The first thing is that I got my electricity back! Hallelujah! Actually, I got it back two months ago but forgot to mention it in my last update! It’s nice to be able to cook and heat bath water… even though we’re now in hot season. :( That means the next nine months will be a period of enduring mosquito bites, especially during rainy season (November – February)! That means lots of DEET (I apply it liberally like lotion!) and burning cow dung (which I don’t have) and basil. And planting lots of marigold and lemongrass.
That brings me to my next issue… we have been preparing ourselves for malaria season (during rainy season when mosquitoes breed like crazy). In July, our health workers (the overworked social workers/medical assistants/community advisors combined into one) ventured into the villages and recorded the names of under-five children who didn’t have insecticide-treated nets. About 17% of our catchment population are under-five (roughly 3,000), but most of them didn’t have nets. I think it was only about a quarter of those under-five who did have them. (Of course I don’t know how reliable the data is, because I heard some mothers would lie.) We just received the nets last week to distribute to the mothers, but there was a shortage of nets so some remained without them. In fact, the shortage of nets (and everything else) is so substantial that the donor withdrew distribution of nets to other targets. The original targets included the under-five children, people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, and other needy people, but the nets were so scarce that they could only distribute them to the under-five children.
I’m not sure who the donor is for this campaign, but I do know of a few who are trying to battle malaria. At the forefront is our very own Presidential Malaria Initiative. In 2005, Bush pledged millions of dollars to eliminate malaria in 15 countries with the worst cases of malaria. Malawi was one of them. Malaria is actually the number one killer here (as you may or may not remember from my update about “death season”); HIV is not. So many die from it that anytime a person is sick, the cause is assumed to be malaria – no questions asked. Not “What are your symptoms?” or “Were you tested?” It’s “Oh, you’re sick? Poor you. You must get malaria medicine.” But as I mentioned, the millions of dollars Bush pledged are going into the nets and medicine.
Another donor is PSI/Malawi. Their nets are usually given to the Ministry of Health who use the nets to promote incentives for women and children to attend the health facilities (instead of the traditional birth attendants and traditional healers who sometime put their lives at risk). Pregnant women usually receive a net during their antenatal check-ups (so the health professionals can monitor their health) and another one upon delivery (so they can have a proper and safe delivery that doesn’t involve putting herbs into their vaginas). And usually babies who are starting their immunizations would receive nets too.
At one point, UNICEF (or some other organization) was distributing nets to health centers to sell at a cheap price. But it was stopped for some unknown reason. I remember asking someone in the Peace Corps office about it and the response was about some unknown “higher up issue”.
On the one hand, there’s a huge demand for nets. I don’t know why there’s such a shortage of nets (isn’t it cheaper than DEET?), but I can understand why mothers are trying to scam the health workers to purchase nets for themselves. To them, malaria is the face of death.
But on the other hand, even with a sufficient supply of nets, they’d all be distributed by now if it weren’t for the “scammers”. While some people want to use the extra nets for themselves so they don’t have to buy them (most people wait until the free ones come even though they’re meant for children), others use the extras to sell for profit. By the lake, fishermen were using them for fishing. It’s beyond me why people refuse to spend money on a net (it was so cheap that it would only cost them maybe about 1.5 sodas’ worth) when the money they spend for treatment at a private facility or transport to a public facility would cost them 4-6 times what the net’s worth.
And that brings me to my next point – malaria treatment. My in-charge told me that before the Americans stepped in with their large-scale campaigns, people died from malaria without any hope of survival. Medicine was and still is so expensive that even private pharmacies couldn’t afford to buy them in Malawi. In fact, the plant used to make the medicine – Artemisia – is worth $300! Holy macaroni! The reason it’s so valuable is because it’s the only treatment that can effectively treat all strains of malaria (yet another reason why it’s so hard to combat). I heard the Chinese had known about the plant’s secret for centuries and refused to share it. It wasn’t until recently that the scientists discovered the secret after ten years of research. Since its discovery, some people have taken great effort to introduce Artemisia as a natural treatment. If you look at our health center’s front yard, you’ll notice a little tree that looks like a Christmas tree – that’s the miracle tree.
I think it’s amazing that there’s so much value in one little plant that it’s such a shame to think of so many potential medicinal plants being destroyed by deforestation and environmental degradation. Though natural medicine has been around for eons, the movement to use natural medicine as a complement to western medicine didn’t start until about ten years ago (perhaps coinciding with the discovery of artemisia’s secret?). You can learn more about it at http://www.anamed.org/.
I’ve been trying to set up natural medicine workshops for villagers, but the challenge is that we already have traditional healers (herbal doctors) are often associated with witchcraft. In reality, not all traditional healers practice witchcraft but because they both use natural means of “treatments”, natural medicine carries a negative stigma.
To be honest, I wasn’t interested in natural medicine much before I came here. My knowledge went as far as the bitter concoction my parents made for my colds (and which I adamantly refused to drink) and the “cuppings” and “back carvings”, but that was about it. I have yet to use acupuncture. Since I’ve been here, I have a newfound appreciation for our ancestors’ knowledge and methods of Eastern treatments. I think that we overrate Western medicine to the point of neglecting our ancestors’ methods that have worked since the beginning of time. What I like about ANAMED is that they actually try to experiment and see if a specific plant is effective or not, so we’re not blindingly believing in a plant’s potency.
So to advocate the use of natural means of improving your health, I’ll give you a few pointers! (Keep in mind that they’re not cures but are complementary to other forms of treatments to improve your health.)
-Garlic is good for boosting your immunity and memory, and reduces high blood pressure. It can also treat amoebas, colds, and fungal infections like athlete’s food
-Chilli pepper is good for flatulence and hemmorhoids! as well as rheumatism and hair loss. It can also help a woman with labor pains if you stick a chilli in her mouth!
-Lemon is good for coughs, fever, cold, and herpes labialis (canker sores).
-Eucalyptus is good for coughs, sore throat, and helps with diabetes and urinary infection. (It can also be used to make toothpaste!)
-Ginger is good for nausea and vomiting (especially during pregnancy) and hookworks.
-Onions are good for improving memory, gastrointestinal infections, and fungal infections.
-Aloe is good for burns, wounds, ulcers, conjunctivitis, and loss of hair.
-Pineapples are good for amenorrhea (lack of menstruation flow), oedema, external inflammation, and indigestion.
-Peanut leaves are goodf or sleeplessness.
-Coffee is good for migrains and nausea.
-Pumpkins (yes we eat them here!) are good for tapeworks and stimulating lactation after giving birth.
-Honey is good because it tastes good! :) It’s good for exhaustion (sleep is good too), heart diseases, liver damage, and most especially wounds.
There’s a whole lot more (see? isn’t it fascinating?) but I don’t want to write incessantly (or is it too late?)! I think it’s so interesting that the plants we live with and are used for ornamental or seasoning purposes can actually have medicinal purposes! I hope this gives you a newfound appreciation for Mother Nature and her gifts to us!
Baobab tree - the oldest tree in the world!
It's about 5,000 years old - can you imagine someone like the pharaoh passing through and embracing this tree? I'm sure once upon a time, it was worshipped by the Malawians. But this tree also has a lot of medicinal properties (and other uses) as well!
(By the way, can you see me standing next to the tree? haha)
