Mozambican Birthday.

 

(This post comes almost two weeks late because of my pitiful luck with electrical gremlins and pathetic internet access. Sorry for the delay...  :- ) 

Don’t laugh... but I spent my birthday this year reading.

            --Yep. Reading.

Not having any meetings to attend or local officials to meet (as I’m still waiting to hear back from the director of the ministry of health), I decided to dig into the Natural Medicine in the Tropics book by Dr. Hans Martin Hirt and Bindanda M’Pia. (Check out their amazing work with this link.)

All I can say is... I’m inspired. All I want to do is plant things and watch them grow.

Already I’ve had the chance to see some of these natural remedies in action... and they work! The cough syrup you already know about... but do you know that you can use garlic as a natural antibiotic?!

A boy was brought to me with a severely infected and pus-filled wound recently. It was so nasty, there was quite a bit of debate as to whether or not he should start antibiotics immediately. But having just read this book, I suggest he bind it first overnight with a garlic compress then re-evaluate in the morning.

Well... one night of the garlic compress however was all it took. The next morning, the pain was gone along with the pus-filled infection. Antibiotics were not needed after all!

Oh how I love garlic!

Oh, but I digress... I meant to share about my birthday.

To be brief... my day was filled with books; my night was filled with cake --delicious, strawberry cake.

The middle school aged orphan girls baked me a two layered white cake and filled it with strawberry jam and topped it with butter frosting.

Although not the prettiest cake I’ve ever seen, it certainly rivaled some the finest of bakeries in taste! It was delicious!

Plus the girls honored me in song, singing Happy Birthday in harmonized sopranos and altos. Believe me, having a dozen well-trained voices serenade you for your birthday is delightful!

(Mavis, the woman who runs the girl’s home used to teach music and voice back in here native land of England. She has taught the girls well!)

My new capulana (aka: African print).

As a gift, the high school girls bought me a capulana --a traditional African print which is worn as a skirt. It’s green, blue, black, and white. I absolutely love it!

The beautiful S. African Milk Tart.

But my birthday celebration didn’t end there; the following day a fellow missionary introduced me to Dutch Milk Tart --a South African specialty. It took her all day, as you have to make it all from scratch. But boy was it worth it!

            --Absolutely delicious... and unlike any tart I’ve ever tasted before.

I have to say, I’ve really enjoyed my birthday this year thanks to all my dear friends across the world and here locally. Thank you all for helping me mark the day!

May the next 35 years be equally blessed and full of friends!

Homemade Cough Syrup



Squeeze the lemons. Need 1 cup.

The other day someone complained that there was a lot of coughing going around the orphanage and it was too expensive to buy cough syrup in town. So I suggested we make a batch of our own instead.

I started by looking into some of the tropical medincine books hanging around the compound to see if someone had already figured out a recipe. I was thrilled to find the following recipe almost immediately. Plus all the ingredients were easy and (more or less) cheap to find.

I just finished my first batch today and it turned out great. Good luck on your own batch! 

Stir sugar into boiling water.



First you have to make Honey Wine, then you make the Cough Elixir. I'm very pleased with the taste. 

Honey Wine:
Honey Wine is used as a basic liquid for medicinal wines and syrups. If prepared well it contains 12-14% alcohol.

Honey** 2.5 liters


Stir for 15 mins at a high boil.

Water 2.25 liters

Fruit juice* 0.25 liters (or 1/4 bottle or 1 cup)

Yeast ½ teaspoon (brewers yeast or normal baking yeast)

 
**If you do not have honey, use sugar (2 kg) with 2.75 liters of water, 0.25 juice, and ½ teaspoon of yeast.

* You can use the juice for any fruit (i.e. mango, orange, lemon). It’s needed to supply the eyast with the minerals needed.

Boil the honey or sugar, water and fruit jice mixture for 15 minutes. Filter and pour into a 5 liter container (preferably glass, otherwise plastic). Leave to cool. Add the yeast.

Yeast is added once wine is cool.

Drill a little hole in the lid of the container adn insert a thin tube (i.e. a tube used for medical infusions). The other end of the tube is inserted into a mug filled with water. This has the effect that the surplus carbon dioxide can escape but no atmospheric oxygen can enter the container and spoil the wine.  

Keep the container in a warm place and shake it gently every day. After 2-3 weeks th efermeneting process is finished. Filter the wine through a clean cloth. Store teh wine in an airtight bottle in a cool, dark place.  

Pound out Eucalyptus leaves.



Cough Elixir:

Honey wine 5 liters

Eucalyptus leaves 250 grams --(dried and pounded)


Mix and keep in a warm place, covered but not tightly closed, for 5 days. Filter and store in airtight bottles in a cool, dark place.   

Dosage:

Adults 1 teaspoon, 3 times daily

Add eucalyptus only when wine is done.

Children 20-40 drops, 3 times daily

Recipe reproduced with permission.

“Natural Medicine in the Tropics” by Dr. Hans Martin Hirt and Bindanda M’pia. Published: by anamed (Action for Natural Medicine), Schafweide 77, 71364 Winnenden, Germany

Website: www.anamed.net