Previous Story
Thank you
|
Posted on Mar 31 2009
The Inetnon Åmot Natibu/Ammwelil Safeyal Faluwasch extends a Dångkulu na si Yu’us Ma’åse and Olomwaay to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial for signing Saipan Local Law 16-7 which includes an appropriation from the Legislature for part of the printing cost for the Directory of Traditional Healers and Medicinal Plants in the CNMI. The IÅN/ASF also extends a Dångkulu na si Yu’us Ma’åse and Olomwaay to the Legislature, and especially to Sen. Maria Frica T. Pangelinan and Reps. Ray Tebuteb and Justo Quitugua who played a major role in securing funds for the printing of the Directory. The IÅN/ASF also extends a Dångkulu na si Yu’us Ma’åse and Olomwaay to the Marianas Public Land Trust for having funds for this important indigenous project.
The Directory of Traditional Healers and Medicinal Plants in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is published by the Inetnon Åmot Natibu/Ammwelil Safeyal Faluwasch and will be printed in April. It contains articles on at least 44 healers on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. It also contains pictures of more than 100 medicinal plants in the CNMI. This Directory is the first of its kind in the CNMI and in it the healers were given the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences. The Directory is written in the three official languages of the CNMI—Carolinian, Chamorro, and English.
With the Directory, the IÅN/ASF intends to 1) advocate, recognize, and support traditional medicine and traditional healers who are not normally publicly recognized, 2) help protect habitats of medicinal plants, and 3) document cultural traditions.
The awareness of native medicine is especially important today for the younger generation to know of its value and its role in the indigenous cultures of the Carolinians and the Chamorros. When we recognize who we are, what we are, and respect and honor the cultural values that we have, this is very healthy. Native medicine works and it is economical as well, considering the high cost of hospital treatments in the world today.
[B]
Manny F. Borja[/B]
[I]Project Director[/I]
