Swaziland Homeopathy Project, SHP, is a non-profit organization based in Mbabane, Eswatini. The organization comprises of a small, passionate, five member team of homeopaths and volunteers. We are all born and raised in Eswatini, in Southern Africa except for our foreigner volunteer. We are all concerned about our country and the environment in these times. We know that biodiversity is threatened, healthcare is inadequate and Eswatini has been reliant on imported produce. The organization has been run on a voluntary basis for many years and the priority for the team is always the people we serve in the communities.
SHP was established in 2008 to provide affordable, alternative healthcare options including homeopathy as an adjunct to conventional medicine for the communities of Eswatini, especially to those of low income in rural areas. This is achieved by the betterment of three main focal points: health, food sovereignty, and biodiversity.
History of the project:
The first clinics were mobile outreach clinics, with the initial aim of helping HIV positive women on two handcraft projects, Tintsaba crafts and Gonerural Bomake. Retrospective analysis of our patient database shows that homeopathy can help with the side effects of conventional medicine and this means that many people are able to adhere to their antiretroviral treatment (ART) and other chronic medication more easily. Since then the mobile outreach clinics are predominantly community clinics requested by word of mouth from all over Eswatini. . Many of the rural outreach clinics have been specifically requested by the community leaders with positive feedback from the older members who have experienced the benefits of the treatment.
In 2009 SHP received funding from the sahee Foundation to support a full time homeopath to expand and broaden the outreach clinics and to initiate a training programme for swazi homeopaths. In 2014, 9 Swazi homeopaths graduated, completing a UK based 4 year Diploma training.
In 2016 after extensive fundraising, the project completed the construction of a centre in Mbabane as a base for all its activities. The Ekuphileni Wellness Centre consists of five consulting rooms and a training room. Drop-in homeopathic clinics, conducted by SHP, are available, along with several other therapists providing deep tissue massage, osteopathy, kinesiology, psychology, and nutrition and life counselling services. These services can be acquired through appointment bookings with the individual therapists. The rentals from the Centre contribute to the running costs of the mobile outreach clinics.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a therapy that offers holistic care to people suffering from illness, trauma, grief and stigma. It is inexpensive, safe, effective and an increasingly popular form of medicine. It provides positive effects on both the physical and mental symptoms of a person who is in a state of dis-ease. A growing body of scientific research has proven its benefits in the treatment of symptoms and in countering the side effects of conventional drug therapy. Please note that homeopathy makes no claim to cure any disease, it works by supporting the individual’s immune response to illness.
Since the beginning, SHP has progressively been moving towards establishing a locally sustainable and affordable service for the communities of Eswatini. The project to date has supported over 11,000 patients of all ages and genders across the country with homeopathy. Committed to monitoring and evaluation, SHP created a database in 2009 based on a scoring system of an individual’s well-being. Our services can be optimized by analyzing the effectiveness of the homeopathic treatment, patient demands and individual needs for outreach and community clinics.
The scoring system is based on a Karnofsky (overall health functional status) and a VAS (visual analog system) score, evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment provided. The database includes more than 11,000 patients and a published retrospective analysis, performed in 2019, concluded that homeopathy was shown to be successful in improving the symptom scores and quality of life. Another strong indication that our work is making a positive impact is that our clinics are attended solely through “word of mouth”. Numbers of consultations are consistent despite our costs being three times more than the fees charged at the government health centres.
Recording data over the past 14 years has made it possible to analyse patient status, the efficacy of homeopathic treatments, and provide the base for a repertory.
Mobile Outreach Clinics
The majority of our beneficiaries are women aged 50 to 70. These women are the backbone of African society. They are the grandmothers and many of them are the income providers supporting at least 8 dependents in their homesteads. Their health and quality of life is imperative and essential. Good public healthcare is not always accessible in the rural areas and our project provides them with an alternative option in the form of homeopathy. This is currently accomplished through seven monthly outreach clinics and twice weekly clinics in Mbabane. SHP outreach clinics are also carried out in Mozambique, at 5 rural locations, approximately 4 times a year.
The continuation of these clinics is based on requests made by the local communities and recommendations from past patients. They are managed and run entirely by the Swazi homeopaths. Majority of these clinics are currently conducted in the northern part of Eswatini but there are many requests for clinics in other areas which are presently not visited.
Access to good healthcare is a real challenge in Eswatini. There are financial and logistical issues limiting access and the right to proper healthcare. The demands on the healthcare system are significant with life expectancy of 60 years and a large proportion of young teens and adults, aged 15 – 24, are testing positive for HIV. Tuberculosis is an ongoing problem, as well as cancer, diabetes and hypertension. Despite the availability of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and other conventional medical support there is still a significant number of patients who are unwell and unproductive.
