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On Friday, we visited the Ethno Botanical Garden, where we met Guillermo, the shaman. There, he taught us about different types of medicine from plants and how they have been used throughout history. First, he showed us how to make Chunchama paper from a Ficus tree. Then he showed us Dragon's Blood, which is a reddish-brown resin taken from the sap of various trees. He also showed us many different types of plants, roots and vines they use for healing a number of differnt ailments. Next, he performed a negative energy ceremony on all of us. This was very calming as he sang traditional songs in Mayoruna. After leaving the shaman, we all felt very at peace and content.
We visited La Clinica Yanamono on Tuesday, where we met a man named Juvencio. He works at the clinic and is very dedicated to supporting his community. He was eager to answer all of our questions while working on his English. He told us the clinics struggle to find doctors willing to work in the jungle. Most of the qualified doctors live within the city, so it would be very difficult to commute that far to work.
In 1990, Dr. Linnea Smith left her Wisconsin medical practice to begin providing services to the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon region. Initially, she worked out of a small thatched-roof room without electricity, running water, laboratory services, staff or funding. In 1993, after hearing a radio interview with Dr. Smith, volunteers from Duluth, Minnesota, Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Iquitos, Peru, built a riverside clinic complete with solar panels to provide electricity and a well for water; however, the land on which the clinic stood was gradually eroded by the Amazon River, and the clinic was rebuilt in 2009 on a nearby stream.
by MADDY LICHWALLA & STEPHANIE RAIS
Medicine from both sides of the EQUATOR
SHAMAN & YANAMONO CLINIC