Woman who set off the rush for the ‘drink’
Loliondo. Amid the ongoing stampede in Samunge village, one quiet woman goes about her daily chores, largely unnoticed.The attention is after all on the old man with a plastic cup, dishing out doses of what he has described as “God’s miracle cure for the ailing nation.”
But today’s riveting story in Ngorongoro district about a herb that Mr Ambukile Mwasapile says cures major chronic diseases that account for a huge percentage of deaths in the country like cancer, Aids and diabetes among others, could not have happened were it not for the woman, Wilia John,30.
A mother of three surviving children, Wilia may not be known to the thousands of patients who have thronged Samunge village in recent months in search of a cure, but her story in the village is told even by small children.
The unemployed and peasant widow is after all the one whose experience would later spark off the exodus into the area.
The Citizen on Sunday caught up with her at her small grass thatched hut for a chat over her almost unbelievable tale about recovering from HIV/Aids.
Giggling about the real intention of our visit, she soon relaxes and agrees to explain how she met Pastor Mwasapile who gave her a glass of a herbal medicine that she later confessed cured her of the deadly disease.
“I have a second chance to live and God has shown mercy on his people through Pastor Mwasapile,” she said, cuddling her beautiful nine months old daughter, Evelyn. Mother and child, she offered, are all free of any infection. She however, spared the details of her little girl’s father hopefully for another day.
Ms Wilia’s husband died over four years ago from what medical personnel at Waso health centre said was Aids.
She said the husband who worked as a watchman at a local school may have contracted the disease after briefly being transferred to another place called Malambo, where he lived alone for some time.
Life soon turned upside down for the young widow after she, and another of her young children (now deceased) would also be diagonised with the same disease. “The child died not long after the father had been buried.”
Through assistance of a local campaign group, she was put on Anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) that were being delivered through the nearby Digo-Digo dispensary. “Then one day I was summoned to the pastor’s house by one of my children. The pastor said he wanted to see me over my condition which he had not known from the outset,” she narrated.
According to her, Mr Mwasapile said God had spoken to him in a vision that said that he uses a local shrub called ‘mugariga’ to cure her of the ailment. “I drank a glass of the concoction and took off.
However I continued using the ARVs and often went for the scheduled check-ups at the Digo-Digo dispensary.
“Then came the astonishing discovery in October.
In two or three of the check-ups, the nurses detected something unusual about my blood. The viruses were diminishing!”
“The medical personnel got curious and wanted to know what I had been taking lately. However I did not remember and told them as much. They said my blood cells were coming back to normal.
Wilia said she became confused and went for further tests in Waso health centre that returned negative results.”When a second test after sometime proved the same, I was incensed and thought the nurses who had taken samples soon after my husband died lied about my status.”
But the woman said one Sunday during prayers, Mr Mwasapile gave testimony about the vision he had been receiving to use the shrub to treat people. “I recalled the one glass of medicine he had given me and immediately stood up to tell my story. It was the first time I was going public in church to announce my new status,” said the woman.
Wilia’s case, though appear plausible to many villagers and those who have thronged the old man’s home for a similar treat, The Sunday Citizen could not independently verify her medical records.
She would soon after stop using the ARVs completely and subsequent tests, she claims have been negative. “It is for that reason that health personnel said I could give birth again to a healthy baby.”
She said her clinic cards were taken away by the medical personnel during the time which she was accusing them of malice. But efforts to reach either spokesperson for the Digo-digo or Waso health centres were unsuccessful by the time of living Loliondo.
Disclaimer: While playing its role of informing and educating the public, The Citizen on Sunday would like to caution the public that there is no scientific evidence – according to medical authorities, including the Health and Social Welfare ministry – that supports her claim.
But today’s riveting story in Ngorongoro district about a herb that Mr Ambukile Mwasapile says cures major chronic diseases that account for a huge percentage of deaths in the country like cancer, Aids and diabetes among others, could not have happened were it not for the woman, Wilia John,30.
A mother of three surviving children, Wilia may not be known to the thousands of patients who have thronged Samunge village in recent months in search of a cure, but her story in the village is told even by small children.
The unemployed and peasant widow is after all the one whose experience would later spark off the exodus into the area.
The Citizen on Sunday caught up with her at her small grass thatched hut for a chat over her almost unbelievable tale about recovering from HIV/Aids.
Giggling about the real intention of our visit, she soon relaxes and agrees to explain how she met Pastor Mwasapile who gave her a glass of a herbal medicine that she later confessed cured her of the deadly disease.
“I have a second chance to live and God has shown mercy on his people through Pastor Mwasapile,” she said, cuddling her beautiful nine months old daughter, Evelyn. Mother and child, she offered, are all free of any infection. She however, spared the details of her little girl’s father hopefully for another day.
Ms Wilia’s husband died over four years ago from what medical personnel at Waso health centre said was Aids.
She said the husband who worked as a watchman at a local school may have contracted the disease after briefly being transferred to another place called Malambo, where he lived alone for some time.
Life soon turned upside down for the young widow after she, and another of her young children (now deceased) would also be diagonised with the same disease. “The child died not long after the father had been buried.”
Through assistance of a local campaign group, she was put on Anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) that were being delivered through the nearby Digo-Digo dispensary. “Then one day I was summoned to the pastor’s house by one of my children. The pastor said he wanted to see me over my condition which he had not known from the outset,” she narrated.
According to her, Mr Mwasapile said God had spoken to him in a vision that said that he uses a local shrub called ‘mugariga’ to cure her of the ailment. “I drank a glass of the concoction and took off.
However I continued using the ARVs and often went for the scheduled check-ups at the Digo-Digo dispensary.
“Then came the astonishing discovery in October.
In two or three of the check-ups, the nurses detected something unusual about my blood. The viruses were diminishing!”
“The medical personnel got curious and wanted to know what I had been taking lately. However I did not remember and told them as much. They said my blood cells were coming back to normal.
Wilia said she became confused and went for further tests in Waso health centre that returned negative results.”When a second test after sometime proved the same, I was incensed and thought the nurses who had taken samples soon after my husband died lied about my status.”
But the woman said one Sunday during prayers, Mr Mwasapile gave testimony about the vision he had been receiving to use the shrub to treat people. “I recalled the one glass of medicine he had given me and immediately stood up to tell my story. It was the first time I was going public in church to announce my new status,” said the woman.
Wilia’s case, though appear plausible to many villagers and those who have thronged the old man’s home for a similar treat, The Sunday Citizen could not independently verify her medical records.
She would soon after stop using the ARVs completely and subsequent tests, she claims have been negative. “It is for that reason that health personnel said I could give birth again to a healthy baby.”
She said her clinic cards were taken away by the medical personnel during the time which she was accusing them of malice. But efforts to reach either spokesperson for the Digo-digo or Waso health centres were unsuccessful by the time of living Loliondo.
Disclaimer: While playing its role of informing and educating the public, The Citizen on Sunday would like to caution the public that there is no scientific evidence – according to medical authorities, including the Health and Social Welfare ministry – that supports her claim.
By Tom Mosoba,
The Citizen (Tanzania)
Sunday, 13.03.2011
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