"Much Virtue in Herbs, little in Men"
- Benjamin Franklin
Before we learn about the importance and uses of Herbal plants, let’s read a short story. "Once upon a time, there was a village surrounded by mountains and valleys. One day, the village chief became ill with serious diarrhoea. The people gathered around the chief's house to discuss what to do. But no one knew what to do. Then suddenly, an old woman entered and said "I know which herb can cure the Chief" She took some herbs out and said, "Forest tea leaves can cure diarrhoea.She started to prepare the medicine with these leaves and gave some to the Chief. Three days later, the village chief became well again.
The old woman told the thankful villagers, "Everyone can learn how to make simple herbal treatments. It's part of our ancestors' wisdom." The villagers started learning about herbs and preserving their traditional Knowledge. Later, the entire village held a festival to celebrate the Chief's health.”
ALMIGHTY believes that just like the entire village in the story, there is a need to make our young generation aware of our wealth of herbal plants, so that the legacy and tradition of Herbal plants and “Jadi-buttis” can be revived and restored today. The History of herbal plants is very old. Since times immemorial, herbal plants and herbs are being used to cure illness of all kinds. There are many medicinal herbs and spices, which are used in day-to-day lives, either in cooking or for remedial purposes. Tulsi, Mint, Ashwaganda, Aloe Vera, neem, etc are some of the herbal plants, which ALMIGHTY aims to preserve the knowledge of medicinal plants, herbs, spices and herbal remedies, which mankind has received from the past generations, for posterity.
For achieving this aim, ALMIGHTY has started a Project called “SANJEEVANI” to establish Herbal gardens with a view to propagate and popularize Herbs and their uses. It is with this objective that ALMIGHTY has taken an initiative of developing Herbal Garden in schools, colleges, parks, residences etc.
It is with this goal, ALMIGHTY has started the Project to develop Herbal Gardens to make people, especially children and teachers, aware about Herbs and their uses. It conducts surveys to study the level of knowledge of people about herbal plants and thereafter, after due analysis a balanced programme is developed to spread the message of importance of Herbal Plants in our lives. Various workshops are conducted for the teachers and children, where ALMIGHTY facilitates then in acquiring adequate knowledge about the uses and benefits of Herbal plants.
In order to develop greater interest, each child is made to adopt a plant and educates other children about it. It would not be wrong to say that the child acts as a guardian of that plant. During the execution of Project SANJEEVANI in the schools, the Children and the teachers have been participating whole heartedly and supported ALMIGHTY in achieving the objective and in making the mission a success.
ALMIGHTY is concentrating its efforts on the children and teachers specifically as it believes that the Children make 100% future of the nation. Moreover, they are impressionable and can be moulded and guided in a right manner. The teachers are effective catalysts in shaping the minds of the children during their formative years. Each Teacher is trained in such a manner so as to influence the minds of at least 40-50 students in his/her sphere of influence, who in turn would be Didactics to influence the thinking and actions of their families about the plantation and uses of Herbal Plants, thereby setting in motion a student based mini environmental revolution for Restoring the knowledge about our very own ancient Herbs.
Objectives of the Project
Project SANJEEVANI by ALMIGHTY received huge commendation and support of Department of Environment, Government of Punjab. It has been a challenging but a worthwhile experience. About 50types of herbs and medicinal trees have been planted in different schools.
The Following Methodology Is Adopted In The Execution Of The Project in the Schools:
ALMIGHTY visits a number of schools in a given city/area to generate interest in having Herbal Garden in their campus area. A pre decided number of schools, which show willingness and interest in the issue, are selected.
A lecture-cum-presentation is organized in the selected schools. A team of eco-club children is normally selected along with a teacher in-charge. This team educates others on the importance of Medicinal and Herbal Plants. This activity is done only to make teachers & children of the participating schools aware of the reasons for developing the herbal garden and the medicinal importance of these plants. It also encourages the participation and support of the schools in such projects. The plantation site is always selected in consent with the school authorities.
