Homeopathy in Africa – The Ghana Homeopathy Project
by Angie Metzger, RSHom;
The Ghana Homeopathy Project was initiated by Linda Shannon, an experienced U.K. homeopath and former course leader of the London College of Classical Homœopathy, in 2005. A vision then has become reality!
Linda initially felt drawn to Ghana and after a visit to a rural community in the lower Volta region of Ghana the seed of setting up a homeopathy project in Ghana was sown. Homeopathy as a system of medicine for local communities that is low cost, effective, tailored to the individual and in tune with traditional healing methods.
This year the Ghana Homeopathy Project has celebrated its 5th birthday, having grown from offering simple first aid in a small rural village to a teaching and clinical project extending to the capital Accra and the second largest city in Ghana, Kumasi.
The Ghana Homeopathy Project is run by a small team of homeopaths in the U.K. (Linda Shannon, Angie Metzger and Sheila Ryan) and supported by volunteers from all over the world. From humble beginnings the Project since has become rooted in Ghana and is a UK registered charity, committed to ensuring accountability and adherence to the objectives set out to meet.
From its inception the Project team has aimed to promote homeopathy in partnership with local community developments and initiatives in Ghana. This means establishing sustainable and affordable homeopathic clinics in partnership with community initiatives. Over the past few years we have been generously supported by volunteers providing short courses in homeopathic 1st aid, supervision to our local trainee homeopaths, running low cost community clinics and to educate communities in health matters, hygiene and diet with a view to disease prevention and to maintain health within the community.
The project is growing and developing at a pace in line with our local partners. Over the last year, Julius Berdie, one of the few practising classical homeopaths in Ghana showed keen interest to join our team to promote the education of local health workers in the field of homeopathic medicine. This fits perfectly with the charity’s aims to support the development of homeopathic education and vocational training facilities in Africa. Long-term volunteer Richard Pitt, former Director of the Pacific Academy, San Francisco who spent over 8 months in Ghana as the Project’s volunteer initiated a two year professional training programme in Accra. This Education Initiative in Homeopathic Medicine has received encouragement from the Chief Registrar for Traditional and Alternative Medicine in Accra with a view of developing a road map for the way forward in the development of alternative medicine in Ghana.
In the meantime our students sat their year-end exam and are ready to enter year 2 of the training programme. The plan is to bring together theory and practice by organising field trips for our students to the rural clinics to witness homeopathy in action.
In the village of Mafi-Seva in the Volta region we have been supporting and supervising Emperor, the Clinical Director of an Integrated Health Care Centre in this rural community. Together with our partner AMURT, a charity managing a huge clean water project in the area, we provide homeopathy alongside conventional medicine and local community care programmes, including a pathology lab and well women centre.
Emperor tells us what a difference Homeopathy is making in his community. Four years ago only conventional medicine was used with large cost to the people. Since then homeopathic remedies are prescribed in a significant number of cases. Patients demand it now, it works very efficiently and it is so much cheaper for the impoverished community.
In Kumasi we have been offering low cost outreach clinics and also served a local mining community for the past few years. We have now, together with our local partner Bonsu Boaten, established a resource centre stocked with literature accessible to the general public as well as local alternative medicine practitioners. Over 1000 books were generously donated by the homeopathic community from all over the world.
The Ghana Homeopathy Project is solely funded by charitable donations of books, remedies and money. The donated funds support our clinics in Ghana, the purchase of remedies and supplies as well as local initiatives in aid of our aims and objectives. Funds are also needed to support our education initiatives for local people to gain professional qualifications in homeopathy.
The U.K. team operates in partnership with Homeopaths Without Borders, N.L. in an effort to maintain consistent care in our clinics and our educational programmes. The key to the development of Homeopathy in Ghana are volunteers. We are always looking for experienced homeopaths, supervisors and lecturers who can work in Ghana for a minimum of 2-3 weeks or as long as up to one year. Fundraising initiatives on behalf of the Project are invited as we depend on the generosity of individuals and groups.
For more information, please email:
Angie Metzger: metzang@aol.com or Linda Shannon: linda.m.shannon@goolemail.com; Visit our website: www.ghanahomeopathy.org.
Fundraising page: www.justgiving.com/homeopathyinafrica