My friend Ruthe, far away in Africa…one amazing woman, writer, homeopath, healer…living her life with integrity, honesty, and spectacular humility. Ruthe has a dream, a vision: Healing and preventing malaria with homeopathic remedies. Her blogs are achingly beautiful, raw, and from the soul.
I wanted you to meet her. Here is an audio interview with Debby Bruck of the Homeopathy World Community radio show.
And a documentary from Amma Resonance Healing Foundation (ARHF) on alternative therapies and complementary medicine.
To really ‘meet’ Ruthe, though, read one of her blogs. All your senses and feelings will be awakened…to life as it is lived in Malawi.
“Sabbath Under the Full Moon”
by Ruthe Schoder-Ehri
For me this is a beautiful holy day.
Awoke in the night, felt the power of that full moon but could not see her. I felt her there, glowing behind the night clouds, blessing us all here in the dark African night.
Chotrol Duchen today, this is the end of the period of 15 days of the Tibetan Buddhist New Year. For me, these weeks have been rough and emotional and fascinating… As I study myself and reflect I have been weepy, joyful, petulant, child-like, outspoken and impatient, and —well of course I am going to say it: fascinating.
Many of the “present” moments I would count in the Suffering Camp. Other moments brought me to tears. I opened two amazing boxes of love gifts. One sent from Fireweed Labyrinth, my dear women’s circle in Homer Alaska (complete with laminated Google earth maps and photos of me with them on Bishop’s Beach). The box arrived on a day when I asked myself “WHY AM I HERE? What was I thinking????” I wept in the leaking cavernous waiting room of the clinic. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “No thing is wrong…I am feeling strong love.”
The other box was packed by an extended family in Calgary, Alberta. A homeopath there, beloved to me, invited her clan to “send Christmas” in the form of a colorful array of preschool scissors, sturdy totes, papers, pens, pencils, pipe cleaners, stickers, notecards and fabulous hard-to-procure here large Ziplok baggies.
This morning I tucked a box of 24 crayons and a stack of index cards into my little Thai shoulder bag and headed down the beach after my morning meditation. I found women! Women with children, washing dishes and clothing in the lake. REAL Malawi, what I miss in the “shelter” of the Inn. I visited with them in my limited Chitonga and they laughed and chattered. I offered crayons and cards to the kids, and soon (as usually happens) the “MSUNGU ALERT” went out and scads more kids arrived on the scene.
Geesh!!! I so prefer spending time with 3 to 10 Malawians. Turns out I had just enough crayons– to break in half and peel the paper off of—and index cards to give each kid and woman one of each. WELL THE NEW MOTHER got several…her baby Veronica was handed to me, wet nappy and all. Veronica was placid, about six weeks old. Her “mother” could have been her older sister, looked about 13. Maybe one of the “child brides” so famous here. I do not know. But we had fun, the kids and I and Blue, Grey, Orange, Pink, Red, Brown, Orange and Green were all participants in our half hour encounter.
They grabbed and begged and cajoled, with the “clever boys” trying for extras. I am ONTO THAT GAME. They laughed and we sang. Twin girls Linda and Lorena won my heart, gotta say. There are photos (again much jostling and grabbing onto my phone) but I finally got off the wet rock and moved onto the beach.
“I LOVE THIS LAKE!!” I love this lake, they echoed like little parrots. The style of teaching here is parroting. So they are good at it. Then I drew in the beautiful black and white swirls in the sand with sticks, with my fingers, with my toes, with my soul. I just was out there celebrating life, and the trail of little ones followed. Some clutched their crayons and notecards; others had stashed or abandoned them. But we all proceeded down the beach, a motley tribe of mixed colors, humans being on a Malawi Sabbath morning.
Ruthe Schoder-Ehri is a Classical Homeopath, trained with The School of Homeopathy, Devon in their Distance Learning Course. Her post-grad work has been primarily with Alize Timmerman of The Netherlands, in C-5 Homeopathy and trituration. Ruthe was a registered nurse for 35 years, specializing in Maternal-Child Health and public health. Her work in nursing prepared her for the fullness of person-centered practice in homeopathy. Her nursing experiences in rural Peru, “bush” Alaska and family childbirth settings in Portland and Seattle have led her to feel very much at home embarking on this African medical volunteer adventure.
Thank you, Ruthe, for your writing and willingness to serve humanity.
Your loving friend in health and healing,
Donna
