After two years of the coronavirus (COVID-19) affecting our lives, people worldwide rightfully have a heightened concern for their overall health and, particularly, their immune system.

Then, it is timely that world renowned physician, herbal healer and naturopathic practitioner, Priest Kailash Leonce, is expected to visit Jamaica. His week-long ‘Reclaiming Wellness & Reproductive Health’ seminars will run between May 16 and 25.

Through a series of lectures, conversations and media engagements, the priest, who hails from Saint Lucia, will be sharing his vast knowledge of indigenous herbal medicines, their benefits, preparations and products for restorative male and female health.

His tour is being jointly presented by the School of Sacrament Rastafari University (SOSACRU) and the Justice and Healing Judgement and Heaping Nyabinghi Initiative (JAH JAH N I). Several local and international advocates, including musician Chronixx, have joined the priest on his mission.

“The purpose of my time in Jamaica will definitely be to educate the people about our original livity and relationship with the food and herbs that exist to help us thrive,” explained Leonce, who did his medical training in Cuba before graduating from the American University of Antigua’s College of Medicine in 2005.

As a devout Rastafarian and Priest of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (known popularly as the Bobo Shanti Order), Kailash embarked on unique pathways in medicine by developing his own line of herbal supplements.

One of his most successful products is an immune booster called ‘The Answer’. During the height of the recent coronavirus outbreak, he prescribed and administered regular doses of ‘The Answer’ to patients who had tested positive for the virus. Invariably, those patients purportedly tested negative within days, demonstrating the supplement’s prophylactic properties.

Chronixx is among those who fully endorse The Answer from personal experience. Through his CHOR Foundation, he is supporting Hon. Priest Kailash’s Reclaiming Wellness & Reproductive Health Tour, which will include a lecture at the University of the West Indies, Mona on Wednesday, May 25.

There, the Honourable Priest will focus primarily on sexual and reproductive health, prostate and breast cancer, fibroids and other related topics.

“We need to transcend island barriers and it’s we, the people, who have to play major roles in achieving this unity and bridging across the Caribbean Sea,” said Chronixx. “There is a solid community of scientists, healers, creatives and more and we just have to connect the dots with good intention.”

Also included on the support team of Priest Kailash’s wellness ministry are Rizza Islam, who is a well known Nation of Islam representative and spokesman, and Akeem Pierre, a Canada-based wellness entrepreneur whose businesses include Beyond Wellness Retreats, which operates regular excursions to the Leonce’s main healthcare location, the Mount Kailash Rejuvenation Centre in Saint Lucia.

Last summer, the Mount Kailash Rejuvenation Centre was the staging ground for The Rising of the Gods retreat, where positive role models such as Chronixx, Rizza Islam, and UWI lecturer Dr. Jahlani Niaah all attended. The forthcoming book of the same name will document the experiences and self-affirming lessons gathered at the retreat.

It will be published by Bookman Express, whose founder Dutty Bookman was also a participant. Priest Kailash has a strong track record of goodwill across the region, as demonstrated by his largely self-funded responses to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the more recent 2021 volcanic eruption in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

On both occasions, he managed to mobilise a sensitive, pan-Caribbean response to assisting communities, drawing on cultural and historical linkages. This is in keeping with his overall application of Garveyism in relation to race, self[1]reliance and active engagement.

The ‘Reclaiming Wellness & Reproductive Health’ tour will give audiences across Jamaica an opportunity to access the knowledge, suggested approaches and products developed by Priest Kailash, which has given him the distinction of being a leading producer of Ital standard herbal remedies globally. As part of the tour, he will also be doing community healing sessions.