Traditional Healthcare Integration Network

MEDICINAL PLANTS IN FOOD AND BEVERAGES

2011-02-25T01:25:00.003-08:00

It is somewhat embarrassing to read, as the title of this introduction: “Medicinal and Aromatic plants in Food and Beverages”. The combination of “Medicinal” and “Food” sounds as a prescription: “Take ½ hour before meals” or may remind too much of such lovely ladies as Mrs Toftana from Palemo and Napoli with about 600 victims. The Marquise de Brivivilliers, who experimented first on poor hospital patients in Paris before he got to the proper act. Mrs. Héléne Jegade from Rennes, accused of murders and the Dutch Mrs. Van der Linden from Leiden with 102 attempts of which at least 27 were proven to have been successful.

However, poisoning was not a specific feminine business and insanity was already on the way. Well-known are the classical cases of Mandins and Britannica who had to be cleared away in order to give room to Nero; we have the famous Borgia family. Alexander and Cesar and further the names may be mentioned of sainte croix, the teacher of Madame de Brivivilliers and of Le voisin and of Guibourg, who got a total complement from their special activities.

In modern times the combination of “Medicinal and Food” has also a special aspect in that administering of “Medicinal” products, even medicinal plants, together with food, might lead to the involuntary ingestion of such medicinal products, which would pose the ethical challenge of an infringement of personal freedom and may lead to juridical questions.

The addition of fluorides to the drinking water to prevent dental cares has caused a lot of disturbance in some countries and this practice has had to be abandoned in some cases on court-order. The question of interest here is; what characteristics, which properties made a plant a medicinal herb and distinguish it from other plants, from vegetable food and food ingredients. For example, the fresh lemons medicinal products because of their ability to heal? And what about peppermint-liqueur, which is widely used as a tea? Whilst other people may consume it in the form of peppermint, wisely coloured green – the

confectioning. Nevertheless, peppermint is also used medically in pharmaceutical preparations: toothpastes ointments, lozenges among others.

This double-faced used of a herb, on one hand for medical purposes, on the other hand as an ingredient in the preparation of alcoholic beverages, and of which peppermint is not the one and only example, is not surprising as it may look on first sight. Many of the recipes for such liqueurs had their origin in medicinal pharmacies of the monasteries, which shows that the title is not so awkward as it in the first sight may have appeared.

The problem of the “Materie medico” for the classification of a herb as a medicinal herb” becomes even more complicated when the growing interest in the so called “alternative medicinal practices and therapeutics is considered. These alternative therapeutics, such as for instance, homoeopathy, use a much more important number of herbs than the so-called official, allopathic medicine

The field of possible medicinal herbs is even more complex than the plants used in the official medical science and its alternative therapeutics. For instance, there are the herbal teas, which are on the border-line of medicine, healthcare, and beverages. Further there are those plants used in folk medicine. Belonging to the field are also aphrodisiacs, love-portions and virility stimulating herbs. The recent interest in modern verification of traditional uses of panox ginseng, echinacea is an example. Finally there are also the herbs playing a role in witch-craft, ancient as well as modern ones, in which people get “high” with vigor and confidence. For instance, “Peyote alkaloids used for rituals, including religious. Amaranath for immortality, basil-good wishes fennel – fidelity; among others. Taken in sufficient quantity in orange juice are reported to make a person “high”, a state of mind which certainly is more psychic then physical. Side effects such as the victim walking on all four and roaring like a beast may conjure us being high.

In all cases the plants, the herbs or their derived products are taken for their effects, be these real effects or supposed ones. The question now arises, what criterion defines such effect as being a medical one. So all these effects have to be purely physical effects like healing wounds or stopping an infection in order to be called “medical effects” or should psychic effects also be taken into account? The later is important in connection with aromatic plants, since psycho-effects are part of their activity.

In Europe discussions have been going on in regard to the problem of defining “medicinal herbs”, mainly in connection with its public health aspect and legal aspects, among the latter those regarding the regulation of distribution and sales of medicinal herbs. It should be recalled that since its dawn mankind has lived with herbs and has used them in connection with his feeling of well-being, his health in the broadest sense. The use of herbs is innate to man, to say so. And he still goes out in the field to gather for example; dandelion leaves for a salad in a health cure.

The extensiveness of the herbs-field, its diversity and diffusity, together with the “folk”-character of parts of it and the law of signatures, may lead in these discussions around “medicinal” to playing with words and become merely a matter of chance, without resulting in an unambiguous definition of what has to be regarded as a medicinal herb. Apart from its public health aspect, an economic aspect is involved also. In case the sale of “medicinal herbs” is to be restricted to certain authorized persons only, such as pharmacists and druggists, a clear definition would get economic importance also.

A much more promising approach than the discussion of such an ambiguous subject as is the definition of “medicinal” is the setting of quality standards and specifications for herbs; offered as “medicinal herbs”. An initiative for such an approach has to be taken up by pharmacies.

Setting quality standards and specifications also means that enforcement has to be possible, which requires that manpower and facilities are available. Without such instruments of enforcement any regulations becomes a “paper tigger”.

Looking at a herb and considering its effects it may be clear that many herbs are multi-effective. It depends on our interests which “effect” gets our attention and our aim. Conditions of use, including the dose, become very important with regard to the conclusions at which one may arrive in these studies. Examples of plants with multi-effects are, for example Piper Methysticum has been used as a medicinal plant; in candied form and in liqueurs. Also Matricaria camomila, which is not only a very old therapeutic used internally as well as externally, is an ingredient in a number of alcoholic beverages, and finally, it is also used in cosmetics ranging from hair-shampoos to bath-perfumes.

Considering the use, it is important to recall that the human being is a combination of coordinated functions and the necessary instruments. Included in this is the interaction between physical and psychical functions. Applying a herbal product to a man is adding the “multi-effective” herb to the “multi-functionally body”. The results may be different in case this human body is disturbed, is ill or in case we deal with a sound and healthy human individual.

The combination of multi-effective and multi-functional also explains why on administration of a herb apart from a main effect also side-effects may be observed. One-effect-drugs are rare in botanicals. It explains why some effects can be observed at a certain dose and others are not. They may need a higher dose in order to reach their threshold value.

As the subject of this paper is the use of herbs in food, beverages, the therapeutic effect of aromatic plants will not further be discussed. This leaves the effects connected with the flavour of our food drinks.

With the sensation “flavour” a very complex phenomenon comes forward. Its complexity is even such that it is possible to focus here only to some of its most elementary aspects. The term “aromatic” is even that elementary, that it is practically impossible to define it. That reflects in the difficulty of defining “aromatic herbs”; it might be possible to describe aromatic herbs as plants which distinguish themselves by a pleasant, distinct aroma or a sharp or characteristic taste. They are used in the preparation of dishes and drinks to enhance their taste and aroma or to add to these.

It follows from this description that aromatic herbs and their derived products belong to the characteristic ingredients in our diet. Roughly they may be distinguished from other ingredients not only by their aromatic properties, however, also by not having a definite nutritive value. Their aromatic properties bring them in that group of diet-ingredients which may be characterized as products of delight. What effects do the aromatics exert in connection with our food?

There is, of course, first of all the sensorial effect to be discussed later in somewhat more detail, which, however, is important also with regard to its connection with the physiological effect. Aromatics stimulate in one way or another functions of the digestive tract. This starts already with the salivary glands, which results in making “the mouth water” as a popular expression, existing in many languages, says.

This stimulating, appetite-raising effect is well appreciated and on the market are many “appetizers” mostly alcoholic beverages, prepared using aromatic herbs or their extracts. Nearly every region has its own traditional appetizer. Beerenburg, jagermeisier, Unterberg, campari, pernod to name only a few. Their cecipes are mostly well-guarded secrets although a number of components are known.

Another function of the aromatic herbs is that of “digestive”. The secretion of gastric juice may be stimulated, the re-absorption may be speeded up, the peristaltic movements influenced. Some aromatics such as chamomile may stimulate the gall-bladder, others such as hop, pimpiniella and Bero-beris have diuretic (urine stimulating) properties.

Given their important physiological role, it will be clear that aromatics are indispensable components of our diet, as are the energy supplying ones, such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates, the vitamins and the trace elements.

Food without aromatics is particularly inconceivable and even if it is of high nutritive value, however without taste or aroma, it is not acceptable to the consumer. This problem is well-known to those who are interested in the battle against protein-deficiency. Highly purified vegetable or animal proteins are not accepted by the undernourished unless properly flavoured.

The term “properly flavoured” turns the attention to what may be called, the social and cultural aspect of the use of aromatics. For it is not only necessary that a food has nutritive value and in addition to this that is flavoured for physiological reasons, it should also be flavoured properly. In other words: that the type of aromatization chosen is in conformity with local cultural habits. A “foreign” aromatization is not accepted, the “familiar” or “own” flavouring is appreciated.

In the course of time local traditional dishes have originated each with their own characteristic aromatization pattern. Examples are the Indian curry-dishes, the Garlic (lasan), marinated herrings of the North Sea countries and a number of alcoholic beverages such as the Dutch Gin and the Italian Vermouth. Religion has also influenced these traditions.

The local traditional dishes were manifestations of what may be called the regional cuisine or the hybrid Chinese-Indonesian one. Also thought-associations have developed on these traditional dishes. “Smorgasbord” is associated with Scandinavia, Caviar rings Russian bells and if “Paprika” is mentioned, it is Hungary that comes up in our minds.

Aromatics also reflect historical and social developments. In “a distant mirror” Barbara Tushman shows that in the 14th century strict regulations existed for what was considered appropriate for the different classes with regard to clothing and meals. In England in 1363 the law provided that a merchant worth £1000, had a right to wear the same dresses and consume the same meals as a knight, worth £500. And regarding to these meals it may be stated that the well aromatized good tasting meals for a long time have been regarded as a privilege of the higher classes, as a status symbol.

In the course of the industrial era also the food industry arose with it the industrial preparation of aromatic products. In this way better flavoured food and above all more varied food became available to growing groups of the population and to more people than ever before.

An important aspect in this social-historical development has been the commercial contact between different cultural groups. Spices are an example of the role aromatics have played in this respect. Spices for a long time were expensive products and the spice-trade has been an important political and economic factor in the 15th to 17th centuries. Venice, Portugal and Holland are examples of this.

Another element in the contact between different nations has been the improvement in the means of transportation. The steam-engine, the railway, the plane, the internet and in combination with other social developments, have increased enormously the mobility of important information and groups of the population. Tourism has brought many people in contact with “foreign” cuisines. Military expedition forces have been another, mostly less appreciated means of contact.

The last Vietnam-war has shown this. Another example is the Dutch Military action in Indonesia in the 1950-ies which brought thousands of young Dutchmen in contact with the cultures of the Indonesian archipel. As a result “nasi-goreng” a rice dish, together with its sambal, ketjap and aromatics has become a common item on the Dutch menu, to such an extent that even now it is manufactured industrially and canned, for instance. Apart from the tourist contacts, quite a modern development is the phenomenon of volunteer service; which has been found to introduce cultural habits, also eating habits into indigenous ones, culminating into exotic restaurants in our cities.

And, he who wants to see how all this may end up, a visit to the United States will not only show him restaurants from every part of the world, he may also find the results of hybridization in this field such as the sign reading. Italo-American “smorgasbord” some years ago along Road 36.

Given the importance of the role of the aromatics in contribution to the characteristics of the local traditional dishes and of the regional cuisine makes clear their importance in the historical developments. It brought all kinds of aromatic herbs all over the world to the shops and the kitchens of our present world civilizations. But the questions arises, what is on the background of all this? What in the end makes aromatics that important? These questions lead us to the psychic or psychological effect of aromatics.

The nutmeg case has been mentioned already. Luckily the effects of aromatics herbs, taken with foods or beverages in the usual, normal dosage are not as horrifying and extreme as they are often cited. Contrary even to this, their effects are mostly pleasant. If a person has a problem, a well prepared dish can help him out of the dead-lock. “A United Kingdom (UK) member of parliament Mr. Friend (What is in a name?) may be quoted from chandelier, July 1981, writing: “When all is bleak), when the bailiff hammers on the door, the Samaritans ring and make ugly noises and television shows partly political broadcasts on all channels, there are those who obtain solace from music others seek comfort in literature.

I eat. Some sing, some dance while others climb mountains, sail oceans or discover new horizons. I eat, before you accuse me of reaching in the same monotonous way to the slings and piripricks of differing emotions, let me explain that I do not eat the same things. My gastronomic intake is carefully programmed to suit the “occasion” (end of quote). Mr. Friend then continues to describe the various dishes he associates with certain emotions, ranging from when his shares have gone down badly, or being treated with sufficient consideration, to feeling slothful.

In the later case he recommends a cup of beef consommé, laced with brandy followed by madras lamb curry with lime chutney. The article is illustrated with some obers serving different cure, such as cures for depression, one for wanderlust, for home sickness and for rejection.

This kind of effect is not restricted to the single person; it works on the social level also. Everybody knows that difficult business or political problems are more easily solved during a well-prepared dinner than at the desk of the official conference room. It is not always possible to separate psychological and physiological effects of aromatics. Finally, the body and the mind are too narrowly related and are mutually influencing each other. An aromatic which has a beneficial effect on the digestion of food makes the person involved feel better.

Looking over the whole of factors, it may be concluded that the effects of the aromatics in fact are synonymous with sensations of “pleasantness versus unpleasantness” of “liking” versus “disliking”. And all of this coupled with expectations and desires and associated with experiences in the past. By way of example, if Hungary is associated on one hand with paprika and on the other hand with Basil women then such “desire-dislike” songs may result as the one about “die Julisko and Budapest, die hat ein Herz Voll Paprika.

