For women of African descent, we have to be careful when others attempt to paint our traditional practices as "unhealthy" or "bad". Everything our foremothers did wasn't perfect, but they did, and do, have mastery over natural healing techniques. We cannot be afraid to use them.
Don't let the powers that be convince you that 'bush tea' is no good. Don't wait for them to monopolize the crops, repackage it and sell it to you as 'superfood'. It is what strengthened your ancestors. It can heal you, too. #TheVillageAuntie
Take bouye, or baobab fruit, for example. I drank it throughout my 20's, mixed with vanilla and banana as a cool vegan substitute for a milkshake. I didn't know that it aids in digestion, delivers vitamin C, & helps w/iron absorption. But my village mamas did.
I was anemic and also have had a lifelong issue w/digestion. My mamas taught me how to dredge the baobab fruit in water for a couple of hours, strain, and drink it. I didn't know they were giving me medicine. I just thought it tasted good.
I ran out of bouye (baobab fruit) recently and asked my friend in NY to go to Harlem and pick some up. It was $5 a bag, direct from Senegal. But then I found something called Baobab SuperFruit powder in my local grocery. It was $25 for 8 oz. They know what's up. We don't.
I'm supposed to believe that the powder in a can is better for me because it's neatly packed w/nutrition labels and pretty marketing. I'm supposed to believe the bag from Alhadji's market is inferior because it hasn't been 'tested'. See how that works?
Same thing happened with moringa. My husband's grandmother would forage all over Accra, picking moringa leaves and steaming them. She'd give my husband a bag of steamed moringa every time we went to visit her.
Someone asked him if he was afraid to eat the moringa he gave her because his grandmother foraged for it and didn't get it from a farm. They asked if he was afraid to eat from his grandmother's hands. Those same folks tied to get us to buy moringa powder capsules for $15/dozen.
We didn't buy them, of course. Instead, we got moringa seeds from his grandmother and planted three trees. Now we harvest fresh moringa leaves and pods in our backyard. Our friends still buy their overpriced moringa capsules.
We love things that are shiny, pretty, and new. But our traditions are often worn, ancient, and dusty. But they work. Other people know it, too. That's why we have to reclaim this knowledge so our traditional healing cannot continue to be repackaged and sold to us at 300% markup.
