Neem: the new “magic bullet” of the developing world?

     Ulilala vzuri? Nzuri laikini haikutosha (Did you sleep well? I slept well but not enough.-Kiswahili.) Although my education of Luo will have to continue later on, I have reverted back to Swahili as upon leaving the Lake Victoria area, more and more people will speak a combination of their traditional language and Kiswahili. Our travels took us out of the very bumpy underdeveloped region of Suba towards the more prosperous interior of the country. The Kisii people were blessed to have settled their homes in the soapstone hills of Western Kenya. Traditionally, the Kisii would only carve stone pipes for ritual purposes, but transitioned into a relatively lucrative and locally run industry. This change was more out of necessity than desire, as during the British colonial era, this primarily agricultural region was struck by a severe drought and began exchanging small stone statues with the British for food. As the market grew, more families located around the quarries began to focus their stone-carving skills. It is said that certain families/clans specialize in just one motif of carving and excel at their skill, passing the trade from generation to generation.

     We were blessed with the opportunity to visit a quarry site and actually saw a few carvers skillfully shaping the stones. Soapstone, an igneous rock whose color varies based on the temperature of the air at the time of the cooling of the magma is very soft and easy to carve. I couldn’t resist the urge to buy a statue from the actual makers of these magnificent pieces of art and went on to drive a hard negotiation to buy a very large and absolutely gorgeous statue of two Maasai warriors for 3500 Ksh (just under 60 Canadian dollars.) despite padding it with two mattresses and its original wrappings, I knew that it would be a long time before I knew it was safe from destruction. As we pulled out from the stone works the bus hit an enormous pothole and everyone on the bus got jolted. I cringed. 30 seconds later, we hit another one. I cringed again imagining it shattering with the pieces being pulverized into a fine grey dust on every impact. And then another pothole. I used to complain about Montréal roads. I swear I never will again. Kenyan roads are at best when they have just been paved. Within a few months they fall into disrepair as massive quantities of traffic wear down the road and rains erode the soil around them, causing them to collapse. Soon, the potholes are so large drivers CHOOSE to drive on the dirt next to the road as it poses less of a hazard to their vehicle. But back to the statue; I must imagine that they are relatively sturdy as Kisii statues are now found all over the world as the chain Ten Thousand Villages is one of their principle buyers and must find ways to move them in large quantities over these same roads. Dr. John gleefully explained to some local sculptors that last Christmas his neighbors bought him a small stone elephant from 10,000 Villages. Upon turning it over, he saw it was sculpted in Kisii. As he explained this to the sculptors, their jaws dropped. Even though they had been told by the middlemen who purchased the statues that they were going to be exported, never had they imagined that their work would be appreciated and admired around the world.

     That evening, we were brought to a brick making area by local ICIPE scientists. The brick pits are widely believed to be the root cause of much of the malaria in the region as the mosquitoes proliferate in the stagnant water that collects at the bottom of these pits when it rains. However, an ingeniously simple new method of natural pest control is being tested on a large scale here. The Neem tree, originally from India, whose numerous medicinal properties are just starting to be tapped into by herbalists worldwide has recently be discovered to be an effective mode of vector control for malaria. A water-permeable sack full of freshly cut Neem twigs is placed in the stagnant pools of water. The chemical properties of the sap seep into the water and have shown to have an abortive effect on mosquito larvae, preventing them from ever maturing into full-grown mosquitoes. The success rate has so far been staggeringly positive and in combination with treated bed-net campaigns local malaria incidence rates have plummeted. It is being highly touted in this region as the “magic bullet” of malaria control and the new wave in herbal remedies. However, my years of development studies have left me cynical, especially when the term “magic bullet” is employed. It seems that people always seek simplistic solutions to extremely complex problems, but more often create more severe problems in their implementation due to a lack of foresight. For example, since we are on the topic of malaria control, DDT was highly touted as the answer to the eradication of malaria worldwide. It was implemented on a large scale in developed countries, and patchily in developing ones. It effectively eliminated malaria in several areas (North America,) but its inefficient implementation in developing countries led to a larger, stronger emergence of malaria once the spraying programs were abandoned due to the discovery of its massively detrimental environmental and carcinogenic effects.

     Hopefully those who are implementing the Neem remedy have had more foresight than their predecessors, which would bode well for the developing world as it would help reverse the fortunes of many both in terms of well-being and economics. However, there are already dark clouds on the horizon for the Neem. An American agro-commercial company (whose name eludes me right now) is attempting to secure patent rights on the tree, which would restrict its planting and use on a wide scale. This in itself is ludicrous as this tree has been in use on a small scale for centuries in India, yet it seems that large companies are able to “rediscover” such plants and subsequently patent their use at an increasing frequency- a thought that disturbs me greatly.

-Amani my friends