As Brown, Black, Indigenous &/or People of color, the message is being heard loud and clear. We must support businesses, companies, healing facilities, farmers, medicine makers, and movers & shakers owned by people who look like us and who have similar morals, ethics, and beliefs as we do. Marginalized communities are often forced to support larger corporations that are often illiterate in terms of our health and wellness necessities & we are paying for this. Medicine holder, herbalist, teacher, birth worker, and Indigenous reclaiming activist, Jen Elyse along side Co-teacher Alyssa Vilela has created a platform for BBIPOC folks to support one another and learn from one another, the rites and passages of becoming and maintaining our ancestral connections that serve our earth and communities. 

THE FOLK:  WHO MAKE THIS PLATFORM WORK

By providing phytotherapy sessions, teaching an online herbal school for BBIPOC folks, and making medicine for those in need, Ifarike is truly making her stance,  and voting for what is obviously most important for BBIPOC communities. Supporting and creating our own natural and ethically sourced medicine, homes, economy, businesses, and growing our own food is most important. Ifarike was born Jennifer Elyse Woolery and is referred to as Jenelyse by her loved ones. Ifarike Ajoke is her spiritual name given to her by her Nigerian God Mother after receiving initiation as a Yoruba devotee and Priestess.

Co-Teacher // Admin Alyssa Vilela is a gardener, teacher, and community health herbalist. She has been gardening for 5 years at large-scale community farms, rooftop gardens, backyard gardens, and indoor growing in her apartment. Alyssa has worked with children as an outdoor educator leading farm tours and mindful observation of the natural world in parks around NYC.  Connecting with the land sparked a passion for learning how black women have not only survived but have thrived by tending to their mother’s gardens and by using herbs as food and medicine. Alyssa has immersed herself in spiritual herbalism through the lens of black women and has completed certifications to be a community health herbalist through Indigi Golden Herbal Academy and the People’s Medicine School. She has an online apothecary, Alchemist’s Vision, and continues to explore her multilayered passions in the arts, medicine, and indigenous agriculture. Alyssa has also spent time in Africa interviewing Indigenous women about traditional herbalism and healthcare. A creative at heart, Alyssa provides song, art, and nature study workshops for the IGHA platform. 

The IGHA has joined hands with farmer Ras Richard in Portland Jamaica for a 3 week Farming immersion~
Email: Spiralingroots@gmail.com to apply

The IGHA is purchasing farm land in Ayikuma Ghana. The land is a mango grove where our academy will erect a traditional cob hut together on a cultural immersion to the mother land. Our goal is to have completed the payments of $24,000 by the end of 2022 when our students take our first trip to visit and work the land. We need community support to make this dream a reality. Donate now and enter your name into a pool to win a medicine box full of hand harvested plant goodies~