The CDCA nees an herbalist for the green pharmacy project at the clinic in Nueva Vida, beginning in August 2007 when our current volunteer herbalist will be no longer be available.
We run a full-time community health clinic in the neighborhood of Nueva Vida in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua. Originally founded for Hurricane Mitch victims in 1998, Nueva Vida remains one of the poorest areas of Nicaragua. Dedicated to providing quality affordable health care, the clinic of Nueva Vida sees up to fifty patients per day and dispenses medicines to these patients. In an effort to make use of Nicaraguan herbs and green medicine knowledge while lowering medicine costs, the CDCA has a green pharmacy now in operation, adding to the list of services it offers the community. The clinic already has a garden with herbs growing, and our current herbalist is preparing a variety of syrups, soaps, teas, and lotions being prescribed by our clinic’s physicians and enthusiastically received by patients from the community.
The CDCA is looking for an herbalist volunteer to continue to build this project for a minimum period of 6 months. Not only will the volunteer work at developing additional herbal remedies, but will also document their production and usage, and evaluate their effectiveness. Nicaraguan herbal medicine is different in many ways from herbal medicine in the U.S. Knowledge of local herbs would be wonderful, but is not expected. CDCA will send the volunteer to train with Nicaraguan herbalists, provide the experience of our current herbalist, as well as literary materials as resources. The volunteer will then be expected to put that training into practice: planting and cultivating useful herbs, making tinctures and maintaining the green pharmacy, training Nicaraguan staff and other volunteers and compiling a manual of useful information. Functional Spanish required. You will be expected to contribute to your room and board expenses.
Please make sure you read the general volunteer information. Thanks!
If you are still interested then we ask you to write us a letter (preferably by email). We hate forms but would like to know some things about you to begin a dialogue.
What things? Well, how about... your age, your level of Spanish, your interests, why you want to come down and volunteer, your likes and dislikes, when you'd like to come and for how long, and anything you think we ought to know or just want us to know.
We hope to hear from you and thank you for being interested in this work. We always need all the help we can get!