Working With Medicinal Plants in the Tropics

The Lord really put the interest in natural medicines on our road. I am a qualified nurse and midwife, but have not practiced for many, many years. In 2005 a friend in Tanzania gave me a book about medicinal plants in the tropics and how to use it. Before I was not interested in plant, herb and home remedies, mainly because it was to my experience not officially written down. My daughters and I were very interested in this book, especially because there are clear guidelines, exact measurements as well as scientific results. Amelia had an interest before and tried different remedies from young. Even on our journey through parts of East Africa 1999 - 2001 she was the one who used peach pips, eggshells etc. to nurse the family. I stuck mainly to a glove of garlic daily for each member of the family to prevent malaria.

In 2006 we assisted another mission for 6 months in Loltepes, South Massai – first with assisting in the completion of a building project before the deadline and directly after that we managed a short-term feeding project amongst the Massai in the same area. We were in a position where we did not have access to the medical supplies. So out came the Natural Medicine in the Tropics book. We found it to be a great help. Garlic, onion, salt, clean water, liquid soap and PRAYER performed miracles.

After a period of time we returned to Tanga. The daughters and I were interested to attend a training seminar in medicinal plants. Eventually we were advised to have a training in Tanga, should we be willing to host it. In March 2009 an ANAMED training seminar was conducted in Tanga. Thereafter we started a group, Anamed Tanga. As the year went by, the numbers dwindled. Some people were hoping for a way to make quick cash money.

My vision

1. That Tanzanians will see what great riches God has given us. Tanzania is not poor, we are rich. If we could just open our eyes and see what God has put before us, we are not lacking. God is a just God, faithful in all His ways. This is a tropical region, with tropical diseases; BUT with tropical medicinal plants to counteract the diseases. Many of our ailments and sicknesses are plainly due to ignorance and neglect and NOT due to poverty as so often been advertised. Many of the medicinal plants grow freely next to the road; anyone may take his/her pick.

2. We are planting and developing a medicinal garden where we can harvest for our medicinal teas, ointments, oils – even seeds. The seeds of Moringa Oleifera, Carica Papaja (Pawpaw) etc. are medicines. We plant especially Aloe Vera, Artemisia (trying to succeed in this climate), Capsicum Frutescens (chilli), Moringa Oleifera, lemongrass and Hibiscus Sabdariffa (Roselle). Some weeds like Euphorbia Hirta (asthma weed) thrives during the rainy season. Before I used to pull it out as weed, but today it is a valuable plant to us. We also want to have enough to give plants and seeds to others to start with their own garden.

We also do home visitations, advising and selling or giving out natural medicines to people. This past year Amelia took a large load on her as she has been the one mainly going out to patients on her bicycle. She also does massaging where necessary. She is our main saleslady. Cherise plants, pack our products and is also the secretary for our group. I plant, harvest and dry leaves and seeds as well as home visitations. During this hot, humid season my visitations have dropped considerably. By the time I’m through in the garden, 10.00 am onwards, it is just too hot for me to go out on a bicycle.

We had another training seminar in November 2010 at our home. Rudi also received his training. The daughters and I were trained in 2009. Rudi goes out daily on his bicycle, visiting elderly Asian men and others. I’m pleased and amazed, though not surprised. Years back while in Sesfontein, Namibia where we were the only white people amongst a tribe, I often were so thankful for Rudi. I’d rather be with him in the “bush” as an assistant, than with trained medical people who can only worked in the known environment of a hospital. He always had a plan – even transporting patients with drips flapping in the wind on his way to the nearest hospital 300km away. He handled it with ease. It is mango season now. So first thing in the morning Rudi picks up mangoes, peel them, make juice and then he is out on his bicycle for visitations with his juice and fresh mangoes. These homes are not necessarily open for the gospel to be presented in a religious way, BUT the love of God demonstrated through love and care allows you to come into homes of people not believing in Christ Jesus as the Son of God.

I have also been teaching about medicinal plants in two communities and in a church or two. Some Christian people are still skeptical as witchdoctors, who are plentiful in this country, also uses plants with witchcraft to cure . Once again the challenge before us is to redeem that which God has given to mankind out of the hand of Satan. I would love to see missions/ministry locations, orphanages, the poor and needy, learning to plant and use the medicinal plants to improve their life. Even in a very small piece of ground some valuable plants can be cultivated.

