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| Fatma Mansoor |
Kongowea is on the main land at the North Coast along
Mombasa - Malindi road across the Nyali Bridge. Kongowea is a big area with
high population, the place host all the tribes in Kenya. This is due to the
fact that the only big market in Mombasa is in Kongowea. The people living here
are generally middle class there are rich people; the landlords. The houses are
semi-permanent and of Swahili architecture. Four roomed house, two small rooms’
stores behind, a Swahili kitchen, a big corridor in between the rooms, a joined
toilet and bath room. The space is used to welcome visitors, eating, resting to
get fresh air during the day. The Swahili house has two main doors, one in
front and the other behind. The Swahili house is entirely meant for a Swahili
family. The design and space caters for their needs in their every day’s life,
however due to economic constrains the rooms are rented out to individuals or
families resulting to congestion. Sharing of facilities available e.g. the
toilet, bath room, kitchen depends on the understanding of the people living
there but in most of the time it creates havoc.
In 1996 I was living in Kongowea in a Swahili house,
in one of the rooms. The room on the left side, immediately from the main door.
The other rooms lived the people from the up country, some live with their families.
I can’t remember the date but it was on a Saturday February, 1996 a day for
general cleaning and laundry. I was going about my house chores, happy; I was
in a good mood that day. I was almost
done at 3.30pm when I experience this sharp pain in my stomach, the pain keeps
persisting and until I was very restless and cold not stand or sit any more, I
ended p crawling down crying for help. Fortunately my husband arrived and
immediately went to seek help to take me to the hospital from the uncle who
lives just opposite our house. Uncle Hussein
(deceased
Mwenyezi Mungu amrehemu) accompanied my husband to my place Mzee Hussein
(Mwenyezi Mungu amrehemu amweke pahali
pema pa wat wema Inshaallah) looked at me, examine me for sometime for about
5 – 7 minutes and finally he open up and said “THIS IS NOT A HOSPITAL CASE THIS
IS ZONGO ACCORDING TO THE BEHAVIOR THAT I SEE” this was my first time
to hear the word zongo and its was a big vocabulary to me.
Mzee Hussein then asked my husband to go to the nearby
bush to get tunguja mwitu and collect small stones to perform the zongo
exercise.
My husband returned with the items and the zongo
exercise was performed immediately. The foam was applied all over my body
almost three times and within half an hour I was okay and standing with my two
feet again. Amazing!!!
After the zongo exercise mzee Hussein asked him again
to go to the bush and get Mnuko uvundo leaves. On his return
he asked him to mix up the leaves and water and squeeze the green leafs to the
juice add a little salt to taste and give it to her. He said the plant is good medicine for the
stomach ache, gastric, flu, and chest pain and above all it also also protect
one from the evil eye.
The story is based on my true personal experience that
happened way back two decades ago, and because I got married to a Digo to be
precise the indigenous knowledge has helped me all along. I use mnuko uvundo in my daily life. Especially
when I give birth I use the leaves of mnuko uvundo to birth my child, I used
it also as medicine to relieve stomach ache pain to my newly baby born, to
protect them from evil eyes. The traditional knowledge does work wonders and I
believe in it.
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