Mardelina pays for her and her family's medical care with seeds.
She lives in a small house on the edge of the Indonesian rainforest into which, everyday, she enters to collect seedlings - baby plants which can be replanted.
"It all began when my daughter was sick… and I didn’t have any money," explains Mardelina.
Her then nine-year-old daughter woke up in the middle of the night struggling to breathe. Mardelina discovered an abscess - a lump the size of an egg - on her daughter’s throat.
At the time, the nearest hospital was over four hours away down a narrow dirt track. Without a proper doctor, the local healthcare options could be downright dangerous.
"In the past…people in small villages like this would go see a witch doctor…. when I was feeling sick with a stomach ache or headache, I was told by the witch doctor that I was possessed by an evil spirit… and he spat turmeric and betel leaf water all over me."
Mardelina’s had heard about a new clinic that had opened nearby, but she didn’t know if she could afford the treatment for her daughter there.
"When I arrived, the cashier said to me, 'You can pay with seedlings if you don’t have cash.' So I did."
A local organisation called Alam Sehat, also know as ASRI, had recently set up the clinic with the aim of both providing affordable healthcare and helping the rainforest.
ASRI plant the seedlings they receive from patients like Mardelina in parts of the forest impacted by forest fires or logging.
Luckily, Mardelina’s daughter was able to get the care she needed at the ASRI clinic, and made a quick recovery. Mardelina’s now keeps a surplus of seedlings at home, which can be used to pay for healthcare in future.
"Praise be to God I am super happy that I have savings. When I or my family needs to go to the doctor, I can take them to ASRI without having to worry about how we could pay."
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