70 booklets on medicinal plants distributed to Imegdale and Tiniskt children
By Irene Teixidor Toneu
Soon after the bilingual Medicinal Plants in Imegdale was published, we set off to distribute the children’s booklet to two schools, Imegdale and Tiniskt. We were greeted with a nice surprise at Tiniskt: the students and their teacher, Zahar Belkadi, had prepared a play, centering around imitating me doing my fieldwork! Performed by a girl (who played me, as the researcher) and a boy (who acted the part of a herbalist), the dialogue was about a French-speaking researcher asking questions on plants and their uses. She was not, unfortunately, understood by the local herbalist. The other students in the classroom excitedly piped in to help, translating both her questions and his answers. In the end, the herbalist pulls out the booklet and says “you know, just look at this, all the info is here!” It was a playful moment, and a joy to be back in the school where I had conducted a plants workshop last year.
Medicinal Plants in Imegdale was created as a result of field research funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration. It was carried out with in kind support provided by the Darwin Initiative-funded collaborative project titled Medicinal Root Trade, Plant Conservation and Local Livelihoods in Southern Morocco. Read more about the development of the booklet here.
Following the enthusiasm at the schools, we are now looking for funding to print 1000 copies of the booklet to distribute to other students in other communities.