A big thank you the lovely Orion Talmay for having me as a guest on her podcast, Stellar Life.

Stellar Life podcast is about taking your life to the next level; from just “Ok” or “good” to “STELLAR”. This podcast features world-renowned experts in various topics – from self-development, health, wealth, and sexuality to relationship advice, women’s empowerment, biohacking and much more.

Your life is a puzzle composed of thousands of pieces. Each show addresses one or more of these pieces. The episodes are packed with “big picture” inspiration and helpful tools for building your dream life.

 

One of the “Oh yuk” chapters in Africa’s Child, the first book in my memoir series, deals with how we were rid of parasites and other infestations common at the orphanage and in Africa.

Back then the German nuns that raised us relied mainly on aspirin, home remedies and prayer to keep us healthy and cure us of our illnesses. On my latest visit to Kifungilo, we were served delicious teas made from herbs fresh from the garden. I recalled the many different teas we drank growing up, mainly as part of our meals, but often as remedies as well.

Below, Twin Cities writer Katie Bowden shares some research on German folk remedies the nuns used to keep us healthy at the orphanage, and she also gives a contemporary perspective on them.

 

 

Keeping Healthy in Kifungilo Orphanage: German Folk Remedies

By Guest Blogger Katie Bowden

A child’s stomachache can often be caused by ingesting something they weren’t supposed to be eating or by sensitivities to specific foods. Modern responses to these pains, however, are much different from the remedies used in an East African orphanage during the 1960s.

Maria Nhambu spent her childhood in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, at the Don Bosco Orphanage and School for mixed race children. Some students had parents, others did not. Those with parents experienced benefits unavailable to those without providers, such food higher in quality and quantity.

Nhambu, having been turned over to the orphanage shortly after birth, was considered a complete orphan and had scarce resources as a result. Having no parents or family in the nearby villages, Nhambu would sometimes ask classmates for a share of their food or scavenge the berries that grew wild in Tanzania.

Every three months, the children of the mountain orphanage were spoon-fed castor oil by Sister Silvestris, who was considered their resident doctor and nurse. The castor oil was a preventive measure, meant to flush out parasites that accumulated in their intestines as a result of their living conditions. Castor oil itself has been used as a laxative for thousands of years, and is an effective treatment for constipation. The fatty acid within castor oil, ricinoleic acid, binds to receptors on the smooth muscle wall of the intestine. The body then reacts by contracting the muscles that push out stool, working effectively to move things through.

Modern health organizations also state that castor oil is not meant to be used on children under the age of twelve. Nhambu, along with other children, dreaded the treatment as a normal part of their health care routine. The evenings after treatment were marked by a widespread loss of appetite, after the castor oil stripped the lining of their stomachs. The floor would swarm with “live ringworms, round worms, and tapeworms” that were purged from the children’s stomachs (Nhambu, 71). The children would go to bed at the end of the day, some having already fainted from weakness and the smell permeating their living quarters. The treatment would have run its course by morning, but left them exhausted.

Children were served herbal teas made from the herbs grown in the extensive gardens at Kifungilo. Peppermint, chamomile, lemon balm and other fragrant teas prepared with a bit of sugar accompanied their meals.

Sister Silvestris was acting in a long tradition of folk remedies that started with Hildegard of Bingen, a 12^th century German nun whose herbal Natural Science was published posthumously in 1533. Germany itself has a rich history of herbal medicine, with many herbs—such as St. John’s Wort, ginseng, and Echinacea—approved as drugs for formal prescription today. The sale of herbal drugs as medicine was affirmed into German law in 1901, and affirmed again in 1961.

Sometimes treatment was based on traditions of folklore. Children who contracted mumps at the orphanage were treated in the infirmary by laying strips of bacon around their face and cheeks in an effort to reduce the swelling. This form of treatment is similar to an old German-American remedy, where pinning bacon to a piece of flannel and wrapping it around the neck was believed to cure a sore throat.

Current medical treatment in Germany is not reluctant to place faith in alternative treatments, as long as effectiveness is proven. A study conducted in 1989, looking into the science of sweating out a cold, discovered that participants who sat in a sauna twice a day only caught colds at half the rate of those who never used a sauna. The sauna’s high temperature of 192 degrees Fahrenheit was breathed into the participants’ airways and would easily kill any cold viruses incapable of surviving in such heat.

