Remedies Without Borders/Remedios Sin Fronteras is an herbal medicine-making project supplying humanitarian aid organizations with salves, lip balms, foot powders, and other remedies for those on either side of the human-made US/Mexican border. Remedies are distributed to those crossing the Sonoran desert, those who have been deported, and those presenting themselves for asylum, as well as long-term volunteers and residents of militarized border communities.
Heal-All Salve/Pomada Curalo Todo on the left, Muscle Rub/
Pomada para Dolor Muscular on the right, with Renée Barry's beautyfull art
The story:::
In 2008 I learned about No More Deaths/ No Más Muertes, a humanitarian aid organization in Arizona providing water, food, and first aid care to those crossing from Mexico into the US through the Sonoran Desert. I was teaching community herbal medicine-making workshops in Vermont and surrounding areas and after reviewing their needs list I got in touch with them to see if the herbal salves and lip balms we were making would be useful. They said yes and I sent the first shipment
of remedies in 2009. The project has
evolved over the years and now includes muscle rub, antifungal salve, foot powder, aromatherapy sniffers, healing perfumes, and
elixirs and sprays for emotional support and energetic protection. We’ve received really positive feedback about
how the remedies have supported those crossing the desert during extremely
intense, difficult, and traumatic journeys as well as those providing desert
aid support and community organizing in the borderlands. The remedies are made with much care – from
planting calendula and other seeds in the spring, tending and harvesting the
plants, transforming them into remedies, creating labels in Spanish with images
of healing herbs, bottling and labeling them all, and packing and sending them
off to Arizona/Sonora. Donations of herbs have been shared from many gardens, near and far, as well as beeswax and other supplies. Remedies have been made
collectively at a local college and high schools, herbal gatherings and
community workshops, with mentees, and with family and friends - both youth and grownups. Sometimes we do a mapping activity together where we trace our ancestry, grounding the remedies in a heart-centered place of solidarity.
In 2015 we received a grant from Herbal Aide. Having the grant money meant we could buy salve containers in bulk, we could purchase proper and more durable labels, and we were able to send a lot more remedies. In the winter of 2016/7 I fundraised thru YouCaring and thanks to everyone's generosity, I met my goal. The majority of funds went towards covering expenses (supplies and shipping), and a portion also went towards funding my first visit to the Sonoran desert. I wanted to become better acquainted with the people, projects, plants, and land there. Though I appreciated the many years of email and phone communication, there were certain conversations I felt needed to happen face to face, specifically around remedies to heal sexual trauma. Being able to visit the desert aid camp and offices, I was able to see how the remedies were being used, how they could be improved, and what other remedies might be needed. Over the past few years I've connected with the Kino Border Initiative/Iniciative Kino para la Frontera in Nogales, Sonora and I was able to visit their comedor, where those who are preparing to cross the desert and those who have been deported and left in an unfamiliar place with few to no resources can receive clothes, food, and first aid care, as well as call their loved ones. I was also able to visit their women's shelter, an experience that has inspired remedies for the project (see photos below) as well as a separate herbal project at our local domestic violence shelter in Central Vermont.
Our fundraising goal now is to raise $4000, with the vast majority of this money going towards getting more remedies to the border. We need more containers for salve, lip balms, foot powder, tinctures and elixirs, etc. We need to cover postage for multiple shipments. We need to buy supplies such as alcohol for tinctures and oil for salves. This year we're also excited to connect with other organizations to explore potential collaborations and we also want to continue supporting those most impacted by racist and xenophobic policies and practices, as well as the caregivers and community members who have been forced to live with checkpoints, racial profiling, and militarization. A small portion of funds will be put aside for a future visit to the desert to deliver remedies and continue to cultivate relationships with the people and projects receiving and distributing the remedies.
Please help us grow this project, any amount is much appreciated!
From hand-harvested herbs infused in oil to Heal-All Salve.
DONATIONS can be made 4 ways:::
1. The Remedies Without Borders/Remedios Sin Fronteras GoFundMe fundraising page
2. PayPal to paypal.me/dandelioness Please include a note that the money is for Remedios Sin Fronteras/Remedies Without Borders
3. Check made out to Dana L Woodruff (please email dandelion778@yahoo.com for mailing address)
4. Cash given in person
Healing perfumes inspired by the visit to the women's shelter in Nogales, Sonora. Made with herb-infused oils, homemade flower essences, essential oils, and gemstone powders.
Feel free to share this link with others who love plants, herbal remedies, im/migrant
justice, collective liberation, and healing justice. Thank you so much!
Tracing our ancestries activity, exploring immigration past and present.
