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Summery of Proposal
Mama Santos had been working on establishing an indigenous hospital in the mountains using their traditional medicine. They appreciated the help orthodox medicine had offered them, however, they found it was incompatible with their bodies and their beliefs. Their aim is to become independent of civilisation and provide accessible natural medical care for the people in the mountain.
Mama Santos was impressed with the principals of Homeopathy. After he saw the results of the treatment he asked me how it worked, I explained that homeopathy works with a patient on an energetic level, using the principal of like cures like. Mama Santos abruptly left the hut. I was surprised, however, what surprised me more was when he returned to the hut some time later and said to me, “Homeopathy is the new law in the mountain. Will you bring us the knowledge?
After what seemed like a lifetime, I returned from the mountain – my body battered, my emotions drained. But my spirit was strong – I could feel that it carried something new. It carried the inspiration of purpose and the gravity of responsibility, a love for the Indians and a deeper understanding of human beings – humility and yet strength, and a passion with a tranquillity – which I didn’t think was possible.
The Kogi people have a powerful message to share with our world. It is about grace. It is about being thankful for all our Mother Earth has provided for us and ending the abuse of her giving nature. For soon there will be nothing left to give.
And they have asked for our help.
Introduction - Helping Sister
The Helping Sister Foundation has two main purposes. That is 1. To bring Homeopathic Medicine to the indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada and 2. To spread the message of the Kogi to the rest of civilisation.
“Save Our Mother Earth”
It began in the Year 2000 when I, Sarena Webb was travelling South America in search of a deeper knowledge of healing.
I went to Colombia and was taken in by a Kogi Priest, known as a ‘Mama’ to learn about their herbs. I lived with the Mama called Mama Santos for two months of which five weeks was in the village in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. During this time I learnt many important truths about how we should live as human beings – with harmony and balance, and how these principals apply to healing.
As I have a diploma of Natural Medicine I was carrying a small homeopathic kit. I began treating the Indians for some of the newer civilisation derived ailments for which they did not know a cure.
Mama Santos was impressed by the results and after discovering the principals behind Homeopathy went on to say, “Homeopathy is the new law in the mountain, will you bring us the knowledge?”
Tragically Mama Santos was murdered in August 2000.
Mama Santos introduced me to a special friend of his who is a doctor of Tropical Medicine, Dr Juan Carlos. Dr Juan Carlos was originally treating the Indians with orthodox medicine. Orthodox medicine has not proven to be enough for the Indians.
Dr Juan Carlos is excited about introducing homeopathic medicine and establishing a herbal dispensary/hospital using local herbs for the Indians and this is our dream to fulfil Mama Santos’ vision.
Now I am generating interest and support to fulfil the Kogi’s request of the Younger Brother. Naturopath Libby Johnson heard what I was doing while I was still Columbia through my cousin, and we made contact when I arrived back in Australia. From there Libby gave me direction and inspiration.
Secondly my friends and family showed interest and enthusiasm and offered their help, especially Tony Redhead who happens to be my step uncle and is owner/director of Red Square a major website construction company in Sydney. Tony registered two web sites Younger Brother and Elder Brother and developed the website as his contribution to the project.
This project is about sustaining their culture and sharing their wisdom. Their project is a voice for healing the planet and so healing the people.
There are other like-minded organisations whose concerns are for indigenous people. They run various campaigns for issues such as buying back sacred land, providing medical assistance and Indian rights. I would like to join forces with these pioneers before me. This website is the first step.
Rationale or Statement of Need
The inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada have always lived independent of society. Today they are fighting modern diseases and afflictions for which they have no appropriate treatment. Sometimes the Kogi’s traditional medicine is not strong enough to treat some of the acute conditions they are exposed to; and often they don’t know which herbs will be effective on new diseases.
For this reason clinics were set up with an orthodox approach to medicine to treat the increasing incidents of illness. There has been some success with this approach; however, it has proven to be incompatible for the indigenous culture due to the following reasons: -
- The Indians are in tune with nature so would prefer to use natural products;
- The Indians live on a mountain and it is too difficult to go down the mountain to visit a doctor when they are sick, so they need access to their own natural medicines;
- “Medications are not well tolerated because they tend to show drug resistance and so they have a lot of side effects.” Dr Juan Carlos
- They believe strongly in the energy of plants and medicines and so a manufactured refined version of a plant has no spirit.
All through history indigenous people have proven their adaptability.
