After 25 years of experience in development cooperation, we are taking the next step and setting out toward new regions of the Global South.
Crossing Borders to Uganda
Moving forward
Since the founding of i-MED vision our intention has been to bring health-relevant knowledge for parents and caregivers of children to the most remote places in the countries of the Global South, in order to support people in the health care of children and to promote those families whose access to medical care is largely denied. We are committed to a more just and humane future.
Over the years, we have expanded our focus and included topics of mental health in our programs, as mental disorders have an enormous impact on overall societal well-being.
Our work focus was initially limited to southern Africa, and there in particular to the Overberg Region near Cape Town. There we gathered intensive experience, trained more than 200 health promoters, and created an offer through our educational programmes for 50,000 people in the townships of the Overberg region.
After more than 25 years of experience in development cooperation, we now felt ready to face new challenges and to carry our vision into further countries of the Global South.
We became aware of the organisation Body & Soil Africa in Uganda with the aim of "Empowering Africa's Food Heros" and saw strong synergies in the thematic focus as well as in perspectives on health promotion.
”Restoring Uganda’s Food Diversity through Practical Education in Nutrition and Regenerative Farming. We believe that shifting diets—beginning with children and youth—can transform public health, regenerate soils, and restore cultural pride.”
Body & Soil
” We improve the health and development opportunities of children and young adults in the countries of the Global South through health education, medical assistance, and capacity building. Health education and self-help groups are at the centre of the work. Urban gardening programmes for the cultivation of medicinal plants and vegetables expand the offer.”
i-MED vision
People’s health suffers from systemic inadequacies that originate in economic exploitation and cultural oppression. This applies to agriculture and nutrition as well as to the public health sector. Many people have been disconnected from old traditions, from relevant knowledge, and from the ability for self-care; at the same time, the resources of industrialised civilisation are not available to them.
The visions of i-MED vision and Body & Soil meet in picking up cultural knowledge and creating holistic health programs.
We set out on our journey to Uganda and meet Maria and Samuel in Mityana, a place near the capital Kampala. Maria is a remarkable, radiant, energetic woman who greets us with a smile.
Samuel, the founder of the Organic College RUCID, is calm, thoughtful, warm, and immediately captivates me. He has a deep connection to plants. He guides us around and says:
“The healing power of plants does not lie solely in their substance. The plant as a being carries more within itself.”
These words have accompanied me ever since. In that moment, I knew this is a very special place.
3 Days, 2 Workshops and New Visions
In the morning of the first day our focus was on the most important childhood diseases: how can they be prevented, how can they be treated, when must medical help be sought, which medicinal plants can be grown in one’s own garden, and how can they be used.
In the afternoon, a workshop on the topic of mental health followed: What is mental health? What are mental disorders? How can they be recognised, and how can an initial therapeutic framework be created through a self-help group? We experienced how difficult it is to find access to emotional experience and then to put it into words.
I was pleased by how interested and interactive the diverse group of mothers, teachers, community leaders, and students of the college participated in the workshops. A wonderful day for all of us.
From the work emerged the idea of creating a small medicinal plant garden in a “box” in the form of seeds with a small booklet on application for parents and multipliers. Another small, shared project.
In a figurative sense, we were also able to sow a seed. A few days after our departure, I received a message from Maria:
“Yesterday I discovered lemongrass and aloe vera in the school garden, labelled with their healing effects. I asked the teacher where he had acquired this knowledge, and he said:‘In your workshop.’That made me so happy! These are the small differences that you may not always notice.”
We left the place fulfilled, inspired, and knowing that we accept Maria’s and Samuel’s invitation: