by Rebekah Joy Anast

I lived and worked among the Kumboi people in the highlands of Papua New Guinea during 1997-1998. I was the whitest white person they had ever seen. They affectionately named me “mbiny kuloi ai yande,” the albino daughter. I was there to teach literacy and compile a translation of the New Testament in their language, but healthcare inevitably took up some of my time. The main health problems in those mountains were infections of all sorts, from skin boils and abscessed wounds to lung conditions like pneumonia.

Rather than destroy their precariously built immune systems with antibiotics, I planted a huge garlic garden and explored the uses of that smelly herb. The village ladies were enthusiastic. We tried everything from garlic poultices on external infections and internal doses for parasites (we also used pumpkin seeds for that), to garlic water enemas. What a job it was to explain the civilized reasoning behind enemas! I showed the village ladies how to use a clove in the ear for ear infections, warm-garlic chest plasters for lung infections, a few drops of diluted garlic water on an infected umbilical cord and a warm washcloth saturated with diluted garlic water on the baby’s belly. Mothers were taught the benefits of using garlic poultices on general infections, and how the ingesting of garlic by mothers could help prevent any afterbirth infections due to prolapsed uterus, etc. I cannot give garlic all the credit for the success we had; I’m certain that God, as usual, was working miracles.

The most encouraging thing about the use of garlic in rural conditions is that, when I left that village, I did not take my medical care with me; it remained there in a little aromatic patch in the middle of those thatched huts and has continued to heal a multitude of diseases. Garlic has been used medicinally for thousands of years. It is the most powerful herb for the treatment of antibiotic resistant disease. No other herb comes close to the multiple system actions of garlic, its antibiotic activity or its immune-potentiating power. It has been through over 1000 years of recorded history, but we aren’t allowed to tell you what it is used for, so you’ll have to do that research on your own. Here are some links:

• https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/garlic
• https://www.drugs.com/mtm/garlic.html
• https://www.healwithfood.org/medicinal-uses/garlic-healing-properties.php

How to Make a Garlic Poultice.

Break off two or three large cloves and lay them on your counter. Start some water heating on the stove, and then lay out a clean washcloth or double thick paper towels. Smack the garlic cloves with the bottom of a heavy glass to lightly bruise or crush them. Now the papery skin will come o? easily. Take the bruised cloves and dice them up, or smash them in a garlic press so that the juice and the smell billows out to make you hungry for lasagna. Lay the 2-3 tablespoons of minced garlic in the center of your washcloth or paper towels and fold in the edges of the cloth, creating what I call a “poultice” or “plaster.” Lay this garlic pad in a bowl or plate and pour the warm/hot (but not boiling) water over it. (If your water is too hot, it may kill some of the powerful healing properties in the garlic. You should be able to keep your fingers in the water without scalding yourself.) Let it sit for 5 seconds or so, and then fish it out and squeeze the excess water out with your hands. Place the warm (not hot!) poultice on the chest, the back, and the soles of the feet (alternately) for about 60 seconds each for viruses, colds, flu, infections, etc. Garlic poultices can also be used for earache – holding the poultice against the infected ear. For flesh wound infections – hold against the wound lightly. Eye infections – hold over closed eye.

Products Mentioned in This Article:

Odorless Garlic