The participating schools have found the activity of developing herbal gardens by ALMIGHTY extremely useful. It not only helped them gain immense knowledge on the variety of medicinal and herbal plants and plantation techniques but also, each child was given complete responsibility of an herbal name, and became namesake of that particular plant. For e.g. Sunita was called Brahmi as per the plant she was given, while others were called mint, aloe, kalmegh etc. This excites the children and inculcates the feeling of belongingness and possessiveness towards that plant. Many schools and institutions have requested ALMIGHTY for more frequent visits to educate their students on other environmental issues Today, all the schools which have participated in Project SANJEEVANI, have a small Herbal Garden, which is being maintained by the students of each school.
Besides carrying out plantation activities, we are training the teachers and children about the uses and benefits of the herbs. By participating in the Project, we are confident that the teachers and children of the participating schools are not only able to identify the herbal plants but also acquire adequate knowledge about the uses of the plants.
We conduct a programme in the region associated with the project which is enumerated below -
GARDEN OF THREE SENSES
ALMIGHTY” (Diffuse Environmental Education, Keep Society Humbly Aware) a well established and reputed NGO working in the field of environmental protection and education, in association with FOREST DEPARTMENT, CHANDIGARH, has developed a GARDEN OF THREE SENSES for the visually challenged children at the INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND, SECTOR – 26, CHANDIGARH. The Garden was dedicated to the children by Sh Santosh Kumar, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests and Director Environment, Chandigarh at a humble ceremony held to mark the occasion.
The garden comprising 25 varieties of herbal plants has been conceptualised and developed by ALMIGHTY. The aim of the garden is to encourage the visually challenged children to form part of the herbal plantation drive by using the sense of TOUCH, TASTE AND SMELL. The garden was developed over the past few days and a workshop was conducted by Mrs Tripat Parmar, Director ALMIGHTY to sensitize the children of Institute for the Blind about the importance of the herbal plants in our lives, on 16 July 2011. They were also taught how to recognize various herbal plants by using their sense of smell, touch and taste. Some of the plants which could be identified by smell are Tulsi, Mint, Piper Mint, Lemon Grass, Citronella Grass etc. Those which can be identified by Taste are Stevia, Brahmi, Kalmegh, Vashaka. Those which can be identified with touch are Aloe Vera, Pather Chut, Giloy, Satavar, Rati, Pipali etc.
Speaking on the occasion Sh Kumar exhorted the visually challenged children to come forward and join in the efforts to green Mother Earth. Complimenting the children for their die hard spirit and enthusiasm, he welcomed the initiative by ALMIGHTY in developing the garden at Institute for the Blind.
The Director of ALMIGHTY, Mrs Tripat Parmar stated that Plants have always played a significant role in our Indian tradition. Many plants are considered sacred and are even worshipped. It is common to see a Tulsi plant in every household, neem being used for many remedial cures, a coconut being used in many auspicious ceremonies. Many herbs are used to treat various kinds of ailments, be it Tulsi, Mint, Ashwaganda or Aloe Vera. Concern for health and well being of mankind has further intensified interest in the greater use of plants. Today the use of plants in treating day to day ailments has gained eminence worldwide. Moreover the faith in Ayurvedic system of medicine has become more profound, the use of these medicines has come to be identified as more of therpeutic value as compared to the other system of medicines.Needless to stress the importance of herbal and medicinal plants in our lives It is pertinent to propagate & popularise them more. There is a need to make our young generation aware of various kinds of Indian herbs and their significance in our lives. Children form the 100% FUTURE. Moreover they are impressionable and can be moulded & guided in a right manner.
It is with this objective ALMIGHTY with the support of Forest Department Chandigarh took an initiative of developinng Herbal Garden in Institute for the Blind, Chandigarh.The Children and the Teachers of the institute gave their whole hearted support and cooperation in achieving our objective and in making our mission a success.
Almighty International society is registered in India under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 with its registered office at Punjab. Registration number DIC/DRA/6359 on the 17th of May 2011.
Statutory Documents
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