On our previous trip to Ethiopia, we invited the owners of Ariti – a long-running herbal production company in Addis Ababa – to visit the Fiche medicinal garden. Chemists Ermias Dagne and Tadelech Tadesse established Ariti almost 20… Read More
Our very own Lizzie d’Avigdor spoke on Ethiopian radio recently about her research, biodiversity and the development of the Botanica Ethiopia project in Fiche. From household gardens to a flourishing community ‘pharmacy’ of medicinal herbs, hear how a… Read More
In Fiche, many women make tella beer or areke, a spirit similar to Italian grappa, to supplement the family income. While caring for young children, tending the home and family land, they will boil and ferment barley and… Read More
A snapshot of our visit to the beautiful Etse Fewus (healing herbs) garden earlier this year … A living pharmacy in Fiche — Botanica Ethiopia, 2015 from May Slater on Vimeo.
In February, the Rift plateau country around Fiche town is coloured with red aloe flowers and eucalypts. It was market Sunday, and after meeting Gule and Emayu for a raw meat lunch, we left the spices, tuktuks and… Read More
Congratulations to the Etse-Fewus ‘Healing Plants’ Association in Fiche. The kebele local government has just granted them 1,000 sq metres (1/4 acre) of land to build a community medicinal herb garden! The herbalists and householders – who have… Read More
In this interview in Addis Ababa in February this year, Tessema Bekele, Executive Director of Ethiopian NGO the Emmanuel Development Association (see the blog post “An interview with an extraordinary Ethiopian“) tells Kristin Gomes from Botanica Ethiopia about… Read More
High on the agenda for our visit to Ethiopia was to make contact with the School of St. Yared in Addis Ababa, founded in 2009 by Hope for Children, an NGO supporting orphans of HIVAIDS. Nearly 75 per… Read More
This month, Oxfam launched its GROW campaign with a new report on food security. The campaign is for a world without hunger and the report shows how our global food system is failing the very poorest. “Hunger is… Read More
The land behind Lakew’s house in Fiche drops 2000 metres into the Great Rift Valley; it becomes teff and grain crops, and salty white river banks, as far as the eye can see in any direction. Actually, this… Read More
Because early mornings in Fiche are crisp, we’d chosen a spot in the sun by the back fence of the garden to interview Zerefenesh about her herbal remedies. We stood on the hill, introducing ourselves, with the land… Read More
Lizzie d’Avigdor We set off on the road North from Addis Ababa to see the garden site in Fiche for the first time, and to meet with local herbalists to introduce ourselves and the Living Pharmacy project. As… Read More
Botanica Ethiopia 