Traditional healers seek funds to publish book

A group of traditional healers on islands is seeking funding support from the Legislature for the completion of their publication that would share their knowledge about medicinal plants and healing practices.

Members of the Inetnon Amot Natibu/Ammwelil Safeyal Faluwasch have approached the Senate leadership to ask for help in the publication of their book, which is now in the final editing stage and would be ready for printing next month.

Sen. Maria Frica Pangelinan, in recognizing the important project of the indigenous group, wants funding assistance to come from the Saipan Trust Fund, which is administered by the Marianas Public Land Trust board.

“I urge the members of the MPLT board to consider this request in positive light and to make funding available from the Saipan Trust Fund or any appropriate funding source for appropriation by the Legislature as soon as possible…because the book is in its final editing stage and should be ready for printing,” the lawmaker told Vianney Hocog, the chairman of the board of trustees.

Costing about $20,000, the lawmaker said the funding assistance will support further research and updating of the directory as well as cover some supplies and materials, maintenance of copier, and postage costs.

“The request is an important effort to help preserve not only the knowledge about traditional medicine but also about the individual themselves who are not normally recognized. Their effort has a strong social purpose in that they are investing in the promotion of healing practices that are unique to our indigenous peoples. An added investment is the knowledge about plants and the importance in respecting our environment by protecting these plants,” Pangelinan added.

The association consists of Chamorro and Carolinian indigenous individuals whose mission is to promote the cultural and traditional knowledge of the indigenous people, focusing on herbal medicine and traditional healing practices.

Saipan Tribune learned that the group received a one-year federal funding to conduct research toward the publication of the first CNMI directory of healers and traditional medicine information, including photographs of healers and herbal plants used in healing practices.

Unfortunately, many of the great healers have passed away before the project was made possible and their knowledge was not recorded.

Pangelinan said the group also conducted several community conferences that featured the island’s own healers.

“For the first time, our healers have been given the opportunity to share their knowledge, if they desire to do so and to encourage the continuation of the practice in the future,” she said, citing the successful efforts of the group in garnering partners to promote herbal gardens, including the herbal garden at the Man’amko Center.

Pangelinan lauded the group’s effort in working with the Agriculture Division to identify medicinal plants and find ways to protect them from destruction due to natural causes and land development.