Farming and Medicine and things
Very few people in this part of the world are obese, mostly reasonably well fed, not much meat and plenty of beans, banana etc. But I have had a feeling for a while that there is a surprising amount of diabetes. Talking to one of our Public Health students who is a senior man in the health administration of the district explained why.
cassava is one of the staples, consisting almost entirely of starch, it is used as a vegetable and also to make flour. It is well known that cassava contains significant quantities of cyanide so the traditional way of using it is to soak it in water for about 24 hrs and then use it. However about 25 years ago a new variety with low cyanide was introduced and for flour making this saved the wash and all that was necessary was to press out the juice before milling. To compensate, the wild variety was planted around compounds so that if the pigs tried to invade the garden they would eat the wild cassava and die. Unfortunately the two varieties cross breed so the concentration of cyanide has been creeping up but the flour millers have not changed their ways, as a result there is a cronic, low level of cyanide toxicity which seems to damage the pancreas and cause the diabetes.
This same student is one of the many who has problems paying the fees. From his brother and sister he inherited 27 children whom he is trying to educate. He recently completed the education for three who were now able to contribute a bit to looking after their siblings but another brother died, aged 48, from diabetes, leaving him three more orphans to look after. He resisted very considerable family pressure to take on the wife as his second, this is still a country where polygamy is quite widely accepted, really as a social service in some cases. Probably not in this case, but this inheriting wives can be an effective way of spreading AIDS. If anyone would like to help this student, or any of the other 25 who could not take their semester exams because they had not paid their fees $300 - $500 a semester you may contact through info@mmu.ac.ug. Talented, hard working students, potential graduates the country and particularly this impoverished Region really need. Have a good day.
cassava is one of the staples, consisting almost entirely of starch, it is used as a vegetable and also to make flour. It is well known that cassava contains significant quantities of cyanide so the traditional way of using it is to soak it in water for about 24 hrs and then use it. However about 25 years ago a new variety with low cyanide was introduced and for flour making this saved the wash and all that was necessary was to press out the juice before milling. To compensate, the wild variety was planted around compounds so that if the pigs tried to invade the garden they would eat the wild cassava and die. Unfortunately the two varieties cross breed so the concentration of cyanide has been creeping up but the flour millers have not changed their ways, as a result there is a cronic, low level of cyanide toxicity which seems to damage the pancreas and cause the diabetes.
This same student is one of the many who has problems paying the fees. From his brother and sister he inherited 27 children whom he is trying to educate. He recently completed the education for three who were now able to contribute a bit to looking after their siblings but another brother died, aged 48, from diabetes, leaving him three more orphans to look after. He resisted very considerable family pressure to take on the wife as his second, this is still a country where polygamy is quite widely accepted, really as a social service in some cases. Probably not in this case, but this inheriting wives can be an effective way of spreading AIDS. If anyone would like to help this student, or any of the other 25 who could not take their semester exams because they had not paid their fees $300 - $500 a semester you may contact through info@mmu.ac.ug. Talented, hard working students, potential graduates the country and particularly this impoverished Region really need. Have a good day.
posted by Patrick & Kathie at 9:44 PM
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