Moreover it is well known a mans love passes through his stomach, which shows how aromatics may influence ones personal life or present the intuments to women to manipulate a man’s emotion to the end, only a savona-rola or some puritans by compiling “liking” or “desire” with “sin” would press for rejection of aromatic products.

The like-dislike sensational is as well close-related as many other sensorial sensations. At certain levels the effect is nihil, the threshold has not yet been reached. With growing levels there is first a pleasant sensation. These levels are pretty low for aromatic herbs (or their derived products) in food. Cook-books with “sniffs” or equally subjective measures making an art out of the aromatization. More advanced ones as the Ladies “Home journal cook-book use tablespoonfuls or fractions of tablespoonfuls.

The following quotation may serve as an example: Lobster tails, 2 pounds shrimp shelled and decorated, 2 large onions chopped, 2 green peppers chopped, 1 clove garlic crushed, 3 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 tablespoonful of salt, ¼ tablespoonful paprika, ⅛ tablespoonful each of pepper and basil, a dash of cayenne pepper ½ tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce and 2 cups canned tomatoes (end of quote).

A quarrel may be raised about whether onion, garlic or green pepper are aromatic herbs or not? However paprika, pepper, basil, certainly are as the “dash of Cayenne pepper”.

Another quotations from the same source for aperitifs. For example, the “clam juice on the rocks” takes per 6 (8 ounce) bottles of chilled clam juice ½ bunch of water cress 1 ½ tablespoonfuls of minced chives 1/3 tablespoonfuls of celery seed ½ cup of light cream ¼ tablespoonful of garlic salt 2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and several dashes of hot pepper sauce “(end of quote). Or you may prefer a punch type drink, for instance, a “Rosemary Fizz” prepared from “2 tablespoons of crushed rosemary leaves, 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, a pinch of salt, ½ cup of water, 1 (18 oz) can of apricot nectar, 1 quart of ginger ale, ½ cup of lime or lemon juice and to garnish some lime or lemon rind (end of quote).

Adding more of the aromatic herb or its derived products leads to an optimum of pleasantness, after this an increase in aromatic herb-dosage does not increase the pleasantness of the sensation and in the end a dose over a certain level raises sensations of dislike and disgust much in the same way as with sound or light.

Soft music may be appreciated as pleasant, however, sounds too loud, such as the detonation or with light, such as a flash only disgust abjection, or very unpleasant reaction. With even higher dosages the aromatic effect may be completely drawn in other effects such as demonstrated from nutmeg, where the sensorial sensation is brow beaten by the psychic effect. The lethal dose, finally sets the upper limit. Mostly it is very high for aromatic herbs and will never be reached in their normal use in foods and beverages.

Of course, the wise “chef” restricts himself to low levels of aromatics and seeks his strength and triumph in artistic combinations. And also the wine housewife, knowing that the path of love passes through the stomach, will do the same in her daily routine. Nevertheless, some aromatic herbs contain components which are considered to be harmful to the consumer, and for which it may be necessary to set limits in the final food, and beverages only. The housewife is outside any control, as is the “chef”.

The principle of active components has been chosen deliberately to avoid to have to sum up all plants containing these substances, a summing-up which mostly will be incomplete. Moreover it also avoids any discussion about botanical systematic and nomenclature. The list of such components contains among others coumarins, thujone, safrole, hydrocyanic acid, beta-asaronue, berberine, hypericines, spartein as the main items and may be found back in codex-alimentarias-documents, the council of European Union, study on “natural flavourings” the code of practice of 10F1 the International Organization of the flavour industry and in many legislations.

Some of such lists mention components of which the health-risk may be doubted or which are present in natural aromatic materials of very restricted use, such as agaric acid. Solanine represents another case. Its presence under some conditions, potatoes and potato products make its consumption by way of solanum dulcamara in a very few beverages negligible. The consequence of such a list, of course, is that analytical methods are available for the determinations of these substances in raw materials, as well as in the finished food and beverages. The development of such methods has always taken place through cooperation between industry, research organizations and authorities. And by industry is meant the food and drink industry as well as the flavour industry.

The result of this cooperative work is laid down in recommended analytical methods of IOFI’s working group on analytical methods. The participation in this working group of the expert-representative of the aromatic wines and bitters producing industry has been highly valuable. On the other hand the more or less identical methods, however restricted to the raw international organization standardized methods make it possible for the authorities to refer to them in their legislation.

This principle of reference to standards is of value because it enables the government to facilitate ladies to apply the most modern and tested methods without having to go through the often very bureaucratic procedures of changing legislations. That these results should be obtained is mainly due to the fact that the circle of experts in this field is relatively small and hence many of them participate in the work of both groups. This way of working many times informally, has proven to be of mutual benefits to the authorities as well as the industry and hence in that of the consumer.

It will remain clear that aromatic plants are of high importance to the food and beverage industry. Their application in this industry has led to the development of the flavour industry. The industrial use of derived products is demanded because in this way it is more easily possible to arrive at final products of standard quality. The natural variability of the aromatic plant is reduced in this way.

On the other hand the industrial use of aromatics sets in certain technological requirements which cannot be fulfilled by the herbs themselves. These technological requirements do not arise from the industrial manufacturing process itself only. Apart from the requirements about the incorporation of the aromatic principles in the food, such as: ease of correct dosaging, fluidity impartibility, the requirements also result from the measures taken to make the food keepable, such as caning, sterilization, etc.

The industrial requirements have lead to such friendly forms, such as: salt-plated with aromatics, drink powder, microencapsulated aromatic products and others in addition to the essential oils, oleoresins, extractives, etc. It is impossible in this introduction to deal in more detail with each of the aromatic plants used in the food and beverage industry. The vast field, the vague borders of it, the lack of definability are at the background of this impossibility.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that this introduction has already brought forward the immense importance of aromatics for our food and drink; for our diet and for our feeling of well-being.

Dr. Andrew Chapya
Executive Director/Chief Scientist
THIN
20th February 2011

THE AFRICAN RELIGIOUS HERITAGE

2009-03-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

THE AFRICAN RELIGIOUS HERITAGE

2009-03-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

THIN Information Line / March 18, 2009

THE AFRICAN RELIGIOUS HERITAGE.

As far back as the second century after Christ, Tertullian the African Christian theologist, maintained that the human soul is by nature Christian; in that it seeks a relationship with God. To know God and to know how we were created.

A good example here is that of the concept of God, who is seen as Supreme and One. There are many names of God, many stories and myths about his qualities. Through the ways of describing God and his many qualities may differ from one community to another, the experience behind these different approaches is the same.

Stories and myths told about God express a peoples’ experience of his might, his love for those he created, his anger, his power to forgive. He owns everything and it is to him that we owe life. Also oral literature – the songs, stories, myths and febles of African peoples incorporates their beliefs and values.

Different myths emphasize different aspects of social and individual life, and they illustrate the nature of different kinds of the relationship and the traditional attitudes towards these relationships, and there are also common views which are held in African traditions in general.

African traditional myths are important because they help to show the African traditional views on the hopes and fears that people have about the world in which they live. The people who live near the mountains, for example, have many myths which are connected with life near the mountains, whereas those who live in grassland plains have myths which are connected with life in the plains.

Most African Communities recognize the dependence of human beings on a Supreme God. The power of a Supreme God may be under the direction of the divinity or under many divinities. God is the creator and granter of all things-and there are many similarities in African religious beliefs and practices concerning mans’ relationship to God. For example:

Man must obey the regulations which God has laid down for man to follow;
Failure to obey these regulations leads to punishment:
o Man must offer sacrifices and perform certain ceremonies in order to maintain a good relationship with God;
o If anything goes wrong with the individual, family or society, man must have offended God, and he may set things right by offering sacrifices to God;
o If an individual violates one of the major regulations about mans’ relationship to God, he may be severely punished by the whole society, because he is believed to be endangering the life of the community;
o Irregular natural happenings, such as drought, famine, locust invasions, epidemics and earthquakes are believed to be caused by the disobedience of the society as a whole;

However, there is no community which knows only one aspect of mans relationship to God. All of them show the two forms of relationship – one which indicates the punishment or taboos which people must not violate and another which shows the blessing and the privileges which god has given them.

Man according to the African thought and belief is not an isolated creature. He is only on part of the universe which is full of animals, plants, and inanimate objects. All these components are related to each other in various ways, and all these are dependant on the Supreme God for their appearance and their continued existence. The relationship between man and the things around him are of different categories, depending on the use to which he puts them, and on the beliefs which developed in the criteria myths.

Cattle sheep and goats are used for sacrifices and other religious purposes. All people of Africa have religious practices often binding oaths or purification rites, which involves the use of certain animals. The religious significance of a particular animal or plant may differ from one community to another. Hens and cocks may be used as sacrifices to God or mediators between God and Man, including the ancestors. Burnt offerings are widely considered to be essential.
……..Burnt offerings are considered necessary in establishing communication with God.

In African religious thought generally, heavenly bodies such as sun, moon, and stars tell without words the magnificence of God. The regularly of day and night, and the constant rhythm of the seasons, illustrate the unfailing sustenance of Gods providence.

It s important to note that mountains and hills are not thought to be God. They are manifestation of Gods power and presence. Rivers and streams are often accorded religions significance, especially when they are believed to be dwelling places of spirits.

Huge rocks are also believed to be of religious significance. Some Kamba (a community in eastern Kenya), for example, say that the first couple on earth was brought by God out of a huge rock , which can be seen – to – day. Such rocks are therefore regarded with awe.

Colours are also accorded religious significance, but different colours are sacred for different peoples. Whereas black is a sacred colour to the Luo and Luhya communities in western Kenya, white is sacred to the Buganda community of central Uganda.

In religious ceremonies particular numbers are of special importance to different people. For example, four is sacred number to the Nandi community in Kenya, whereas six is sacred to the Jie, seven was a sacred number to the Jews.

Note that counting people and livestock is forbidden in many African communities. One of the reason for such prohibition is the fear that misfortune might befall those who are pointed at during the counting. Another reason may be that people generally prefer to be considered as members of several units, such as the family, the clan, or age group, rather than as individuals.
All these examples show that African People attach a great deal of religious significance to all the natural phenomena around them, both in the sky and on the surface of the earth. Gods presence is realized in and behind all the aspects of the earth. Gods presence is realized in and behind all the objects and phenomena in mans environment. The invisible world is made manifest or clear, by these physical things. Africans comprehend their inward experience of God through their outward perception of the physical world.

This is one of the most important aspects of the African religious heritage. Africans do not worship physical objects: through them they realize the symbolic manifestation of their inward experience of God. Thus the inward and non-material experience is directly related to the outward and material universe, and the two are inseparable.

African traditional cultures, lifestyles, and attitudes towards life are essentially religious, and this is used to explain his relationship to other men, the environment and to God. First of all, we must realize that many elements of African religious traditions cannot therefore be dismissed as “satanic” or the works of the devil. If the soul seeks to reach God to know Him, then his ultimate goal is not in opposition to Christianity, through which we seek a personal knowledge of God. God is a father of all mankind. The essential message of Christianity cannot be compromised. African cultures, just like European or Asian cultures are subject to the judgment of Christ.

As we study Christianity which has come to African in western “trappings”, we must separate the essential core of belief from Jewish, European even American cultural values. An excessive concern for the individual, for success and for a western style of life are not Christian

We can live by our faith in an African way. Just as Europeans adopted Christianity to their cultures, so can we if we keep pure the essentials. Indeed we can even impart some of our values to a larger body of believers and non-believers. Certainly a respect for elders, a desire to help our neighbors and a view of life as essentially religious are all shared values which may not be obvious to modern living in which many people have come to take its values for granted and even to lose sight of its essentials.

Traditional Healthcare Integration Network {THIN} is working closely with community groups and individuals to analyzing traditional and cultural aspects within our communities so as to add science and validate them for development.

Kenya is a country of cultural societies. It is easy to see that traditional and cultural expressions that are based on the environment are built in the health and illness of our people, and their communities. This is giving THIN a rare opportunity to develop an important but neglected area of community – based health services as well as promoting the cultural bonds that have existed for centuries. It also gives everyone a chance to compare and contrast traditional beliefs, values and practices with those of Christianity. Such an understanding, appreciation and their evolution should enrich our world beliefs, personal communities, sharing of resources stewardship and change of attitudes.

From the onset, THIN was designed to be a people focused organization {especially the rural poor}. THIN fosters harmonization of the economic interests of traditional healthcare practitioners {rural and not well recognized} and the peoples needs by having its activities oriented towards community – based primary healthcare and conservation as well as protection of natural and cultural heritages; assets which must turn over to the next generations. THIN does this by creating models of effective use of natural resources, traditional techniques, folk medicines, semantics and others. THIN is responsive to what the government, international development agencies and partners, local non –governmental {NGOS} and Community - Based Organizations {CBOS}, media and other interested groups see as issues of concern to society, with emphasis on health, food, nutrition, environment, population, poverty, famine. THIN therefore endeavours to promote alternative approaches to sustainable development, best angles of attack and contribution towards self reliance.

Can you join us in our mission? Yes you can. By contributing or giving items.
Indeed you have made a right choice. You will help us sharing the goal of taking an ambitious community-driven education, research-training and development. To make a difference, especially to the poor: to do what it takes to get research results and technologies translated into efficient prevention and control strategies.

DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHIEF SCIENTIST
THIN

……….Health………..Body………. and Earth….Systems………

2009-02-25T05:22:00.000-08:00

INFORMATION LINE: THIN 24TH Feb. 2009

……….Health………..Body………. and Earth….Systems………

…………….. What? ............Where ……… Are the Connections? .............

