Herbalists without Borders

Written By Shelly Abrahams

Herbalists Without Borders Bristol was born in 2016 when a group of around 40 people attended a meeting at Hamilton House to talk about finding ways of providing Herbal Medicine for Refugees and Asylum seekers. Organised by Medical Herbalists Becs Griffiths and Annwen Jones, HWB Bristol aims to redress the unjust hostility to the plight of refugees and asylum seekers and the obstacles they face accessing healthcare.

Herbal medicine addresses the person as a whole rather than seeing symptoms as disconnected from each other and their environment. The many challenges and uncertainties faced by migrants and the impact of trauma can affect their health on many levels: high levels of anxiety, low immunity, insomnia, coughs, & chest infections are common. HWB's vision was to provide a mobile dispensary and drop- in sessions treating common ailments, one to one consultations for more complex conditions, self- care workshops to improve general Health and well-being and to teach basic Herbal Medicine. We set up a Facebook group and website and now have an evolving community of volunteers, Medical Herbalists and herb growers, contributing many different skills.

For the first few years we met in each other's homes, collecting, drying and processing herbs many of which were foraged locally, making balms, cough syrup, stress tonics etc. (without alcohol) Connections were made with Refugee groups in Bristol. Since 2017 we have been visiting Borderlands, Bristol Hospitality Network & Refugee Women of Bristol regularly with our mobile dispensary and also support Aidbox, Project Mama and Unseen. In 2018 we moved to a permanent home at St Werburghs Community centre, where medicines are made by volunteers with many herbs grown in HWBs beautiful Medicine Garden in St Werburghs,

.. In 2018 we produced the first of three Calendars the proceeds of which have enabled us stay in the centre and continue providing free Herbal medicine to Refugee projects in Bristol. We are currently creating a book which will be available before Christmas. New volunteers are welcome. Ffi: Please see our website or Facebook page. https://bristolhwb.org https://www.facebook.com/bristolhwb email: hwb.bristol@google.com HWB Bristol is self funded and a member of HWB International.