The Indians in the past have incorporated some aspects of civilisation’s ideas, which do change their way of life but benefit them. For example, using tools and so improving their methods of farming.
Homeopathy is a medicine that is natural, and it fits with their ideals as a culture and as otherwise powerful healers.
Some of the diseases that need attention in the Sierra are:
Intestinal Parasites
Tuberculosis
Acute respiratory infection
Acute and chronic diarrhoea
Peptic acid disease\Pio dermatitis
Tropical ulcers – leischmania
Pertussis
Pneumonia
Gastritis
Giardia
Amebiasis
Snakebites
Hepatitis
Intestinal parasites
Asthma
Rheumatoid arthritis
Conjunctivitis
Urinary tract infection
Lumbago
Dermatitis
Candida
Hypertension
Cataracts
Goals
I will begin by applying the homeopathic medicine to the indigenous society in the Sierra Nevada in practice. I will help them become as self-sufficient as possible, and therefore I will be organising campaigns to teach them how to make the medicine themselves wherever possible. They want independence; this is their wish.
Initially to achieve this, however I will be relying on pre-prepared homeopathic medicine until the most appropriate remedies are evident.
The indigenous people are currently in the process of establishing a traditional medical clinic. Once I am in Colombia, I in conjunction with Dr Juan Carlos will be able to determine whether the homeopathic medicine can be integrated into this clinic or whether it will require an establishment of its own.
Objectives
To help the Indians gain the knowledge of Homeopathic Medicine.
To help the Indians establish a method of manufacturing of homeopathic medicine in the Sierra Nevada.
To help the Indians establish a method of prescribing of homeopathic medicine in the Sierra Nevada.
To establish a traditional medical clinic, using Homeopathy in central locations within the Sierra.
To present the message of the Kogis to civilisation.
The project requires me to increase my knowledge of homeopathic medicine, so my work can be as ‘hands on’ as possible.
To establish the required amount of homeopathic medicines to export to Colombia.
To determine a destination in Santa Marta for the arrival of the medicines.
I will raise funds through sponsorship.
Plan of Action
Currently I am working on the project with Dr Juan Carlos who lives in Santa Marta, Columbia, and the closest main town to the Sierra Nevada. He is a doctor of Tropical Medicine and has been working with the Indians for over two years and all of his work is now voluntary. He is managing the Colombian side of the project. Dr Carlos is in full support of introducing homeopathy to the Indians.
To Help the Indians Gain the Knowledge of Homeopathic Medicine.
This requires an experienced Homeopath to work with the Indians.
I will establish a location for the clinic to begin with. I currently have some options, which may be temporary until a more suitable location presents itself or the original site proves acceptable for our purposes.
To begin with I will be relying on pre prepared TGA (Therapeutic Goods Association) listed Homeopathic medicines.
I will investigate treatment requirements by: -
- Gathering information concerning the incidents of occurrence of the diseases present in the Sierra Nevada.
- Finding out estimated numbers of Indians the clinic will service.
- Consulting professional Homeopaths with this information for an educated estimate of quantities and medicines required.
-: Asking the Homeopaths for advice for special approaches for treatment.
From this base I will be looking for (Colombian and Indian) people who want to be involved.
The skills of individual people will ideally be incorporated who: -
- Can speak Spanish and the native dialects.
- Have experience with medicine and healing.
- Can read and write in the Spanish language.
- Are interested to work with the project for short and long term periods.
- Are willing to learn and help teach the knowledge of homeopathic medicine to other indigenous people.
To Help the Indians Establish a Method of Manufacturing of Homeopathic Medicine in the Sierra Nevada.
We would establish a location close to or in the Sierra Nevada where the medicines can be made. I would arrange the manufacturing equipment necessary by means of sponsorship.
Originally Mama Santos built a large hut in a place called Crystalline with the intention of using it as a laboratory to manufacture the Homeopathic. I will remain open to the possibility of using this hut eventually, though I will be far from counting on it.
To Help the Indians Establish a Method of Prescribing Homeopathic Medicine in the Sierra Nevada.
For this aspect of the project there are three possible courses of action: -
1. To work with the native people so that they have most of the input regarding the method we can use to transform the information into a form that non-literate healers can understand e.g. Hieroglyphics. I will the project started and stay for as long is necessary, aside from that I will: -
2. Recruit Spanish speaking Indians or Colombians who are willing to learn the art of Homeopathy to such a degree that they are competent to prescribe the medicine and willing to live on or already are living on the mountain.