The health of our bodies are closely related to the health of the earth. Our bodies are made from the earth and are supported by her. When soil is not healthy, we are not healthy, when the air we breathe and the water we drink is polluted, we take in the poison and our bodies experiences the results. Because we are closely related to the earth, caring for the health of the earth results in our own better health.

We store and use light energy from the distant sun. Each second the sun converts four million tons of itself into light. Green plants capture this light energy and use it to grow. When we eat and digest vegetable leaves, maize or sweet potatoes, the sun’s energy stored there is transferred to our body systems and becomes part of us.

The iron circulating in our blood today was in the spinach we ate last week, which absorbed it from the soil in the field. Parts of our bones were once rock from the earth’s crust-rocks that were bombarded by wind and rain to become mixed with soil. The water we boil for tea has a strong history. We can trace it backwards from our teapot to the spring or tap, then back to the lake or water table and back to the rain and to the ocean from which is evaporated

Oxygen produced by green plants is drawn into our bodies and fuels our countless activities. In return we exhale carbon dioxide which nourishes the very same green plants. We are constantly taking from earth and giving back to earth. At death our bodies will return to the basic elements from which it was formed and become food for other life forms; in the same way that other life forms died, decayed and formed the soil that supports life from moment to moment.

The well being of our spirit is not separate from the health of our bodies and therefore is also affected by the condition of the environment. We are shaped in many ways by the created world around us as surely as by the characteristics inherited from our families. When we feel threatened by the environment, whether it is neighbours or family or famine or disease, we almost automatically hold our breath, and tighten our muscles. Such fear and about the world around us can make us sick.

We need to feel safe if we are to live a total life. A sense of safety comes when we acknowledge our relationships, both to the earth and to others. We take care of our health practices but also we need to be confident and grateful that the earth supports and maintains us. Because we are able to feel, respond from so much of nature around us, we have a sense the rains are near, or hunger is coming.

We are indeed poor, not completely well, if we lose contact with those dynamic and creative connections and systems at work throughout earth and universe and within every one of our cells. This knowledge and this communications gives us courage in hard times; we realize we are not alone. We are part of a bigger picture and a larger story.

Our elders discovered and set aside places in their midst which felt unique or powerful. It could be a grove of trees, or rocks or spring. The community protected and respected these places. Each person who went there felt a power and had a sense of something bigger than oneself. Sometimes there were restrictions about who was allowed to go there, or activities such as gathering firewood or cutting grass were forbidden. These were places set aside to pray, or offer sacrifice or to hold meetings. The land held us. We cultivated according to the needs we had for the year but also tended for those areas of land that fed our spirit and honoured the spirit.

This is the land where I was born. I don’t know how long we have lived on this land, but as far back as elders can remember. They knew this land that has fed them and held our family through the years. They tended the land and learned from it. This knowledge was passed down to each new crop of children; this is the way you till the soil, this is how to plant, never just one seed but two together, for this is how we live. We do not live alone. We live, grow and die in a community .This land is a blessing .This place holds the bones of our ancestors.

We depend on this land, not only for food to sustain us, but also for our sense of community. We understand that growing food is not a work we do ourselves without the cooperation of the weather, the sun and moon, insects for pollination and fertile soil. We would not eat, when we cultivated, planted, harvested and stored food we realized that we united our physical strength and earth, our skills and experience with other powers and forces in nature. Some of my ancestors shared the same home, the same plot of land. It is sacred for my family.

Peoples of all nationalities, languages and culture are one family. We all need corporate to create a world where each person will have basic needs met, where all feel safe and secure, where hopes and desires for enhancement of life can be actualized for every one; we were given a life and we return some of the life we were given, remaining with only what we need. If we take too much and return nothing enhancing our own lives at the expense of earth herself then the earth and her species suffer and are destroyed.

To harm and take too much from any part of it is ultimately to harm and rob from ourselves. There is a challenge to look beyond self interest, beyond immediate results and to congratulate ourselves when we do. The hope is that we can live with our natural resources without fear. Environmentalists use a metaphor of the earth as a “spaceship” in trying to persuade countries, industries and people to stop wasting and polluting our natural resources. Since we all share life on this planet, they argue person or institution has the right to destroy, waste or use more than a fair share of it’s resources.

Parents should personally teach African culture or any other culture to their children. Unfortunately because of technological advancements and changing lifestyles, this is not possible at the moment, yet the men of power and men with influence, those who command most of the country’s resources and owe so much to their traditions for their own rise do not feel the urgency of saving the catastrophes, including the environment. In this they are failing in their duty to the future generations who will one day point their fingers to their forefathers as their betrayers. The house they are building today for their kith and kin will be left without heirs if the present slide is not arrested in time.

The United Nations cluster in the country is merely a toothless tiger with little power to enforce any policy upon its bickering members. It reacts no better. Researches and educators like us are worried. We are like farmers tendering crops in the middle of a war zone. Everyday the tropical rainforests are disappearing at the rate of 30 acres a minute. Illegal settlements and agriculture are taking place at unprecedented pace. Pollution of the air, soil, water, rivers and oceans are also increasingly alarming. The rich-deep top soil utilized by teeming organisms to create fertility for farmers to grow crops or raise animals are on the down turn. In fact it may be too late to harvest the genetic diversity of the environments since the knowledge is disappearing with the environments. And the future generations will have nothing to inherit.

These facts are hard to explain to the local people, who are starving and sick. They need food now and not tomorrow. When it comes to politics, we can not handle this. It is not within our mandate and priorities, we do not know what to do.
Perhaps if enough people realize how fast our natural resources are being wasted, realistic solutions that benefit the people and save the earth could be adopted.

THIN feels the real pressure to act, to increase knowledge through education, training, communication, research and institutional development - by emphasizing institutional building programs at the national level. Strong institutions through human resource development and research training as a framework for sustainable development, especially when the country is importing food, medicines and technologies. THIN is having a multidisciplinary and a multi-sector approach to ensure that the communities and people have relevant training, knowledge and technology that stick. We are empowering many people to get involved, committed in delivery of goods and services and to contribute to addressing local needs. We need the resources and technical support to improve our institutional capacity and communication strategies. At this point we would like to extend a hand of appreciation to those who have read on our web log; http://dandoracommunity.blogspot.com about our work and our needs, who are willing to support the less visible but vital core activities of our organization. This is a confirmation of their confidence that we are moving in the right direction in addressing not only local but also international important issues. We welcome new supporters from all walks of life all over the world.

We recognize the role of business as a corporate citizen [that supports local communities and credible projects in our country]. Contributions to community livelihood can change their attitudes and motivate them to conserve what they have and what they know. However, there is another fundamental problem with the donor community’s requests regarding fund and resource generation by research and development institution based in developing countries like THIN It has been suggested a good share of the funding requirements should be raised from the local private sector, as do the research institutes in the industrialized countries One major drawback has escaped the attention of the architects of this approach; however,

The industrialized countries have along-standing experience with investing in research and consequently place a high value on it. In the developing countries, there is on one hand virtually no private sector capable or willing to fund ‘research endeavors’ and on the other hand, very minimal appreciation of the values of the assets they use and the people who keep them. They appear ignorant or insensitive to the environmental health and dangers of global warming and its consequences. Indeed of them have charitable giving schemes but these are mostly meant to benefit the elites or themselves or their friends and relatives. The time lag until there is genuine and substantial support to community projects by the private sector in this country is estimated at best 30 years from now. (See our next publication)

There is, therefore no alternative to a continued strong support to community development oriented organizations like THIN. This should be done in the spirit that this will stimulate, support and accelerate the true examples of making developing countries independent.

Give us the means and we will do the job. We trust you will give us a sympathetic and understanding ear to our challenges. History proves that when traditional values and knowledge flourished, the countries were overflowing with wealth, prosperity, peace, literature, music, art and humanity. The concept of preservation of cows and granary, which were deep rooted in the African continents agricultural structure were products of thousands of years of locale-specific wisdom passed down through generations by word of mouth. Understanding how traditional practitioners and providers acquire, store and use information and knowledge and enabling them to do so more effectively in a rapidly changing world is crucial to development and the future. Investigating indigenous knowledge may be a powerful and efficient means of filling gaps in scientific understanding about production systems.

DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF SCIENTIST
THIN.

* Please see THINs encounter and fundraising experiences in the forthcoming information line of THIN.

Healing In Two Worlds

2009-02-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

Information line: THIN. February 9, 2009

Healing In Two Worlds

…Outside the different features and into the true heart of being.

What the traditional world offers to the modern world centers around the understanding of concepts of healing, ritual and community. Indigenous communities have since time immemorial focused their lives and their existence on these issues.

Healing is central, because it was learned very early that human beings are vulnerable to physiological and biological breakdown, and that all this general instability touches all aspects of their existence. They have also learnt that the natural environment in which they live is made up of crafty invisible things that, if manipulated in certain ways, can affect the conditions that they intend to heal. Ritual technology is the technology that allows the manipulation of these subtle energies. Community is important because there is an understanding that human beings are collectively oriented. The general health and well-being of an individual are connected to community and are not something that can be maintained alone or in a vacuum. The Concepts of Healing, ritual and community are virtually linked.

Healing, ritual, and community, the goods that the indigenous world can offer to the west are the very things that the modern world is struggling with. Ritual in the indigenous world is aimed at producing a healing, and the loss of such healing in the modern world might be responsible for the loss of community that we see. Perhaps, the problems experienced in the west, from the pain of isolation to the stress of hyper activity, are brought on by the loss of community.

The west is struggling with a confusing notion of ritual, for the world usually refers to some sort of dark, pagan, and archaic practice that has no place in the modern society. Although the problems that come from the loss of ritual are less clear, but, it is the absence of ritual that the west are struggling with, the loss of connection with the unseen aspects of the natural world that have the ability to bring the needed healing. The only accepted rituals are ceremonial practices with clearly predictable content and outcome, such as what can be seen in the Sunday Church Service of one of the organized religions. When we talk of ritual here we are talking about something much deeper. We are talking about WEAVING of individual persons and gifts into a community that interacts with the forces of the natural. We are talking about a gathering of people with a clear healing vision and a trusting intent towards the forces of the invisible world.

What villagers bring to a ritual are trust that the invisible forces will heal and knowledge of what needs healing. These are the only things they know a head of time, the rest, shape and outcome of the ritual, is put in the hands of the Great ones. The road from the felt need for healing to the healing itself is proved with gestures, touch, sound, melody, and cadence, and most of these are spontaneous activities, unpredictable in their outcomes. When villagers act together on their need for healing and engage in such spontaneous gestures, they are requesting the presence of the invisible forces and are participating with those forces in creating a harmony of symbiosis. This partnership replenishes each person by restoring his or her relationship to nature, for among indigenous people the natural world and the spirit world are closely related. Ritual is an art, an art that weaves and dances with symbols, and helping to create that art rejuvenates participants. Everyone comes a way from a ritual feeling deeply transformed. This restoration is the healing that ritual is meant to provide. Ritual is the principal tool used to approach that unseen world and bring about material transformation.

That we connect with unseen realities, the realities made visible in our symbols, is crucial to the well being of our psyches. A person who walks through a ritual and ends up feeling changed and invigorated is a blessed recipient of healing waves of energy that no one can see but everyone can benefit from. The full heart of a person blessed in this manner overflows into the needy souls, igniting the healing fire most wanted for self-replenishment. Ritual is central in village life, for it provides the focus and energy that holds the community together, and it provides the kind of healing that the community needs to survive.

Nature is the foundation of indigenous life. Without nature, concepts of community, purpose, and healing would be meaningless. The idea of a person born with a purpose, a purpose that needs to be supported by an active community presence, and the idea of working with subtle energies for balance and healing would be only grandiose notions in the absence of nature as the playground, as the school where children can play and study.

Our relationship to the natural world and its natural laws determines whether or not we are healed. Nature therefore is the foundation of healing, and the type of nature that surrounds a community at the time of doing a ritual determines the types of ritual that are appropriate and the content of these rituals. We are talking about a way of dealing with an energetic world and energetic issues that borrows from what already exists, not what has been invented, manufactured or created by humans to satisfy some material purpose. In other words, every tree, plant, hill, mountain, rock, and each thing that was here before us emanates or vibrates at a subtle energy that has healing power whether we know it or not. So if something in us must change, spending time in and with nature provides a good beginning. That means that within nature, within the natural world, are all of the materials and tenets needed for healing human beings. Nature is the textbook for those who care to study it and the storehouse for remedies for human ills. Nature is still the greatest chemist.

The cycle of conflict, ill health, drought, hunger can be broken with application on cutting-edge science and technology. THIN and partners are exploring and testing peoples science and natures’ libraries to ensure the latter’s sustainability, environmental health, medicines, nutritional and food security.

DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF SCIENTIST
THIN.

Information line: THIN / February 4, 2009

2009-02-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

Information line: THIN / February 4, 2009
Gathering Data.
Researcher as Witness and Instrument
Qualitative field study differs from other research methods in that it features researchers themselves as observers and participants in the lives of the people being studied. The researcher strives to be a participant in and a witness to the lives of others. This is quite different from other kinds of research on which the investigator is not her – or himself a sustained presence in a naturally occurring situation or setting. Other researchers rely instead on documents, structured interviews, experimental simulations, and other sources that are one or more levels removed from direct observation of and participation in on going natural settings.

The central reason for observing and / or participating in the lives of others is that a great many aspects of social life can be seen, felt, and analytically articulated only in this manner. In subjecting him – or herself to the life’s of others and living and feeling those lives along with them, the researcher becomes the primary instrument or medium through which the research is conducted. The researcher seeks to witness how those studied perceive, feel and act in order to understand their perceptions, feelings, and behaviour more fully and intimately. The epistemological foundation of field studies is indeed the proposition that only through direct observation and / or participation can one get close to apprehending those studied and the character of their social worlds and lives.

