During my childhood, we did not have to go to dispensary for every medical problem. Unfortunately, I have almost forgotten almost all those tricks. Who would like to share some forms of traditional treatments with me?

sample this.

A child has stuck a pea deep in his nose. His mom takes him to the dispesary, and the guy in charge was giving a referal to the general hospital. An old man comes forward and and says, 'well, this is very easy', then he removed his snuff bottle. No he was not a Mungiki. He gives the kind a pinch, and immediately, the boy snizes and out flies the pea to the delight of the mother. Guess what, the mom still had to pay the Sh. 20 fee at the dispensary.

Sajini,I remember when we got cuts and skin tears.Maitû would get these thick leaves from this plant she called mûhûhitia.She squeezed the sap onto the cuts and let me tell you,it did sting.Just like alchohol rub.
Don't ask me the plants name in English cause I never asked. But it worked.Healed the cuts faster.

NWB
Nima mariitwa macio andu aingi matimooi, na nikio hari na bata tugerie kumagweta ona angorwo ni na Gikuyu. Hihi kwahote kugia na mundu ukumenya metagwo atia na Kimonimoni.

Na ningi ni kuri mundu uui miti iria mahithagira ya kuruga thubu? reke njurie muraata wakwa ni nguka na kihonia kingi kia unduire.

I remember since as the saying goes, boys will be boys, we used to play (at times dangerous games) and got hurt/wounded. As you may remember what followed was a swollen gland (we used to call them "ngaî") either at the arm-pit or at groin/hip area depending on where you were wounded. If mum came to know of it (of course you would be limping), she would heat the handle of mwiko and press it against the swollen gland. Need I say it wasn't a nice experience.

Talking of glands, if you had an attack of tonsilitis, she would give you a conction of salt dissolved in water and ask you to gaggle it. And it used to work.

I also do not know the names of some these plants but I am doing research on them and will say if I got them.

Wa Wakuru

Wa wakuru,
That was really funny. I remeber that muiko thing, and they say you have to strike the there firestones with the hot edge so that it could be effective.


And this is what I hear is the hot thing.
For flu, boil water, grind some ginger root and add to the boiling water, add some lemon, grind some garlic and add top the mixture. You can also add some honey, and once you take the concorting twice or thrice, your flu is gone.

sajini,
Can you believe that I actually came up with this remedy on my own. I do not believe in taking pills and I will do anything in this world to keep away from them. After reading about the medicinal qualities of garlic and ginger, I decided to try my own mix. What I do is extract the juice with a juicer then add hot pepper and honey. This thing is like a brew. It is great.
Thaaiii

Kirema Thahu
You are right on this. It happens that so many peopel are using this remedy.

I am sure you are familiar with the ear discharge (njika). I had the problem for around 15 years and medical treatment never helped. Then one old man suggested crushing some vine-like-plant and then administering two drops into the offending ear. after only two attempts the ear was dry, for ever. Unfortunately, I do not know the names of that plant, even in Kikuyu.

Now the crazy part. Before then, one woman had suggested that we catch a chameleon, then put the tail in the ears and as the chameleon swings its tail in the ear, my problem would be gone. My fear of chameleons ruled this one out and I never tried.

Thaaaaaai

Sajini: Ati kîmbu? lol! That's funny. But I have heard about that Njika stuff before. I also remember my own mum was poked by a tea bush and had a piece of the wood stuck in her leg for almost an year and no medical attention (including surgery) helped. Then one day a friend of hers came and told her she had overheard a street vendor give a talk on a solution to that. I cant remember what plant the vendor recommended and that lady bought it for mum. Believe it or not after applying it on the wound (which could not heal), the piece came out the following day. It was 2 inches big!

Sajini, NWW,
This is good news that your ears are well. This goes to the heart of what I am always complaining about. Historically, economically, anthropologically and even psychologically, we are damaged goods. There is no way one can convience me how a sane people can loose all what they have in their cultural and historical bank upon the promise that the same people who have acted in devilish way towards us will deposit something more valuable than what we had. This people are the worst criminal the world has ever seen, they have lied more than anybody else, despite their short history on earth and yet we had the audacity to believe them. Something has to have gone terribly wrong. My worry is that up to this day, we are still looking for the solution to our problems from these criminals. The thing that get me is how we as their victims are quick to allow the few goods one to be the shield behind which the henious criminals hide. The opposite is true for Africans, the few bad one are the taken to represent the whole continent. This has to stop and only african can stop this by changing the attitude towards themselves first and then towards the white suprimacists.
We need to start claiming all these remedies without delay. There are still many people around who can remind us of their names and uses. There are people like Gatua Wa Mbugua who are in this field and can do a lot to document them. He has actually mentioned something to that effect and I would whole heartedly support him. By support, we have to change and redefine this term. I have taken the lead by pledging to support all those who are involved in our total liberation in any way I can. I sell TN/CDS for Gatua to put a few dollars in his pocket. I do the same for a few other people especially writers. This does not cost me anything since I just keep their products with me whereever I go. I never have to stop what I am doing to attend to this business, however the returns are great. I felt great about spreading a positive message. Most of the gathering I attend end up being drinking parties and eating ceremonies. Little of substance comes up for discussion. But by having some books and other media material geared towards our culture or intellectual deveelopment, I have seen meetings change in tone and some people's mind along with them. I can now say that our people are not that ******, they just consume too much of the negative stuff.
In one of this searching escapes, I was shocked to find out that our elders were not as slow as some us try to make them, this guys had some really potent stuff that they use before viagra made it to the scene. I know the name, I just need to find out the plant and I will be in BUSINESS..
Thaaii

