Dialogues: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: [NIgerianW] EUREKA !!! Not Quite. (Nchu-anwu/Nchanwu)

AA Madu,

In Biomedical science, experts have their fields; I know about malaria very and have taught the pathogenesis/immunity to medical/graduate students in lectures; but my research is not focusing on malaria at this time. Take care. JUI

From: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Abraham Madu
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 3:05 PM
To: Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCPDCID); IgboEvents@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] EUREKA !!! Not Quite. (Nchu-anwu/Nchanwu)

Dr. Joseph Igietseme sir,

Can your office Lab help in finding cure for malaria in Nigeria?

Ya gazie

A.A.Madu

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Chinwe Enemchukwu <chinweenemchukwu@gmail.com>
To: igboworldforum <IgboWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>; igboevents <IgboEvents@yahoogroups.com>; naniigbo <Naniigbo@yahoogroups.com>; CHINWE ENEMCHUKWU <amalae7@yahoo.com>
Sent: Fri, August 27, 2010 2:18:10 AM
Subject: [IgboEvents:Live] Fwd: EUREKA !!! Not Quite. (Nchu-anwu/Nchanwu) [1 Attachment]

I remember the days of shelltox, sprayed in bedrooms at bedtime to kills mosquitoes in the big cities in the homeland, where mosquitoes reigned supreme. They would emerge and whine, singing horror songs, unsolicited, in people's ears. Having lived in rural areas, and having used mosquito nets or kept mosquito populations low with good practices, like eliminating stagnant water, closing the windows before dusk, one could actually get a good night's sleep without listening to the sopranos of the mosquitoes, trying to bite and draw blood to nourish their eggs.

The first time I had to endure sleeping in a room blasted with shelltox, I had travelled to Lagos with a brother, and a cousin to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language. We had to go to Lagos for the test, and I had forgotten why we had to travel that far. We had to stay at a cousin's flat, arriving unannounced of course. In those days of no telephones, one just showed up, and of course, was gladly received with inquiries about the home folks and quick adjustments to accommodate the new mouth or mouths to feed, and sleeping quarters for guests out of the blues. Sometimes, goodies arrived with the guests, but not always.

The room we were shown to stay in, for the three days of our visit, was quickly given a good blast of shelltox to knock the mosquitoes out and keep new arrivals out during the night.

The treatment was necessary because it had sounded as if groups of mosquitoes were holding rehearsals at every section of the flat, the kitchen, the parlour, the bedrooms, even worse on the balcony, being outside, and in the rainy season. My cousin whipped out the can of shelltox and treated the rooms shortly before everyone retired for the night. There were no singing in the ears or bites, but my eyes, skin and lungs took beatings. I could not breath and when I tried to hold my breath, then I was forced by nature to take in double portion, when I let go and took a breath. Before long, my stomach was hurting, eyes were burning and my throat felt chapped. Before we left for the East, I had developed a bad sore throat and felt sick. That was the realization that I was, and is still remain allergic to strong chemicals, even just the smell, such as the strong smell of bleach, or cleaning agents with bleach or ammonia, still create problems and must be used wearing masks.

In those days, shelltox was the treatment of choice for head lice. I remember girls at school or even during the holiday,who would spray and wet their hair and scalp with shelltox and leave it on for a while before washing it off, to kill head lice and destroy the eggs or nits. I believe I had tried it once and it had felt like I travelled half way to hell, before washing it off and still suffered for days from the irritation and burns. After that treatment, I never used shelltox or any other insecticide for head lice again. While on the scalp, it felt like the scalp was being ripped from the cranium with prongs. That meant excruciating pain, with a tight crawling feeling on the scalp, coupled with serious breathing problems which eventually led to sore throat and sometimes cough.

I resolved never to use shelltox other than for what it was made , eliminating cockroaches, spiders and other pests. Infestation with head lice was a regular problem after the war in boarding schools, and there was really no treatment, except shaving the hair off or spraying dangerous chemicals on the scalp. Some people put kerosine on their hair and scalp. I am surprised people did not catch on fire. The last time I got my share of head lice, I had all of my hair shaved off, leaving my head totally bald, and had the creatures left on the scalp, picked off by hand, before washing thoroughly.

I had to do this upon arriving home from school for the holidays, and failing the lice inspection. My mother did not want everyone infested. Remembering the pain, I would not have the shelltox treatment for anything. By the time we returned to school, I had fuzz of hair coming back, didn't look bad at all, with the widow's peak, and class mates thought it was hilarious to come back

to school with that haircut. Even after explaining that it was a head lice treatment, some felt it was a fashion statement and it earned a nickname.

