Many of Burundi's wild plant species are threatened with extinction. Ginette Karirekinyana gives training courses on how some can help treat malaria, period pain and other ailments.
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00:00Fruits of the annatto bush. Its seed extracts are said to alleviate infections.
00:06Environmental activist and entrepreneur Jeanette Kaira Kinyana wants to bring the indigenous medicinal plants back to the people of Burundi,
00:14and at the same time, bring the destroyed woodlands back to life.
00:19Like in the heavily deforested Bugarama region, the inhabitants need firewood or want to plant fields.
00:27But without trees, the slopes collapse, which can cost human lives and fertile soil.
00:35Women farmers in the region want to learn how to improve things.
00:40Jeanette Kaira Kinyana recommends reforesting with avocado trees, for example, whose fruits bring in extra income.
00:48But apart from seedlings, she has some words of warning.
00:54Many of you are cutting down the trees, and you're destroying the environment.
00:58This is something you must absolutely give up.
01:03At the tree nursery, women farmers learn how to raise the free seedlings.
01:13Farmer Maria Nduhuimana takes home jatropha and artemesia seedlings and plants them next to one of her fields.
01:20The active ingredient, artemesia, can be used to treat malaria.
01:30We can already see the effects of these activities where these trees are planted.
01:34Erosion is no longer as bad, and the soil is no longer being washed away.
01:40The bitterleaf shrub, or Venonia amidalina, can also be used medicinally.
01:46Jeanette Kaira Kinyana has the leaves processed into a powder in a small factory,
01:50which is later dissolved in water to help with menstrual cramps.
01:54The herbal infusion is sold together with other therapeutic natural products in one of her company's stores.
02:01She uses part of the proceeds to finance reforestation projects.
02:07I have hope that replanting these lost trees will lead to seeing them in households in the future
02:15and provide sustainable solutions to protect the environment.