Loooooool,Kîrema Thahu,You are a real kîrema thahu.You have a way of saying the ugly truth and make it fun to read. It is true what you say.I remember my Wagui before he went to be with Mwene Nyaga,he was the medcineman of some sort.Whenever anyone got sick,he would cook them these drinks.Sour but they worked.If only I had written down the recipes.Maybe my grandmother would know.I should ask her .

True these people who claim to liberate Africa are the demons.But you know,there are some saints too.Not all are wicked.In every society,we have the good and the evil.

I concur.Someone should start writting down our traditional medicinal herbs and what have you.

NWB,
One person called me and old spirit and that has some validity to a degree. I certainly believe that most of us do not realize to what degree white people have influenced our thinking for their own benefit. The more I study these people and how they have projected their insecurity on us, the more I am amazed at how we are spending so much of our meager resources to empower them. I have therefore committed myself to exposing their lies to the bitter end.
I do not disagree with you about the dynamics of each society. We had bad people before the advent of the white man and we would still have bad people were we to eradicate every element of his being from our society. However, we should be very careful in how we use such powerful words. You see, the goal of the devil is to appear equal with everybody else. That is the highest compliment for him. For that reason I am usually very careful by insinuating that we are equal or similar with our oppressors.

I have come to understand the importance of dealing with him from that existential perspective. That he exists to rule over me and for me to be ruled by him. Any other way of viewing me is met with severe punishment. ASK MURUNGNARU AND HIS BOYS.
The greatest damage is not in the land and resources that these people steal from us but in the way in which they have damaged our minds. The truth of the matter is that most of us feel guilty for the wrongs that white people have done.

Look at home guards in our country. These fools fell for the lies that white people would never be defeated. Then when Mau Mau won the war, after it became too expensive for them (55million pound), they rushed to hand over the trophy to the homeguards. Now we have a country that is ruled by those very people who sold the country for a bowl of soup.

The obvious results are that these people are going to be led by self aggrandizement principles. Yet when you listen to this Europeans talk about Africa, the first thing to come out of their foul mouths is the level of corruption among our leaders. As for the country, the values that are upheld are those of the Europeans.

Now even the once proud Agikuyu find it much a bother to speak their own language. The final result will be a group of people who are easily exploitable for the benefit of the West.

When you see many of our youth wearing western clothes, listening to western music and watching western football, then you know it is time for masters to harvest what they planted. Amos Wilson was right when he said that the African is an artificial creation of the White supremacist system. To be sure just look at how we hate ourselves. The evidence is too obvious, we value everything western.

The mark of progress is actually measured by the distance the object is from our native home and its proximity to our oppressors. Only slaves can think in such a corrupt manner. I remember during Wamalwa's mourning. I thought is such a condescending attributing to say that he spoken the Queens English.

Could any self loving Jew think it a complement to say that he spoke Hitler's German?
But yet the comparison can not be made between the queen of England and Hitler. The queen killed more people than Hitler could ever think of killing in his lifetime. There could not be enough Jews for Hitler to kill in an effort to out do the queen. But because the African mind has been corrupt, he can weep more for the Jews that he weeps for himself.

Achebe, in his book, Things Fall Apart, put it perfectly when by saying that some people are outsiders but mourns louder than the bereaved family. This is what happens when you mess people's mind to the point where they think that their lives are not worth much.

We can see this today by how the world treats us. When the Genocide was taking place in Rwanda, the world went about its business as though the blood that was being shed was nothing but colored water. But when whites are killed by their own in Kosovo, then even the very victims of colonial-induced genocide are expected to show remorse for the whites. This is pure madness.

Lastly, remember that white people hide their hideous crimes behind the few of them who do not have blood on their hands. But yet even those who do not have blood on their hands directly benefit from the bloodletting of their brethren. The work of the missionaries laid the foundation for colonialism and the church played a direct role in classifying Blacks as ordained to be a servant of the white man.

Even their gods sees us only as servants first. We still listen to western preachers, not to mention our own, who tell us that contrary to what history shows, we are black because we are cursed by god. That is sad news. For that, even these that your are calling saints to me are equally as guilty. How can the west, with its history written in blood have the largest number of evangelists in the world telling people how to be moral? They should first fight their brethren in order to prove their commitment to justice.

