China - Tradtional acupuncuture involves the insertion of stainless steel needles into various body areas. A low- frequency current may be applied to the needle to produce stimulation. Treatment is applied to acupuncture points which are said to be located thoughout the body. There are 365 such points. Acupuncture has been developed over 2000years in China and survived the introduction of medication in Korea 1000 years ago.The diagnostic process used by traditional Chinese Medicine doctors include questioning (medical history, lifestyle), obervations (skin, tongue, color), listening (breathing sounds), and pulse-taking. Six pulse aspects said to correlate with body organs or functions are checked on each wrist to determine which meridians are deficient in chi. Medical science recognizes only one pulse, corresponding to the heartbeat, which can be felt in the wrist, neck , feet, and various other places.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Namgyu, Kang

Colombia - I am from Colombia and the non-traditional healing process is very common among the community. The most common use of this healing process is praying and the use of a "hierbatero" which means a person that uses herbs and natural things to cure people. My mother used to take my little sister to the herb-man when she was sick and the doctors coldn't cure her. the herb-man does a ritual with different herbs and rubbed tham all along my little sister's body and then told my mother to give my sister a combination of teas and herbs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             Yurany, Klinger

In Colombia there is an old belief regarding how a newborn's health can be affected by people who are believed to have "bad energy" or "evil influence". Therefore, the newborn's parents try to protect their son from people they do not know. When the newborn gets affected he is called as "an ayed child" because he is supposed to be lloed at by someone who has an "evil influence" from his eyes. This child can get very sick, displaying symtoms such as fever, vomiting, upset, diarrhea, etc. Parents bring the children into a "yerbatero" who is a kind of healer who works based on medicinal plants and other natural remedies, or "yerbas" that are plants infused into water. The child drinks this in order to get cured, and the healer does a kind of ritual around the child rubbing him with dried plants and an egg, which could complete the healing process of the child. This is to be seen after some weeks. At the end the child is given a kind of beaded bracelet that the child keeps until he is grown, for protection against other evil-eye people.

                Liliana, Tovar

Guyana - In South America, particularly Guyana, most ofthe people will use herbal medicines for healing or probably spontaneous remission. For example, if you have a cold, you could wait until the illness goes away naturally. However, many people will go to the doctor to seek medical help if the health problem progessses, because medicine and hospitals are free in my country. If people are unable to go to hospitals and any nurses or doctors live in the area, they will come to your home and treat the person who is ill. There are set backs, such as, hospitals are located in the capital (Georgetown) city and it's approximately 13 miles away. As a result many people sometimes get more ill or even die on their way to the hospital. Herbal medicines are often used, but there are more side effects if not used properly. This is why the people prefer to seek professional help.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Julie,Ally

Haiti - In Haiti, people use or believe in different things for " Healing". Poeple who are in a high class, I mean educated people; they use prayer and medical attention.Those people believe in miracles. Therefore, they pray at home or at mass in the church. Middle class people approach prayer and herbs and doctors' medications they can afford. Most of them can't afford to go to the doctor because consultation and medication are expensive. Therefore, they go to church for prayer. Usually people spend all day or half a day in the church, sometimes with members of familly or friends. The last one is the low class, people who don't know how to read, write and have no financial support. Low class people use voodou and herbs they think might be good. Sometimes those healing approaches work for all three classes. I believe it depends on how confident people believe in their healing.

Werline,Mercier

In order to understand treatment approaches of disease in Haiti, a person must understand that the economical structure of the island and the people's mentality plays a role in how the assessment of diseases are approached. Being that Haiti is a poor country, most of the people are not able to afford health services from hospitals, which leaves them to rely on other sources for treatment. One of the many methods used is alternative medicine. Alternative medicine involves the usage of herbal treatment, which varies according to the disease. Also the usage of oils are used to cure various diseases as well. As for the mentality approach, people sometimes blame their illness on spirits on bad luck. As a result they go to a voodoo priest or a witch doctor. Some may refer to them and seek treatment that may entail certain ritual practices and herbal uses. Lastly, the other method used as a form of treatment is prayer.

Jonald, Baptiste

Indonesia - Many people in my country still use very traditional medicine to heal patients, especially for people who still live in the suburbs. The 'practitioners' usually use particular tools as they perform the ceremony. They use special herbs, oil, spices as they chant a prayer. The patients usually seek the 'doctor' because they have broken bones, skin diseases, and even sex problems. However, is the cure because the 'doctors' have real power or is it because the healing approach has been in their tradition, so they believe that they can be cured, such as the placebo effect?                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Meidy, Ng

Jamaica - My country of origin is Jamaica. Yes, my family mostly used non-traditional approaches that I heard about through my grandfather and close friends. We use these approaches for cold, fever, smallpox and other sicknesses or diseases. The method we use to cure or stop the spreading of smallpox is to get a dry corn and roast it over a fire until it is burned (black). Then place that burned corn in a cup of water for about 30 minutes for it to extract the medicine. After you do that you let it settle and then drink it.

Patrick, Bailey

Korea - I came from Korea. One of the healing methods is Korean Hand Acupuncture (KHA). That is the fundamental of oriental medicine. Dr. Woo Tae Yoo, who is the founder of this unique approach discovered the basic principle that the whole body can be found in the hand. At that time he had a very intense headache and discovered that a point at the top of his middle finger will ease his pain. Finally he could map out the whole body in the hand. The treatment of KHA is performed on both hands. It is based upon the theory, that the hand is a micro of the human body. The backside of the body is represented on the backside of the hand and the foreside on the palm of the hand. Basically, the body is divided in half down the middle and problems on the right side are treated on the right hand and vice versa. This method of healing treatment can be influenced by stimulating specific corresponding points on the hand for the prevention of specific conditions and for health maintenance.