TESTIMONIES:

During our stay in Loltepes, Massai land, there was a young Massai boy of about 12 years who had a large festering sore on his knee where a stick pierced him a few weeks prior to meeting him. The medical officials refused me the use of antibiotics from their store as I was not registered as a nurse in Tanzania. We treated him with the wisdom and healing in the name of Jesus Christ. We bandaged that knee twice a day, washing it with salt water, applying ointment and he had to take large doses of fresh garlic for about ten days. We prayed with him, after every dressing. Within days of dressings we saw a remarkable healing. He was able to return to school, promising to do his own dressing on the small opening that remained. His mother proudly reported him to be well and running around soon afterwards.

God is not a respecter of persons, positions and colour. Another very amazing miracle took place. One late morning, when I was so tired and worn out from people coming and going, trying to cook food on the charcoal stove, dispensing medicine at the same time from our shed as well as doing dressings in between; two boys approached me. I was tired, hot and dirty, and definitely did not feel anointed. The younger boy asked me if I had medicine for his older brother who was standing there, being deaf. I had no medicine for deafness, but Jesus is our Healer, if I feel anointed or not. After discussing it with Cherise, I put my fingers in his ears and together we agreed in prayer. All of a sudden his eyes were so bright and he looked happy. I decided not to ask him if he can hear, as so many will say “yes” just to satisfy the one asking. I went to the Land Rover and switched on the car tape recorder and played a Christian Massai song. He was standing some distance away, with his back towards me – but he heard that song immediately and started flicking his fingers, with a smile all over him. We were all joyful with him and that surely encouraged us anew. God does not need my physical, mental and spiritual strength to perform His miracles. We did not see the boy again, as these young teenage Massai boys had to look after cattle away from their home. :

The Lord God gave us a home.

In March 2010 we moved into a large spacious home in Tanga. The previous three and a bit years we shared a yard with a German family where we stayed in the small second house. To be in a large place is a prayer answered after years of waiting and sometimes agonizing. One preacher said that “delay is not denial”, but sometimes we have to wait so long that you wonder if it is the will of God to have your own nest for a change.

Years back when the Lord called us to move around, from place to place and at times from home to home we held to the fact revealed that our dear Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, neither had a permanent place to put His head down. There came a time after lots of traveling as a family in the Land Rover and preaching, that I felt prompted to pray for an “upper room”. After that we saw the Lord leading us at times to a place of our “own” while ministering. We had several times words given to us from the body of Christ that the Lord will give us a mission-house. It became quite a disputable matter in the home as Rudi felt that we’ll be unfaithful to God’s calling if we settle down. So even the “words” given, were questioned. It caused pain and hurts in the family. What is the will of God? Does a calling change? We all agreed that the Lord spoke in 1994 to us from Matthew 10: 1-13 which meant traveling, preaching, freely you have received, freely give etc. We stayed many times for extended periods in our tents. Let me assure you, a tent is far more “home”, mosquito-proof, clean and desirable than staying in homes. Especially in parts of Africa, people can take offence when you want to sleep in a tent. Their picture of a tent is something really shabby and unwelcoming. Once they have seen how comfortable it can be, even with stretchers to sleep on, they are more agreeable.

In 2004, while in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, we were in a very trying situation. It looked as if the Christian world was telling us that we are deceived by moving like that as a family. God had performed already so many miracles for us while traveling in East Africa. Miracles of protection, guidance, favor, provisions, healings, but still there were those brethren who even questioned our testimonies. We ministered in so many different denominations during our travels in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda; we had seen God and His anointing, but we then came to a place where you wondered if that was all an illusion. For example, we had a miraculous healing of the Land Rover engine – Rudi kept the pistons as an evidence of God’s greatness. Even mechanics could see that it was humanly impossible to drive with that engine and believed because of the testimony of the greatness of God. Still, there were those “brethren” that would not believe.

