Natural Remedies and Medicine in Brazil

​By: Alaina Rivero

On May 27, 2024, we visited a community called Quilombo near the town of Cachoiera, it is the farthest community from the sea known for oysters. This community is home to 32 families. They use techniques from ancestors and traditions that are passed down. Tourists arrived for the first time on November 20, 2012, which also happens to be the Day of Black Consciousness. This community’s life didn’t look much different during covid, they had zero deaths in the community due to there naturally made medicines. They also sold these medicines during the pandemic to help others. While everyone in this community has their own specific role and helped make these medicines at the time. We were then showed the processes.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by this older woman and this younger girl. We first walked through the village to get to our first meeting point and when we got there, we met Pina. She was chosen to oversee the making of Xarope Quilombola (cough syrup) by the leader of the community and was also passed to her by her aunt, she was getting older and needed someone to take over. Pina layd out various herbs on the table and she began explaining each one and what they do.

Pina showing us how they make the xarope (syrup)

​After leaving Pina we walked over to our next meeting spot where there is a huge red plant on the table, a large silver bowl, and next to the table a cylinder-shaped stand with a wooden bowl on top and a stick. Here they showed us how to make palm oil, the traditional oil native to Brazil and used in many popular dishes. We got to help them with this processes, first we took the seeds of the plant and put them in a bowl to cook then we transferred them into the large wooden bowl and smashed them with a wooden stick. Next, we dumped that mixture into water and started to remove the seeds and create a foam like texture in the water, by moving the liquid around in a fast motion. Lastly the foam was taken out and put into a separate bowl and cooked over the fire, to create the oil like texture

Quilombolas showing us how to make dende oil (palm oil)

Students learning how to make dende oil (palm oil)

​Lastly, we walked across the road to this pavilion where our next meeting point was at, here we met Ananias. He knew a lot of information on the background of the culture and where it all started. He began to go on and talk about how he spoke to a school about his model and his plan to keep this away from the government so that it stays local to the community, and they don’t have to experience pharmaceutical companies teaming up with cartels to try and take over their traditions. As he spoke to the students they started to question why they’re still in college and wondered what they could do to help. The students learn that if the government were to get involved this model won’t succeed. Coming up with new projects/models to continue the traditions and natural remedies that originated in their community. 

Ananias talking about the history of the quilombola community

​Overall, our visit to Cachoiera was both informative and eye-opening to me because I plan to go into the pharmaceutical sales business. This experience gave me a completely different perspective on medicine, and I have a better understanding on why communities like this want to keep natural remedies away from government power. This model is a cultural tradition that has been passed down from ancestor to ancestor for many years, keeping this tradition alive is what they live for, and a full-time job for many of them. Some final questions I still have are, how do natural remedies affect the political side of things in Brazil? And what does the government think of them? Are they losing money? Do they know that things like this still exist? Do they care?

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Alaina Rivero is a sophomore at College of Saint Benedicts, Hoping to pursue pharmaceutical sales after college with a major in global business leadership and a minor in biology. She is originally from Dayton, Minnesota. Alaina enjoys staying active, going to the gym, being with family and friends, and shopping. She loves learning about different cultures and how global health plays a role. Something that many people don't know about Alaina is that she swam competitively for 10 years.

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