Community Medicine Making: Strengthening Relations: ‘Hekenga/Voyage with AAPI Plants & People
"A'o mai/A'o aku. Let's teach & learn together as we give and receive the knowledge and knowing of plants revered by Asian American & Pacific Islanders. Our herbal voyage will cover relationships, responsibility, love and healing ways of being. If you are able to, please bring a small item for our altar space & water from a natural source where you live."
✨About the Facilitator
Holly Calica is a Clinical Herbalist and Arts Educator with 5 decades of experience in community arts, education and organizing. She cherishes working with apprentices in her Herbal Internship/Mentoring program, collaborating with organizations to share ancestral traditions, providing community members with healing sessions and nurturing her plant relatives in her garden. Holly Calica co-founded the Bay Area’s Luna Nueva Wellness Collective and Kalingafornia Laga, Indigenous Kalinga backstrap weaving circle. Her work with Balik Sa Dagat: Bangka Journey continues as she searches for youth to revitalize traditional canoe carving and paddling in our waterways.
🍃 Updated Waiver
We've updated our community consent waiver this year and we need folks attending workshops, clinics, and workdays to complete a new waiver. You only need to fill out the form once. So, if you've completed the form at another space (Fruitvale, Ancestral Healing Farm, etc) since mid-April, let the team know. If not, click this link to complete it.
🍃 About Community Medicine Making
These hands-on learning containers are meant to provide both intentional knowledge exchange between local facilitators and community members, paired with hands-on engagement where each learner leaves with new skills and medicines to take home. These sessions range from:
🌿 Tinctures
🌿 Incense
🌿 Herbal Tea Blends
🌿 Fire Ciders
and more!
🤲🏾 About the Space
Freedom Community Clinic's Downtown Community Apothecary & Pharmacy is a donation based resource for for our community to drop in to learn, pick up medicines for themselves or loved ones, make tinctures and tea blends, rest, co-work and more. From seasoned and trained herbalist to those just stepping into their practice, our space welcomes you. We are located near Downtown Oakland.
In all our offerings, we prioritize Black, Brown, Indigenous and Immigrant community members and ask that allies be mindful of the space and resources they take up when visiting and signing up for offerings.
🫂 Accessibility
Our space wheelchair accessible and located near MacArthur Bart Station for those taking public transportation.
We are not a scent-free space and will have incense burning in the space with windows open.
We honor autonomy and have face masks available to folks who need it and will have air filters in the space as well.
We are a no shoes or shoe cover facility and have both slides in multiple sizes and shoe covers available.
✍🏾 Notes on Sign-Ups
All workshops are donation-based with no one turned away for lack of funds.
If you sign-up and can no longer attend, please reach out to us so we can make space for other community members. We understand that things shift last minute and want to make sure that all those who can attend, are notified.
Questions / Concerns?
Reach out to our Apothecary Manager Dan (Dan@FreedomCommmunityClinic.org) or Director of Creative Media & Programming (Bdukes@FreedomCommunityClinic.org)