Social science is the study of a society, or the social life of the human being. It has two branches: Social Anthropology and sociology. Social Anthropology studies small-scale social relationships, with an emphasis on ideas. Sociology studies large-scale social relationships, with an emphasis on behaviour. The two disciplines have a common origin, but have developed in different, but complementary ways.

The object of sociology is the large-scale, industrialized or complex society, while the object of Social Anthropology is the small-scale society, community or network. The interest of sociology is chiefly in behavioural while the interest in Social Anthropology is chiefly in ideas. In human society ideas and behaviour interact. Sociology uses field work or participant observation. This involves vernacular language learning, living and participating in everyday life, interrogation of informant, systematic recording and qualification. A descriptive account of a small-scale human society is called“ethnography”.

Social-Cultural Anthropology has two branches: the science of culture and Social science (or the science of society). The science of Culture studies “the learned” aspects of human behaviour- that is to say, form of behaviour that are not due to hereditary. It has also two branches:

Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology. Cultural Anthropology started in the U.S.A; with such scholars as Franz Boas. It studies whole cultures, with an emphasis on material culture and language (of museum studies of Native American cultures by Boas and others). It also studies learning theory, the processes by which human beings are socialized and acquire their culture. Ethnology started in Europe, as the study of material Culture; human artifacts, technology, economy, habitat. There is sometimes confusion when the word “Ethnology” is used for social Anthropology.

Obviously, the human sciences interact and overlap, but social anthropology does not restrict itself to material culture, nor is it primarily interested in material culture. “Ethnology” is not to be confused with “Ethology” (or sociobiology), the study of the “social life” of animals. It is based on external observation and conjecture, and is often used to comment adversely on human society and behaviour.

Physical Anthropology studies human biology, the organisms and workings of the human body. As such it is really part of the study of medicine. It includes a variety of disciplines. Human morphology (or somatology),for example studies and classifies the human forms, according to such criteria as height and build, pigmentation, brain size, shape of head and facial features. It notes the advantages of certain forms in relation to climate and environment. Dark pigmentation is an advantage as a protection against solar radiation. A heavy build conserves heat in a cold climate ( cf the inuit of the Arctic circle). A higher ratio of body surface to body weight helps to conduct heat in a hot climate (cf the Nilotic peoples of equatorial Sudan)

Genetics is the discipline which studies variations in human organisms due to heredity and the processes by which they occur.

It can identify gene pools, or human groupings with common genetic traits. The discipline also studies twinning rates (Monozygotic and dizygotic) in diverse populations. Haemotology is the study of blood groups and their geographic distribution. In conjunction with paleontology (the study of fossil remains) physical anthropology studies human evolutions.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries anthropologists believed that human physical characteristics had extensive cultural implications. We now know that such implications are limited. The concept of “face” for example, is notoriously subjective, being based on the visual impact of physical difference. The blood group is a more Scientific category, but it does not correspond to the notion of race. Perceived physical differences may have an impact on human behaviour, e.g. social discrimination and racism.

Genetic phenomena such as twinning may also have social repercussions. Dizygotic twinning (the occurance of non identical twins) is more common in African and African- American populations than among caucasoids. Twin – rituals are a social reaction to this phenomena and are more common in Africa than in other countries. Modern social-cultural anthropologists are seldom interested in the physical characteristics of the peoples they study.

Physiology studies the conscious and unconciousness of the mind of a human being. It developed as an experimental science, being based on observed clinical cases. Generalizations were drawn from individual instances without explicit references to socio-cultural factors. Problems arise with socio-cultural application of psychological theory. For this reason, social psychology was developed was developed as a corrective. It studies human psychological responses to varied socio-cultural stimuli ( cf the work of Margaret Maede in New Guinea and Samoa.

Techniques for collecting indigenous knowledge should document what people do and why, within the larger framework of what they know and think (Brookfield 1996), PRA methods can reveal the hidden complexity of ik systems but it is important to have a good sequencing of activities and an overall relaxed approach.
The quality and quality of information resulting from a particular research activity depend on the trust established between the researchers and the participants. Villagers may need time to assess the researcher as a person, the researcher may need time to change his or her attitudes and behaviour to match that of villagers (Emiry 1997)

The techniques can yield an excessive amount of information, not all of it useful. Although the task of documentation is perceived as technically the easiest, it can be laborious, time consuming, costly, and sometimes disappointing (Adugne 1996). It is important to have clear research objectives (that is good questions) and some knowledge of the subject area. Johannes (1993) explained that the researcher should be able to determine whether the information is new, already well known, or implausible and, most impartially, be able to highlight the potentially significant points.

The THINS vision for the next decades is to assist in promoting greater reliance in tropical developing countries of East Africa on a mission oriented Scientific and technological research, leading directly to the generation of low-cost and viable health management technologies relevant to the locale-specific socio-economic situations, which will help increase food production and improve the health of the rural communities. Social scientists working in cooperation with biological scientists will ensure the development of culturally acceptable and cost-effective health management techniques, strategies, tactics, pathways. This assures that the adoption of improved technological innovations are facilitated by taking into account the needs and constraints of the end-users.

This vision further assures that a growing community of indigenous scientists, technicians, extension, practitioners with expertise and knowledge in health and health research is produced, who can join this pan –tropical efforts to generate, disseminate and apply new knowledge and to develop new technologies. This strongly calls for intensified research and training, effective partnerships and networking, as well as institutional development more conducive for research and development. THIN, because of its Non-Governmental countrywide status and base in a developing country has a significant role to play in these processes.

DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF SCIENTIST,
THIN.

Information line: THIN: February 1, 2009

2009-02-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Traditional and Cultural Knowledge Systems

Relevant Research Agenda (RRA)

Indigenous and Cultural knowledge as a development imperative requires sensitive design management and evaluation decisions about practices on the basis of understanding that is already available.

The inadequacy of scientific understanding about Traditional and Cultural Knowledge systems hampers development initiatives, attempting to make full use of the potential benefits of indigenous and cultural knowledge in sustainable development; for example in Primary Healthcare (PHC). Useful knowledge comprises both operational knowledge (indigenous technical knowledge) and explanatory knowledge (indigenous ecological knowledge).

Many local communities in many parts of Kenya, and also Africa, benefit from generations of experiences of management of complex ecological and health systems that take advantage associated with that complexity. However, there are serious gaps in understanding about many of the components and interactions in established systems.

An expedient means of filling the gap between what is currently known and what is needed, in order to make sensible decisions is urgently required. The knowledge is worthy of investigations as a valuable resource in understanding the ecological functioning and management of the system.

We see human action as conditioned by the value of system and attitudes found within a given society and by the amount and type of available resources at a given time and space. It has become customary and common to analyse situations and plan actions for a society in terms of human and material resources. However, the importance of value systems is too often neglected in planning for social and economic developments.
The term is understood in a broad sense, covering not only cultural aspects and human traits, but also interactions with the environments, both physical and behavioural.

The challenge is to improve / develop solutions and technologies based on resources and management systems that are adaptable by both rural and sub – urban people in a multitude of diverse environments and circumstances, and to produce results that are valid irrespective of prevailing ideologies because they are derived from fundamental human behaviour patterns.

The approach is interdisciplinary and combines the study of people, crops, plants, livestock, environment and their interactions with one another in the ecosystems. It embraces on ecosystems focus considering the stability, sustainability and equity of land use systems, in addition to their productivity. Social aspects are considered as thoroughly as ecological and economic aspects.
Understanding existing knowledge can help determine whether alternatives from outside are appropriate, how they might be adopted and how best to introduce them. New technologies should usually build upon existing practices and knowledge. Thus, whenever technological solutions are proposed for the developing world, we should keep in mind the attendant risks, i.e. we should ensure that technology is congruent with man.

Neglect of value systems in pursuit of technological progress can be harmful and the maladaptation found to-day should remind us that physiological tensions and the excess of nationalism often arise as a result of a divorce between spiritual and material development. In other words, the salient problems of development are characterized by the difficulties not only in finding enough material resources but also matching them with specific cultural patters in given communities. For example, a project which aims to change the lifestyle of the nomadic Turkana tribe in Kenya by convincing them to take up the sedentary fishing industry will fail precisely because it does not build on the traditions and culture of the people. What they know and what they want to retain because every society is held by its own cultures and traditions.

The gap between the scientific understanding of Primary Healthcare (PHC) practices and other systems, and the site-specific understanding needed for the purposes of practical development might be effectively filled by making use of the knowledge already held by the communities themselves, as a result of managing their own health, their crops and animals.

However, it has been found that where indigenous and external knowledge systems come together, they may be assimilated into each other or practically isolated, but more commonly the indigenous knowledge is required and squeezed out. There is evidence that in many areas external aid has tended to shiffle local innovativeness and understanding to produce dependant cultures, and under many circumstances this has led to the loss of useful understanding. However, even where no useful information is lost, replacing the one with the other fails to appreciate the cultural significance of much of indigenous knowledge.

To minister in another culture one must enter the culture-culture is a basic concept of sociology because it is what makes humans unique. Some people think of culture as the fine arts: music, operas, ballets, theatre. To the sociologist culture is used in amore encompassing way to include the entire way of life of people. All members of society are cultured – having distinctive language, food, dress, beliefs, customs and behaviour patterns –yet, within this large country with (forty three) different ethnic groups, there are different distinctive and unique ways of people in their groups in which ther exhibit their own language, food, dress, beliefs, religion, customs and behaviour patterns which has made them survive

Entering Another Culture

When an individual l leaves his or her own culture with its familiar customs, traditions, social patterns and way of life, the individual quickly begins to adjust on the new culture or tossed and buffered by it until he or she finally succumbs to extinction and suffocation.

A person will respond to a new culture in one or two ways: with empathy, acceptance and identification which will result in adjustment and success or with culture, shock or ultimate failure.

Often culture shock is precipitate by the anxiety that result from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. These signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life; when we shake hands and what we say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to give orders to servants and workers, how to make purchases, when to accept and refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. Now these cues which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs or norms are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much part of our culture as the language we speak.

Now when an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed………………..No matter how broadminded or full of goodwill you may be, series of props have been knocked from under you, you may be followed by a felling of frustration and anxiety.

Culture shock comes in in three stages: First is the fascination or tourist stage, which comes when the person enters the new culture.

There are new fascinating sights and sounds. There are exiting things to see and experience. There are usually friendly English (or other language) speaking People to help to see to one’s comforts. The tourist or short term visitor or enthusiast usually never goes beyond this stage before leaving the culture.

The second stage is the rejection stage. The fan and fascination of the new culture begins to fade and the newcomer meets head-on the difficulties involved in living in the new culture. But now the “rules” of living are different, and the newcomer is not “in” on most of them. The way of doing things in the persons own culture may have been neat and logical but the ways of doing things in the new culture may seem capricious, without design or purpose. The newcomer becomes frustrated in attempting to function in the new culture by applying the “rules” of his or her own culture when these “rules” do not accomplish the desired results, and he or she begins to blame the new culture.

This rejection may take several forms, such as stereotyping members of the new culture, making derogatory and joking remarks about the people, dissociating oneself as much as possible with members of ones own culture. Most people make at least a partial recovery from culture shock. Those not able to accommodate themselves to the new culture eventually withdraw from it completely.

Joint participation between outsiders and rural communities implies dialogue to establish trust and shared goals and to translate and pool knowledge. Dialogue must take place between within communities as well as between the community and outside catalysts. New knowledge should be built on existing practice and knowledge.

Sociological Enquiry

Often we draw conclusions about our world by making casual observations. For example, we ask friends for their opinion, we base our assumptions on the articles we read, we listen and watch newscasters and believe what “they” tell us. While such casual approaches seem helpful, there are more formal methods that sociologists use in research. Sociologists know that their studies are going to be scrutinized by other sociologists. Applying the philosophy of empirism, to the investigation of human group behaviour is what distinguishes sociological scientific research to gather insights about a community, say, musicians.

The social sciences comprise a variety of disciplines whose purpose is to study the behaviour of man in society, social systems and institutions. These disciplines employ different scientific methods of investigations including those ordinary associated with the natural sciences. The social sciences share the fundamental purpose of all science which is the quest for an understanding of the real world about us. Such an understanding would be incomplete and not very meaningful without the understanding of individual and social behaviour. This human dimension constitutes a fundamental aspect of the reality we seek to unravel.

The study of technology in some of it’s vital aspects; falls within the scope of social analysis basically become there can be no “technology” without a social purpose. There is no standard definition of technology – Broadly speaking it may be described as that aspect of culture which encompasses the knowledge, skills, methods and tools which are applied in the production of human necessities. One fails all too often to appreciate the social dimension because technology is commonly equated with it’s material manifestation alone. Yet, the “hardware” aspect of technology is no more than the material outcome of the cumulative discoveries and experiences of man in the struggle for survival. These underlying processes appropriately constitute subjects of social analysis. Technology moreover is not only a product of culture but become a stimulus of socio-economic changes which again constitute essential dimensions of investigation by social scientists.

This conception of technology is especially important in the context of developing countries of Africa and other parts of the world. Technological change is expected to play a dynamic and pervasive role in the social and economic development of these countries. It should therefore be a basic function of the social scientist to better understand the manner and conditions under which technological change can pay a more effective role in economic development. Related to this task is also the need to analyse the economic and social consequences of technological change, because, inspite of the positive connotation which is often attached to the term, a “new technology” might turn out to be highly inappropriate and might even have deleterious effects on human welfare. Indeed, it is the necessity to present such potential negative consequences which renders the role of the social scientists all the more important in technological development.

