Singapore, July 05: She once saw a man shot at point blank while in Africa’s Ivory Coast.
On another occasion, she wandered through a forest in Sulawesi, Indonesia, where human heads hung from the trees.
And she was bitten by a venomous snake while stranded deep in the jungles of Irian Jaya for 40 days.
She regained consciousness two days later after locals used herbs to treat her.
While her experiences on several forest expeditions may suggest that Dr Yasmeen Mohamed is a female version of Indiana Jones, her actual vocation is a lot more mundane.
She is a botanist.
“I never dreamed that it would be this exciting, not everyone gets to have such an exciting life while pursuing their passions.”
“I was close to losing my life a few times but I’m still alive,” said Dr Yasmeen, 52.
In her career as a botanist, she has travelled far and wide in search of plants with medicinal value, spending months at a time in the deepest, darkest forests in places like Africa, New Zealand, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Dr Yasmeen, a Singaporean who is now based in Malaysia, was in town earlier this week to give talks on healthy living and how to improve one’s wellness.
“I believe that nature heals, and that it doesn’t take a lot of money to find cures for any health problems,” said Dr Yasmeen, who is affectionately known as “Forest Girl”.
Her interest in plant ecology was sparked during her childhood when her grandmother healed her from fainting spells by preparing zero-preservative dishes and natural remedies.
Dr Yasmeen, who graduated with a masters in plant ecology and a doctorate from the University of Tasmania, spent about two to three months for each of her ventures into the forests.
They have led to many interesting tales that she has to share.
She said: “I’ve had to run zig-zag in the jungle to escape from a wild boar before.”
But the experience that stuck with her most was the time she almost died from a snake bite when on an expedition into the jungles of Irian Jaya in 1996.
She was there with nine other members of her team and four locals. They were hired to help with replanting merbau trees for 30 days when heavy rains washed away the bridge that connected her campsite to civilisation.
Only girl in team
“I was the only girl in the whole exploration team at that time. I was very frightened, what if we ran out of food and resources?” said Dr Yasmeen.
They were stranded in the jungle for eight more days.
When food ran out, they had to rely on their surroundings to get food.
“We nourished ourselves with tea boiled with leaves found in the forest and ate coconuts and potatoes that we managed to find in the forest,” she said.
To make things worse, she was bitten by a poisonous snake.
She said: “I passed out and was told later I was unconscious for two days.”
She added: “I was so thankful for them though, once I woke up, they gave me the rhizome of kaempferia galanga (more commonly known as sand ginger), which is a very bitter plant root, to neutralise the effects of the bite.”
After a few hours, she felt better and could continue to travel once again.
She said: “We took a much longer route because of the collapse of the bridge. Once we reached the village, I was so exhausted but the first thing I did was take a long bath in the hotel.”
That was not the first time she had feared for her life while on the job.
In 1997, she was in the forests of Sulawesi researching plants for an organisation she declined to name.
This was when violence was erupting across Indonesia in opposition to the rule of then president Suharto.
She remembers seeing human heads hanging from trees in the forest.
She said: “From what the locals told me it seemed like a civil war.
“It made me genuinely fear for my life. I couldn’t forget the image for days, I just didn’t want the same thing to happen to us.”
She added: “People shot their enemies with poison darts from bamboo shoots. Thank goodness we had locals with us who were aware of this, we hid every time we heard noises.”
In 1993, when she was in the Ivory Coast doing wood research for a furniture company, she saw a local killed by another local right in front of her.
She recounted: “He was shot in the head less than 30 steps away from me, I vomited right after.” “That was one of the times when I really wished I could go home. But we had already spent so much time and resources on this and we were so far away from home, it didn’t make sense to leave.”
However, experiencing such frightening encounters has taught her about cultures abroad. Very careful
She said: “I learnt that being in a foreign land means that you have to be very careful, people don’t live according to the laws that we are accustomed to in Singapore.”
Interestingly, despite the dangers she faces in her work, she does not always carry a revolver with her when she goes into the forest.
She believes a bag of tobacco leaves is more useful.
She explained: “When there’s a language barrier with the people who live in the forest, tobacco leaves are like a peace offering, to tell them we mean no harm.”
Dr Yasmeen, who is married to a researcher, has had to sacrifice much time with her children, now 26 and 23, who live in Malaysia.
Her children work in the graphic design and the media industry respectively.
She said: “I left them with my maid when I was away, I missed countless birthdays because of my research.”
She added: “Now, when I look back, what pains me is that I did not get to see them grow up.”
Dr Yasmeen’s life as a botanist is now a lot more mundane as she no longer spends time hunting for plants in faraway jungles.
These days, she spends her time in Malaysia educating people on the benefits of natural living.
Dr Yasmeen plans to work with the Health Promotion Board and NParks to further educate Singaporeans about natural health tips.
Her health wellness talks will be managed by Wellcare Holdings.
Mr Borhan Saini, 50, managing director of Wellcare Holdings said: “She is such a rare and unique person to meet, she has so much to share with us.”
He added: “Sharing her forest experiences during her talks can help in advising today’s youths who have become increasingly interested in trekking expeditions.”
Although life for her is a lot quieter these days, Dr Yasmeen misses life in the jungle.
She said: “I miss it dearly. I feel like I’m less healthy now, I had the healthiest lifestyle in the forests.”
—Source: Asiaone