Overview:
In Haiti, the commerce in medicinal and sexual endurance leaves is a centuries-old observe, deeply rooted within the tradition and traditions of the nation. It meets each the well being wants of the populations, who use these pure cures to deal with varied issues, and their financial wants, by offering a supply of earnings to many households.
FORT-LIBERTE—Madame Georges ‘Madan Jòj’ Joseph gathers a handful of recent inexperienced leaves, inhaling their sharp, earthy scent, earlier than gently returning them to the pile in entrance of her on the Ouanaminthe Communal Market, the place she sits day by day. In her hometown of Les Perches, about 18 miles from Ouanaminthe, in Haiti’s northeastern area, the information of utilizing medicinal vegetation is greater than custom—it’s a lifestyle. ‘Madan Jòj’ is a part of a technology that carries ahead a cultural legacy constructed on the therapeutic energy of leaves. However she is just one amongst many.
Within the open market, ‘Madan Jòj’ sits on her “ti chèz ba” creole for a low chair in a delegated area for leaves identified for his or her medicinal therapeutic properties. Earlier than her, quite a lot of leaves are laid out, with a relentless stream of individuals coming and going.
“Most girls come right here to purchase leaves for treating many illnesses like cysts, fibroids, bronchial asthma and males purchase leaves to deal with males’s issues,” Joseph mentioned, explaining how a number of their prospects can’t afford to pay for clinics or hospitals in Ouanaminthe. “And with all of the hospitals closing, individuals are turning increasingly to leaf cures.”
“An individual who is aware of and trades in medicinal and sexual endurance leaves can meet the various wants of individuals”
Exavier Milius, a father of 12 kids and a lover of the leaves.
With Haiti’s restricted formal healthcare system, “remèd fèy” has lengthy served as an important different. Households flip to those vegetation for the whole lot from abdomen aches to respiratory infections—and even for reinforcing sexual vitality. Over generations, communities have remodeled this ancestral information right into a thriving commerce.
The doktè fèy—Creole for “leaf physician”—is a revered healer who selects, prepares, and advises on medicinal vegetation, often called remèd fèy, used to deal with quite a lot of illnesses. Typically farmers themselves, they both develop the vegetation or supply them domestically to craft conventional cures. Of their communities, these healers are trusted figures, referred to as upon at any hour to supply care and steering.
Jonathan Joazard, 79, is one such healer, a part of a protracted line of doktè fèy within the area. He has been giving such recommendation since his youthful years. Though blind now, Joazard nonetheless performs an important function in preserving these ancestral practices. Locals proceed to go to him for recommendation and plant-based cures, as he’s a dwelling hyperlink to generations of this information in Fort-Libertè.
“For many who know vegetation effectively, it’s our largest pharmacy that may treatment the whole lot,” Joazard, a pure plant and leaf healer and dealer in Fort-Liberté.
Throughout the area, dozens of palms—from farmers to pickers and distributors to processors and customers—maintain the traditional medication information drawn instantly from the land. The commerce in medicinal vegetation is an important a part of Haiti’s native financial system, significantly in rural areas the place job alternatives are scarce. For households like Madan “Jòj’, the earnings from promoting these vegetation not solely enhances their livelihoods but additionally helps the preservation of biodiversity and conventional information.
Ancestral information as Haiti’s unofficial pharmacopoeia
These rural ‘doktè fèy’ practitioners faucet into ancestral knowledge to deal with a variety of illnesses, utilizing nature as each their pharmacy and information. Their observe combines information of medicinal vegetation, conventional rituals, and a profound religious connection to the pure world. From bodily points like fever, ache, and complications to emotional struggles resembling grief, stress, and psychological misery, they provide personalised care that acknowledges the distinctive complexity of every particular person’s well being.
“I feel nature provides us the whole lot we have to keep wholesome,” says Exavier Milius, a medicinal leaf fanatic and father of 12 kids
Many vegetation are prized for enhancing sexual well being. Treatments made with Zo devan, jouk li jou, and bwa kochon are particularly common for reinforcing libido and efficiency naturally.
“These vegetation are a blessing for males who don’t need to waste their cash,” says Belony Christella.
“These leaves are like pure diamonds. You simply have to seek out them and put together them to work their magic.”
