The Efficacy of Herbal Medicine
The story of Pax herbals International began in 2003 when my father told me of a place in the bush where he goes to obtain herbal preparations for his back pain. Again in 2004, my father told me again of a Monastery where he obtain 100% whole wheat bread, 100% Natural (organic) honey, organic soaps, herbal teas, and a very effective cough syrup. He talked about preparations for stomach problems and high blood pressure.
Unfortunately, his words went in one ear and out the other. My Western orthodox medical training reflexively discarded the possibility that herbal products that could heal or
help medical ailments without scientific evidence and double blind studies. I simply could not conceive of African native medicine or root and fruit or witchcraft or “voodoo” medicine of any benefit.
Many a people have grown up in a World where we view most things African with skepticism and down right negative. Having trained at many Western-style institutions in African and America, this thinking or mentality was reinforced.
In spring of 2005, I received an email from a colleague who lived in Orlando, Fl. She sent me an email from The St. Benedict Monastery in Ewu, Edo state, Nigeria. A place less than 30 minutes from my Ancestral home. My Colleague hails from Surinam, and was in Nigeria consulting for an international organization, when she met Fr. Anselm Adodo OSB. She visited the monastery and was in disbelief by what she experienced. Later that spring 2005, Fr Anselm visited the US, and I was privileged to meet him. He spent a weekend, and I learnt a lot about his Vision of Pax Herbals Clinic and Research Laboratories.
Still a little skeptical, I visited in May 2005 and was impressed by what I saw. The Genesis of a truly African Herbal Pharmaceutical Industry. For this trip, I did not take any of my Anti-malarial deliberately, in order to us the Monk Pax herbal malarial solution. Needless to say, it worked, and I did not get ill of Malaria in spite of numerous mosquito bites. In September of 2005, I travel again to the Monastery, used Paxherbal anti-malarial and it worked fine. I had no side effects from the herbal preparation. This was in total contrast to malaria I got in February 2004 during a visit to Nigeria, upon return to the Florida I was treated with Atovaquone, which gave me 3-5 days of severe reactions like chemotherapy.
I used the other Paxherbal product. The tea gave me the best sleep, the health powder gave me Morning alertness, the cough syrup knocked out cough, the bitter and tea managed fever and chills from flu season, the cough syrup decreased my spring and fall allergies, the skin ointment resolved and prevented shaving bumps, the skin ointment treated my in-laws athletes foot, and healed my children’s cuts and abrasions, and the pain cream was perfect for massaging my back after a long day.
In spring 2007, my family and in-laws from Jamaica spent Easter in Nigeria. We all used the Paxherbal Malaria solution (Malsol), and none of us from my baby of age 9 months to my Grand-Mother-in-law of 78 years old. No one got Malaria. My 10-month-old daughter got her dose from mother’s breastfeeding. Mosquitoes bit us all, yet no one got any symptoms of Malaria. Absolutely no side effects. My mother-in-law is an ardent user of the soap, and now sells it to her co-workers.
Paxherbal are product of our great African Ancestry. Knowledge is being lost as our elders die and we, the youth, fail to follow or document their knowledge.
Knowledge distilled from centuries of experience living in harmony with Mother Earth. Knowledge distilled from trial and error, our living laboratory.
Knowledge that healed our ancestors, and promoted wellness.
Knowledge that mother earth provides in the tree and plants around us.
The Monks are playing a tremendous role in Africa’s Renaissance.