Traditional Zambian Medicine - By Kim Otteby

This month I have the pleasure of speaking to Elias Tembo (Kelimbo Herbs), a Traditional Zambian Herbalist and Researcher on Medicinal Plants.
 
Kim: How long have you been working with Traditional Zambian Medicine (TZM)?
Mr.T: As far back as I can remember really. I used to assist my grandmother as she collected herbs in the bush. I was very lucky that I was so close to her. Usually such information is transferred from grandmother to granddaughter only, and then from grandfather to grandson, but the men tend only to transfer knowledge regarding aphrodisiacs.

Kim: How else did you gain knowledge?
Mr.T: I’ve always been interested in collating all our traditional knowledge about herbs and then looking at it from a scientific point of view. I therefore travelled extensively within each of our 9 provinces collecting local knowledge and plants and testing for their chemical properties.

Kim: Did you make any interesting discoveries?
Mr.T: Yes indeed. One thing that struck me was that the same plant often had different uses depending on the tribe. Zambia is really a melting pot when it comes to herbal medicine!

Kim: How popular is TZM in Zambia?
Mr.T: Very. It is estimated that about 80% of the population use TZM.

Kim: In the local newspapers there are lots of ads where TZM practitioners claim they can increase a man’s “manlihood”. Dose it work?
Mr.T: Yes, according to the knowledge I’ve collected, but it depends on the person’s age. It tends only to work in the youth but not say when you’ve had 5 children. I don’t promote it though, as it can be dangerous.

Kim: Where do you get your herbs from?  Mr.T: I travel mainly to the Eastern and North-western province for collections. It’s difficult getting herbs near Lusaka as most places around here are private farms.

Kim: What parts of the plants do you use?  Mr.T: Mainly the leaves and roots, but it really depends on the plant. For a particular plant, one part may be very useful medicinally, while another part may be poisonous, so one has to know what one is doing! The part collected also depends on the season.

Kim: Are any of these medicinal plants endangered?
Mr.T: Unfortunately yes, because many TZM practitioners uproot the whole plant instead of just collecting a few roots and letting the plant live. It’s actually very sad, and I am working hard trying to bring greater awareness to this issue.

Kim: Are the younger generation interested in TZM? Is all this knowledge being passed on?
Mr T: Yes, they are. Unfortunately though a lot of the information is regarded as secret and hence is not shared between healers/tribes. There also needs to be more scientific studies done to help verify TZM’s positive impact on treating disease.

Kim: Thanks Mr. Tembo for your time and giving us a glimpse into the world of TZM!

ThVol. 13, No. 10 2007