Loving Claudia Manchanda
fly on beautiful bird
dearest friends of misery, as you may have heard, our beloved Claudia Manchanda transcended this realm on tuesday 4th march. may their heart and spirit know radical peace, deep rest, infinite love, comfort and safety. 🕊️🌹🫀
Claudia began working with misery in 2022, shortly after we launched our monthly outdoor gathering, misery medicine: plant magic. Claudia joined first as a participant - a very assertive participant, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of not just herbal medicine, but the anti-colonial story and the queer dream held within each petal, leaf and root. they quickly joined the team as a misery medicine facilitator, then became part of the core team, using their decades of community organizing experience to hear and steer us. they worked alongside many misery collaborators, and very closely with the misery directors, as colleague, comrade and friend, until november 2024, when they physically couldn’t anymore. they also forged deep caring connections with so many of the beautiful people who attend our offerings, and wider misery community. we are thinking of you all.
over the years, Claudia facilitated many misery medicine gatherings, featured in our short films about the programme, offered herbal foot baths at our summer misery party, danced with us at others, represented misery on radio shows, in journals and through delivering workshops with other organisations, spoke at our misery movies film screening, helped think through the difficult internal questions of running an organization like this and sowed seeds for projects we’ll be sharing with you in the future.
they brought so much comfort, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and play to every marsh, restaurant and meeting room we found ourselves in. they were one of the best things to ever happen to misery. in them lay the answers to why we do this work. they showed us in so many ways that they loved the project, and to be chosen by them is an honour we will carry forever.
this is our collective loss, and what an immense loss it is. Claudia is irreplaceable. they lived life by example. their presence filled up the room. Claudia called out all forms of oppression, not for props but because they couldn’t stand injustice, hypocrisy and global suffering. whether in Palestine to Sudan, Kurdistan to Congo, Haiti to Kanaky, they taught us all how to show up better in a world that so often hardens us.
given the private hell of their illness, Claudia could so easily have withdrawn, but instead they offered everything to their community with an open heart that knew no bounds. whether through misery or other radical projects they were part of (and there were many), holding space for organisers to reflect or lean on them, harvesting incredible herbal remedies, posting them for free to anyone who needed it, being the first in the group chat to offer support, jokes and solutions, cooking delicious dishes even if they couldn’t eat them themself, glowing always, despite everything, the list goes on. Claudia’s love radiated through all that they did.
we, like so many of you, are devastated. there will be no misery medicine in april, as we take time to pause, grieve, mourn and process this loss. later, we’ll be back in touch with some offerings and will keep you posted on any memorial events.
in the meantime, here you can find some grief resources that we hope can offer some respite.
if you have the capacity to share or donate to Claudia’s funeral fundraiser, please do.
we’re resharing this tiktok of Claudia schooling us about the environmental nakba in november 2023, their voice hoarse from a recent round of chemo:
more of claudia’s teaching moments are included in our misery medicine short films that can be seen here:
in 2023, Claudia spoke on Foundation FM about their work with misery, which you can hear here.
Claudia’s writing, Radical Herbalism During Genocide, can be seen here, read by Claudia and friends:
Claudia co-wrote the book, Wild Apothecary: Reclaiming Plant Medicine for All.
their wisdom and adventures were also often uploaded to their youtube & insta accounts.
we leave you with some words from misery facilitator Maki. the beautiful full post Roses in Spring can be read here:
My last conversation with Claudia was about the rose-cardamom medicines she’d made last year. She was THE radical herbalist, holistically healing in the truest sense, considering the impact of every layer and form of illness - from the physical and personal, to the collective and emotional. Of course, she would probably say that these are not separable, but intertwined and mutually informing. Claudia saw it all. She was a visionary. To me, she was roses. A heart-healing nervine, an opener, a friend to all.
Claudia taught me that rosehips are packed with vitamin C, great for boosting immunity, and totally delicious. I never got to send her my rosehip sambal, which she inspired me to make after sharing her rosehip ketchup recipe. She was the fiercest, funniest badass I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing – a beacon of integrity, passion, and humility, always learning, always inspiring. Claudia was that rare type of person that left deep impressions on everyone and anyone she met, whether you knew her for five minutes or five years. Truly profound. I’ve never met another person with so much power – true power. A power that couldn’t be contained or suppressed, even in a world that tried its hardest to silence her. From just her existence, as someone who defiantly, consistently refused to stop caring, Claudia showed us that strength and power can be forces for good - that real strength is compassion and community.
I never got the chance to tell Claudia this, but she gave me permission to be myself. Part of me didn’t believe it was possible to exist outside of the bullshit, or to care so deeply and unapologetically. What a joy it was to witness her. What an honour. Claudia gave me the gift of hope and she never even tried. I know, right down to the root, that she did this for many. She was generous like that. I don’t know if she ever knew just how much she really gave to people - how much she’ll continue to give, even now that she’s changing into stories, medicines, the colours of spring, the light returning to the days, the warmth returning to the nights.
our lifelong friend, revolutionary collaborator, radical herbalist, anti-capitalist teacher, nature-loving inspiration, gentle badass & forever misery icon,
this one goes out to you Claud. thank you for everything. we love you always.
misery xox
