Recently, the Observer Newspaper of The Gambia carried an article on the successful treatment of HIV/Aids by the President and Head of State, Alhagi, Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, secretive herbal concoctions, notably handed down to him from his forbearers who in their time, were well known and revered herbalists. In fact, rumor has it that President Jammeh's grand father treated and cured the first President of some malignant ailment he suffered, following a helicopter crash he miraculously survived in 1981.
It is also a well known fact that President Jammeh's own father was an eminent herbalist also specializing in restoring broken bones, among a miscellany of ailments that he was presented with. It is therefore baffling that Africans, particularly some doubting Gambians, would choose to remain faithless in the pronouncement of a cure for a disease that affects the human being, using herbal and traditional means.
We know that herbal curatives is nature's first gift to mankind to care for himself. Before the advent of science, man was taking good care of himself and to a large extent, enjoying a healthy and vibrant living: Just imagine, all the challenges and rough and tough life man was exposed to but, was able to survive and pro-create, producing strong and beautiful races. Why then should it surprise any one that a natural cure exists for a human-related disease.
It is also an open secret that it is not Africa alone that has its secrets. Every civilization, every race has its own mysticism, a gift of God that is all around us, but known and mastered by a select few. All the ancient books of knowledge and religion teach us of these sciences, some perhaps too weird for public knowledge, and others expunged from history, over the course of time. Even Don Juan was believed to be gifted in talking to flowers and evincing different reactions from them. The relation of man and nature is not only scientific, it is mystical and therefore, divine. Science itself is mystical and divine. Two authoritative Books of religion, the Holy Bible and the Glorious Quran, both contain irrefutable and instructive material on the genesis of Creation no different from what science in its inferior way, also proclaim.
We also know that people living next to nature, mostly referred to as bush people, are believed to have a seventh sense. They can communicate with animals; they know nature's life cycle unaided by science and technology; they can sense imminent danger without the aid of instrumentation, etc.
Herbalists can be divided into two broad categories: Those who were taught the art through a period of long apprenticeship and those who inherit the art but combined with mystical powers, normally handed down from generation to generation. This second category most times can pass on the knowledge of treatment but not the mystical knowledge.
It is hypocritical for any one, especially those in whose countries the art/science of mysticism is still prevalent, to not only doubt, but, try to dismiss the publicly displayed results of the treatment of HIV/Aids in The Gambia by the President himself who hails from a long and highly respected tradition and lineage of herbalists.
More nonsensical is the claim of the so-called professor who not only takes issue with the issue, but, misplaces his manners to spite the President. As a true professional it is expected that the claim of cure would first be verified before being rebutted. Or, is President Jammeh spoiling it for the big corporations who are poised to reap the whole world with treatment drugs, not to cure but, to arrest the spread of the disease.
President Mbeki of South Africa never believed in the Aids scare and was chastised by almost all and sundry. To-day, even scientists could not establish, prima facie, the relationship between HIV and AIDS. We congratulate President Jammeh for his sincere concern for humanity and urge him to remain focused on his crusade and benevolence in sharing his gift of God for the benefit of mankind. Alsaamadeh.
Copyright © 2007 Progressive Africans. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