We returned to Namibia for a quick renewal of our passports before returning to East Africa. We visited our family in South Africa, expecting to return soon after that. We were not prepared for the doubt and unbelief in the hearts of some Christian friends. Our children and in particular our boys, suffered the most through this. We came to a place that you were hesitant to testify about the goodness of God. We started to keep quiet and started to lose vision. Only in 2004, when so desperate Rudi understood that God said that He had already spoken and we know what to do. Because of the criticism, Rudi became fearful about traveling again with the family. Rudi, though knowing what to do, wanted another word from the Lord but God remained silent for so long.

At that time the Lord also spoke the word “Tanga” to me while praying about a mission home somewhere in East Africa. I discovered Tanga on the east coast of Tanzania. Now, there is a Tanga town as well as a large Tanga region. We crossed into Tanzania on the 23^rd November 2004. At that time there was still much strain in the family because the daughters and I believed God for a mission home and Rudi was clearly opposing it from his understanding of God’s calling. In Mbeya, the first large town in Tanzania, where we ministered, a Christian brother told us that he had a dream that we’ll be going to Tanga. Then, for the first time Rudi gave it some consideration. We had planned to travel as before, 3 months at a time in a country. Rudi agreed to travel the last 10 days towards Tanga and see if God would open a door of ministry there. The Lord God opened a miraculous way for us. The very church we arrived at that evening became our spiritual umbrella in Tanzania. The young man that interpreted for both Rudi and me became a friend and also the translator of the book “Proverbs To Live By”.

On the second day after we completed the seminar in Tanga, we left for Kenya, using the much shorter road from Tanga to Mombassa. Some of us had many questions in our hearts, but what can you do than go when your time has expired in a country. We crossed easily over the border but then the officials on the Kenya side refused to allow our Land Rover to cross into Kenya without a certain document. Now, we had crossed many borders before without that South African document. We are Namibians, with a Namibian registered vehicle, but they insisted on that particular document which to our knowledge Namibia did not issue at that time. We had to return to Tanga.

“What NOW God?” The next day Rudi was early at the Immigration Office and we were granted 14 days extra in the country. The afternoon before we started our journey to leave Tanzania we still did not know our next steps. God had not told us to return to Zambia or Malawi. Rudi wanted to try going through another border to Kenya but some of us were not in agreement. That evening, while having supper, newly founded South African friends phoned to say that they want to pay for us to get visas to lengthen our time in Tanzania. We managed to get visas for another two months. As Namibians, we do not need visas to enter into these East African countries. We were not even aware that we could lengthen our time by getting visas. Well, those two months gave us enough time to apply for Resident permits in Tanzania. So now we are already 6 years in Tanzania and starting our 5^th year in Tanga.

Now, why a large spacious home? The Lord often had given me the portion of scripture from Isaiah 54 about enlarging your space, stretch forth the tent pegs, inhabit the nations etc. The previous 3+ years in Tanga we stayed in a small house with our family. So as we received visitors squashed into the house and tents we held to His word about enlarging our tent. We decided to stretch forth those tent pegs until the Lord knows when it was enough. To us, the staying in that house felt long overdue, but that was all in God’s good time. We have roughed it so long through the years of moving that we became accustomed to inconveniences. I personally think we could have moved earlier if we were desperate enough to take hold of God in faith. Humanly spoken it was financially impossible for us to rent a house, but when we became desperate and continued to look for a house at a reasonable price, the Lord started to open a way. Many times the breakthrough will not come until we step out in faith, instead of waiting and waiting for the open doors.

Our requests before the Lord our God were the following:

1. We needed a place big enough to develop a medicinal garden and one specific prayer was for a mango tree in the garden. Whenever we looked for a house we checked if there was a mango tree. There are 3 huge mango trees in this yard.

2. We needed a place where Rudi and I were to some extend separate from the rest of the family. This house has a large upper room with as a large verandah. It also has an outside room but it needs reparations. At present it is used for a storeroom.

3. We needed a place to receive people, not just guests, but even to take people into our home for a period of time. In that previously small place we took in an Indian lady for a bit more than a year. She developed well and is now able to look after herself. She still visits every week for the home cell and also on that day Cherise takes her for shopping as she has now learned to cook independently. We also took in a Tanzanian boy for a few months, whom was given a last change from another mission to pull himself together. Precious as he is, he rebelled and left.

