The Aloe
Healing
The Cape or Red Aloe – Aloe ferox – is a succulent indigenous to Southern Africa. This distinctive plant is integral to the indigenous knowledge and healing systems of the Khoi and the San. For centuries, we have used the Aloe for its medicinal purposes, to treat skin conditions and to alleviate internal ailments. Additionally, Aloe is prevalent in many health supplements and cosmetics, highlighting its qualities as a super-food and its significance in Khoi and San indigenous knowledge systems for product development.
We believe that God is the Great Healer who put different herbs into Mother Earth for every ailment and disease. For our herbal doctors it’s therefore a divine calling to use and apply the medicinal qualities of our native field plants. Their knowledge of the more than 22,000 species is phenomenal. It was so horrible for them when in 1713 a Dutch official had clothes, infected with foreign smallpox, washed in Cape Town’s slave lodge. Our herbalists simply couldn’t find the right herbs in time to stop the death of hundreds of Khoi-San. The aloe is also the symbol of that bitter history.
“For our modern-day bridal pair, aloe droplets are smeared on the tongue so they can be aware of possible challenges ahead.”
Dr Willa Boezak
Text from Struggle of an Ancient Faith: the Khoi-San of South Africa
Cape Town: Bidvest Data, 2017.
