Traditional African Health and

Environmental Concerns

Dr. Ramenga Mtaali Osotsi, Ph.D.

Professor and Academic Leader
Institute of General Studies (IGS)
Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri.
The Beginning
 Introduction
 Welcome to

 Communication Skills 3.1: Traditional African Health

and Environmental Concerns

 Detailed Discussion of the Syllabus

The Necessity of Studying the History of
Medical Science (in Tamri)
 Mastering medical science

 How did this begin?

 Can this mastery be replicated?

 The Sacred Three in
Human Health

 Environment

 Food

 Medicine

 Both at the : individual and social levels, the need to

have a clear understanding of these three.
 Interrelatedness of the
Sacred Three

 The example of the poisoned Earth

 Hormones in meat and milk and chicken

 Poisoned plants

 Medicine is and should be the last resort

 History of Medicine
 What is the history of medicine?

 Who has the authority to write the history of

medicine?
 When and where (and in what language) did the
study of medicine begin?

 Temporary answer to be elaborated on in this class:

 Look for answers in Tamri, the Beloved Land.

 Environment

 To whom does the environment belong?

 Amilcar Cabral provided the answer to the question:

‘to whom does the Nation belong’?

Amilcar Cabral: the People
and the Population
Amilcar Cabral in Historical
Context
The Rights of the People in
the Nation

 Sometimes rephrased as: Human Rights

 The right to belong (environment)

 The right to food

 The right to life

 Sundiata and the Hunters
First Human Rights Document in human history.

An oral document.

(cf. Seke Kouyaté, charte du Mande

<<https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=b1DjI2OUb68&ab_channel=KabakoToure>>)

How was it preserved? How is it remembered?

Performing memory.
 The Story of Sundiata
 Presented as an Epic

 Can be seen in the film:

Keita! L'héritage Du Griot (1996)

<<https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=kjCZoGSYT0M&ab_channel=DiahHamet >>

Why is Sundiata regarded as a Great Ruler?

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)

1. Wawindaji wasema:

Mtu yeyote ni kiumbe chenye uhai.

Ni kweli kuwa kiumbe mmoja huonekana kama

yuwatangulia kiumbe mwingine.

Lakini maisha ya mtu mmoja hayashindi kwa ukoo

maisha mengine, hayaheshimiki kushinda mengine.

Ndivyo hivyo maisha mamoja sio bora zaidi kuliko

mengine.
 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
2. Wawindaji wasema:

Kwa sababu maisha ni maisha

Uumizaji wowote wa maisha wastahili kurekebishwa.

Kwa hivyo:

Mtu yeyote asimvamie jirani mwenziwe.

Mtu yeyote asimuumize jirani wake.

Mtu yeyote asimtese mwenziwe.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
3. Wawindaji wasema:

Kila mtu amtunze jirani wake.

Kilamtu awaheshimu wazazi wake.

Kila mtu awaelimishe watoto wake vile itakikanavyo.

Kila mtu aitunze familia yake kwa kuyatekeleza

matakwa yao.
 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
4. Wawindaji wasema:

Kila mtu aitunze nchi ya wazazi wake.

Kwa kusema nchi ama nyumbani, hakika,

ni kusema: zaidi ya yoyote, wahudumie kila mtu.

Kwa sababu kama kila nchi, ulimwengu wote,

ukiwaona watu wakitoweka humo

Utahuzunika kwa hamu ya kuwakumbuka.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
 5. Wawindaji wasema:

 Njaa sio kitu kizuri.

 Utumwa, pia, sio kitu kizuri.

 Hakuna balaa yoyote kuvishinda hivi

 Humu ulimwenguni.

 Kwa vile twaushika upinde na mshale,

 Njaa haitauwa hatta mmoja huku Mande.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)

Na kama kwa bahati mbaya njaa ikitulemea,

Vita havitauangamiza kamwe mji

kwa kukusanya watumwa.

Hivi ni kusema kwamba: hakuna yeyote atakaye liweka

funda mdomoni mwa mwenziwe
 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
akiwa na lengo la kumuuza.

Hakuna yeyote ambaye atapigwa

ama, zaidi ya hayo, asukumwe kifoni

Eti kwa sababu yeye ni mtoto wa mtumwa.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
6. Wawindaji wasema:

Uthibitishaji wa utumwa umekoma kuanza leo.

Toka ukuta mmoja mpaka mwingine, toka mpaka mmoja wa Mande

mpaka mwingine

Shambulio la kuwapora watumwa tangu leo limepigwa marufuku.

Mateso yaliyo mazao ya hivi vitisho yamekwisha huku Mande kwanzia leo.

Ni jaribio la aina gani, hili teso

Haswa kama mnyonge hana yeyote wa kumkimbilia

Na mtumwa hana yeyote wa kumfikiria

Popote ulimwenguni.
 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
7. Watu wa kale hutuambia:

Mtu binafsi

Aliyeundwa kwa mifupa na nyama,

uboho na hisia,

ngozi na nywele,

hujilisha kwa chakula na kinywaji.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
Lakini nafsi yake, roho yake huishi katika vitu vitatu:

kukiona apendacho kuona

kulisema apendalo kusema

na kulitenda apendalo kutenda.

Kama lolote kwa haya lakosa katika nafsi ya mtu

Yuwaumia

Na bila shaka akachakaa.

 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)
Kwa hivyo wawindaji wasema:

Kila mtu ni mlinzi wa nafsi yake.

Kila mtu yu huru katika matendo yake.

Kila mtu sasa ana haki kumiliki matunda ya kazi yake.

Hiki ndicho kiapo cha Mmande

Kielekezwacho masikioni ya ulimwengu mzima.

 Maandishi yametafsiriwa na Youssouf Tata Cissé katika Soundjata,
la Gloire du Mali, nakaf. Karthala, ARSAN 1991.
 Tafsiri ya KiSwahili - Ramenga Mtaali Osotsi, Mwezi wa 6, tarehe
19, 2014.
 Azimio la M’mande (1212 -
1222 A.D.)

 This document as a source of curing social ills

 Why medical science?

 The need to understand what causes illness and how

to replicate the cure(s) of illness.
 Maat and Medical Science
 Truth and Justice in Medical Science

 Measurement, Mathematics and curing the human

body.
 All this as part of philosophy:

‘the love for knowedge.’

Exploration of the meaning of the universe.

Maat
 The Politics of Medical
Practice
 Start with the question:

 To whom does the nation belong?

 To whom do the resources of the nation belong?

 How should the resources of the nation be

distributed?
 Analyze three resources:

food, education, medicine.

 The Politics of Medical
Practice

 Why is it difficult to achieve these targets:

‘Isfet meaning Chaos

At the core of Isfet is:

Greed: control greed, legislate against greed and you

have a perfect society.
 Important Issue

 What is the history of medicine?

 Where and when did the discipline of medicine

begin?
 History of Medicine in Ancient Egypt

 This will be addressed in later talks.

 Politics of Medicine
 Medical Problems and their Solutions in Present-day
Africa:
 Commodifying medicine

 Racism and medical practice

 Miseducation of the Black person about our reality

(cf. which medicine is most dominant in the Black
Land?)
 COVID and its exposure of
weird Medical Practices
 To whom does human health belong?

Magicians and the West?

National priorities: hospitals or prados?

The lie of ‘global village.’

Does the nation deserve to be healthy?

Universal healthcare? Or for a privileged few?

 Link Science with history

 Link the search for the truth with memory of where

you have been, as Cheikh Anta Diop advised.
Cheikh Anta Diop
You will help cure Our Land
Tamati