A living pharmacy
Botanica Ethiopia is an approved aid and development project to support indigenous medicinal herb knowledge and use in Ethiopia.
80 per cent of Ethiopians rely on traditional (herbal) medicine as their primary form of health care. According to the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and the United Nations, herbal medicine practice is in danger of being lost due to lack of documented knowledge, and the threatened extinction of medicinal plants.
The project
Working with the Fiche community in Ethiopia, local partners and Global Development Group, the Botanica Ethiopia ‘Living Pharmacy’ project focuses on how native herbs can support the health of Ethiopian families and their communities.
The project established a community medicinal herb garden and involved local workshops to share and document traditional medicine knowledge and practices which are in danger of being forgotten. It has also involved capacity building in areas of permaculture design, small business development and modern beekeeping.
It is hoped that the herb garden will provide a model for replication elsewhere in Ethiopia, and a possible means of income generation for the Fiche community in the future.
The Living Pharmacy project was funded by Blackmores Ltd., the Blackmores Foundation and private donations, and delivered in partnership with Global Development Group. The project has been developed by Elizabeth d’Avigdor with support from Southern Cross University, Australia and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
About Global Development Group
‘J655N Botanica Ethiopia: A Living Pharmacy’ is a development project of Global Development Group, an Australian DFAT approved NGO carrying out quality humanitarian aid and development projects with approved partners to relieve and provide long term solutions to poverty.
Global Development Group takes responsibility for this project according to DFAT rules, providing a governance role and assisting in the areas of planning, monitoring, evaluating and auditing to ensure that the project is carried out to Australian requirements. Click here for more information about Global Development Group.
Botanica Ethiopia Blog
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Branching out: Supporting the study of traditional herbs in Northwestern Ethiopia
Some great news to emerge from last year is that Botanica Ethiopia has had the opportunity to further support traditional medicine knowledge and practice in Ethiopia. We are delighted to announce that we are helping to fund two students at Debre Markos University (DMU) to conduct research in a new location in Northwestern Ethiopia.
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Come in and drink tea!
On our previous trip to Ethiopia, we invited the owners of Ariti – a long-running herbal production company in Addis Ababa – to visit the Fiche medicinal garden.
Chemists Ermias Dagne and Tadelech Tadesse established Ariti almost 20 years ago, and today, run the business with their daughters Dina and Beza. Ermias is a professor of organic chemistry at Addis Ababa University and also director of the African Laboratory of Natural Products (ALNAP). -
All abuzz in Fiche
Seated against the rammed-earth walls of Werkalemahu and Banchi’s home, we’re handed a plate of thick yellow honey with chunks of dabo bread straight from the fire.
“Enebela (Let’s eat)!” says Werkalemahu. “This is the purest, from the new hives.”
We’d just arrived in Fiche with the last truck load of modern beehives from Addis; part of our contribution to the Etse Fewus Association’s work to build an integrated herb and honey business with their medicinal garden.
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