Inspite of the basic conception expressed above, technology has for long been regarded as an “import” commodity of the developing countries of the world. It was assumed that the dominant methods of production employed in the developing countries were so backward that they would have to give way to the more modern technologies which have been developed in the economically advanced countries. Emphasis was there for placed on “technology transfer” from the industrialized to the developing countries.

It has now been realized however that the emphasis on technology transfer is a misplaced emphasis. It arises the assumption that technologies developed in and for the industrialized countries can be imported and directly applied to the production systems which prevail in the developing countries. This assumption was, of course, basically wrong. Technologies are generally developed in response to particular needs and to enhance productivity within a given socio-economic context. Each such technology therefore carries with it a “generic code” as it were, of the society within which it have evolved. It is therefore becoming difficult, if not impossible, to replicate the complex of socio-economic conditions which would permit the effective absorption of the imported technology. The most likely result of unquestioning importation and introduction of foreign technology is failure to achieve a “technological fit” with the potential negative socio-economic consequences. Perhaps the more fundamental issue has to do with the promotion of “endogenous development” of technology.

But Basic research is not sufficient by itself to achieve the mission. The results of Basic research by non-governmental organizations like THIN must be transformed into technologies that are within social acceptability framework, they must then be tested in the field for new scientific content, and finally they must be passed on to National Programmes for implementation. There is where complementary activities with partners who address the link between research and development. Research has been recognized in Kenya as an important input in National Social and Economic Development. Consequently, the Government has set up a Ministry dealing with Research, Science and Technology. Under the Ministry, there is the National Council of Science and Technology (NCST). By an amendment to the same Act, six other research institutes were established in the area of Industry, Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine resources, General medicine, Forestry and Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping sickness and Nagana). There are also a number of International Research Institutes and United Nations Agencies e.g. ILRI, ICIPE, WFR, etc. Finally there are research activities within universities’ departments, institutes of technology, some Government departments and industry.

Unfortunately none of those institutions are doing serious research and community work to develop Traditional and Cultural Knowledge (including traditional medicines and healthcare and to help individual practitioners and healers to realize their relevance in society. There is no new institutions of learning generating knowledge about African peoples and ensuring that their knowledge becomes part of the curricula, there is no course in indigenous knowledge systems – either at B.A or Masters level in indigenous knowledge systems, neither is there any students doing doctorate in the same fields to get degrees that are relevant in terms of our country’s social, economic orientations.

It is sad to find that many countries in the developing world are not making concerted efforts to ensure that development policies benefit the poorest members of society- through empowerment. This is happening because we have lost sight of the most important tenet of society – the community. Development organizations which seek to promote community development, these are charities in the real sense of the world, as they seek to empower and enable people to do things for themselves, rather than provide services and goods in a sustainable manner for the millions in need.

The fundamental and social research at THIN organization is opening new avenues and increasing the efficiency of low – cost effective, integrated health management strategies useful to the resource-poor rural and semi-urban communities, will be at hand.

THIN’S participatory learning, education and research-training priorities focuses on clarifying linkages between traditional and cultural practices, and heritages, conservation and poverty. The THINS integrated but functional programmes contribute to the development and transfer of diseases prevention, management and control and to help design appropriate technologies and policies, pathways and strategies in delivery of effective human, crop, livestock, environmental services and products in different productive systems for employment creation, incomes and profits, education, while promoting the traditional bonds of solidarity that have existed for centuries and giving science a meaning.

Indeed, these target health programmes that THIN has chosen for its priority attack are all challenges and issues that have already received considerable national, regional and international attention. Many of these have been the subject of practical control and eradication programmes on an extensive scale over the last several decades. If these were simple direct methods for the management and control of these serious dilemmas facing mankind and the increasing resistance to chemical treatment by disease causing pathogens, they would have been found in that time and put into operation.

DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF SCIENTIST
THIN.

Culture and Art

2009-01-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

INFORMATION LINE: THIN/INFO:- 2009-01-16

2009-01-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

FARMERS WORKING ON A MEDICINAL TREE NURSERY
FARMERS AERIAL VIEW OF SMALL HOLDER FARMS TO CONTROL SOIL EROSION
MEDICINAL PLANT PLANTATIONS

TITLE: HEALTH AND DISEASE IN KENYAN VILLAGES.
Contracts in Epidemiology

Planning for health services and facilities in an underdeveloped country like Kenya is frequently made difficult by paucity of information concerning health and disease in many parts of the country, particularly when information as to social and cultural developments and disease prevalence is almost completely lacking. There is great and urgent need to begin to develop ingenious strategies and methods of sampling village populations in the more remote regions of the country, which represent different ecological systems.

The studies would be carried out by an unusually multidisciplinary group of scientists and technologists from different institutions and parts of the world; working closely with the communities, the Ministry of health and relevant NGOs. The major disciplines represented would be epidemiology, public health nursing and laboratory science. THIN is in a better position to be a lead organization.

Working together as a team, we will develop methods of study that provide remarkably complete picture of village life, as well as living conditions and of the prevalence of disease, particularly infectious diseases and nutritional disorders.

In order to carry out the studies, major logistical, technical and financial mobilization have to be addressed. The study plans and the logistics of carrying out extensive clinical observations and laboratory studies require Partnerships and Networking- as well as a great deal of imagination, perseverance, and understanding of the conditions under which we would have to work, and extensively pretesting.

Solving many of these problems has in itself added materials to our knowledge of survey techniques, under survey conditions. The results of the studies are of great epidemiological interest, and are of practical value to the Ministry of health, the Region and the World at large. The studies also represent an example of fruitful collaboration between the visiting scientists, scientists working in Kenya, health Practitioners, Researchers, Development Agencies, Pharmaceutical manufacturers in various parts of the world.

Another important development from the studies will be in understanding the improved methods of data collection and processing appropriate for future studies in developed countries. Experience gained from the studies will contribute greatly to further studies of this type in other parts of Africa and the World. The Board of Directors of THIN asks the international scientific and donor community public and private organizations to step a head to support this novel initiative.
THANK YOU.
DR. ANDREW CHAPYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THIN

THE PROCESS FOR PREPARATION OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINES IN THE FIELD

2009-01-15T21:14:00.000-08:00

SORTING,SELECTING FOR PACKAGING
IDENTIFYING VIABLE HERBALS
TAKING SAMPLES FOR ANNALYSIS

INFORMATION LINE THIN /INF:- 2009-01-08

2009-01-14T22:37:00.000-08:00

Traditional healthcare exists everywhere in Kenyan communities. It is a product of social institutions and cultural traditions that have evolved over many centuries to enhance health. Traditional medicine endeavours to meet health needs in the historical, geographical and cultural context in which is placed. It is estimated that about 80% of the Kenyan population use some form of traditional medicine. In this regard, traditional medicine is modern is modern medicine, but it has the handicap of being stagnant and does not utilize the benefits of modern science, whether orally transmitted or resulting from personal experiences, runs the risk of being lost, just as Kenya is disclosing itself to the world and to history. People in organizations and out of organization hold a lot of experience which are not well advertised. Some of them are related to their professional role, others are personal. It is amazing what talents you can unearth when you network. There is a great need to unblock organizations. Variety is exiting, creative and dynamic and needs to be celebrated.

The positive side of traditional medicine is that it covers the common symptoms and disease syndromes typical of the socio-economic status of a developing country, such as diarrhea, dysentery, gastro-intestinal disturbances, respiratory diseases and infections form arthritis to conjunctivitis, particularly in those rural areas where modern medicine and primary healthcare cannot meet the local needs.

The negative sides are: imprecise diagnosis, symptomatic and not etiological therapy, lack of precision in dosage forms, the possibility of intoxication and the practices of sorcery and quackery. The systems of traditional medicine are sometimes integrated with religion, traditions and beliefs on life, death and disease. Animism and fetichism therapy is integrated into cosmological and social fabric. Dosages and preparations of draughts depend on codified rules, association of figure metaphysical affinities. The efficacy if draughts is granted by magic words based on the cultural, social and religious background and by methods based on knowledge, altitudes and beliefs regarding physical, mental and social welfare, disease and disability.

In spite of these negative aspects, traditional medicine remains a rich cultural heritage whose potential is not always fully known and utilized because of ideological, political and technological constraints. The practitioners of traditional medicine and healthcare are traditional healers- herbalists, snake and scorpion bite experts, traditional bone – setters, traditional birth attendants (midwifes) and spiritualists (fetish priests and exorcists, who paralyze the witchcraft of sorcerers). Their role which has existed from time immemorial in Kenya tends to be inherited from generation to generation. The information is passed by word of mouth.

Traditional healers, the main source of health workers are outstanding persons, accepted and recognized members of the community in which they provide healthcare by using herbal substances and, to a lesser degree, animal and mineral substances. They live and work in rural areas and to them people turn in times of sickness and difficulty, especially where and when western primary healthcare is absent. Traditional doctors provide the cafeteria facilities for healthcare services and carry on a therapeutic as well as “occult” activity. The herbalists are originally dependant for their material and inspiration on the plants growing in their surroundings. For example every ethnic group there exists a host of medicinal plants capable of treating common symptoms and disease syndromes – some plants with a wide range of tolerance for a number of ecological limiting factors (such as humidity and temperature) are found in different areas of Kenya and are used for the same pharmacological function but not always with the same therapeutic affect. Moreover, many plants (and there parts thereof, named drugs) are used as panaceas i.e. various uses are made of the same plant and among different ethnics, the same plants are often described for very different purposes, even opposite ones. This being so because with the diverse cultural backgrounds of the ethnic groups in Kenya, traditional values vary greatly from group to group.

Due to rapid population growth rate, diminishing natural resource base and national income, cuts in foreign aid and the search for effective treatment for common diseases such as malaria and opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis are driving renewed policy interest in traditional healthcare in Kenya. In addition, thoughtful Health Scientists and Planners are becoming disillusioned by the fact that health problems are increasing rapidly and need to be addressed on a much higher scale, including environmental pollution and nutrition. Health services through financial, infrastructural, logistic and educational restrictions often do not permit the optional delivery and adoption of known disease control measures.

The Kenya government has fully recognized traditional health practices and systems, and wishes to incorporate it into National Health Delivery Programmes (NHDP), including insurance, natural medicines, traditional foods, Traditional Health Practitioners and other health workers at all levels of education. Kenya subscribes to the principles contained in the “Alma Ata Declaration” of 1978 which stresses the need for any meaningful healthcare strategies in developing countries to introduce approaches for the provision of essential health services that correspond to basic needs, are universally acceptable and allow for the full participation of communities themselves.

This calls for integration with eight essential components, namely appropriate health education, provision of proper nutrition, basic sanitary facilities, maternal and childcare, control and prevention of local endemic diseases, appropriate treatment of injuries and provision of essential drugs. This Primary Healthcare approach is community action. It has been shown also that preventive health services are more cost – effective than curative ones.

Despite the fact that the role of traditional healthcare delivery is well recognized, some major challenges persist. Insufficient data on safety, efficacy and quality of pharmacological products (named drugs) and inadequate regimes for the protection of intellectual property rights. Also, Traditional Practices have not been based in thorough analysis of prevailing systems with the involvement of relevant stakeholders, particularly the Traditional Healthcare providers and practitioners themselves and the communities to improve skills and primary healthcare knowledge through Information, Education, Communication and Research.

At the global level, the World Health Organization (WHO) has also stated that traditional medicines and healthcare need to be evaluated for their safety and effectiveness before they can be accepted into National Health Policies (N H Ps).

The study of traditional healthcare and indigenous knowledge practices in Kenya is of special interest because of three factors:-
•Its rich heritage of curative materials which are renewable;
•Its continued use among the estimated 70-80% of the Kenyan population and,
•The wealth of available information – historical, archeological, anthropological, and empirical. That is disappearing fast and needs recording, packaging and dissemination before it is lost for posterity.

AIR POLLUTION

2009-01-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

At the core of the problem are man's population explosion and his ever expanding technological advances.Both make heavy drains on the earth's resources and the atmosphere sorrounding the globe.And both increasingly cause serious damage to the natural habitat.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

2009-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Protecting our environment has become a crucial national, even planetary issue.The recognition of the complex problems involved in the deteroriation of our environment has come about quickly,though at a late date.We believe that mankind and nature are endangered unless corrective and urgent action is taken, and taken soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUNDING PROPOSAL TH/HHW 0.01/ 2009

2009-01-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Title: Throughput Screening of Natural Plant Products (NPP) to enhance significantly data generation and application.

Name of organization: Traditional Healthcare Integration Network (THIN)

Mailing address: PO Box 46665 00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya

Telephone: (+254) 0 722331147 / (254) 0722984386 / (254) 0724857898 / (254)0733829503

E-mail: tradihealth@yahoo.co.uk

Contact person: Dr. Andrew Chapya

Project duration: 3 years renewable

Essential program estimates: $ 42,000,000 (for 3 yrs)

Ethical clearance –None

Rationale: For lack of better options in many rural and semi urban communities, who comprise of 80% of the Kenyan population depend largely on plant base preparations and remedies for almost all their health needs. The country is still haunted by many lethal infections and infestations, typical of the tropical world; and, many social factors are related to health and disease. Nevertheless the poor in the country have limited access to preventive and curative treatment, animal breeding services, information, advice and veterinary drugs; Rural livelihoods are under greater strain than ever before. The project is to harmonize the Primary Healthcare (PHC) services and peoples needs especially for those disease and infections that are preventable (STDs, HIV, cardiovascular etc).