Eun, Song

Peru - The leaves of the coca plant are good for high blood pressure, altitude illness, depression, anxiety, fatigue, tooth ache, etc. Mate Coca is a medicinal tea made from the leaves of the Coca plant. This tea has been used for over four thousand years by the people of South America, especially in my country (Peru). Coca is a dense plant native in my country in the Andes andcultivated in Peru. The leaves are rich in vitamins, protein, calcium, iron and fiber. Chewing coca also counters the symptoms of 'mountainsickness' and oxygen-deprivation. Indian tribes still smoke coca leaves for magical purposes, but regular people still use coca leaves for medical purposes as explained above.

Claudia, Azcurra

I personally feel that the coca tea is medicinal because It helped me when I was traveling to Cuzco, a high altitude region of Peru. I got very sick on the road, I couldn't breathe. I was throwing up and my pressure was very low. I thought I was going to die. In one of the stops to a restaurant on the way to Cuzco an old lady came to me and said that she had a medicine to make me feel better. My mother knew about this tea and she let me drink it and believe it or not I felt much better. Since then I trust medicinal teas. My country has many herbal remedies that have been used since the Inca's time until today.

Sheila, Quispe

Salvador - El Salvador is a country of Central America. It is a small country ,and a poor country. When there is a person sick in the family, and the person doesn't have the money to go to the hospital, most likely the family will use any type of home remedies. For example: if you have a broken bone, they will use two peces of wood to hold the bone strait and in place. If you are having a stomach ache the family will boil some mint leaves which works as a tea that take gas out.

Sandra, Penate

I was born in El Salvador. People in my country as well as other Latin American countries turn to natural healing. This includes using plants or rituals to cure diseases that in many cases doctors cannot cure. For instance, many individuals turn to religious, rituals pray and sing. Protestants are some of them. They pray and say that believing and praying to God is the only way to cure their diseases. On the other hand, because of the many customs and ways of healing that natives that lived in El Salvador used to practice, there is an amount of people that uses those ways of healing. The Pipils and Lencas, two groups that used to live in the land of El Salvador, use so many plants, such as Ruda, which I don't know how to translat. Balsamo, and many others are used to rub people's body parts to heal rheumatics problems. Nowadays, some of those procedures are used to cure or to alleviate pain for those who live away from the city. People who live in the villages or small towns tend more to turn to these methods of healing. In fact even those who live in the city and are well educated tend to this natural way of healing when they feel there is not another way for them to be cured. In my own opinion it is hard to say whether this is right or not. I believe that it is really hard to say whether this is going to work or not. I guess it depends on the person's willpower to believe.

Marles, Ramos

I want to share some of the different methods of healing that are used in my country of birth, El Salvador. El Salvador is one of the five countries of Central America, one of the smallest countries, and a third world country. This tells you that our economical status is very low. El Salvador s a very poor country. Not all the people can afford to go to the doctor when they are sick, even if they are able to afford to go, they are not able to buy the medicine. Some people have no choice but to use home remedies. For those that have a source of belief, they will turn to their prayers more than anything else, seeking healing. For those that use prayers, their faith doesn't let them down. I have seen and experienced examples where, because you believe in a higher power you know you can be healed. Healing can be found through praying. Another way people in my country used to find healing is through home remedies. For example, when the winter season comes around, people tend to get the flu. They use onions as a remedy to alleviate the symtoms. This is not only good for the flu, but also for colds, bronchitis, hoarse voice and cough. This is how to use the onions: cut a couple of then in small pieces, put them to boil ( the best onion is the purple one) blend it, add honey and let it cool. Take this a couple of times a day and you will feel much better in no time.

Sandra,Penate

Taiwan - I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, where people practice acupunture as a way of relieving muscle pain. Acupuncture is a relaxing and effective treatment for many chronic and acute conditions. Acupuncture promotes healing, decreases pain and strengthens the whole body. An excellent support for injuries, it is also an effective treatment for various internal disorders such as anxiety, headaches and digestive complaints. Asian manual techniques stimulate specific points on the body to promote health and alleviate pain. When I was in Taiwan, people with various muscle/joint pain, frequently go to see one of these acupuncturists. The treatment involves putting small size needles in various peripheral nerve spots of the body. After several treatments over a few weeks, pain for most of the people was gone. Accuputure has also been known for helping people with smoking, osteoarthritis, elbow and knee joint problems. The "sham" acupuncturists, there are always some, use mostly needles taped, instead of inserted, to specific points on a patient's body. Traditional Chinese acupunture has been known to reduce knee pain and improve function of osteoarthritis patients.

David, Wang

Uzbekistan - Acupunture in Uzbekistan is one of the most popular procedures of nontraditional medicine. The underlying principle of this medical therapy is the belief that there is an energy flow thoughout the body.When this flow is uninterrupted, the body is healthy. When the flow is blocked, illness results. The goal of the experts are to restore the flow of energy and to let the body heal itself. To accomplish the restored flow, small needles are inserted into the body at key points along lines, or meridians, on the skin. Some practitioners apply e[lectric current to these needles. Others inject vitamin B12 or other solution into the points.

Mira, Natanova