No! to mercury soap
The Friends of Natural Medicine for Development (AMENAD) is a small organisation of Christians made up of nurses and agronomists. I am one of the founders. We encourage good health and development through the use of natural medicine. We are very committed readers of Pas à Pas. Having noted with bitterness the thoughtless use of antiseptic soap based on mercury in the neighbouring centres of Barak, Lweba, Nundu and Mboko, AMENAD has just set up an enquiry into the use of these soaps in order to oppose their use. (Ed: mercury lightens the skin but is a dangerous poison.)
Any support from groups able to help us with their ideas or resources would be welcome. We would also like to exchange ideas and share experiences with other groups promoting health through the use of natural medicines.
M’munga Christophe Masona, c/o Hôpital Diaconia de Nundu, PO Box 53435, Nairobi, Kenya or; BP 2512, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Slogans
In our community reforestation project we find that slogans and wordplay can be very powerful tools if used wisely. Here are two we have found very useful.
We tell people that if they want excellent results when they plant trees they must use a new fertilizer called WPT. We tell them it is much more effective than NPK and is available free of charge in their own village. They become suspicious. Then in the Swahili language we start to explain that:
W means WAHI kupanda kabla ya Krisma (Be early – plant before Christmas at the beginning of the rains.)
P stands for PALILIA (Weed, weed and weed!)
T means TIFULIA shamba lako mwishoni mwa mvua (Loosen the soil at the end of the rains.)
WPT – now they understand and start joking about it! However it makes it very easy to remember and when put into action we are often still amazed at the results. This idea can be adapted into any language.
We also created a slogan which says – Kuwahi ni kufaulu, Kuchelewa ni kushindwa (If you’re early you succeed, but if you’re late you fail). We explain why with a flip chart of illustrations about farming, and make jokes about the first young man to choose his wife gets the best one and the last ones miss out!
Brian Polkinghorne, Box 302, Mwanza, Tanzania.
Email: bpolk@tan2.healthnet.org
Seed storage without air
With much pleasure I read Paso a Paso 32. We have another method of storing seeds. We store beans in a 200 litre drum. Before covering the drum, we put a candle in and light it, then we cover the drum. The candle flame uses up all the oxygen in the drum so the insect pests die.
Eduard Klassen, Paraguay.
Vegetable plots in town
Growing vegetables is a problem for many people living either in towns or in very dry areas. If you want to grow some green vegetables to use as a relish with maize meal, try my suggestion.
This is what you will need…
- a mixture of animal manure and good loam soil
- large, strong polythene bags
- a supply of water.
Fill the bags with manure and soil and place outside. Somewhere which provides some shade will prevent the bags drying out too quickly. Plant seeds or cuttings both in the top and in slits down the sides. Water regularly. Enjoy eating your vegetables!
James Kipnyango, PO Box 179, Turbo, Kenya.
Malaria infection
Malaria is commonplace throughout the year here in Guinea- Conakry, West Africa and worse during the rainy season. It is usually only children who show the typical symptoms of malaria (children from 0–10 make up nearly 30% of the population). A survey was carried out in January 1997, showing that malaria is the main cause of death among both adults and children. In 1994 over 600,000 cases were notified by health services – an annual rate of 96 per 1,000 inhabitants. Of the households included in the survey, just 16% use bednets – which are used in 43% of cases by the head of the household and in only 14% by children. The use of bednets decreases with the distance from towns (and rural areas had higher rates of malaria infection). Self-medication with chloroquine (despite high resistance here to chloroquine) is carried out by a quarter of the population in rural areas and by half the population in urban areas.
Our survey highlights the severity of malaria here. Not only is it the main cause of death, but it also has severe consequences on the economy with so many suffering ill health. This serious situation requires the active cooperation of both government and all religious denominational health services.
Dr William Sauyers, BP 2552, Conakry, Republic of Guinea.
Rural and Urban Poor Network
The main aim of this network of Christians is to bring together those who work among the poor and leaders of movements among the poor, who are often working in isolation. They have a regular newsletter and hold conferences to learn from each other. They are keen to welcome new members to the network.
Mahyeno Mission, PO Box 503, Dundee 3000, South Africa.
Seed treatment
ACCESS are a development group of the evangelical church in Liberia who are actively involved in the business of rebuilding their country after seven years of war. One of their programmes is producing and distributing vegetable seed for sowing next season and they have developed a simple treatment to preserve large quantities of seeds from pest damage.
Break up and dissolve one cake of Lifebuoy (or similar) soap in a gallon of hot water. Peel and chop finely one large onion and mix it with one beer bottle of kerosene. Stir both mixtures together with four gallons of cold water and spray using a watering can (with a fine spray) all over the seeds laid out on the ground. Dry the seeds well. If necessary, they can be retreated later.
ACCESS, AEL, PO Box 2656, Randall Street, Monrovia, Liberia.
Bamboo Management Guide
I've recently returned from Nepal where I worked for Tearfund. While there, I worked on bamboo propagation techniques (earning myself the title ‘Bamboo Bob’!) I prepared a management guide for bamboo, which was published in Kathmandu. The guide is now available to anyone who may be interested, on my web site at:
http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/bamboo.htm
Robert Bradshaw, 19 Bickerton Avenue, Bebington, Wirral, L63 5NA, UK. Tel/Fax: +44 151 645 2883
E-mail: rob@robibrad.demon.co.uk
Pruning for drought
In the 1991-2 drought in Zimbabwe a flock of geese was accidentally let into a plot of maize. They ate all the lower leaves (up to about a metre high). However, I noticed later that this plot actually yielded more maize during the drought than surrounding plots, which had not been damaged. Is there any evidence that pruning lower leaves helps preserve some yield during a drought?
Ronald Watts, P/Bag X20021, Empangeni 3880, S Africa.
Genesis of agriculture
In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth. He made man the manager of the Earth to keep it, maintain it and get all his food from it. And God made a demonstration site, the Garden of Eden for man to learn how to live on a well-planned farm.
It’s therefore our responsibility to keep the Earth as a well-planned farm by planting trees, providing water where needed, growing fruit where there is none and maintaining soil fertility and vegetation cover to control soil erosion.
Let’s make the earth a better place to live in!
Francisco Letimalo, Samburu District Development Programme, PO Box 48, Baragoi via Maralal, Kenya.