Goal: The primary Goal of THIN and partners is to exploit knowledge and desirable properties of selected plants tactics and make them accessible, affordable, safe and sustainable for use by the resource – limited rural and semi urban dwellers.
The proposal seeks to undertake research associated with rational and sustainable use of plant natural products through partnerships and complementary institutions; groups and individuals. The institutions include THIN with a strong background and capacity in health related research and development. It is to partner with other institutions/individuals/groups/with expertise in medicine, plant sciences, molecular biology, pharmacology, situational elucidation, microbiology, networking among others.

Summery
1.Although plant preparations and crude extracts of pants are widely used in Kenya, no attempt to promote traditional medicine alongside modern medicine has been made. This is owing to the fact that: first , the practitioners of traditional medicine and healthcare lack the knowledge of science and technology to modernize their trade, second, every traditional healer works on his/her own, meaning that information as to the various uses of plants and other resources are not easily available. And, although there are scattered researchers in various universities and institutes locally as well as overseas, these researches are not carried out in a systematic manner.

2.The striking medicinal and health knowledge being derived and applied from empirical knowledge of folk medicines in the identification of new sources of drugs is being increasingly appreciated as more and more biologically active compounds and secondary products are being discovered from local plants.

3.We know that many medicinal and medicinal and scientific researchers have experimented with drugs taken from plants after seeing folk healers use them. For example British physician William Withering noted in 1700s that several shrophire villages used the leaves of foxglove plants that have purple flowers to make a preparation for people with heart problems. Withering decided to test that plant preparation on himself and he reported the results in 1785. We now Know which active ingredient in the leaves that alleviates heart diseases symptoms. It is digitalis, one of the drugs used most frequently by heart patients to-day.

4.For these reasons, in 1974 while at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE, with a colleague, Professor Isau Kubo from Osaka University in Japan and now Professor of Natural Products Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, USA, the author initiated an investigation of a number of East African plant species, to screen for both anti-insect and anti-microbial activities based on the information provided by the people native to the area and especially ‘’Bwana Mganga’’ (Swahili for medicine man). We also collected same number of plants at random.

5.During the preliminary screening for anti-microbial activities (see Pham Bull.) the results seemed to indicate that the information from ‘’Bwana Mganga’’ can sometimes be justified medically since we found the probability of observing some activity in ‘’dawa ya miti’’ (Swahili for Medicinal plants) extracts to be much higher than that found in the random sampling.

6One such observation is that when cholera strikes in the Kenyan rural community, the ‘’Bwana Mganga’’ tell then people to drink a brew made from the barriers of ‘’maesa bush’’. Extracts from the barriers chemically similar to Vitamin K, appear to block the enzyme of organisms known as gram-negative staining bacteria. Gram negative bacteria are responsible for diseases like cholera, meningitis, and some of the infections contracted during childbirth.

7.From the roots of the ‘’Red – hot Porker’’ tree, widely used in various folk remedies, such as malaria, syphilis was found to possess a strong activity against fungi and gram-positive bacteria. The exact was studied in detail and the substances isolated from the root, bark were found to be new natural products which show anti-peptic activity reported in a patent, as well as showing strong inhibitory activity against rabbit platelete aggregation.

8.From the East African ‘Green hut plant’ we isolated a compound that significantly increases’ the anti biotic effects of some existing commercial drugs, including those that combat certain fungal infections (such as Actinomyein) and athletes foot.

9.To-day, we live in a world where we can successfully control many of the human and animal pathogens with anti biotics. However, it is not difficult to document that the need for new antibiotics still exists. For example systemic infections caused by filamentous microorganisms-especially in patients with impaired or compromised host-defense mechanisms- are becoming increasingly serious worldwide. Yet the tropical plant species with built in defense mechanisms, which are renewable are as yet unexploited as sources of antimicrobial and other pharmacological agents. Nature is the greatest chemist. We just hope to use our sophisticated biological and chemical technologies (biotechnologies) to learn how nature does its work.

10. With increasing frequency, this systematic second look at the folk remedies is demonstrating that modern medicine may yet have something to learn from herbal and traditional medicines although still shrouded in secrecy and magic. Now we have the technology in chemistry and molecular biology to tell us why these folk remedies and medicines do what they do. The Bwana Mganga empirically figures out what these drugs are good for, although they cannot have known how they work.

At least we are not starting from a vacuum. THIN organization has over the years collected, and is still collecting medical as well as ecological information on more than 5,000 different plant species used by various local communities in different situations. We have gone ahead to test more than 2,000 of the collected plant species against different human and animal health conditions. – at our herbal health research clinic in Nairobi and by the communities themselves. The results are very encouraging.

THINS work calls for magnitudinal funding, extensive networking and partnerships in many fields of health and development. There is, however, a considerable challenge to manage such partnerships, not least to keep pace with a challenging world in which also the partners have to adjust and change. We need excessive dialogue to see to it that all the partners share the same vision as we go along.

Indeed everybody is busy minding his/her own agenda. But, we need some flexibility on both sides to make this process smooth and efficient. Issues arise that may relate to administration, planning or research mobilization. But there is an obvious bottom line that should help us solve these issues: we – the partners and supporters of THIN – share the goal of taking an obvious Research and Development agenda forward, to make a real difference, especially for the poor, and to do what it takes to get research results translated into efficient control and preventive strategies.

THIN should emerge as a unique partnership, bringing together not only volunteers, but also industry, private and public research institutions and foundations. And even more important Developing countries become full partners in THINS carefully selected Health and Development Projects, and programs. We can do more to line up to our mandates and respond to our peoples needs by rallying our forces in this close and ultimate way. There can be different models and coalitions. For example more than 98% of THINS budget comes from voluntary contributions most of which are non-designated. They have been special for over a decade. This is true partnership.
We need determination to invest in health.
We need even more determination to invest in long –term research aiming at solving health problems of the poor populations, and to keep doing this for decades.

THIN and partners are not about to issue a blanket endorsements of ‘’African Medicine man’’ but the closer we get to the scientific roots of traditional folk medicines the better and useful some of them look. Of-course the fact that a plant is alleged to be useful for a specific disease or condition is inadequate justification for accepting that plant as a valid means of therapy for the whole country and the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME

2008-12-25T02:42:00.000-08:00

Environmental Education has been one of our core projects targeting schools,churches,barazas and public gatherings to educate and exchange information and knowledge on conservation of our environment.

HEALTH SITUATION IN KENYA

2008-12-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Offer your support!

2008-12-12T02:08:00.000-08:00

Please help us preserve Kenyas biological heritage and alleviating poverty among small village farmers.
Here are some ways that you can help:
1. Make a donations
Facilities we need funds to build:
• Buy a loom - $2000
• Purchase materials to build educational center and weaving workshop - $2000
• Purchase the materials need to build a silkworm rearing center - $2000
• Purchase materials need to build a plant nursery and herbal research centre- $2000
Salaries we need to raise:
• Hire in-field project manager - $170/month
• Hire a silkworm nursery manager - $100/month
• Hire a plant nursery manager - $70/month
• Pay for a qualified personnel to participate in our project - $80/month
Airfare we need to raise:
• It costs $250 for us to travel within country to our remote site. Please help us raise funds
2. Donate equipments for research and development
Please call us at +254 733 829 503 for more details.
3. Donate training facilities and employee secondment.
4. Invite us to speak to your organization about our conservation through poverty alleviation programs and the Community Resource Centre

DESTRUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT

2008-12-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Although science has long recognized that all the factors, Benin, or, malignant, which man encounters in all facets of the environment combine to produce a total effect on his physical and mental health, we have too long attempted to deal with them as though these effects were infact, separate and unrelated.

Indeed we have sometimes seemed to view man as outside the ecological system and to deal with various factors in the environment as though they were merely problems of the planetary property management. In truth, man, whatever else he/she may be, is part of nature, whose life is dependant upon the delicate balance within the ecological system of which he is part.

This scheme gives an overview of what Environmental Health Concern Programme of THIN organization is doing to bring by helping citizens embrace clean development mechanisms change in the Kenya’s development efforts; and to fill the gaps that call for mutual efforts.
We are building public – private, individual partnerships that mobilize resources, strengthen ideas, technologies; to international cooperation; and help communities build their institutional capacity to manage these problems and free their imaginations. The meek to achieve their dreams. Indeed we have to do this all our life.
While these social and environmental problems are daunting, ample experience at international and national level demonstrates that progress is possible through concerned efforts.
Traditional and Cultural Values Blended into science and technology advances offer hope and answers.

THE PROJECT

2008-12-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CONCERN PROGRAMME (EHCP) OF THIN ORGANIZATION.

EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
Although science has long recognized that all the factors, Benin, or, malignant, which man encounters in all facets of the environment combine to produce a total effect on his physical and mental health, we have too long attempted to deal with them as though these effects were infact, separate and unrelated.

Indeed we have sometimes seemed to view man as outside the ecological system and to deal with various factors in the environment as though they were merely problems of the planetary property management. In truth, man, whatever else he/she may be, is part of nature, whose life is dependant upon the delicate balance within the ecological system of which he is part.

This scheme gives an overview of what Environmental Health Concern Programme of THIN organization is doing to bring by helping citizens embrace clean development mechanisms change in the Kenya’s development efforts; and to fill the gaps that call for mutual efforts.
We are building public – private, individual partnerships that mobilize resources, strengthen ideas, technologies; to international cooperation; and help communities build their institutional capacity to manage these problems and free their imaginations. The meek to achieve their dreams. Indeed we have to do this all our life.
While these social and environmental problems are daunting, ample experience at international and national level demonstrates that progress is possible through concerned efforts.
Traditional and Cultural Values Blended into science and technology advances offer hope and answers.

INTRODUCTION

To-day our nation is facing an environmental and ecological crisis which is being recognized as one of the major problems of our time. There are all forms of environmental degradation and pollution. A soaring population, urbanization, unplanned settlements, agriculture, and infrastructure has led to destruction of natural resources. Fantastic advances in science and technology and the mistakes of our past have produced biological, radiological and chemical contaminations of land, air, food and water, crowding noise and many other threats of human health and well being. And, the disruptions of ecological balances have come to the fore as a major international problem.

Mans survival depends on an infinitely complex system of relationships and balances among countless living organisms, existing in or on the extremity thin crust of the earth, or just before it. The system has remarkable capacity for adaptation and regeneration, but nature’s patience has a limit. If the current trends continue, the future of life on earth is endangered.

Now various aspects of the problem must engage the attention of interest groups in many diverse fields – Conservation, agriculture, transportation, urban planning, industry, commerce, health, consumer protection and others.

Environmental Health Concern Programme is one of the eight programmes of Traditional Healthcare Integration Network (THIN), a non – governmental, non – political, non – profit making, and development - oriented organization, registered in Kenya under Healthcare Critaria.
THIN organization has integrated but functional programmes designed in partnership participation of local people supporting empowerment and socio – economic development using healthcare delivery and promotion strategies as a positive receptacle for them.

Environmental health concern Programme is a broad national programme to identify and document a wide range of problems relating to the environment on which modern man lives, works and spends his leisure time. EHCP is assuring that human environment needs are defined and enunciated as clearly as possible so that consideration of mans health and welfare may become a guiding principle through – out our society, in all actions affecting the environment. It also directs specific attention to such hazards as improper housing, noise, rodent and insect vectors, waste accumulation, improper sanitation and occupational disease and injuries.

THIN organization has integrated but functional programmes designed in partnership participation of local people supporting empowerment and social-economical development using healthcare delivery strategies as a positive receptacle for them.

To improve livelihoods through participatory generation and dissemination and application of knowledge in healthcare.

VISION

THINS vision is ‘’Basic healthcare and prosperity’’ throughout Kenya and beyond.
We are committed to this vision, to focus on our work and remain committed. It is a vision that recognizes healthcare as an urgent priority. But also recognizes aspirations to an equitable share of world’s wealth and prosperity, rather than the small and declining share on which Kenyans currently have to live and to content with.

GOAL

Empowering rural communities, simple citizens, health professionals and all concerned with knowledge and technology for improved decision making and implementation.

AIM

The main aim of Environmental Health Concern Programme (EHCP) is to provide a scientific basis for the long – term use and conservation of natural and other resources to enable mankind to manage the natural resources of the biosphere more effectively.

To this end, the programme consists of networks of interdisciplinary field research, education, and demonstration and training activities in order to study and understand the impact of man on environment. Such studies are being carried out in close cooperation between natural and social scientists. Major community – based projects are already developed within community environs, regions and municipalities.

To strengthen the Environmental Health Concern project includes among its objectives the training of Scientists and Technicians in multidisciplinary teams in different zones as well as demonstrating and educating community groups, citizens and other stakeholders. This is achieved by means of international and regional training courses, fellowships and exchanges of personnel with special emphasis on on-site training in places where THINS’ activities are already in progress.

The Board outlines of THIN programmes were established in August 2003, at the first Board of Directors meeting (BOD) meeting of THIN, after the official registration of the organization in December 2001. The Environmental Health Concern Programme was to focus its research and training endeavor that would reflect a kind of analogy to the schools of agriculture and public health.

STRATEGIES IN IMPLEMENTATION

Since the major focus of EHCP programme is concerned with mans interaction with particular natures systems and geographical units, much of this work is being developed at the national, regional and community levels.

In each community or environmental zone, the Board of Directors defines and organizes research activities on particular national problems of health and development, which are related to the overall objectives and goals of THINS’ programmes. Special ad hoc advisory panels and committees and a number of temporary appointed consultants help to coordinate community contribution and to define overall core programmes ensuring that compatible methodology is used for various projects of THIN. Thus, THINS’ projects are integrated to work together on a series of health, environmental development so as to provide compatible results capable of generalization and synthesis.

