The Ekin Emakumeak association operates in Arrasate. “Our three axes are Euskera, diversity and women,” said Amagoia Muniozguren Urkiza. During the months of February and March, a workshop of herbs for women to work on self-management of health has been held.

Developing a medicine kit with raw materials offered by mother earth

“The idea is to recover the knowledge that was being lost and to self-manage our health for ourselves,” says Muniozguren. In fact, we often forget that our environment offers endless plants to take care of our health, more effective than many pharmacy kits. The workshop aims to develop a basic household medicine kit with medicinal plants such as oils, tinctures, syrups, salts or lip balms.

“First we have tried to know the different medicinal plants and plants that surround us and the properties that each one of them has,” explains the member of the association. “It’s about learning what each plant can use and what comes right to us and not according to the pain our body gives us.” Once the theory has been studied, they have made an exit to the mountain to collect the plants and learn the most appropriate time for each one.

The network of women through workshops

For the third year in a row, the Ekin Emakumeak Association has organized a workshop on medicinal plants for women. Muniozguren has stated that this is an initiative of great interest: “This workshop has always been very successful. There is a lot of curiosity about this issue, and it tends to be very enriching, as we get together women of very long ages.” This year, women between 20 and 70 years old have gathered at the workshop. The organization believes that this diversity is very enriching and that the workshop also serves to get to know us and to make women intertwine with each other.

The members of the Ekoudalatx association have participated in the herbal workshop, but the participants also exchange what they know about each other. “If someone has found a plant we bring it, we see how it dries… Everyone brings what they can and want in the workshops,” said Muniozguren.