Homeopathy Papers

Treating the Children of Bukavu for Scabies and Ringworm

Written by Michelle Pickering

Homeopath Michelle Pickering treats the children of Bukavu for Scabies and Ringworm

In March 2014 I was invited to Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, to open a homeopathic clinic in a village that had only one hospital for miles around. The hospital has only one doctor for 22, 868 patients, so there was very little in the way of healthcare for the general population. People going to the hospital often had to wait for up to nine days to be seen by the doctor.  Therefore, my organization, Zuri Medicine and Barefoot Homeopathy thought this would be a good place to have a homeopathic clinic.

At the local primary school the children were suffering from something the local people called bungi-bungi. These were crops of pustules filled with yellow pus and crusted patches that itch on the majority of the children’s heads. Some of the children had these same circular patches but they were dry, flat and flaky instead of pustular.  This covered the majority of their heads and I assumed it was spreading from child to child as almost all the children suffered with this. Along with bungi-bungi the children were also suffering from a thick yellow, crusty runny nose. We made a proposal to the primary school of treating the children homeopathically and were delighted when they accepted.

Looking at the bungi-bungi I was baffled as to whether it was scabies (Homeopathy for Scabies) due to poor nutrition, as the staple diet is fufu, (a mix of corn flour and water cooked together till it hardens), or if it was ringworm. I had never seen ringworm present as pustular raised patches before, and I was informed that some of the children had seen the doctor, were treated with soaps for scabies but it had no effect and so I took my cue from that and decided to treat for both.

I decided to take a multi remedy approach to this as there was no way of my knowing if it was scabies or ringworm and as we were treating in a school setting we would be given one shot at getting it right, so we had to find a remedy that we could use as a mass treatment.

I chose to go with Bacillinum because of the ringworm and yellow mucus the children suffered from, combined with Psorinum for scabies and poor nutrition. We prepared several 1.5 liter bottles of water with 3 pellets each Bacilinum and Psor 200c to be transferred to dropper bottles. Went back to the school, and gave each child 2 drops in the mouth of this combination remedy.  We asked the teachers to keep a watch on the children and promised to revisit the school in one week to see how the children were faring.

We revisited the school on the sixth day after giving the remedy, and were amazed to see that the children were doing much better.  The runny noses were drying up and the heads were scabbed over and most children said their heads were no longer itching or causing pain, the pain we were unaware of.  I visited the school a second time after 14 days of giving the remedy and most of the children were happily going about their business with no more problems for their heads.

Shortly after, I left Bukavu and did not have the opportunity to return for another 6 months. On returning to Bukavu I asked to visit the school and was warmly welcomed by the headmistress.  I asked how the children were and she invited me to see for myself.  I was amazed at seeing them. Almost all the children that were treated were ringworm/scabies free.  There were a few children with stubborn flat flaky patches that had not healed but with no new symptoms, so we gave another dose of the remedy and watched and waited again. The children that had been treated were now free of ringworm/scabies but were left with alopecia in the areas where the disease had been especially bad. I decided not to re-dose but just to watch, wait and give their little heads some more time to heal.

The head mistress said of the 930 children in the school 57 were unable to take the final exams, due to lack of school fees and not to intelligence. She said this year had the lowest number of absences she’s seen since working at the school. As a result of this success I have been asked by the Department of Schools to treat all the schools in the district for bungi-bungi.

About the author

Michelle Pickering

Michelle Pickering CCH, is a Certified Classical Homeopath whose main focus is restoring the health of people with HIV/AIDS, through the use of homeopathy. Michelle is working to bring awareness of how homeopathy can effectively help those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. Her volunteer work within this population first bought her to Tanzania, East Africa in the summer of 2011, where she spent time working in villages and outreach clinics. Michelle is also the founder of Zuri Medicine, an organization whose purpose is to provide consults, training and mentoring to African homeopaths as well as assisting in opening homeopathic clinics through East and Central Africa.

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