NATIONAL PROJECTS

Environmental Health Concern project activities at the national level fall into major categories of THIN institutional building, research promotion and coordination, information exchange, through publications, symposia, workshops and seminars and training activities.

Major National projects after institutional building are systemic surveys focusing on the structure, dynamics and productivity of the natures systems – in response of the site to different uses and the human impact to natural ecosystems analyzed.

2.2 OPERATIONAL PROJECTS

At the national, regional and community levels include activities geared to the principal factors affecting rural development in Kenya, and indeed major parts of East Africa. It is a part of pilot activity that THIN and other organizations want to promote to, to provide the scientific basis of rehabilitation and national management.

The practical hypothesis of the project is that the process of rural development can be exalted through new strategies of development based on increasing community participation, regional productivity, services and food self – sufficiency.

These strategies include the diversification of such as agro forestry and emphasis in developing local renewable energy, green manurering, local medicinal resources, live mulching among others.

At the same time a number of challenging scientific issues are being addressed within the project. These include the study of Traditional and Cultural beliefs that could contribute to conservation efforts and how to modernize them through science and technology. The project is taking advantages of partnerships, networking and collaborative synergy in THINS health projects and in the different international, regional and national facilities.

The collaborating institutions bring about networking through a strategy of ‘’learning by doing’’. Draft model agreements and contract documents are drawn to govern the various activities in the different institutions and to deal with intellectual property rights (IPR) of the indigenous peoples.

2.0 CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPS.

Seminars and symposia are encouraged to take advantage of the diversity of activities offered by THINS’ networks.

3.0 FELLOWSHIPS RESEARCH AND TRAVEL GRANTS

Manpower development is built into the framework of THIN organization. Fellowships, Research and Travel grants including procurement of materials and equipments are part of the parcel of the integrated networks of pilot projects and the Institutional development of THIN organization.

Through research, THIN seeks to develop effective and economical methods for abating and controlling or preventing the degradation, discharge of pollutants to the atmosphere and to gain improved knowledge of the effects of pollution on humans, plants, ecosystems and materials.

INFORMATION EXCHANGE DOCUMENTATION AND PUBLICATION.

An idea of importance is attached to the co-operative exchanges and discussions of specific and technical results reflected in reports, technical notes, as well books, scientific journals, databases that address special research findings. Others are video, film and documentaries of environmental damage and risks.

7.0 COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND EDUCATION.

Community Participation is the key to the success in any conservation and abatement programme. Regardless of how technically sound any plan is, it cannot be successfully implemented without the support and participation of the community groups and peoples themselves Therefore THINS’ Environmental Health Concern Programme contains adequate provision for such activities as Discussions, Meetings, Interviews, and demonstrating various practices and methods.

DEMONSTRATIONS

‘’Seeing is believing’’. A number of small demonstration plots are set up both on public and private land with a few on public lands implementing an idea plan with results that will show communities what can be achieved and what can confidently be anticipated. However, communities are more likely to be convinced by results from plots on their neighbor’s farms.

They usually trust their fellow communities more than they do the government. Setting up the plots and implementing the demonstrations on public lands are more difficult than on private lands. The results may be less perfect but they will be seen to be closer to what the community can hope to achieve on his own land.

Demonstration sites are carefully selected. They are representative of important environmental and agricultural zones and in places that can be conveniently visited and well maintained. The demonstration plots are used as training grounds both for communities, technicians and visitors.

11.0 EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF COMMUNITY GROUPS.

Education and training of communities and community groups begins as soon as an important conservation problem in the area is identified. Such education includes village meetings, exhibitions, field visits, and the showing of video (clips) and movies. The first objective motivates the communities to participate in the programme. Community members want to think twice, at least before they take revolutionary ideas of conservation.

Special training is usually given to selected people, such as village headmen and elders, contact farmers, health practitioners or active numbers of youth groups. Selections are done carefully. Basic requirements for contact farmers; health practitioners and conservation leaders are aged (say 25 -35) physically active disposition, attitude, adequate level of education and access to apiece of land that can be used for administration purposes.

The special training period may last between 10 days and two weeks. It includes Conservation principles, techniques, and crop management, pollution abatement. Upon completion of their training, the selected people are expected to return to their fellow community members and farmers to act as liaison people between THIN organization and community members.

A different more generalized training course is usually given to the village leaders and community leaders. Two or three days of training with emphasis on lecturers, discussions and slide film shows but with some field visit always suffices. Participants are always influential people in the farming, conservation and heath in community who need to be convinced of the necessity for conservation but who are not required to know the technical details.

12.0 TRAINING EXTENSION AGENTS

Since extension staffs in the country have received little formal training in conservation, short courses are arranged for their benefit. A course work for thee weeks training has been proved appropriate in the country. After this training a trained extension agent needs to work closely with an expert conservation person until he / she has gained enough experience in conservation extension and technical assistance, to work confidently on his/her own.

INTEGRATED AND COORDINATED APPROACH.

Conservation work is linked to production and development activities to provide an overall package deal. Farmers and communities cannot afford to be interested in conservation for itself. However, they are connected to on – farm agro business and marketing of their products and services.

SUPPORTS TO COMMUNITY PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

THIN organization has established over the years close working links with the national, regional, sub –regional, and community groups.

The involvement of groups and associations assists in conservation planning, extension, supervision and implementation in conservation and pollution matters, including surveys, gully control structures, agro forestry among others, which concern more than one farm or zone. This becomes complete and efficient if the work of different farms or zones are jointly planned and integrated into existing farming/conservation systems.

However, financial incentives in support of technical assistance are usually needed to encourage small scale farmers and community groups to adopt conservation work. These incentives can be justified on the following grounds;

Small scale farmers and community groups are too poor to take any risk and usually have no resources to meet additional labour or capital costs;

Many environmental measures involve a heavy involvement in labour, e.g. in terracing, planting, and construction, etc. Even the use of family labour can be a burden, and an effective loss of labour, for this labour might otherwise have been invested in some other production activity, or in off – farm work to gain extra money;

Environmental Conservation itself yields off-site benefits and it is reasonable, therefore to ask society in general to meet some of the costs. Certainly it is unfair to expect the small scale poor farmers in the rural environments to bear the full cost when others benefit as well;

A farmer’s income is likely to be reduced in the initial stages of conservation activities because (1) production is lost or delayed; (2) additional labour is needed for constructions; (3) inputs, time and efforts are needed to restore soil quality or vegetation after destruction, disturbances after floods and drought in a production area. Earlier loses may be covered by later gains but this takes time and loses should attract government compensation when they occur. But this compensation is never given.

18.0 KINDS OF INCENTIVES

Incentives may be of two kinds: direct and indirect. Among direct incentives, cash subsides are commonly paid in recognition of work performed or as daily wages. Food, farm implements, uniforms, fertilizers etc are given as incentives in kind, in quantities which again recognize daily labour input or amounts of work accomplished. The advantages and disadvantages of cash subsides are discussed below.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CASH SUBSIDIES

Cash subsides are probably the most popular means of promoting conservation and other agricultural schemes. They are relatively easy to handle and can be distributed at any stage in the work. The main problems relate to selecting suitable criteria for payments of cash itself. Even too much or too little subsidy can adversely affect a project, whilst misuse of funds by farmers can also affect the final outcome.

There are also many types of indirect incentives. The provision of technical assistance is one such incentive; others include provision of marketing services and other infrastructural development. Some of these incentives are normally built in the planning of the incentives. Food and other subsides are sometimes given since the people are too poor to find enough food. They would not be able to achieve much when they are hungry and sick. The communities have been able to provide useful guidance and examples in the selection of criteria.

FIELD STAFF

Conservation is field oriented. The importance of field staff cannot be overemphasized. A certain number of quality of field staff is needed to achieve planned goals. Multidisciplinary field staff who are concerned specifically with conservation, although extension agents and contact farmers are also engaged in the work.
WORK TARGETS AND FIELD STAFF.

The number and kind of field staff needed in an area clearly depends on the volume and type of work that is planned. The majority of the work can be carried out by general conservators of a sub – professional or technical level who have received some special training. Nevertheless, some professionals or specialists in agronomy, forestry or civil engineering are likely to be needed in field office to backstop the work and to recognize and deal with problems. In some instances, vocational school and high school graduates are properly trained and sent to the villages especially villages where they come from to carry out conservation work with support of a professional team. This approach has proved very effective.

To establish and maintain high level of performance in the field it is important that field workers should be fully compensated for the actual expense and inconvenience they suffer from working a way from their own homes assisting scattered groups of small farmers and community groups. Payments of per diem and other allowances should be both timely and adequate. Delay or failure to pay field allowances can have disastrous effects on staff morale and efficiency. The money involved is part of the project costs and provisions are always made with these disbursements of these disbursements of these allowances.

TRAINING OF FIELD STAFF

The quality of conservation work depends in large measure upon the quality of technicians who plan, design and supervise it. The correct training of these technicians – the field observation officers – is therefore of first importance.
Three kinds of training are usually required as follows;
A basic training course lasting 4-6 weeks is needed for conservation officers of professional and sub – professional levels.

About half of this course is devoted to field work practice, one week of which may be used for field tours and visits. The usual content of these course covers conservation principle, various survey and planning techniques, engineering structures, agronomic conservation measures, simple land planning, soil sampling and extension techniques, watershed and pollution management;

- refresher courses for the same groups of staff are also needed from time to time, lasting one to two weeks; these courses allow revision of old subjects and introduce new special subjects: use of remotely sensed imagery and other techniques like water harvesting, farm management, technical as well, as legal aspects of pollution, how to conduct public enquiries and agitate on behalf of the pollution control and anti – pollution crusaders;

- a practical course, for training field assistants or high school students. The course lasts 2-3 weeks and 75% (percent) of it is devoted to field practice and visits. By running the course the same time as training for contact farmers, etc, duplication of effort is saved and the two groups become well acquainted. The curriculum for such course also includes water ways profile surveys, controlling and leveling, introduction to land capacity classification, map reading and making, slope analysis, area calculation, among others.

It is worthwhile re-emphasizing the desirability of establishing permanent training centers (telecenters) within THIN organization so that the conduct of training for field stuff, extension officers and community groups can be continuous.

TRAINING OF SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS

Analysis of environmental deteriorating factors show on essential reason of the whole consequence caused by the changes in our environment. More complex scientific research and demonstration seems to be necessary both: for proper decisions concerning all new sources of influences on the environmental quality, as well as for adequate behaviour of each one of us.

It is known that the social structures in this field depends on knowledge of environmental problems as well as methods, and on the individual understanding of the importance of increased personal involvement in a wider cooperation as a condition of improvement of the quality of life. This activity depends on the quality of natural and cultural environment.

Very important seems to be coordination of environmental efforts at all educational levels and out – of - school youth activity, in connection with different practical needs in this field and permanent education of adults.

Unfortunately none of existing educational programmes in the country include enough wide scientific, technological and practical investigation in connection with needs of really integrated practical activities at all levels. Also the education system is not adequate especially concerning preparation on a wide international scale. Yet the efforts are very important and urgent.

As a result only a small percentage of scientists and the youth is actively participating in environmental cooperation. This is as a result of, not adequate educational programmes, information and methods and also inadequate perception of environmental quality. However, the quality of human environment is not efficient because scientific studies are made in a traditional way: they are fragramentary and do not result into integration.

More integrated interdisciplinary studies are necessary, both for better knowledge of the relationship between man and the environment and for methodological verification and incasing efficiency of all kinds of professional and social environmental activities.

THIN supports interdisciplinary research seminars, and post graduate courses preparing young talented scientists and technologists from different disciplines- e.g. from natural, social sciences and techniques – for integrated investigation as well as for cooperation with decision – making man and politics, at all levels – national, sub regional and international. Very important is the connection between theoretical discussions during interdisciplinary seminars and studies during environmental field camps.

1.8 EVALUATION

Environmental projects are relatively difficult to evaluate because of their long term benefits, external influences, wide distribution of benefits etc. Nevertheless evaluation is necessary to show the results of the investment.

In the case of EHCP of THIN, the Board of Directors, its research committee together with the assistance of interested institutions, universities, extension services and the committee organize an independent evaluation team to undertake periodic evaluation work. In addition, a database and monitoring unit for every project is established under all THINS project for data collection and monitoring.

In addition to farming records, biodiversity data, specifically designed for periodic evaluation purposes are in-built in the projects for periodic evaluation purposes. Such periodic surveys may include the following;

-Surveys on socio economic conditions in the project are to compare with the baseline survey;

-Surveys of Land use changes and conservation progress in an area or watershed or forest using remote sensing techniques, every 5-10 years as required;

-Other single purpose and brief surveys such as on – farm income, land productivity, conservation.

BENEFICIARIES

Health and disease of man and of the community in which he lives depend upon the interactions with physical, biological, lifestyle and social environment. THINS Environmental Concern Programme aims to contribute to clean and healthy environment that will bring about and contribute to Primary Healthcare (PHC) strategies, or preventive and curing of disease pathogens and agents of man, his crops, his livestock and natures’ services;

ECP will help to limit emissions and pollution of the earths atmosphere, whose results are weather and climate change, acid rain, ozone layer destruction, drought, floods, all of which affect men and other living things;

However, the EHCP is providing a sound foundation for the stakeholders, especially women and children and youth, industrialists, commerce transporters, producers, among others to participate in projects that address local environmental problems.

Kenyan women are primarily responsible for farming, accompanied by children and youth, both in terms of their labour contribution (nearly double that of men) and making decisions. In 50% of the cases they make agricultural and environmental decisions on their own, and about 20% they participate in joint decision making. As primary procurers of firewood, fodder, they play an important role in the use and misuse of natural resources.
The youth and children are still young susceptible and easy to persuade. They are also future leaders who will make important decisions.

