Ahmed Salah
The Organic Pharmacist – Sinai, Egypt
Ahmed is known simply as “the Doctor” despite his lack of professional credentials or formal medical training. Amid the harshest and most unforgiving of Earth’s terrains, Ahmed tends to a medicinal garden of over 472 plants and herbs, 19 of which are unique to his area and 42 of which exist precariously as endangered species. Relying only on the plants he grows and tends to, Ahmed cares for his family, members of his community, tourists who happen upon his farm by chance over the course of their travels, and pilgrims who visit Saint Catherine’s Monastery from various countries around the world after hearing of his work—all seeking a cure from the illnesses and afflictions that ail them.
The community of Saint Catherine is settled largely by Bedouins, an ancient group of nomadic Arabs who have roamed the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East since well before the Common Era. Their survival over millennia has quite literally depended on their ability to live in relationship with the Earth in spite of the severity of the region’s terrain.
Bedouin ethnobotany evolved as a natural result of their pastoral lifestyle: Living in close proximity to the natural world mandated an intimate understanding of it. Knowledge of plants and their medicinal uses have been passed on from elders to youth in largely informal contexts over many generations, primarily through applied practice and word of mouth.
As in traditional Bedouin ethnobotany, Ahmed’s own medical practice heavily centers the relationship between human bodies and the Earth. He lives in harmony with nature, waking with the sun and resting when it sets.
Because of the abundance of plants he has to work with, a wide variety of species feature prominently in Ahmed’s practice—some of which include sage, moringa, ginger, cinnamon, ginseng, rosemary, Judean wormwood, lemongrass, hyssop, chicory, jaada, dandelion, and parsley. He prepares these plants as tea blends, creams, soaps, oils, and pills, which he then sells in a small two-room pharmacy that sits adjacent to his property.
Ahmed’s medical practice is intuitive: When he meets someone, even without physical contact, he senses immediately what the problem is in their body—it manifests in his own. His most popular formulation is a tea that he and his employees serve guests on their arrival to his farm. Used as a general panacea, though specifically formulated to cleanse the body of toxins and provide additional immune support, the tea is comprised of a rich blend of sage, hibiscus, rosemary, and moringa, steeped in hot water until they bleed red and then sweetened to taste.
Ahmed’s professional ethos is most unlike that of most practitioners of mainstream Western medicine; it is deeply rooted in mindfulness, stewardship, selflessness, and an ethic of care.
“I have life. I have day. I have night. I have feelings. What more do I want?”
