Join us for a plant-meeting ramble along the towpath in memory of beloved Jamaican-London healer Mary Seacole.

Join us for a plant-meeting ramble along the towpath in memory of beloved Jamaican-London healer Mary Seacole, with community medical herbalist Rasheeqa Ahmad. We’ll explore the medicinal plant life of the early autumn, learning about the colourful berries, shrubs, perennial greens and rich ecosystems of the waterways in London.

Rasheeqa will share knowledge of the folklore, histories and uses of these plants in medicine today, before we finish with a visit to the Mary Seacole Memorial Park near Kensal Green Cemetery where Mary is buried. Here we'll connect with the life and work of this determined, extraordinary, entrepreneurial Black woman physician who ceaselessly offered her skills and compassion to the British population at home, abroad in wartime and in her colonised homeland in the face of the racism of the 1800s. She practiced from her powerful foundations of knowledge in Caribbean herbalism and doctoring learned from her mother, who was also a healer in Kingston where she grew up. These historical threads are intact today in the rich diaspora cultures of our city, where the herbs that 'Mother Seacole’ used to treat sickness are still vibrant and alive in London markets, kitchens and apothecaries - potent plants from faraway lands of abundance, that continue to support our health and wellbeing even as our political climate reflects these centuries of ongoing human oppression of land, people and culture.

Bio:

Rasheeqa (Hedge Herbs (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.hedgeherbs.org.uk/__;!!LHav0979W1rwZ6kzRg!9vydWckEGnAyGMxUHUox7-i0sbhcofkgd4danfv92-1ARNiE4wUffSeav262aWjLvv_gPqDM7k1EZX1_E9VEQ-_bfWVhCKv6N4mC$)) is a medical herbalist in her community in Walthamstow in north London. She has been practicing since 2012, offering treatment with herbal medicine and teaching about its many aspects, alongside a wider mix of work whose aim is reconnecting us as communities with the potential of this knowledge and craft as a way to support healthier living systems and relationships.

Location:

The meeting point is: the Canalside infront of The Collective Building (Nash House). Just off Old Oak Lane. NW10 6FF

Facilities:

Toilets are available at The Collective on request. There will not be any toilet facilities along the walk.

Description supplied by the event organiser.