4. The house has a large sitting and a workroom. It is ideal for meetings.

For many years I have trusted the Lord for a place where the brokenhearted can be healed, as in Isaiah 61. Through the years it just never materialized in the way I have anticipated. My natural thinking is still that of centralizing but the way the Lord leads us on is to de-centralize. I had this idea of a “mission station” as I learned from previous experiences. But the Lord wants us to live Christ - to be worship, to be fellowship, to be instruments of healing, instead of to go and worship, to go and fellowship, to go and heal. The emphasis is on to BE more than to DO. Looking at myself and our family, naturally spoken, we are not qualified to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We are broken people ourselves in many ways. BUT our God who is ever faithful will complete His work of healing as we continue to follow after Him.

Even the miraculous road the Lord God has been leading us on through the years, is not because we are of any good in ourselves. God alone knows how much pain we had amongst ourselves, but still He chose to use us for His own divine purposes. The miracles are more a demonstration of the mercy and the grace of God the Father than anything else.

Yes, we have now the large place. The initial phase seem to be in place. We started out eagerly to plant and had some success. Considering the hard work and effort we put in, we are realizing that our soil is very poor and the nematodes are the main enemy. At present we are putting in more manure, making compost and planting Tagetes Erecta (marigolds) to drive the nematodes deeper into the soil, away from the roots of the plants.

The daughters and I are directing the Anamed (Action for natural medicine) Tanga group and our Korda Health Care activities from the home. Amelia has started the home cell group and has more activities up her sleeve.

We purchased a printer which is a great help with the Anamed work, our Health Care and the Proverbs To Live By preparing and printing. The large workroom we so prayed for, is meant to be used for sewing, painting, art and printing. We have been so busy just working and being physically tired that not much creative work has been done yet. We trust and pray that the day will also come to be more creative again.

　

Short intoduction of how we came to East - Africa

In 1992 the Lord God spoke to Rudi from Matthew 10: 1-13, to no longer go to the gentiles but to go to the lost in the house of Israel. Before that time we worked in rural areas in Damaraland, Namibia. At first we thought it to be literal Israel, but were not sure. As the Lord continued to direct Rudi we realized that there are many lost people in the house of the Lord.

In November 1993 we also received a prophetic word that the Lord has called us out of the denominations and that He will lead us to walk carefully amongst them. It was also in our hearts all along, but as we were in a supportive role at that time in a denomination we needed much wisdom as how to obey the Lord in our relation to denominations. In 1995 as we deliberately broke with the structure of denominations we started to experience questioning and opposition. We entered into the school of the Holy Spirit having to learn to be part of the church, having and being fellowship with fellow-believers in and without the denominational structure. We had many battles to fight and mountains to overcome; we failed many times but by His grace and sustaining right hand we got up again. We realized that we had to move about as a family proclaiming Christ Jesus through Biblical lifestyle, which brought many trials to the family as we had to re-consider schooling, housing, an income etc.

In July 1999 we started to travel outside of Namibia as a family. We traveled and stayed 3 and a half months in Zambia. End November 1999 we entered through the Tanzanian border. Our first stop was Mbeya where we ministered for 7 weeks in different Bible believing denominations. It was there that God started to lead us into conducting Biblical lifestyle seminars. Laying Biblical foundations about marriage, courtship vs. dating, education, careers, family life, the family of Christ, childrearing etc. Rudi taught a lot about the Kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of the world as well as on the faith walk. Many of the things we taught can be found in the book “Proverbs To Live By” which was written by Mariette.

We traveled for 2 years and 3 months between Tanzania and Kenya – as a family in our old grey Land Rover. We also had the privilege to minister for 2 months in Uganda towards the end of 2001. We preached and taught in many different denominations in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Rudi and I minister most of the times together, sharing the sessions. At times we split up and conducted 2 seminars at the same time. Our children accompanied us everywhere and sat through many teaching/preaching sessions. For sure, they had found it difficult at times, perhaps most of the times, but a foundation was laid in there lives. We went through trials together and experienced God to be the same faithful One as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

As our passports needed renewal, we returned to Namibia. February 2002 we went to South Africa for 4 months to visit mainly the family and some friends. On our return to Namibia Rudi overhauled the Land Rover engine and repaired body parts, which worked very hard, pulling a trailer all the time. We traveled on mountainous, muddy roads, through thick sand and dust as well as being overloaded for the engine size, all the time.

