Andreas Sali and Selfina, The guardians of medicinal plants

Selfina.

KOMPAS/EMANUEL EDI SAPUTRA

Andreas Sali and  Selfina.

West Kalimantan’s forests are rich in medicinal plants. However, there are also many medicinal plants that are becoming difficult to obtain due to land conversion and deforestation. Andreas Sali, 70, and his wife Selfina, 63, are trying to save the remaining medicinal plants and maintain their knowledge to manage them.

Andreas and Selfina slowly walked to the medicinal plants garden behind their house in Kampung Silung, Menjalin district, Landak regency, West Kalimantan, Saturday (Feb. 23, 2019). The medicinal plants are grown in the forest behind their homes side by side with other trees.

It is not easy for them to get the seeds of the medicinal plants. They have to go to Samabue Hill which local people consider as haunted. Not to mention the far distance, which can take days for them to find rare medicinal plants.

The seeds of medicinal plants taken from afar are then planted in the forest and around their home, which are fertile. Being planted in the forest behind their home, the plant will be safe. They are not worried about the possibility that the plants will be displaced because the land where the plants grow belong to Andreas and Selfina. In addition, Andreas and Selfina can maintain their medicinal plants at any time.

“We have cultivated medicinal plants since the 1980s. We focus on six plants that are difficult to obtain. Moreover, as time goes by it has

become increasingly difficult to find medicinal plants that we consider important and are needed by many people,” said Andreas.

The plants are, among other, red betel (Piper ornatum). This plant is important because, based on the experience of Andreas and Selfina, red betel can function as anti-poisons. Andreas has experience in his youth when he was exposed to poisons. It was the red betel potion that saved his life.

There is also a plant locals call tibaakng. People use its leaves to cure stomach infections and all kinds of stomach aches, hemorrhoids and treat people with black stools. Then, there are cat whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus) for curing diabetes and urination disorders.

“There is also tamar basi whose leaves function is used for treating heatiness. Then, there is plant known as kalimabo, which is widely used to treat itchiness. There is also sahang hutan to treat lumbago and broken bones,” Selfina said.

Most of the plants are utilized by taking their leaves, then dried under the sun. At their home, on Wednesday afternoon, in some corners of the house there were medicinal plants that had been dried. Some had been wrapped in packages.

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Andreas Sali.

To use it, the herb medicine is brewed with warm water such as brewing tea. There are also leaves that are used by means of being applied to the body, especially medicinal plants that function to overcome itching.

Needed

Selfina said they plant medicinal plants and process them because people need them. Selfina and Andreas have relied on various medicinal plants from the forest since they were young. It can even be said that they almost never go to a health facility even though it is close to their home. Their children and grandchildren are also still using forest medicinal herbs.

In addition to family needs, the medicinal herb potion is still needed by

many people from several regions. There are still many people who are asking for their help to make medicinal herb potion from forest plants. Within a month, there were about dozens of people coming to their homes to look for natural medicinal herbs.

“There are those who do not have money to pat the cost of medical treatment at the hospital. They come looking for alternative medicines. So, we always prepare medicine at home. It’s sad if they come to the house and we don’t have supplies,” Selfina said.

Some people who come to their homes need some fresh plants. Their needs are more easily met because Selfina can go directly to the garden behind the house and take the necessary medicinal plants. Some of them ask for medicinal plants in the form of brewing. For this reason, Andreas and Selfina have prepared a special box.

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Selfina

Andreas and Selfina did not set prices for providing people with natural medicinal herbs. In principle, they help other people who are sick. Business is not their main goal. Many people also take medicinal herbs for free. However, some give them money just a token of gratitude.

Inherit knowledge

What Andreas and Selfina have done is also a form of preservation of knowledge they inherited from their parents or ancestors. Their parents are shamans who can mix natural medicines for various purposes. Selfina’s parent, for example, is a traditional housewife.

The ability to mix medicines that their ancestors possessed was obtained from dreams. Then, the instructions from the dream were practiced and the results turned out to be able to treat the disease. After that, the transfer of knowledge was carried out from generation to generation orally until it came to Andreas and Selfina. Both of them are the fourth generation who inherited the knowledge of making medicinal herbs from forest plants.

It was still clear in the minds of Andreas and Selfina, when they were

children they were taken by their parents to the forest to see various medicinal plants. Sometimes, on the way to the farm, they were taught to know medicinal plants in the forest.

Their parents not only taught the way to recognize forest medicinal plants, but also how to mix the medicinal plants. So, they have both abilities, in addition to identifying medicinal plants they are also concocting them.

“That’s how our parents taught the knowledge about natural medicines at that time. That is why, we know which medicinal plants are necessary for humans and also know how to mix them,” said Selfina.

Now, they are trying to transfer that knowledge to their five children. They have a large capital to pass on that knowledge because they have a variety of medicinal plants that they plant. In addition, the forest in the home yard is still maintained as a learning medium for their children.

The transfer of knowledge is needed because at present, in many places, the transfer of knowledge has stopped. The forests that used to be a “warehouse” for medicinal plants are increasingly narrowing due to land conversion. In addition, many young people are not interested in inheriting knowledge about traditional medicine because it is considered outdated.

Andreas Sali

Born: Silung, Menjalin district, Landak regency, March 10, 1949

Selfina

Born: Pabuis, Pahauman district, Landak regency, Aug. 17, 1956

Children: Suriana (42), Suripto Bagyo (39), Sabina Santi (33), Sulianus Suroco (31), Susana (29)