GREEN MEDICINE PROJECT：USING AROMATHERAPY IN ORPHANAGE

   THE PROJECT

    The first project began in Santiago de Chile in 2008. The initial funding came from Belgium, through funds raised at a Charity Gala organized by resident Teresa de Liedereke. And the first organisational impetus came from a Chilean business executive, Teresa Mendez, who became, and still is, unpaid coordinator. The project is still ongoing. Madam Sylvia Galleguillos is the principal tutor who lectured all the nurses using aromatherapy in this project for many years. Later on in 2014 Madam Sylvia’s student Ms Illianka Zhang joined in and by the experiences she compiled and published a book, My Favourite Children's Aromatherapy Book, which is sold 3000 copies of the first version in China.  The profits of the books were donated to the Santa Clara Children's Fund.

   My Favourite Children's Aromatherapy Book (Chinese version)

Mis Aromas Favoritos (Spainish version)

    The following paragraphs retrace the project went through the first time in 2008.

    THE CLIENT GROUP

     The client group are HIV positive children from very deprived backgrounds. 16 of them, aged between  1 and 14 years old, who form the core group, live in the premises, as they have either been orphaned or abandoned by parents who were advanced AIDS sufferers and incapable of looking after them. There are 40+ others who form a peripheral group and live outside the premises, as they are still in touch with parents or relatives.

     The core group children have been given permanent shelter by the Hogar de Acogida Santa Clara (the Santa Clara Shelter, run by Roman Catholic nuns). Their background plus their medical condition had turned them into pariahs and outcasts reduced to living on the streets, in rubbish dumps and under bridges.

   The Shelter is located in a working class area in downtown Santiago, close to the town’s main wholesale vegetable market and distribution centre, which does not provide the most sanitary surroundings.

     Most of them have also suffered different forms of abuse earlier in their lives.

     In general they come to the Shelter presenting high levels of aggressiveness, low self-esteem, irritability, intolerance, anxiety and sleep disturbances.

   AIMS

    Enhancing and boosting the children’s immune system.

Providing emotional comfort and mental stimulation.

Controlling opportunistic ailments and alleviating their symptoms.

    TECHNIQUES USED TO BE ABLE TO INTRODUCE AROMATHERAPY IN THEIR LIVES

   Massages with essential oils.

   Games, songs, art, dance.

   Seasonal awareness (how body and mind are affected by the seasons).

   Bonding and trust-building with the aromatherapists.

   Olfactory stimulation.

    RESULTS

    Sylvia:

 “ During the lecture itself I will present some specific cases, and talk about some of the actual children involved and what aromatherapy has concretely done for them. But in general we can say that the children have developed a high sensitivity to the aromas, and have become able to discriminate accurately between different ones through their sense of smell. ”

     The children have become very committed to their therapy sessions, which they find comforting and which have had a positive impact on their states of mind. They are less aggressive, smile and laugh more often, are more focused and have started showing improved levels of self-esteem.

   “To live with someone of an affable temperament is like entering a house suffused with the fragrances of sweet plants. After a while one’s own temperament becomes affable too, just like one becomes as fragrant as the aromatic plants.” —— Confucius

     That was what happening with the children at the Santa Clara Shelter. They were becoming sweeter and their little souls were becoming more sensitive and fragrant.