Somehow, once back in Namibia, we wanted another Word of God to return to East Africa. Looking back, then, we wondered if we could ever do it again. God performed so many miracles of healing, provision and protection for us, but with pressure back in Namibia, UNBELIEF and DOUBT crept in. We ended up staying till October 2004. The Lord told Rudi that He had spoken already and He will not give him another word. Rudi had to act on what he knew to be the right thing to do; which was to return to East Africa.

In the meanwhile God the Holy Spirit also spoke to me, Mariette, about a place “Tanga” in Tanzania. A place where we’ll be able to stay and minister from. From the map I realized it to be on the east coast. I was not sure if it was to be Tanga, the town, or to be somewhere in the large Tanga region. By November we were back in Mbeya, the first major town in Tanzania. There a Tanzanian friend told us that he had a dream where we told him (in the dream) that we would see again in Tanga. As Rudi was not so ready to accept that we had to settle at a place, he was not eager to venture towards that direction. He agreed to go to Tanga town the last few days of our 3 months allowed in Tanzania. We conducted a 5-day seminar in the Pentecostal Assembly of God church of Tanga. We put up tents at the church. We usually stayed in our tents or sometimes in homes of people. We allowed ourselves 1 more day in Tanga before we promptly proceeded to the Kenyan border taking the road by the east coast. Our first stop would be Mombassa, we thought. For the first time, through all the years of traveling we were refused to cross into Kenya with our vehicle, due to a problem with paperwork. We HAD to return to Tanga, Tanzania and secretly and silently I was rejoicing.

Of cause, paperwork again! We got an extention to stay on in Tanzania, until we could apply for Resident permits in Tanzania. That was another miracle how the Lord God made a way, because that is only possible through an invitation to the country. Up to then we had traveled without pre-arranged schedules.

We have settled in Tanga town since November 2006. During 2005 we stayed at times in tents in the yard of a German Christian family, but since November 2006 we stayed in a small house (previously the servant quarters) in their yard. We had blessed times but also our hardships together. God is a good God. Since March 2010 we have moved into a spacious 4-bedroomed house, with a large yard.

During 2005 Rudi accompanied another missionary from Dar Es Salaam in teaching and visiting their ministries to the west of Tanzania. Amelia, assisted another missionary in Arusha in her work amongst the Massai. Davin and Joshua stayed with us in Tanga while we continued with informal home-schooling. Cherise helped me with editing and preparing the book to be ready for printing. She did an enormous work on the computer. She felt that God has called her to assist us and for sure that is what she has been doing through the years. That also enabled Rudi and me to move out teaching and preaching while she runs the household.

LOLTEPES:

During 2006 we assisted another mission for 6 months with a building and a feeding project to the Massai. It was roughing it all the way. We started off in tents, but at night the hyenas came sniffing around the tents. We slept at night, stretchers pushed to the middle just in case the hyena decided to take a bite! As soon as a room was available of the building in process, Rudi and I moved into a room. What a relief! In the tents one never slept fitfully. In the tent I tried to stay awake as long as possible, praying and listening for the hyenas but around 2.00am sleep would inevitably overtake me. Cherise moved into a trailer as a sleeping place and the two sons slept on the Land Rover’s roofrack by night. When rainy season came, more rooms were available – so all of us could sleep safely inside. Night time was still as scary, especially for our women, because the outside toilet and washing place looked far away in the light of an imaginary lurking hyena.

Our kitchen was outside. There was a small room to store things but cooking was outside with a leaning corrugated iron sheet to keep the fire going. Later, with the blazing sun, Rudi made us a temporally structure where we could sit and enjoy our meals. Still everything had to be carried inside at night. One time, a nearby lodge sent us a buffalo leg. When we arrived back from Arusha, the meat was waiting there. As there are MANY flies and no electricity we still had to work that meat far into the night. Some we could cut and put into vinegar and salt for biltong, but the rest we cut up and put on a charcoal fire to cook through the rest of the night. Believe it or not! In the morning the 3-legged cast iron pot was empty! No meat! The lid was neatly placed aside, so we realized it could not be wild animals. A Massai or two enjoyed well-cooked buffalo meat. We have seen how the men cook wildebeest! My friend, a few Massai men can cook and finish one wildebeest thigh in no time. First the head of the wildebeest was cooked in a large pot as trophy for the hunter. Then they used the same water to boil the meat for not much more than 30 minutes, before they divided it between 4 – 5 young men.

