In January 2003, I was invited by the Kenya Institute of Alternative Medicine to conduct a series of lectures. I extended my plans, however, to do more than just lecture.

My first seven days in Kenya were spent in a poor village at Lake Victoria called Lusi. There was no doctor, nurse, or clinic. The nearest hospital was 35 miles away and of little use since no one in the village could afford it. There was no electricity or running water, which created problems in itself. In Lusi, I gave a two-day course in acute homeopathic prescribing to 15 nurses coming from villages as far as 5 hours away. Michele Ostertag, a homeopath from Nairobi, had arranged it. Each nurse received a kit of 48 homeopathic remedies and a copy of my book, The People’s Repertory. They were very grateful and eager to use homeopathy because it will give them a tool to treat the many acute problems they see—malaria attacks, wounds, coughs, difficult births, acute sexually transmitted diseases, and more.

My next target was an orphanage about ten minutes from Lusi, where I spent two days working with a nurse and homeopath to treat many children with acute and chronic problems. About 90 children live at the orphanage, which is run by an English woman. At the end of my visit, these grateful children performed a touching dance that would have brought applause on Broadway.

During my time in Lusi, we also organized a “homeopathic vaccination” against malaria for the whole village, using the nosode Malaria officinalis. Five hundred people showed up, a wonderful procession of colorfully dressed adults and children. I am unsure how the word got around, but during my stay, many people found me in my little house: patients suffering from acute afflictions ranging from malaria to gonorrhea, as well as typical chronic ailments such as joint problems or fatigue. Most women in the village had at least four children, and the homeopathic remedy Sepia was often indicated. Upon my departure, some women of the village showed their gratitude by performing a beautiful dance.

My next stop was the capital city of Nairobi where a series of lectures was scheduled for the public as well as for homeopaths over four days. Homeopathy is still in its infancy there, but I found the students to be very attentive. I was also invited into the Aga Khan Hospital and the Nairobi Hospital to lecture on homeopathy for their grand rounds. To my surprise, 120 MDs showed up in each hospital, making it their best-attended grand rounds of the year. Questions were challenging but well posed, and it was a delight to be among these doctors.

Providence also intervened to help spread the word about homeopathy: the 10-year-old son of one of the most popular doctors in Nairobi had been ill for 14 days with a continuous, suffocating cough. The best doctors had seen him; he had been hospitalized, given two chest x-rays, a liver scan, antibiotics, an inhaler, cortisone, and Valium—all to no avail. I agreed to see him and decided it was an “Ipecac” cough. After two doses of Ipecac 1M, in split dose (according to the 5th edition of the Organon), the boy slept the first night through and required only two more doses to be cured. From then on, I could have had a large practice in a week’s time. I was asked by doctors and homeopaths to see 35 of their difficult cases, ranging from chronic asthma to chronic rheumatism, chronic eczema, vitiligo, Down’s syndrome, and ataxia telangiectasia. I also managed to do five radio interviews on Capitol FM in Nairobi and to teach an afternoon in the slums, where school is conducted for the poor by Didi Ruchira of the Abha Light Foundation. These slums house half the population of Nairobi, so offering some among them a homeopathic course is a winner for them and their country. Most of the students do not have books, but we managed to hold a class, all 35 of us huddled into a place suitable for 18, in a hot and humid atmosphere.

Exhausted but happy I retreated for my last three days to the coast in Mombassa. My only previous trip to Kenya was 14 years ago on my honeymoon. That was the usual safari exploration; now I had come back with my wife to see the real Kenya with its enormous health epidemics: TB, malaria, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Both trips will remain in my mind, and I would wish that every homeopath could have a chance to offer their services to a country, so greatly in need of our wonderful, inexpensive, and effective science, homeopathy!

About the author:
Luc De Schepper, MD, is founder and sole teacher of the Renaissance Institute of Classical Homeopathy,. He is the author of 15 books. Visit his web site www.drluc.com for more information.