Page 123 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

CHAPTER 5

Healers, Collectors and Gendong

BETWEEN THE PLANTS IN THE WILD AND A SATISFIED PATIENT, THERE
LIES A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND A NETWORK OF PEOPLE, MOST
OF WHOM RARELY MEET.

Between plants in the wild and a satisfied patient, there lies a wealth of
knowledge and a network of people, most of whom rarely meet. The healer is
inevitably the most revered of this human network, for it is he (or she) who is
capable of transforming sickness into health. But he relies, more often than not,

on his profound understanding of massage, his extensive experience in and
knowledge of herbal medicine, and traditional healing techniques. He will grow
his own herbs or buy them from a market or be supplied by pickers working in
and around the villages. There is also a second level of supply, namely
middlemen or collectors; they obtain stocks from pickers and plantation owners
and, in turn, supply the jamu manufacturers located in Java’s main cities.

The Healer
There is no such thing as a typical healer in Indonesia because treatments and
medicines vary enormously. Healers come from all walks of life and have an
extraordinary range of skills. Some discover that they can find a cure to a
particular ailment when modern medicine has been unsuccessful; some are born
with the gift, while others convert through some personal experience; yet others
come to the work through an interest in humanity and the human body; and a
small group reverses the trend and expands their modern medical training to
include centuries-old, traditional methods. In general, healers tend to rely on a
sense of touch, personal experience and an abundance of natural herbs and

plants.
As there is no stereotype healer, there is likewise no rule to the method.
Their popularity is solely the result of their success. Most will have a thorough
knowledge of physiology and anatomy; some may even have come from
allopathic medical practice; and many have an untrained gift or have studied