health. Together with anamed, Africa will win …

BURUNDI: Hannelore Klabes

… wrote from the “Zachäus Haus” in Gitega: With Natural Medicine, Burundi is being given a big chance to help itself. In 2004 I learned about the medicinal plant A-3, which has saved the lives of thousands of patients in the Congo and another 75 countries worldwide. I thought of the countless children and adults who die each year of this illness. Dr. Hans-Martin Hirt offered me the chance to attend a seminar. I flew with him to Malawi in February 2005 to learn about Natural Medicine for Africa. Since November 2005 we have been sowing, cultivating, harvesting and drying the tea of this medicinal plant with good results in the garden of the centre for 150 disabled people and orphans. The success of healing malaria in our children, teenagers and adults is so great that we can speak not only about success in health but also about an economic success. The director of the palm oil industry in Rumonge, with about 100 employees, reports that not only has the health of his workforce has improved, but also the factory finances. Thanks to Artemisia annua, his health expenses sank by 42 percent. People living in remote areas now know how to grow medicinal plants in their own gardens. There is still the need for a lot of education - it could be taught in higher school classes under the topic “Natural Medicine”