The industrialists are the major users of environmental services and products and the major polluters of the environment. They need to be sensitized to monitor and regulate their levels of natural resources and biodiversity use and limit or discard their levels of pollution.

-By effecting the consolidation into a single system of all data pertaining to the problems of environmental degradation and toxicology EHCP provides for availability of data at all levels, agencies, industry and scientists.

-The department of education, health, agriculture, industry and welfare, will access information for teaching and protection of the labourer from hazards of his occupation and the health of the consumer behaviour and manufacturing process that significally reduce the production and (spread) emission of pollutants;

-About 80% of the drugs in the United States are either natural products and their derivatives, or synthetic compounds modeled on natural products. Genetic modification techniques now mean their biodiversity is a source of genes as well as products. Therein Biodiversity holds a great promise for the country of Kenya in particular and Africa in general.

-Much of the discarded solid waste is recoverable and could become a source of additional fuel for domestic use.

-The government has been unable to meet local employment and income needs, provide basic amenities; consequently a rapidly increasing majority live below poverty line (less than $ 1aday) and the health conditions and livelihoods remain poor. As long as there is widespread disease, incentives, hunger, little prospects can be made in ameliorating other dimensions of poverty.

20.0 PURPOSE

The purpose of THINS Environmental Health Concern Programme is to conduct and coordinate research, demonstration and information studies (among other related activities) of delivering Management Plans, new Strategies and methods for Sustainable Environmental, Biodiversity and ecosystems health. The best thing about this strategy is that, by and large, it reflects foresight rather than emergency response to an intolerable situation.

The Goal is two fold a) to enhance livelihoods and b) to improve environment and biodiversity management by: directly supporting pilot community – based enterprises and related environmental research management and by: indirectly providing training, technical assistance and extension, information to EHCP Partners, Governments, and Community based organizations, NGOs; EHCP staff carrying out integrated development and conservation initiatives in the project areas.

MAN POWER.

The manpower levels of Environmental Health Concern Programme where 5 members include Scientists plus Community – based volunteers around the country does not satisfy the critical mass to effectively work in resource degradation prevent new threats and sources of pollution as well as give trainings.
The manpower needs to be increased at least 5 times. Meanwhile THIN organization is seeking to immediately fill four (4) vacancies on its Board of Directors. The vacancies are preferably served for international scientific and technical experienced persons, in diverse expertise in disciplines such as Fundraising, Health Education and training, agriculture, environmental (including hygiene), food, pharmaceutical, insect, plant, animal, Sciences, Forestry, Natural Products Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Community development, Journalist and Cross – Cultural Religion (to strengthen leaders and foster insightful research). We are expected to collect information, measure effectiveness, in short to be effective managers of the resources God has given us. Our philosophy of innovation is based on how all of us work, we live. It is the force behind every step we take.

THE BOARD

The legal obligations of THIN organization are discharged by (1:3:5 :) members of the Board overseas the affairs of THIN organization through four committees: Program, Executive, Audit and Finance, Nominating. The Board meets every year at annual general meeting and receives a financial statement, report of the organization’s activities for the year. The Committee then elects Board members, a third of these members retire every year and are eligible for re-election.

The Board members are professionals in diverse fields; Education, Health and Human service, Pharmacognosy, Medicine, Community development, Agriculture, Natural resource and Environmental protection among others.
They assist to plan and carry out multidisciplinary research, training, improve process, address opportunities and strengthen partnership. The Executive Director is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of the Organization. He is the agent of the Board to ensure that the policies and mission of the organization are carried out. He sits on the Board as a full member.
Are you interested? We hope you will join us to help humanity and future generations.

However, THIN organization would be delighted to work with volunteers in the many areas of Environmental Health Concern Programme, as well as visiting specialists in related fields and students. The usual practice is for any discoveries or results of research or demonstration to be published either: in a journal, magazine, or book published by THIN organization itself, and circulated throughout the world, or in a scientific journal published by another institution (for example by a university) which is also universally available to specialists and students.
This arrangement assures technology transfer and strengthens networking linkages. A wonderful addition to your curriculum vitae
Will you help? HELP, HELP – AND MAKE IT QUICK
With anything that costs at least $100 or € 100 per month or more if possible.

FUNDING
THIN Board of Directors immediately needs to talk to people of goodwill, organizations, associations, institutions, sponsors, donors who can help provide ‘’Continuing but Ostensible Core funding’’ for the programmes’ research and education activities as a whole, Seed money’’ for critical staff salaries, students allowances to enable mature people who have worked professionally to be able to provide education, demonstrations and training of community groups. Thus around $750million, as five year initiative to be spent initially to help expand interested community institutions embrace the programme and build upon efforts already underway: Communities will be eligible to receive 30 to 50% (percent) of the cost and provide back-up.

THIN needs your help and supports as well as your comments. If no action is taken, both humanity and life are endangered. THIN organization has the structures and the will to make a difference and bring change. You can also make a difference and save lives.

INFORMATION LINE:
To find out from our friends, organizations and all interested persons, if you have encountered the same problems and whether you were able to solve them for our synchronization with our problems.
Name: ……………………………………………………………………………………..
Title: ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Individual / Associations / Donor / NGO / Group / Organization / Institution / Corporations / Foundations / Embassy / Church / Small business / other
Address: ………………………………………
Email: …………………………………………………
Telephone:……………………………………
Cell No.………………………
Website…………………………………………………

COMMENTS & SUGGESTIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Send your Comments and Suggestions and Answers to Attention;
Executive Director
Traditional Healthcare Integration Network (THIN)
P.O.BOX 46665 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya,
E-mail: tradihealth@yahoo.co.uk
We hope you will walk as through the solution in real time. Thank you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
□Donate print sources: Books, Encyclopedias, magazines, microfilms; non print; documentaries and interviews (TV, Radio)
□Promotional and educational materials;
□Donate cash give regularly and generously;
□Donate items and equipment (office furniture, computers, vehicles, motor bikes, bicycles, cameras, PowerPoint and projectors);
□Donate gifts in Kind: Buildings, Land, Shares, Stocks, Deposits;
□Recruit volunteers, experts to give time, education, skills;
□Facilitate training of THIN personnel and exchange programmes by giving fellowships, study tours;
□Support in Kind;
□Accept our Funding Proposal;
□Facilitate staff Secondment;
□Facilitate Advertisement and Publications;
□Provide Company facilities for Conference, Seminars etc;
□Leave a legacy when you pop off;

SELECTING HERBAL REMEDIES FOR RESEARCH

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COMMUNITY TRAINING AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME

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A COMMUNITY CONSULTANT IN THE MOOD

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SKILLS AND TECHNOLOGIES BASED ON LOCAL RESOURCES

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DRUG ANNALYSIS

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COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE

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PHOTO

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We are building public – private, individual partnerships that mobilize resources, strengthen ideas, technologies; to international cooperation; and help communities build their institutional capacity to manage these problems and free their imaginations. The meek to achieve their dreams. Indeed we have to do this all our life.
While these social and environmental problems are daunting, ample experience at international and national level demonstrates that progress is possible through concerned efforts.
Traditional and Cultural Values Blended into science and technology advances offer hope and answers.

PHOTO GALLARY

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Kenya is facing unprecedented development challenges, but even bigger opportunities. It is a country with a wonderfully rich culture and history, and Kenya share a strong sense of natural identity it is blessed with a sounding natural resources and beauty.
Poverty, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and environmental degradation all confront the country. In the last three decades the number of food insecure people in Kenya has more doubled,
• Over the same period. GDP per capita growth averaged negative 1%
• Malnutrition in Kenya’s children rose by 70% of the period 1970 -2001
• Per capita income of about $ 312 per year was lower in 2002 than $350 in 1975
• Rural women produce up to 80% of the food but access only 10% of the credit, receive less than 5% of the extension service and own only a fraction of the land.

About 1 tone of soil nutrients are lost annually from Kenya’s soil because of cultivating the same piece of land year in - year out.
Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations has stalled in Kenya. 75% of the of the poor live in rural areas, sustaining their existence by farming small plots or breeding cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, donkeys or camels for income. Healthcare and agriculture are central to improving the lives of the poor.

WE CAN CHANGE

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The problem
There are two major threats to humankind today: the loss of biodiversity
and the loss of traditional knowledge about biodiversity. Both are issues
of utmost importance. Any species that becomes extinct is an option for
medicine, food, genes, etc., lost forever. Cultures with vast knowledge of
their plant resources also are threatened by extinction because of
acculturation. The traditional knowledge of plants has provided our
modern society with medicines, food, industrial materials and many other
advantages that we take for granted. Ethnobotanical research is providing
fundamental information in the search for new drugs, foods, pesticides,
natural products, genes and all kinds of chemicals. Ethnobotanical data
provides an extraordinary diversity of important questions for botanical,
ecological and anthropological research.

Purpose
To manage the complex information involved in ethnobotanical research, a database system is an excellent approach. Databases can be designed to incorporate many of the intricacies of the real world. For example, the relationships between scientific names and common names vary through time, space and culture. Names come in and out of use. Species referred to by a common name will change from one area to the next, from one time period to the next. Through the use of the right relational data tables and programming, it is possible to provide for those complexities. Furthermore, with relational databases, many individuals can work separately adding and correcting material that enhances the overall information system. Upon searches, people can then discover information and relationships novel to them from their own data entry and research.
For example, the biochemicals found in various species may be entered by various people. Other individuals could enter the medicinal uses made of various species in many different cultures. Still others could find through their data queries a list of biochemicals found in plants effective in the treatment of a certain disease. Further searches can find which ones would affect various aspects of the disease process.
The purpose of this project is to develop such a database focusing on the
ethnobotany of Kenya.

Welcome all volunteers.

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INTRODUCTION
Kenya is facing unprecedented development challenges, but even bigger opportunities. It is a country with a wonderfully rich culture and history, and Kenya share a strong sense of natural identity it is blessed with a sounding natural resources and beauty.Experts have described Kenya as a country with great potental but a disappointing under achiever.Environmental Health Concern Programme is one of the 8 programmes of THIN organization.
Poverty, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and environmental degradation all confront the country. In the last three decades the number of food insecure people in Kenya has more doubled,
• Over the same period. GDP per capita growth averaged negative 1%
• Malnutrition in Kenya’s children rose by 70% of the period 1970 -2001
• Per capita income of about $ 312 per year was lower in 2002 than $350 in 1975
• Rural women produce up to 80% of the food but access only 10% of the credit, receive less than 5% of the extension service and own only a fraction of the land.

About 1 tone of soil nutrients are lost annually from Kenya’s soil because of cultivating the same piece of land year in - year out.
Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations has stalled in Kenya. 75% of the of the poor live in rural areas, sustaining their existence by farming small plots or breeding cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, donkeys or camels for income. Healthcare and agriculture are central to improving the lives of the poor.

THIN is forging closer links between research and control of tropical diseases, by finding and more view efficient ways of building research and development in Kenya-these are all complex and difficult links.

THIN development agenda revolves around Kenya, where our activities are carried out in partnership with rural and in other settlement populations.
We will not be able to face all these challenges alone we will need your participation and support.

VISION
THIN’s vision is basic Healthcare and prosperity throughout Kenya.
We are committed to this vision, focus on our work and remain motivated. It is a vision that recognizes the basic need for adequate healthcare as urgent priority. But it also acknowledges aspirations to an equitable share of the world’s wealth and prosperity, rather than small and declining share on which Kenya currently have to live and to content with.

MISSION
THIN is a national, non-governmental, non political, development oriented organization. THINS mission in Kenya is to improve livelihoods through the generation, dissemination and application of mission oriented, cross-cutting science and technology in sustainable healthcare delivery, agriculture and resources management. THIN’S research and training agenda is dynamic, flexible and responsive to emerging development challenges. Our goal is thus improve livelihoods particularly in rural and sub –urban areas where poverty is concentrated.
We contribute to this goal by generating, disseminating and applying knowledge involving – basic, applied and adaptive research, capacity building and training, rural development projects and delivery of products and services. We are focusing on eight specific areas on sustainable health and natural resource management.

STRATEGIC THEMES
THIN is focusing its activities on eight strategic themes, that impact on it’s mission and that impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor in Kenya.
Through supporting their own thinking, creativity and problem solving. The poor in Kenya who form 56% of the population include women heading households, adolescents, school leavers, the elderly poor, pastoralists and small scale farmers, the landless the handicapped and unemployed.

The Board members are professionals in diverse fields. Medicine, biological sciences agriculture, natural resources management, public affairs, education among others. They assist to plan and carry out multidisciplinary education, training, research, improve process, address opportunities and strengthen partnerships.
The executive Director is the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer of the organization. He is the agent of the Board to ensure that the polices and mission of the organization are carried out. He sits on the Board as a full member.

OUR CORE VALUES
Quality in all our operations, commitment, integrity, transparency, accountability, efficiency, flexibility and local ownership.

COLLABORATION, PARTNERSHIPS AND OUTSOURCING

Collaboration is a key working principle for THIN. THIN focuses where it does not in anyway compete or pre –empty a work of the National Research Extensions systems (NARES) which includes national institutes of health, agriculture, universities, NGOs etc and where the products are clearly international goods.

THIN works with a wide range of collaborators, including International Research centers, Advanced research institutes, National research systems (NARES), Policy Makers, NGOs, Extension agents and community based groups (CBOs). The collaborating institutions, bodies, groups and organizations bring about networking through a strategy of learning by doing. Draft model agreements and contract documents are drawn to given the various activities in the different institutes and to deal with intellectual property rights of the indigenous property