In the opening photograph, Fr. Jimmy Mubiru is pictured (L) alongside Br. Fr. Anatoli Wasswa (b. 1926) (R) at the location of Anatoli's Katwe clinic, which is soon to be demolished due to road expansions. (Some of you may know "Katwe" from the Disney film "Queen of Katwe" (2016); the clinic pictured here is directly across the street from the football pitch (a.k.a. the soccer field) that is depicted in the film during the chess teacher's game.). As you can see from the picture, Brother Anatoli's name is associated with the Bannakaroli Clinics from Kitterede, a town southwest of Kampala in the Diocese of Masaka, the seat of Roman Catholicism in Uganda.
The present project is a collaboration undertaken by Cyrus P. Olsen III alongside Fr. Emmanuel Katabaazi, Fr. Jimmy Mubiru, Fr. Henry Mulindwa, Sezi Busingye, Br Bosco, and Br Dr Stephen Alusa to begin a long-term study of the herbal medical treatments created and used by Br Fr Anatoli Wasswa. The collaboration can best be communicated to my University of Scranton Ignatian Humanities Faculty and Student Fellows (Spring 2021) by way of how Wasswa's life-work fits within the context of religion, ecology, and public health.
Where is Uganda? Where are these herbal clinics?
Once called the Pearl of Africa, Uganda is located along the shores of Lake Victoria, one of the few fresh-water lakes visible from space and the largest in the Great Lakes region of East Africa. The Nile River originates from two locations: (1) Lake Victoria at Jinja in Uganda, known as the White Nile and (2) the mountains of Kenya, known as the Blue Nile. Jinja is labeled on the map above, due east of Kampala, which provides a closer look at Lake Victoria primarily within Ugandan territory. The image is centered on Kampala with the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the far left (west) and the Kenyan border to the right (east).
Believe it or not, the opening scene of "Black Panther" (2018), introducing the mythical land of Wakanda, provides a cinematic long-shot from space of the Great Lakes Region. The long-shot (esp. @ 0:30 secs. & @ 1:40 in the clip below) orients us geographically for some context for the place of Br Anatoli's work. Though we may not have the heart-shaped herb infusing panther power, but, like the film, Br. Fr. Anatoli's life-work involves protection of (1) the environment, (2) indigenous culture, and (3) spiritual traditions as they can be organically interwoven in human life well-attuned to the ecosystem.
French Montana's video here also gives you a good sense of the streets of Kampala.
The Superior General taught at Charles Lwanga School. Our very own Charles Pinches named his son Charles after the saint pictured above. Charles Lwanga is among the Uganda Martyrs, and it is to Dr. Charles Pinches that I owe any and all work in Uganda to which I have been invited. Thank you to Dr. Pinches for the introductions to his friends and a place where his heart and energies are deeply rooted. Without his invitation to join him in the journey I would not be with you all here today.
Dr. Pinches's relationship with various people, including Fr. Emmanuel Katongole and Dr. Scott Kellermann led me to this collaborative research. The two videos below (which you need not watch presently) are from the Uganda Summit Charlie hosted at The University of Scranton in 2017.
All this work is thus grounded in gratitude for friendship and mentorship provided by Dr. Charles Pinches.
The collaborative research here is easily grasped as part of the "Food is Medicine" movement worldwide. Today we understand better how much the gut biome impacts human flourishing. ("Meet the ‘psychobiome’: the gut bacteria that may alter how you think, feel, and act") Anatoli Wasswa is a practitioner of herbal medicine and thus assists his patients with plant-based remedies, combined with his spiritual healing practices. In westernized medical terms, his approach is holistic. Indeed, data suggests that our own medical system would be much more cost-effective if we improved how we eat (Cost-effectiveness of financial incentives for improving diet and health through Medicare and Medicaid: A microsimulation study), and how we eat deeply impacts the environment. (Have you watched Seaspiracy yet--oh my!!) Human flourishing in the context of the care Anatoli provides then further requires ecological awareness insofar as the desertification of the world destroys biodiversity and threatens the health of the planet. Anatoli is thus clear that ecological degradation and dehumanization are intertwined.
