Healing Justice and Herbal Medicine

Support residents in accessing healing justice and herbal medicine while recovering from environmental injustice!

This project helps bring the healing power of the plants and the Earth back to a community who has been on the frontlines of environmental injustice for over a century and a half. The purpose of this fundraiser will help Jendaiya take the plants she forages and sustainably sources and turn them into herbal supplements and medicines that can help address the underlying health conditions caused by the refinery pollution. The PES refinery has caused illnesses in the surrounding predominately black and brown community including cancer and asthma for over 150 years.

Funds will go towards purchasing supplies including tincture bottles, ingredients (alcohol, glycerin), shipping costs, supporting Jendaiya directly so that she can continue to forage and access plants, and ensuring that these herbal supplements and medicines can be distributed and accessible at no cost to residents.

This fundraiser helps the expansion and continuation of a successful pilot project resulting in residents receiving access and education on these homemade herbal supplements for free. This is an ongoing project, so funds will be used over time to create new supplements depending on the planting season and the region. Any abundance of funds will be redistributed directly back to the same community healing from the harm of the refinery: including supporting local community-led groups such as Philly Thrive, and individual residents navigating ongoing health challenges.

For greater context:

The PES oil refinery was the largest oil refinery on the East Coast of the USA for over 150 years. Years of dangerous operation, multiple explosions, and negligence has left residents living in the neighborhoods surrounding the refinery at high risk for cancer, COPD, asthma, and a variety of other health conditions that are present well beyond the national average. Jendaiya joined a group of empowered residents and allies in winning the permanent closure of the oil refinery in 2020! Now the community is mobilizing to win back the Right to Thrive and to heal the polluted land and the people who have been affected by this injustice.

This is some testimony from residents about the success and impact of the first batches of herbal tinctures:

Ms. Sonya: "The refinery has been destroying our lives and bodies in south west/south Philly for over 100 years. Residents like myself was exposed for years with that horrible pollution, now how do we now help our bodies to heal from so much harm? Jendaiya

has worked hard foraging herbs naturally from our earth then bringing them back to a community free of charge. She knows this is extremely needed in our community and so many people have been blessed to use these tinctures. We have shut down the refinery, we can change the world! The next step is to heal and to help us break these chains of oppression caused by degrading pollution & silent killers. Thank you for making a difference."

Ms. Kilynn: “I was dealing with a painful sinus infection when I received my tincture. After using my tincture my sinuses began to drain and I could breathe better. I also noticed warmth and circulation returning to my hands and feet after years experiencing neuropathy symptoms”

Mrs. Carol: “It means a whole lot to me to access these tinctures that can help us with the health issues we’re facing like asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and kidney disease.”

Mrs. Debbie: “It is a blessing to have Jendaiya go off on her own path and use what she learns thousands of miles away to create things that we can trust to help us and offer them for free”