No Borders Herbals · About
Who are No Borders Herbals
A self-organised, transnational network of medicine makers, growers, foragers, community organisers & solidarians sourcing, skillsharing, making and distributing herbal medicine for physical first aid and nervous system support to people on the move across the ‘Balkan route’.
Rooted in mutual aid and solidarity, No Borders Herbals stems from the need to create autonomous healthcare networks in our regions and across borders, interweaving our efforts as close as possible with already existing grassroot migrant solidarity and migrant-led local initiatives on the ground. Far from wanting to fill the gaps of a system based on violence by design, we are choosing to show up for each other, asserting our freedom of movement while providing practical action against border violence.
Far from wanting to fill the gaps of a system based on violence by design, we are choosing to show up for each other.
The medicine distribution will be paired with 1-to-1 first aid interventions for acute conditions, as well as preventative medicine, to lower the risk of untreated illness or injury.
Some of us are clinically trained, others are self-learners with hands-on medicine making experience or have been part of sibling herbal solidarity projects in the past, others have many hours of first aid training on the field, providing wound, skin and foot care, as well as advice for immunity, respiratory and musculoskeletal support. As communities resisting state violence, we want to break down the barriers to learning basic first aid and to take care of each other’s health while rediscovering plant kinship and the love for the land.
With this initiative, we hope to grow the conversation around biocentrism, decolonising & demystifying herbal medicine, facilitating access to skillsharing and co-learning around holistic health practices, and offer a glimpse into the world of plant comradeship.
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Border violence in the Balkans
Border violence is an everyday reality for people on the move. In many regions of external border countries, like in south eastern Europe, it shows one of its most inhumane and violent sides, in one of the least publicly spoken contexts in Fortress Europe.
Check out some direct testimonies and reports at www.borderviolence.eu and www.bloodyborders.org.
(Content warning: police violence, including extreme and vivid descriptions.)
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Healthcare neglect
Due to both the physical and psychological hardship of the journey, as well as the violence systemically executed by border police across the continent, people on the move are often in need of medical care. However, the barriers they face are many and never unintentional. In fact, they are put in place by a racist regime designed to break people’s spirits and bodies: from a severe lack of doctors in open camps and detention centres, to extremely limited treatment options in public hospitals. Not to talk about the total lack of accessible mental health support that doesn’t involve locking people up in psychiatric wards. In many countries, those without documents are denied access altogether. For some, going to a hospital can trigger detention and subsequent deportation. Even when healthcare is technically available, access is also restricted by racial discrimination, language barriers, and other systemic issues.
The barriers they face are many and never unintentional.
03
Where we are now
We did our first 2-month test production and distribution from Bosna and Serbia last autumn in October and November 2025. Then, we gathered a list of local herbal suppliers, had the chance to test the viability of this project in a more practical way, and above all we got a glimpse of how the people we met received the medicine we made. Not only several times people came back and asked specifically for more cough syrup, anti-itch cream or bruise ointment, but we found that herbalism was a very known and often loved topic for many people whose native health traditions relied heavily on plant medicine. It was deeply emotional to hear the stories of connection with the land from people who had to or decided to leave their home behind. It was also heartwarming to hear how much holistic healthcare practices, included but not limited to herbalism, represent fundamental pillars of healthcare in many places across Africa and Asia, opposing the typical Western scepticism on anything different than allopathic medicine.
Several times people came back and asked specifically for more cough syrup, anti-itch cream or bruise ointment.
After this year of scheming, networking, fundraising and growing, the project is finally in the process of actively planning to establish a presence at some border locations in parts of south eastern Europe. The field work we are envisioning will be adding up further costs, such as maintenance of the shared car and fuel, short-term accommodation, a basic food budget for the crew, as well as practical defence instruments, such as digital security tools and any necessary legal protection.
What is more, this autumn we have just completed a 3-week long tour around the Balkans to do some field research for the mapping of the distribution points, and to explore more in depth connections with local active people and groups. Looking at the coming seasons, once we’ve made a plan for collaborations and distribution, we want to be ready and have enough funds to cover the costs of larger medicine production.
This work is not only very demanding on our collective capacity, but it is also highly criminalized, and we expect the resources at our disposal to be regularly depleted by the ongoing activities. The field crew is a small, self-organized collective with no connection to large money-generating organizations such as institutions, NGOs, or their like. All our funds come from self-financing and donations made by individuals out of solidarity. Therefore, we need to make ongoing benefit events.
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Get involved
Mind that because of the heavy criminalisation of solidarity in the region, we may not be able to share regular updates about our work. We are still in process of figuring out if and how to do it. Nevertheless, we are still active until further notice.
Do you know herb growers, people with access to land, suppliers of dried herbs, makers of menstruums (alcohol, oils or food-grade glycerine) in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria or nearby? Do you have a kitchen or storage space, or want to make medicine with us? Get in touch.