Br Fr Anatoli Wasswa and his research group require assistance in studying their herbal medical remedies for clinical efficacy and hope to remain in the "market" of clinical practitioners as the government continues to regulate the marketplace. I am simply assisting them in their work, hoping to build a larger team, among whom we now include Keny Melgar (Computer Science, class of 2021). We are engaged in digitizing health records while learning field ethnography and medical anthropology to study further the implications of the life-work of Anatoli. It was Fr Emmanuel Katabaazi (pictured left) who first asked for assistance, and I responded during a trip with students in 2019. Emmanuel and the research group want to integrate rigorous methods of modern scientific practices of verification of medicinal efficacy, through such practices as clinical trials, with traditional wisdom.
"Traditional herbal medicines are naturally occurring, plant-derived substances with minimal or no industrial processing that have been used to treat illness within local or regional healing practices. Traditional herbal medicines are getting significant attention in global health debates. In China, traditional herbal medicine played a prominent role in the strategy to contain and treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). [ref. 1] Eighty per cent of African populations use some form of traditional herbal medicine, [ref. 2,3] and the worldwide annual market for these products approaches US$ 60 billion.[ref. 2] Many hope traditional herbal medicine research will play a critical role in global health. China, India, Nigeria, the United States of America (USA) and WHO have all made substantial research investments in traditional herbal medicines.[ref. 2] Industry has also invested millions of US dollars looking for promising medicinal herbs and novel chemical compounds. [ref. 4,5] This is still a relatively modest investment compared to the overall pharmaceutical industry; however, it raises interesting ethical questions, some of which are not faced in more conventional drug development." ("Herbal medicine research and global health: an ethical analysis", Jon C. Tilburt, Ted Kaptchuk, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Past issues, Volume 86: 2008, Number 8, August 2008, 577-656)
Lest we forget our own complicity in this plastic anthropocene dystopia, take a look at America's production of plastic and its ongoing pressure to render other countries the dumping ground for our plastics: Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America's dirty secret
Pollution, water scarcity, and water insecurity are problems plaguing places like Uganda, problems further compounded by deforestation. "Uganda is at risk of losing all its forests if deforestation in Uganda continues at its present rate there would be no forests left in 40 years" (Deforestation In Uganda: Population Increase, Forests Loss And Climate Change, Review Article - Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation (2018) Volume 2, Issue 2).
Abstract of the study above: "Despite the fact that urban farming is widespread in many African cities there is not yet a clearly defined view on how to deal with these activities in urban planning and management. On the basis of field interviews in the rapidly expanding metropolitan area of Kampala (Uganda) three different urban farming types were identified: subsistence farming, garden farming and commercial farming. These three urban farming types have their own spatial organisation logic and each interact in a specific way with urban expansion. In this paper the possible outcome of three alternative urban management strategies forKampala (urban sprawl, urban infilling and a combination of both) were translated into spatially explicit land use scenarios for the years 2020 and 2030. This allowed to evaluate the spatial impact of each scenario on the future viability of the different urban farming practices. Urban sprawl fragments large open spaces thereby reducing the space for subsistence farming with 80% by 2030. Urban infilling, on the other hand, decreases the opportunities for small to medium scale garden and commercial farming by a possible reduction of 62% of the available farming land by 2030. The results of the analysis are useful for urban planners as they give insight in the potential future effects of proposed planning strategies on urban farming." © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Let us, however, meet the religious sisters who are also involved in this work.
Uganda is a majority Christian country with the largest communions represented by Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism; Pentecostalism is on the rise. Islam is the second largest religious community and well-integrated into Ugandan society. Indeed, many families are inter-faith families modeling exemplary religious coexistence.
In the background here, you can see the Papal flag, alongside the flag of the Ugandan King (the Kabaka) as well as the Ugandan flag. I took this photo at the ceremony consecrating sisters into the Daughters of Mary Bannabakira; these are the sisters that work alongside Br Fr Anatoli Wasswa.
Elena Habersky of The American University in Cairo, Egypt, taught for us in 2020 when we last took students to Uganda. She taught Refugee Studies based upon her long experience in Jordan, Uganda, and Egypt, where she works among many communities, especially Sudanese refugees.
Credits:
Created with an image by MemoryCatcher - "trees gumtree eucalyptus"