Belijan Augustin, a leaf vendor on the Ouanaminthe Communal Market
“They’re a form of prevention for these getting into previous age, and for others who don’t need to depend on chemical compounds,” provides Phaïca, a 28-year-old lady who makes use of the leaf-based cures to reinforce her companion’s vitality.
Among the many mostly used medicinal vegetation within the northeast are these like Lyann mòl, kase sèk, lyann legliz, fèy kowosòl, and lamitye. These vegetation assist keep good well being throughout winter and spring, significantly for ladies and kids who face persistent coughs.
“These leaves are like pure diamonds. You simply have to seek out them and put together them to work their magic,” says Belijan Augustin, a leaf vendor on the Ouanaminthe communal market.
Healers use quite a lot of vegetation to deal with widespread illnesses, with particular cures for various well being points. As an example, vegetation like Kou barik, Bwa ti gason, and safran assist alleviate ache, particularly for older ladies coping with joint ache or abdomen discomfort throughout colder months. Others, resembling bwa savan, pwa kongo frize, and chòché, are used to fight infections, whereas vegetation like fèy lougarou are wanted for his or her potential to assist regulate hypertension and stability blood stress.
Natural teas are generally used to deal with illnesses starting from digestive to respiratory points. Medicinal oils, made by macerating leaves in vegetable oils, are utilized for massages, pores and skin circumstances, or aromatherapy. Ointments, created by mixing plant extracts with a fatty base like shea butter, goal pores and skin irritations, burns, and joint ache. Bottles, made with plant extracts and alcohol like kleren lakay, kleren Saint Michel, or kleren Gran Nò, are used for circumstances resembling untimely ejaculation or abdomen ache in older ladies.
The advertising and marketing of medicinal vegetation
The rising curiosity in pure cures has led to a major improve within the commercialization of medicinal vegetation. Native markets and road distributors provide quite a lot of vegetation, starting from common species like moringa, lemongrass, and ginger to extra region-specific varieties. This reputation stems from the facility of the custom of pure medication, handed down over generations.
“Individuals are changing into extra conscious of the advantages of pure cures, and we’re making the most of the alternatives this creates for these of us who accumulate and promote these vegetation,” Joseph mentioned.
“These days, once I purchase 10,000 HT Gds or $ US 76 of leaves, it doesn’t final per week. I’ve to buy extra,” she mentioned.
Medicinal plant commerce: An important hyperlink in Haiti’s financial system and well being
The commerce in medicinal vegetation is an important a part of Haiti’s native financial system, significantly in rural areas the place job alternatives are scarce. It entails varied key gamers. Native farmers, the spine of this business, are producers and harvesters; they’re the healers. They don’t simply promote uncooked vegetation; lots of them additionally specialise in processing vegetation to create merchandise resembling infusions to deal with. These vegetation are then bought to distributors, middlemen or ladies, or road sellers, a few of whom additionally function conventional healers. Although casual and unstructured, this commerce performs an important function in each the financial system and the well-being of the communities.
One essential hyperlink within the provide chain is the processor, who transforms uncooked vegetation into merchandise like infusions, important oils, and concentrated extracts. Whereas processing strategies could range, they sometimes depend on conventional methods that protect the vegetation’ pure properties.
“With the leaves, avocado seeds, coconut oil, and makristi oil, I put together oils to advertise hair progress,” says Cherlande Honoré, a younger lady from Ouanaminthe who focuses on producing hair oils.
“We imagine in high quality to make sure the effectiveness of our merchandise,” Honoré provides. “That’s why we do the whole lot by hand, with out chemical compounds.”
Moreover people, native companies and cooperatives are additionally concerned within the processing of leaves into natural teas, oils, or ointments, promoting to customers who take care of these merchandise for his or her well being wants.
“With the income I make from promoting medicinal vegetation, I handle my household, pay my kids’s college charges, and pay the hire,” mentioned “Madan Jòj”.
“An individual who is aware of and trades in medicinal and sexual endurance leaves can meet the various wants of individuals,” Milius mentioned.
As financial hardships deepen and formal healthcare choices proceed to shrink, the enduring commerce in medicinal vegetation gives extra than simply cures—it gives resilience. For distributors like Madan Jòj and the generations to comply with, every handful of leaves carries centuries of knowledge, a connection to the land, and the hope that by nature, communities will proceed to heal and thrive, one leaf at a time.