Jamu: Why Isn’t Indonesia’s Ancient System of Herbal Healing Better Known? [TIME Magazine]

Jamu: Why Isn’t Indonesia’s Ancient System of Herbal Healing Better Known? [TIME Magazine]

In 1990, Irish journalist Susan Jane-Beers noticed a herbal medicine clinic in the corner of a hair salon in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, her adopted home. A victim of age-related chronic knee pain that conventional pharmaceuticals couldn’t numb let alone heal, Jane-Beers decided to try jamu — traditional Indonesian medicine.

The results astounded her. After three days of taking only one third of the prescribed dose of herbal pills, the pain had vanished, making her wonder if she’d found “the magic bullet of all time.”

Read the rest on TIME here.