Tom McArthur – variously dubbed Australia's natural medicine man or the "Pawpaw Man" by local media – recently embarked on a new mission: to help the sick, poor and homeless of Chile. After a chance encounter with a friend who had visited the country, he was moved by the efforts of a group of nuns to make the journey and help out in some way. With a healing approach based on using pawpaw extract and other natural products to treat a range of skin conditions Tom thought these would be useful for this resource-poor community. ntpages caught up with him on his return home to Childers, central Queensland.
How was your trip?
"There were tears and joy. It was very humbling to see how people live over there."
How did you come to visit Chile?
"A close friend visited South America and brought a video back which I watched. I was so shocked with what I saw that I knew that I had to help in some way."
Tell us where you were stationed.
"It is a rural hospital staffed by nuns from the nearby convent which serves the local community. It is very basic in terms of facilities but clean and totally spotless from a hygiene point of view. Besides caring for people's health the nuns also feed and house the homeless and underprivileged."
How many people does it cater for?
"It is officially a 50 bed hospital but it had 373 patients when we visited. In terms of funding it receives an allocation from the government but this is based on the 50 beds – so it is severely under resourced. So much so that they have to re-use bandages. The local convent and nuns provide all the other resources to enable it to function and service the local community. Much of this funding is from local and international donations."
Tell us about Mother Irene.
"She runs the convent and is often called the Mother Theresa of South America. Much like her fellow nun, she is physically tiny but at 84 has amazing reserves of energy and seems to function on very little sleep."
She obviously made a big impression on you...
"Yes, it was very humbling to be around her. The dedication and work that she oversees brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it."
How exactly were you able to help out?
"Four of us travelled to Chile so we were able to carry 180 kilograms of our products. We trained the nuns and nurses how to use and apply our natural products over the 11 days we were there. All of us were very thrilled and satisfied with the results achieved with our natural products and so was Mother Irene and the Sisters. Our visit was an overwhelming experience."
Is this a one-off trip?
"No, we will be continuing our assistance to the convent with regular shipments of our pawpaw based products. Mother Irene also runs other centres such as this in Mexico and Spain and we hope to travel there soon to help in any way we can."
Important note: McArthur Natural Products do not make any claims of a cure or diagnose the cause of skin ailments or medical conditions.
Originally published on Mar 22, 2012
