Transcript: Kamaki A. Kanahele

Plants as a treatment for a rash

[Kanahele:]: Let me tell you about a person, say, that has a rash and comes to see me. You know the Western side. Allow me to introduce the traditional side. I see the rash. I know what herb that person needs. I will take that person. We will walk into the gardens, and I will begin the process of healing. And the procedure works this way. I will go up to the plant, and in my own traditional language I will say, “Plant, this is Dr. Lindberg. He has a rash. You have the ability to help us heal his rash. May I please ask you to sacrifice—whether your leaf or your stem or your flower—sacrifice it, and allow me to take it and heal Dr. Lindberg.” When I take it from that branch, flower, stem, or even kill the plant so that we can help heal you, I will say to the plant, “The commitment that Dr. Lindberg and I have to you is that we will always make sure that your race will never leave the earth, and we commit ourselves to you and your ancestry, as you have just committed yourself to healing him and his ancestry. And that way we will both live on this earth forever.”