There are some who have done so, like John Brown, who attempted to start a slave rebellion in the U.S by raiding an military post at Harpers Ferry in America. The list will not take long to exhaust, especially when compared to all those people from the continent that have died on their account. Think about the European wars, otherwise mislabeled WWI &WWII. Black did not even have the democratic rights that they were giving their lives to ensure that some of their masters continue to enjoy.

Lastly that politics of white supremacy is to hide those bad deeds of white people behind the few good gestures of their own while hiding the enormous kind and humane deeds of blacks behind the ****** deeds of a few ignorant Blacks. We are therefore viewed as guilty until proven innocent. Yet there a preponderance of evidence to show that the reverse is true.

For that reason, you have to be very careful when you say that there are saints. Look again and find out why the saints were acting as they were, maybe just maybe, they were plotting for greater gains.

That is why I believe that the aid that Africans receive from their former oppressors does them more damage than good.
You have to understand the psychology of oppression if you are to understand how such a small group of people can maintain a position to consume the majority of world resources without the oppressed raising a huff.
Thaaii

kirema thahu ni waria ona nie nyonaga kinya guku ndi tuhuni tutu turereirwo nyairobi tugika uguo urauga.Rimwe ndirikanaga tumwe tuoka kuma kenya twatungana tukiambiriria kumariria gikuyu tondu hari nie niundu uri hinya kwariria chege na gioko githungu,aii kamwe gakirire gakiuria aria angi nuu watuheire visa.Hari ko ri aria mabatire kuheo niaria take mari na maritwa ma gikuyu no matiuui kwaria na mitugo na nduire citu na matire thoni makiita Agikuyu.Ni muthungu uriku wiitaga ngeretha waragia gikuyu! Ni kieha muno ati ndirathire kiharo kia mubira ndira kora kahuni gakinyite ouguo guku waafrika wenzangu makinjira kaumite kenya ngigithie gukariria gagikinjira getauo Murimi ngigichenjia kuma githungu ngiaria gikuyu wee nderiruo "niendiaragia kiu ndereriruo Nrb" nuugukuira ati ndeto itiathathaire!tondu ri ndiaragiria thungu githungu na gikuyu githungu! Matige chenjie maritwa mone kana ni makwendo ni nyakero.Nita kirumi gia tunyitire!

KT, All Im saying is that we have saints in every society.Same goes for lucifers buddies.They are in every society no matter the color , race and or continent. We can not blame it all on the white folks. I honestly blame Africans more for getting addicted to their nemesis culture.

It is fools who have no clue of their history that think the oppresors accent,way of dressing and their characteristics are to die for.

The Parents should teach their children their history and tell them of the cruel and horrific things that their so called idols did to them. These children hate their cultures so bad that they will do whatever it takes to change the way they talk,the way they dress and worst of all the way they treat their elders just so they can be like them whites. And I thought MJ was a hopeless miserable pathetic black boy who did not know where he has come from.

If you read the Black history esp in the US,you realise that these people went through hell.The things the white folks did to them is unbelievable. It is sick.

One would have to be the greatest fool to want to be like them.It is sad that many Kenyan children have gone astray.Something is really wrong with these children.Or is it that something is really wrong with their parents?

It's a very sad state of affair. I pray hard that this will come to pass and pple will be proud of who they are. I remember my nephew (a small boy) while visiting my "cucu" who would be maitu to him and this boy just told her "sasa". Remember this is in Nyeri where when greeting especially an older person you MUST start with, "Wakia...". We had to show him how to do it and I thought, he needs to be taught some few things about his culture lest he becomes lost, he's neither western nor kikuyu. Haven't we had stories of adults going upcountry and calling a cow, "doggy kubwa"? for that probably is all s/he knows. I thought absence makes the heart groe fonder. It's shocking what Ngii Ndune says he experienced because I travel a lot and when I get someone out there who we can talk even in Kiswahili (leave alone Kik), I am over myself with joy! So sad.

Anyway, without risking the wrath of Mwarimu Sajini who might whip us for digressing, I remember when we were kids, there is this wild fruit called "ndongu". I dont know its english or botanical name but I hear that it used to heal wounds. I don't know whether it was the same that was used to bathe as it used to produce foam. Then there was the tobacco to apply on a spiders bite (or has this been mentioned before).

But what amazes me todate (although I don't know whether it worked) was what we were told to do when we spotted a snake. Ati you were meant to hold your wrist very tightly and that way, you were "tying" (kuoha) the snake and it would not bite. looool!!!

Wa Wakuru,
About holding your hand, it seems illogical, just to stand there holding your hand when 'gikunjo' saya you get some stick and smash the dragon's head.

I have since read somewhere that the snake does not use its eyes to see, but that it detects movement using infra-red rays or something like that. With no movement it cannot detect anything.

Think of it, when you hold your hand, it helps you maitain stability of your body so that you do not move. When you do not move, the snake detection radar becomes blank. Metaphorically, you can say that 'niwamioha'. That is why is does not know where to strike. If that logic is right, then you can see that waht at first looked foolish and ungrounded have very strong scientific backing. while their theory was wrong, the whole thing was not without merit.