Stace and I had been invited to a bohemian lunch with a bunch of local artists on the southern most part of the cape - a pretty fly for a white guy neighbourhood. Walking out from our muscles and white wine Sunday lunch a friendly face caught our attention and summoned us over the road. His name was Lion. He was a bush doctor.
South Africa is a land of contrasts - to a backdrop of bling, Lion was draped in a converted hessian coffee bag and lives on Table Mountain in a community that studies the use of indigenous plants as medicine. He is a trained and registered herbalist and has a permit to pick plants from the mountain which is a protected area. His knowledge comes from a village elder who wanting to pass on his experience, taught Lion that he can make 'something from nothing' by understanding how to embrace natural resources. Lion is 23 years old and he treks down to the town everyday to sell his remedies in order to support his wife and one year old daughter who both live in Gugulethu township, where they all grew up.
After an insightful chat where Lion explained his views on the apartheid, being a rasta, leagalising ganja and how he came to become a bush doctor (which you can listen to above), he gave us a herbal mix which we were to boil up in the evening and drink first thing in the morning - 7days on 7days off - just so we can compare how good it makes us feel! Challenge accepted.
Lion had a solution for EVERYTHING and a big smile to go with it - Love peace and herbs is the answer. Jahhh!