Rudi fetched water in drums and buckets 3 - 4 km from the new school compound. When it became very dry and the water level very low, cattle get preference to people. So Rudi fetched water from the village dam, 7 km away. It’s an open dam, where cattle drink by walking into the dam, people bath and do their laundry. That water level became so low and the water so murky that Rudi fetched water 23km away from a larger village. So, water was precious!

There was one day in particular, when I was doing our washing and seeing patients in between. See, donkeys also need water! As the men were busy somewhere else, our women had to tip those 200 liter drums to fill up the buckets, preferably without spilling. The Massai women would come for help and while we are attending to them, the donkeys repeatedly emptied the buckets of water, even the soapy water! Between the Massai who turned up at any time, water shortage, thirsty donkeys and a charcoal fire that needed stoking all the time – a day can become very long. ALL water had to be boiled. Wounds had to be washed with clean water, dehydration fluid to be made with well boiled, cooled down water. So there was forever a race for clean water.

So many complained of headaches and painful stomachs. Later on we said that no-one would be treated for headache until they had taken at least 2 glasses of water first. It is a well-known fact that the Massai hardly drink water. Most often we had to provide the drinking water. Many times we showed the mothers to wash the children who were full of skin diseases. One of our most used “medicines” were liquid soap which we also gave out as part of the treatment. So many diseases are related to lack of water and unclean water. Later on Davin was helping with the same food project but in another area, where he did an excellent work. Amelia came to help us in Loltepes towards the end of the time there. She was involved with other mission work before that time.

After completion of the project we were tired and bruised. Rudi experienced the greatest culture shock ever having to work with corruption in Christian circles. He blew it in anger, many a time. But also his trust level received a great blow. We received a “salary” so to speak during that time of the project which enabled me to venture into printing the book “Proverbs To Live By”. We went through another experience of broken promises and corruption in which I lost all the money which was put down for printing as well as having nothing worthwhile to show for the months of printing. We added more money and made another attempt to print at the same Christian printer, but it failed even more over the next year. All that heightened a sense of failure in our lives.

Time neared for our passports to be renewed again. Towards the end of 2006 the children went down to Namibia to renew our passports. Rudi and I stayed on at Dar Es Salaam to see if we can get the re-printing going as well as ministered in and around Dar and also went to minister in Mafia Island for a few days. Traveling by a local boat for about 4 hours one way, were a new challenge to our faith and trust in God.

Years back, we started in Mbeya, Tanzania, to do seminars. There the Lord God told me that through the years He had put messages into my heart, mostly learned through the years of “ordinary” housewife and mother. When we returned to Tanzania, we continued to minister as before but once we settled in one place the invitations became less. We had a word from one missionary that the “wheels of our ministry” will fall off, referring to our traveling. Rudi experienced it as very negative.

We all started to get practically involved in other missions or/and endeavors of our own. In my struggle with Swahili I often thought of those missionaries years back who received supernaturally a new language when they received a calling from the Lord to a far off country. In December 2006, just before our return to Tanga, while praying together as a family, I spoke at that time in another language than my normal heavenly tongue. I sensed it to be an Indian language which I’d heard before. I have made no attempt to learn that language, but most of our home visits in Tanga, are amongst the Asian people. There is where God has given us favor and the door for the Gospel demonstrated is open amongst them.

Lately though, we encourage Rudi to move out when invited, especially to the far off places. As I said before, God has chosen one of His most feeble women to be a missionary. After all these years I still find the heat, dust, sleeping on a straw mat, sleeping in a dark mud plastered room, difficult. Before these things were also a challenge to my strength, ability and adaptability but these days, I struggle with fatigue and somehow don’t think it to be worth the effort. I can’t carry even a simple conversation in Swahili. The interpreters are most often men, so how do I minister to women in a meaningful way?

The Lord is changing our boat into another direction. Many things that look like loose ends will become purposeful.