I have been thinking about this question a lot lately, as more and more people become displaced and will become displaced. I feel that plants have a huge role to play in reconnecting people not only to their old land and helping to heal their trauma and sence of loss, but also to connect and settle into their new land and life. Plants can sometimes be the one constant that weaves your two lives back together. For example, if a plant species grows in your own land and you find it growing in your new land. Sometimes, however, our landscapes can be so incredibly different from the places that we were brought up. These days, you can usually find dried herbs as teas, oils, or sprays. The smell of the plant can be enough to awaken a memory, to reconnect you to your loved ones, and to help you connect to the world around you.
The simple ritual of making and sitting down with a cup of herbal tea can help to calm your nervous system, soothe the soul, not only through the quiet moment spent with the mug, but also with the connection you have with the plant inside that cup.
Growing and tending your own plants, whether that is in a pot or garden, can equally help the reconnection as the process helps to ground you, rooting you when everything else in your life might be spiralling. They can be a way to gently and slowly open you to the new world around you, giving you support whilst you heal.
Plants as food is another powerful way to reconnect to place, as you spend time sourcing and preparing the ingredients, possibly introducing you to your community. Cooking the food, possibly with the help of others – family, friends, colleges – talking and discussing memories of the culture and land. Nourishing your body with the food to literally build your being with the plants from your land.
And finally, for now, working with the plants as your medicine both spiritually and physically to heal your being and soothe your soul.
However you look at it, plants are a doorway back into reconnection.
How do you think plants help people reconnect after displacement?