3. Work out a system whereby indigenous people can have access to the services to local Homeopaths, at least until they become independent with the knowledge themselves.
I know a Homeopath who lives in Santa Marta who has offered her services to the Indians. I am yet to establish to what degree her offer extends.
These three possible courses of action will require at least two sets of text books to begin with, one in Spanish and one in English. See required materials list.
To Establish a Traditional Medical Clinic, Using Homeopathy in Central Locations Within the Sierra.
This aspect is largely covered by the work by Dr Juan Carlos who is working on helping the Indians to establish a traditional medical “hospital” where the Indians can go for treatment or even stay for as long as they need to. Presently the future hospitals main function is to serve as an herbal dispensary for readily available traditional herbal medical care for the local Indians.
I aim to incorporate the homeopathic medicine into this or these hospitals.
To Present the Message of the Kogis to Civilisation.
The message of the Kogis will be an intrinsic part of any material, which is publicised as a result of this project.
I am currently in the process of constructing more on this web site which will cover several issues related to the Kogi message, for example-:
- Promoting the documentary video ‘From the Heart of the World -The Elder Brothers Warning’ by the BBC.
- Including a poem by an Aboriginal woman about the Mother Earth on the web site. This will lead to the network of resources I am collecting, which incorporates other indigenous cultures and their prophecies.
Basically they are beginning to share their knowledge now because they know humankind and our Earth has come into a transitional period and all of humanity will benefit from their knowledge of harmony and healing – people and planet.
- Diego Silva a biologist in the mountain helped to create a foundation called The Ecodevelopment Foundation. I need to discover where this contact will lead.
- Include a web page about economic sustainable solutions for the future, e.g. running a campaign to press the Governments harder to move into the area of harnessing solar energy rather than nuclear and fossil fuel energy.
- Having links to other like-minded websites and organisations which may eventually lead to joining forces or building on previous work.
- I believe indigenous people are gaining an increasing amount of attention as a result of the consuming downfalls of civilisation’s ‘progress’. People are looking for alternatives to the disharmonious arbitrary existence we have created. The increasing popularity of holistic medicine is a good indication of this process not to mention the increasing awareness of the state of our planet. Native priests are very aware of this transition and are preparing to share the answers our unbalanced world seeks. I intend this project to be a vessel for this information.
The Project Requires Me to Increase My Knowledge of Homeopathic Medicine, So My Work Can Be As ‘Hands On’ as Possible.
I am currently reading books on Homeopathy. I believe I have a good understanding of fundamental principals due to a strong interest I developed during my studies of basic Homeopathy (Homeopathy 1) while studying my Diploma of Applied Science in Western Botanic Medicine. I continued reading and have been collecting knowledge ever since. Unfortunately this does not grant me the practical skills I require for this project.
Therefore I need to develop my skills in the areas of: -
- repertorising.
- Taking case studies.
- Manufacturing of Homeopathics.
I am open to suggestions as to how I can gain this knowledge before I return to Colombia.
To Document and Preserve the Herbal Repertory of the Indians;
My contact Diego Silva, from the Ecodevelopment Foundation, I believe, would be interested in fulfilling this objective.
The basic plan of action is to collect the knowledge of the Mamas and compile a repertory of their herbs. This information may also be useful for the hospital, however someone may already cover this objective over there. If no I would like to arrange to fulfil this objective even if by allocation as it was a wish of Mama Santos before he died.
I Will Raise Funds Through Sponsorship.
To prospective sponsors I will present this proposal accompanied by an individual letter suggesting they see my presentation and/or look at Younger Brother Elder Brother web sites.
Incentives for sponsorships will be: -
- Recognition on the web site.
- Recognition on all published material relating to the project.
I am considering registering a ‘Incorporated Association’ (foundation), as the medium for sponsorship to be utilised.
I will approach organisations which: -
- Have common objectives to this project.
- Can meet some of my requirements (see below).
- Can help at all with this project in any way possible.
- For this I may require help to build a foundation so I can cover the official requirements such as accounting, insurance, establishing powers involved, secretary, treasurer etc.
The Projects Material Requirements Are: -
- Medical and Homeopathy books
- Homeopathic medicines
- Laptop computer
- Phone costs
- Airfares and travel expenses
Conclusion
The Elder Brother is in tune with Mother Nature, they have the humility to accept aspects of our knowledge. Perhaps it is time for us to learn from their knowledge.
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