SHP has observed, from the statistical analysis of the database patient scores, that Homeopathic treatment combined with conventional ART has had a synergistic benefit to those living with HIV/AIDS. Patients report improved general well-being, managing side effects better and are more productive with their day to day activities. This does not only apply to HIV medication as the majority of SHP’s patients who are elderly and rely on other conventional medication also record improved health and productivity.
Conservation
SHP is also devoted to the conservation of biodiversity and one of our projects is the cultivation and distribution of endangered, indigenous medicinal plants. There is a huge demand for medicinal plants in Southern Africa and in Eswatini with over 3,000 traditional medicinal practitioners (TMPs) who rely on medicinal plants as a cultural and economic resource. As a result, several plant species are now endangered due to unstainable harvesting practices. Since 2016 SHP has been distributing plants and conducting workshops with TMPs around the country. This project has been very successful and there is a continual demand for these plants, workshops, and high rate of survival of distributed plants.
By introducing ex-situ cultivation, along with conducting workshops for sustainable harvesting practices of these endangered species, the extinction of the wild populations is alleviated. We recently established a partnership with Royal Botanical Gardens KEW (https://www.kew.org/) and with their assistance, and as the recipient of the small grant from the British High Commission in September 2021, we are now in the early stages of developing a seed bank to help safeguard these species.
SHP has been conducting countrywide workshops since 2017 introducing the use of herbal tinctures, to the TMPs, as an alternative, and a more sustainable practice, to the typical water based decoctions that they use. Medicinal plants and trees are distributed for cultivation in homesteads at these workshops, along with the introduction, and guidance on the use, of the homeopathic remedies made from the plants. The team of consultants administering these workshops are made up of an amazing group of personnel, all part of the collaboration between Eswatini National Trust Commission (ENTC) and SHP. Thanks to sahee, in 2018 further funding was available for more provings namely Alepidia Cordifolia and Artemesia Afra and Boweia volubis. In 2022 with the assistance of HMSwiss the final proving in this series, Eleandendron transvaalensis can be completed. These will add to the initial provings of Warburgia salutaris, and Siphonochilus aethiopicus.
Other project activities:
Farmer’s Market & Urban Garden Initiative
We are dedicated to preventing chronic disease and improving quality of life by introducing healthy eating practices and choices. We have established a monthly Farmer’s market providing the people of Eswatini access to local organic produce, and an awareness and understanding of where their produce is coming from. The market also serves as a platform for gardeners, homesteads and small scale farmers to sell/trade their surplus homegrown produce. This initiative has been successfully operating for three years and is the first of its kind in the country. Even through the difficulties and restrictions of the COVID lockdowns, the market was able to continue to provide organic produce to the communities. Details of can be found on the market’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ekuphilenifarmers/
Eswatini Urban Garden Initiative
This initiative started in 2019 in collaboration with PELUM and Solidarity Eswatini. The mission of the initiative is to work together with town councils, schools, residents, and landowners to develop resilient and educational agroecology projects in urban areas around Eswatini in response to the challenges of climate change and food sovereignty that the country is facing. The first of these projects is the Mbabane Urban Garden.
Eswatini imports approximately 80% of its “fresh” produce and we strongly believe this is unnecessary as the resources and means are available to grow our own food locally. Due to urbanization and large developments of informal settlements, many urban dwellers do not have access to fresh organic produce and rely on supermarkets. Hence the establishment of the Mbabane Urban Garden (M.U.G.) which provides the public direct access to organic, local produce reducing the need for food imports. This green space is similar to the farmer’s market as it is the first of its kind, and demonstrates different sustainable organic agricultural methods such as permaculture. It hosts nutrition and permaculture workshops to empower and equip the public with the necessary skills and tools for growing their own food, and in so doing, taking back their health into their own hands.
Meet the Team
Our team consists of:
- Barbara Braun – director/homeopath
- Tina Ho – volunteer/administration
- Siphiwo Ndzinisa – homeopath/monitoring and evaluation
- Jimson Simelane – clinic manager/logistics/database
- Alyson James – homeopath/horticulturist
Due to the fact that we are a small organisation dealing with homeopathy, funding has been difficult to source as homeopathy has been under attack in many parts of the world. As a result our team is small and this has meant that everyone needs to be involved in all the activities. All our members are able to operate the database, maintain the pharmacy, conduct nutrition and homeopathy training workshops and monitoring and evaluating activities. In 2018 two members of our team qualified as Monitoring and Evaluation consultants through a University of Pretoria training.
We are happy to share our expertise in training, research, monitoring and evaluation and database management and over the years have worked in collaboration with several other African Homeopathy projects, namely the Maun Homeopathy project, Homeopathy for Health in Africa in Tanzania, 4 Kenia School of integrated medicine in Kwale Kenya, Ghana Homeopathy project and Khula Natural Health Centre in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.
We are very grateful to HMSwiss for their assistance and would like to acknowledge sahee Foundation from Switzerland for their support all these years. SHP would not be where it is without this.