Wilfred Cornwall is a local Afro-Costa Rican herbalist, who serves his community and its visitors in the traditional way of his grandmother and mother before him. Wilfred’s knowledge represents a fusion of African and Native American ethnomedicine that was passed down through generations. His story shows us the true challenge of traditional healers in a…
Yeye Luisah Teish is an initiated edler (Iyanifa) in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of the West African Diaspora and she holds a chieftaincy title (Yeye’woro) from the Fatunmise Compound in Ife Ife, Nigeria. She grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River, in a community whose elders maintained centuries’ old stories and traditions. For forty…
Aku is a member of the Ewe tribe, born in the village of Dagbamete in the Volta Region of Ghana in West Africa. The daughter of a village priest who is also a prominent traditional psychic herbalist, Aku moved to Canada to join her husband in 1996. She is greenhouse manager of Richters Herbs in…
Mary Ayodele is a Prophetess and Community Herbalist. As Foundress of the Institute of Africana Cosmology, she preserves and teaches Africana healing wisdom in conferences, classes, and consultations globally. Mary’s training in plant based healing began in her Grandma’s garden as a little tot of ’bout two or three years old and continued around the world as an initiate and scholar in West…
Ivelyn Harris is the Cultural Ambassador for the Windward Maroons, a traditional herbalist, author and elder in the Maroon community of Cornwall Barracks, Jamaica. Ivelyn is a descendant of Queen Nanny of the Maroons. who won independence from the British in the 1740s, before the rest of the island. Her book Healing Herbs of Jamaica…
Marc Williams is an ethnobiologist. He has studied the people, plant, mushroom, microbe connection intensively while learning to employ botanicals and other life forms for food, medicine, and beauty. His training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies concentrating in Sustainable Agriculture with a minor in Business from Warren Wilson College and a Master’s degree…
Sobande is a community leader, herbalist, teacher and co-founder of Hidden Garden’s Afro-Botany Conference. Based in Tenessee, she has dedicated her life to sharing her African American healing traditions, which were passed down to her from her great-grandmother. Sobande brings together African wisdom, personal wellness and the important movement to bring Africana ethnobotany back to…
Rafael Ocampo is one of Central America’s leading ethnobotanists. He has written numerous books over the past 30 years, including his most recent on the important Afro-botanical plant, Quassia Amara. Through his work with TRAMIL and other international organizations, Rafael has been an advocate for documenting, validating and disseminating the Afro-botany of Costa Rica.
Arthur Samuels is a leader in the Afro-Costa Rican community and an advocate for the rights of African descendants in Central America. His valuable work includes facilitating the changing of Costa Rican law to include the themes of Spirituality and Medicinal Plants in the national definition of health and implementing efficient testing for Sickle Cell…
Victor Umaña grew up with the stories and home remedies of his grandparents and village elders like Miss Sam. Unlike most of his peers, he was interested in learning about plant medicine and traditional ways of using nature to survive. Having learned from his grandparents and other elders, Victor now openly shares his healing wisdom…