I still wonder to this day, the kind of damage shelltox sprayed in bedrooms, and directly on hair and scalp could have caused on people. These pesticides, shelltox and others, stopped huge cockroaches on their tracks, and people were soaking their scalp with them and enduring the searing pain for as long as they could bear it. Seizure disorders, permanent damage to the brain, Cancer, and who knows what else may have resulted from using these chemicals the wrong way.

Why am I telling this long story about shelltox and pesticide chemicals, one would wonder. Anyway, bugs are also found in abundance in the United States and other countries outside the homeland, especially in places like Florida, which has climates and environments comparable to what we have in the homeland, and chemicals and pesticides are also in abundance to control pests. In addition, there are insect repellents to keep the insects at bay, especially mosquitoes.

The repellents come in various forms, sprays, gels,rub sticks,and most of them still have that chemical smell, which some people cannot tolerate, so they suffer bites or wear long sleeve shirts in the already hot and humid weather of the summer, while going out in the evenings . Sometimes, the city or county governments, carry out community spraying, usually when there are threats of mosquito-borne diseases, like West Nile Encephalitis, and the spraying takes place at dusk, as spraying vehicles slowly drive around releasing mists of chemicals in the air. For those who cannot tolerate the smell, that means staying indoors every evening until the spraying season passed.

Yesterday, while trying to work outside in broad daylight, the weather being partly cloudy for a good portion of the day, the mosquitoes were out whining in the ear, biting, leaving itchy wheals, just like they were whining and biting in the luxury, yes, luxury bus on a trip from Nnewi to Lagos, a few years ago. The mosquitoes were so brazen, and did not let off for the entire trip. With the intense scare of getting malaria, I was waving off or trying to kill the mosquitoes throughout the trip, and if eyes could hurt, some people on the bus would have hurt me, but how would they know what a nightmare it would be if I got back to the United States, and came down with malaria, despite taking preventive medicine,which sometimes fail for some people for various reasons.

After enduring a number of bites, as the sun was going down and more mosquitoes were emerging, I went inside to put on long sleeve shirts and other coverings for protection from the menacing mosquitoes. As I stepped in the garden to resume work, a thought crossed my mind ----nchu-anwu, of which there were three bushes right there. Nchu-anwu-----mosquito repellent,literally-- mosquito chaser, it must be, and not sun repellent, as mosquito and sun share the same spelling and pronunciation in the Igbo language.

The ancestors gave the plant that name in addition to the other name they had for it as it is used in ofe -akwu or ji agworo-agwo or boiled in hot water to help an ill person eliminate the bad taste in the mouth, the name, Arimu or even Arigbe in some areas. Nchu-anwu must repel mosquitoes for real or it would not have that name to begin with.

To satisfy my curiosity, I harvested some leaves, crushed them between my palms of the hand, which hardly produced any juice, but the aroma filled the air. I rubbed the leaves around the on the skin of arms and feet, just as one would use an insect repellent, anywhere the mosquitoes could land to feed, and went back to work, and to my total amazement, not one mosquito came to sing in or got near enough to bite. For over one hour, I worked undisturbed and I felt silly for allowing the mosquitoes to feed on me, while a remedy was just a stone throw away. If the ancestors, called this plant, nchu- anwu, they must have tested it and proved it before calling it such, and in that case, there was no need to yell "Eureka" and go crazy about a fact which was confirmed centuries ago, but was not put to good use for that purpose.

The torment and harassment by mosquitoes, for me at least, should be over for now, if I use what is available to me, natural and safe. From today, reliance on the genius of Igbo scientists from way back, and use nchu-anwu to do what the name says it does, repel mosquitoes, will be the case. A handful of leaves, older leaves, crushed between the palms, and then rubbed on the skin, and the choir of mosquitoes would take a hike and practice somewhere else,and keep their gifts of sickness and irritation to themselves, most likely. Next time I go to the homeland, with God's help, I will use arimu/ahimu for cooking ofe akwu and Ji agworo agwo, and also use it as a mosquito repellent, nchu-anwu.

Yes Nchu-anwu does exactly what our forebears said it does. HO HA !!! (QED)

Ndi Ph.D, ngwanu, meputanu nchu anwu repellant powder or spray,( Ocimum viride), ka umu Igbo jiri zoba/zowa ndu, gbanahu/gbanaru anwu-nta na iba. Kpom-Kwem.