Marina Interview Questions and Planning

[bossarda]

Interview Questions (can be added to):

• Tell us a little bit about yourself and your community. Maybe ask her if she can send a few pictures?
• How are illnesses usually treated in your community? What remedies are the most commonly used?
• Can you tell us about three medical plants that are often used where you live? Pictures would be awesome, if she has them.
• How many of your medical supplies are imported, and how much are you able to produce yourself, e.g. by growing and gathering medicinal plants?
• Who in your community is responsible for administering medical treatment? How are they educated?
• How is traditional medicinal knowledge passed on between generations? Are there records, and if yes, is there a way for us to see them?
• Is there something about your medical system that might surprise outsiders?
• What do you wish everyone knew about your medical system?
• Are there barriers toward getting essential medical treatment, e.g. are there treatments that not everyone can afford? If so, which treatments are these?
• You live in an area which is likely affected by Malaria. How do you deal with and treat this illness?

Planning:

• Send her questions via email and also ask if she can make time for a call.
• We don't know how good her English is. How do we make sure we understand what she is saying and vice versa? -> use gpt-4o to translate? ask her to bring a translator?

[lucautunno]

Great stuff! I don't have a lot to add, you asked most of the questions I thought of :) I would also like to know:

• How do you know which plant is beneficial for which treatment? You heard it from older generations? You experienced it? You read it from a book? (similar to your question about they pass the knowledge between generations)
• Are you still doing some experience/research with new plants or new ways of using them to find better treatment or new use cases?

As you said, let's ask her the questions via email and ask if she has time for a call. And if yes, let's ask her as well how confident is she with english and if we should organize a way of translating

[Daria-Oni]

Are there any local health practices or remedies that you think should be studied or recognized by modern medicine?