Albertina Pavy is the best known of the female traditional healers who were recently honoured by HERBS. She hails from Toco but at present resides in Belmont.
She no longer attends to patients; however she still has an abiding interest in the development of an indigenous herbal industry. She is the author of the all-time Trinidad and Tobago bestseller Treatment and Cures with Local Herbs. She is currently nearing publication of a second book (on the history of Toco).
She should be treated as a national hero, yet as we approach Independence it is hardly likely that she is even being considered for honour by the powers that be.
In the accompanying articles she tells her story. It appears verbatim, as presented by Francis Morean.
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I, Albertina Pavy of Pepper Hill Street, Toco, attended the Primary R.C. School at Mission, Toco. I became an Acting-Monitor and was preparing for the teaching profession in which I was very interested. Through some conditions I did not go ahead as I wished. The environment in which I grew consisted of a lot of communications, warmth, love, discipline and attention to each other. In sickness and other conditions, there were a lot of attendance and activities, which was very interesting to me.
I kept following their example by starting to attend to the sick at home, and elsewhere I made operation by boiling Tesan, and giving out to the sick which gave them recovery causing me happiness of mind. I then contracted the Malaria fever. In those days there were no doctors or nurses or Government official residing in the district. They had their time to visit in area. With the Malaria, I was given a lot of Quinine powder, coffee and lime juice. Later on, I contracted the lowest stage of Anaemia of which I was given a course of injections to build fast during which the blood was taken twice to analyze. When the needle was placed in the vein causing me to suffer with poison in the blood stream. I was lucky to get two good doctors who diagnosed my case and treated me wonderfully well to recovery by controlling my defect. I still have a problem of relapsing when my resistance lowers.
I am the author of a Herb book Treatment and Cures with Local Herbs by Albertina Pavy, published by Gerard Besson of Paria Publishing Co. in 1987 to 1994. Ii then transferred to Reginald Charran who revised the now second edition of this same book.
I have written The History of Toco, covering the period from 1492, when Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad to this present time.
My deceased father, being a planter and farmer, got me very interested in agriculture. We were raised ad were always supported by the income from agriculture. From my childhood days, I was very interested in studying. I wanted to be a medical student. However, as I did not achiever what I desired I planned and studied for myself. I was very fond of music and singing.
I conducted a Nursery School. I did Private Nursing. I took a Red Cross course, also in the Community Development and other duties. I was very fond of history and I decided to write the History of Toco. I got a few items from the Little Folks in Trinidad, some from the old Spanish residents in the area, newspapers, radio, books from which I studied and researched.