As for Nhambu, her childhood was marked three times a year by castor oil remedies administered out on the school verandah, alongside all the other children. During an infirmary visit—which often resulted in meals gifted to her by patients who were too sick to eat them—a young girl offered Nhambu the bacon that had been wrapped around her head in an effort to treat the swelling from mumps. Nhambu peeled off the greenish strips and smuggled them out in the waistband of her panties. She shared the bounty with her best friend, Elizabeth, dividing the bacon’s fat and meat between them. Afterwards they licked their palms clean—and didn’t contract mumps as a result of their contraband food.

Back at Rancho La Puerta for another week of teaching Aerobics With Soul® and enjoying the spa, massages, the food, morning hikes — all of it!

I’ll also give a talk about my Dancing Soul Trilogy. It’s always a treat to be at Rancho La Puerta.

 

 

 

 

 

On the one hand it’s hard to believe that 3 years have already passed since my first book was published. On the other hand, I can still feel every lo-o-o-o-n-g hour of labor and the years of sleepless nights that gave birth to ‘Africa’s Child’. Happy Anniversary to the first book of the Dancing Soul Trilogy – the book that took 25 years to write!

Africa’s Child being embraced by her beloved Sistas Connie and Coco Bennett, at Rancho La Puerta Mexico

Maria Nhambu, I salute you! This was singlehandedly one of the most fascinating stories I have ever read. I laughed until I cried, I cried until my heart ached, I jumped up and down, I screamed at the pages of the book as if I were speaking to real life people! This narrative is fascinating and extraordinary, it provides a very vivid account of the life of an abandoned mixed-race child in an orphanage in Tanzania. I don’t like to compare authors because I think they are all unique in their own right. However, my all-time favourite author is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the way Maria writes reminds me of her, she has the same ability to arouse emotions in you that you did not know existed. This book is part one of a trilogy and I look forward to reading the other two books. Blessings to you Maria Nhambu, this is a true masterpiece.

– Green Pastures

 

Purchase Africa’s Child here.

 

I am incredibly excited to announce that I have been recognized as a Book Excellence Award Winner for my book, DRUM BEATS, HEART BEATS, in the Memoir Category.

Out of hundreds of books that were entered into the Book Excellence Awards competition, my book was selected for its high quality writing, design and overall market appeal.

To view my complete award listing, you can visit: https://honorees.bookexcellenceawards.com/#!/Drum-Beats-Heart-Beats-Autobiography/p/143373570/category=36034731

Released in 2018, Drum Beats, Heart Beats completes the Dancing Soul Trilogy, my memoir. The first book is available in audio now and the audio for America’s Daughter will be available late fall. It’s been a lot of work, exciting, daunting, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding to get my story to a larger public. Thank you, readers, for your interest, support and for spreading the word about my books.

You can get a copy for yourself at https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Beats-Heart-Dancing-Trilogy/dp/0997256168

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of speaking at A Novel Idea Bookshop in Dar- es- Salaam, Tanzania. It was a wonderful modern gift and book shop. This flagship store carries over 15,000 titles including best sellers from around the world, Africa Interest, Cookbooks, non-fiction, children’s, educational, travel and many more.

I was flattered and excited to see my books displayed next to Michelle’s Obama’s book. (Probably that’s as close as I’ll ever get to her!) 🙂

 

 

We had so much fun filming Kilimanjaro — the advanced level of Aerobics With Soul® — at Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1994!

Our party of 21 people, including dancers and film crew, left the United States loaded with equipment, exercise wear, music cassettes, choreography books and our own seamstress —  who came in handy for the multiple wardrobe malfunctions!

Those days the film crew used huge video cameras that they carried on their shoulders while they filmed. We were joined by several dancers from Kenya and one from the UK. The makeup artist, who did a brilliant job, came from Nairobi. For the entire two weeks of filming, she kept us looking fresh in spite of the constant perspiration running down our faces from dancing in the 95 degree tropical sun! We cleared out a patch of land in the Park, covered it with a tarp, and that became the stage where we danced. A few weeks after the filming, our “stage” reverted to its original state and blended with the rest of the vegetation in the Park.

I have returned to Tanzania several times since the filming. Each time I make a pilgrimage to the spot  where Kilimajaro was filmed. It has been transformed into a tranquil place where visitors can enjoy a sundowner (drink at sunset) while watching animals make their twice daily trek to the Tarangire River to drink. This is how our dancing stage looked on February 5th, 2019, when I was there.