The significance of natural-health treatments

Text and photographs Pedro Teca, Servaas van den Bosch

The future looks green at the Nature’s Way health shop in Windhoek’s Town Square. A dream come true for two young Namibian doctors, the establishment is a veritable pharmacy of nature.

The open, welcoming decor at Nature’s Way exudes freshness and healthy living. The shelves filled with bottles that cover the walls are in no way reminiscent of the dusty dispensaries of bygone eras. On the contrary, the light-green floral wallpaper signifies an innovative generation of natural healers who are turning over a new leaf.

Everywhere, and especially in Africa, natural medicine has always played a significant role in the community. This is evidenced by the importance of traditional healers in our societies insofar as many of our pharmaceutical drugs are still based on natural ingredients. But only recently has natural medicine become part of academic curricula, which until now have been reserved for western medicine.

For five intensive years Dr Petrina Auino and Dr Penehafo Haitamba-Shindume studied naturopathy at the University of the Western Cape, one of South Africa’s most renowned tertiary institutions. Far from being witchdoctors, Petrina and Penehafo are professionally registered health practitioners.

On 15 April 2010 the two young women opened Nature’s Way. They are the only two naturopaths in Windhoek, with just five operating in the entire country.

“You can see naturopaths as the general practitioners of natural medicine,” explains Penehafo with a smile. She explains that the years of hard study have served a purpose. Jumping on the alternative medicine bandwagon is one thing, but giving advice that actually works is something else altogether.”

“Try to see being healthy as a way of life, rather than a challenge that needs to be overcome.”

“As a naturopath you need to understand the contents and ingredients of medicines. You will not believe how often people are sold medicines that are actually useless, which contain low dosages, or can actually be harmful to the body,” adds Petrina.

“Likewise you cannot pretend to have all the answers. If someone walks in with a tumour, we will not suggest that he or she should take ‘some shark-fin extract instead of chemotherapy’. Such medicine can be helpful in combination with conventional treatment.

The range of health products on offer includes herbal medicines, health foods, natural body products, essential oils, bath flower essences and body supplements, all from top-quality lines that the doctors have selected carefully and for which they can vouch.

But their expertise is really borne out by the different health and nutritional consultations and various body massages that Nature’s Way offers. “A lot of people go cold turkey when they finally decide to get healthy,” Petrina says. “That can have adverse effects, so it is necessary to obtain good advice.”

Penehafo adds: “Try to see being healthy as a way of life, rather than a challenge that needs to be overcome.”

One of the treatments offered in Nature’s Way’s studio is the painless, safe and non-invasive EsTeck body scan, which measures different functions and risk factors of human body systems with an accuracy of 86 per cent in less than five minutes. The body scan assesses and diagnoses the conditions of body systems, such as cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, immune, nervous, hormonal, and reproductive systems.

After diagnosis, the doctors at Nature’s Way present their patients with a suitable and comprehensive treatment plan, often referring people to medical specialists.

The EsTeck full body scan specifically analyses body composition, weight, oxidative stress, hormonal balance, Prostate Specific Antigen levels, ions and minerals, brain chemistry and neurotransmitter balance, glucose and insulin, body pH and acid-alkaline balance, oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels.

Says Petrina, “Besides diagnosing the condition of the body systems, the EsTeck body scan is an alternative, non-evasive health evaluator that is useful for the prevention of disease.”

“It saves time and resources spent visiting various different specialists. It is accurate, the results can be reproduced and it keeps track of the patient’s health situation.”

However, after diagnosis, the doctors at Nature’s Way present their patients with a suitable and comprehensive treatment plan, often referring people to medical specialists.

What started as a small business, sponsored by family, is now eligible for financing by the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN), demonstrating the faith the financial sector has in this alternative form of healthcare. While, of course, money needs to be made, the business is motivated by passion and perseverance.

Penehafo and Petrina describe themselves as young and passionate people who are realising their dreams by being amongst the pioneering naturopaths in Namibia.

“Profit is not our immediate goal, because right now we are simply aiming at establishing ourselves,” says Penehafo. “One of our major challenges is building up our clientele. People are sometimes skeptical towards alternative health treatment, but when they approach us and we explain the processes and benefits, they tend to come back looking for our services.”

Slowly but surely their clientele has been increasing, mostly through word of mouth. “So far the response has been relatively good and encouraging,” says Penehafo.

Unfortunately alternative treatment, like naturopathy, is not included in all medical-aid schemes, most notably the Government PSEMAS scheme. This undermines the potential of the shop.

“More people would be looking for our services eagerly if their medical aids covered it, but to date this has been a challenge that we still have to overcome,” comments Petrina. “In our view people deserve the right to choose their preferred health treatment. We would like to work with the Ministry of Health, especially on the prevention of diseases.”

For both doctors, being young entrepreneurs entails sacrifice, perseverance, patience and hard work. “The fact that you are your own boss, implies making decisions and taking risks to overcome the challenges and to reach the goals,” states Penehafo.

This article appeared in the Feb’12 edition of FLAMINGO Magazine.