Help the Rama Indian Tribe in Nicaragua
Donation protected
Every year, our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Herbal Medics, makes at least one trip to remote areas in Nicaragua to help specific villages or groups of people, become more self-sustainable. The goal is to find a group of people who want to learn simple water purification, herbal medicine, off-grid engineering and more, and help them help themselves.
This year in November, we are traveling to the jungle in southeast Nicaragua for at least 10 days to work with the Rama Indians.
The Rama Indians are very shy and quiet people who live mostly in a small village that is about a 3 hour motorboat ride up the Rio Indio from San Juan de Nicaragua.
They also trade off living in the poorest section of town in San Juan, in order to take advantage of 3rd-world, "modern" conveniences.
Unfortunately, they live in the worst of both worlds. On the one hand, they have lost a lot of their own skills relating to the preponderance of amazing plant medicine in the region and on the other, they are at the low end of the totem pole in the town.
They would like very much to be able to establish their culture back again, not only to help themselves on a day-to-day basis, but also to be able to create a cultural tourism in their own village where they can make a small amount of money showing their traditional lifestyle as well as sell items they have made, such as traditional bows and arrows, weavings, medicinal plant preparations (teas, tinctures, etc.) and more.
Herbal Medics is going to help them in a number of ways:
1) We will teach them and their children how to construct slow-sand water filtration. We will construct this filtration not only in their section of town at one of their personal wells, but also in their Indian village. Herbal Medics has constructed numerous slow-sand filtration setups throughout Nicaragua, to include at the clinic in San Juan. The Rama Indians specifically would like their children (and adults) to understand some basic engineering concepts and learn how to make these filters themselves. Clean water is a necessity in their village if they wish to be able to attract any kind of cultural or eco-tourism to the area. Additionally, most of the health problems in the area are related to the water quality.
2) We will teach them how to forge their own spear tips, arrowheads, knives and metal tools. We have one of the best blacksmithing instructors in the country who specializes in contingency blacksmithing starting literally from nothing. He will be able to set up at least one forge and we have steel that we can harvest, that is very old and very good steel for this use.
3) We will teach them the plant medicine in the area by hiring the local herbalist, Narciso, who has been the primary healer in the entire region for over 30 years. His knowledge of local plant medicine is unparalleled, and he will help teach them the plant medicine they have forgotten.
4) As always, we will hold herbal clinics for anyone with health care issues. We do this on a regular basis here and in many other places, and have an amazing success rate (well over 80%) based on follow-up research.
This money, combined with our other fundraising efforts, will help make a large team trip possible to help the Rama Indians in Nicaragua. There are a lot of travel expenses just to get down to this region that is 100 miles from the nearest roads. Only plane, foot and boat travel are possible. Gasoline is extremely expensive and although most of the resources are located in the areas we are working, it is still necessary to haul a lot of heavy materials (sand, gravel, water barrels, steel, etc.) long distances as well.
Rewards of tuition for any course (16-Hour Wilderness First Aid Course, 84-Hour Wilderness Herbal First Responder Course) good for any course dates that fall within one year (12 months) from the date of the donation.
Donation receipts will be provided from Herbal Medics as proof of your donation to a non-profit organization, for tax purposes.
For more information about our organization, visit us at http://herbalmedics.org
This year in November, we are traveling to the jungle in southeast Nicaragua for at least 10 days to work with the Rama Indians.
The Rama Indians are very shy and quiet people who live mostly in a small village that is about a 3 hour motorboat ride up the Rio Indio from San Juan de Nicaragua.
They also trade off living in the poorest section of town in San Juan, in order to take advantage of 3rd-world, "modern" conveniences.
Unfortunately, they live in the worst of both worlds. On the one hand, they have lost a lot of their own skills relating to the preponderance of amazing plant medicine in the region and on the other, they are at the low end of the totem pole in the town.
They would like very much to be able to establish their culture back again, not only to help themselves on a day-to-day basis, but also to be able to create a cultural tourism in their own village where they can make a small amount of money showing their traditional lifestyle as well as sell items they have made, such as traditional bows and arrows, weavings, medicinal plant preparations (teas, tinctures, etc.) and more.
Herbal Medics is going to help them in a number of ways:
1) We will teach them and their children how to construct slow-sand water filtration. We will construct this filtration not only in their section of town at one of their personal wells, but also in their Indian village. Herbal Medics has constructed numerous slow-sand filtration setups throughout Nicaragua, to include at the clinic in San Juan. The Rama Indians specifically would like their children (and adults) to understand some basic engineering concepts and learn how to make these filters themselves. Clean water is a necessity in their village if they wish to be able to attract any kind of cultural or eco-tourism to the area. Additionally, most of the health problems in the area are related to the water quality.
2) We will teach them how to forge their own spear tips, arrowheads, knives and metal tools. We have one of the best blacksmithing instructors in the country who specializes in contingency blacksmithing starting literally from nothing. He will be able to set up at least one forge and we have steel that we can harvest, that is very old and very good steel for this use.
3) We will teach them the plant medicine in the area by hiring the local herbalist, Narciso, who has been the primary healer in the entire region for over 30 years. His knowledge of local plant medicine is unparalleled, and he will help teach them the plant medicine they have forgotten.
4) As always, we will hold herbal clinics for anyone with health care issues. We do this on a regular basis here and in many other places, and have an amazing success rate (well over 80%) based on follow-up research.
This money, combined with our other fundraising efforts, will help make a large team trip possible to help the Rama Indians in Nicaragua. There are a lot of travel expenses just to get down to this region that is 100 miles from the nearest roads. Only plane, foot and boat travel are possible. Gasoline is extremely expensive and although most of the resources are located in the areas we are working, it is still necessary to haul a lot of heavy materials (sand, gravel, water barrels, steel, etc.) long distances as well.
Rewards of tuition for any course (16-Hour Wilderness First Aid Course, 84-Hour Wilderness Herbal First Responder Course) good for any course dates that fall within one year (12 months) from the date of the donation.
Donation receipts will be provided from Herbal Medics as proof of your donation to a non-profit organization, for tax purposes.
For more information about our organization, visit us at http://herbalmedics.org
Organizer
Sam Coffman
Organizer
San Antonio, TX
