A woman suffers after trip to herbalist to extract tooth turns tragic

Rispa Auma Aguko

When Rispa Auma Aguko had a tooth ache in 1995 she didn’t know that a trip to a local herbalist could turn tragic.

The mother of four and a resident of Arambe village in Migori district was taken by her husband to extract a bad tooth which though successful turned tragic later when her jaw started to swell.

“The incident happened 17 years ago when the local herbalist removed my tooth but later my lower jaw started to be painful before it started extending,” Rispa said while speaking painfully with the sound coming as though her jaws re clenched tightly.

The jaw which has now extended to the size of a hand ball makes her lower jaw to extend which apart from being painful is making it hard for her to eat and perform her chores.

“I have been surviving on fluids since last year when the pain increased as I cannot chew on solid foods due to my swollen jaw. My life has been slowed due to stigmatisation and I wish to start afresh after all these  years” Rispa says.

According to Rispa’s health records, her lower jaw needs reconstruction because it has extended and swelled. This has reduced the activity of her jaw and movement of her teeth.

“I have visited several hospitals for re-construction and Kenyatta Nation Hospital has agreed but the cost  is way too high for me. I was first referred from Migori, to Homa Bay and then Kisumu hospitals before finally I was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital” she says.

Her last stop was KNH where after a scan she was told that to get a mandibular reconstruction operation she needs to pay Sh200,000 to remove the swollen lower jaw.

Meanwhile, Rispa has been forced to beg for hand outs from the public to try and raise the amount. About a month ago through her youth group at her local Seventh Day Adventist Church she has launched a CD to try to raise the amount.

“Rispa has gone through much stigmatization and have been moving from hospital to hospital to have her jaw reconstructed to no avail, we have seen her condition deteriorating from two years ago and we launched the CD,” Pastor John Obunga Oyaro of Arambe SDA said.

The gospel album, Jasamaria Mang’uon, which has four gospel tracks sang by youths in the church and pictures of Rispa retails for Ksh100.

The church and Rispa call for well-wishers to come forward and help materially, financially and emotionally to get treated for her treatment by funding the crucial the crucial surgery.

Her pastor says they have opened an account 0124508384800, National Bank- Migori Branch where well-wishers can pay directly

©Manuel Odeny, 2012

Guest Blogger: Carbide used to ripen bananas causing cancer scare by Aquinas Nyakundi

Photo: Courtesy

I received an email earlier about the use of carbide in ripening banana away from the natural cycle so as to attract more customers and reap maximum profit i  would wish to share.

Have you ever wondered where some vendors selling sweet bananas like the ones using wheelbarrows on Nairobi's Airport North-Ring road roundabouts source them in such huge supply and uniform ripeness!

Some readers who love bananas and eat a lot of them needed to realize that the bananas available in the market are 'forced ripe' by dipping in water mixed with Carbide. 

The consumption of these bananas is 100% sure to cause Cancer or some other infection in the stomach. Therefore, such type of bananas is to be avoided.

But, how does one recognize the bananas ripened with the help of Carbide?

Bananas which are ripened naturally are dark yellow and there are small black spots here and there on the bananas and the stalks are black. While those which are forced ripe with Carbide are lemon yellow and their stalks are green and moreover they are clear yellow without any black spots.

Now, what is Carbide and how is it harmful?

Carbide is a chemical which if mixed with water, emits heat and the heat emitted by a Close tank mixed with Carbide is even more than that emitted by a LPG Cylinder, so much so it can be used for Gas Cutting (which means the calorific value is so high that it can replace LPG gas).

In the same way, when the bunch of bananas is dipped in the water mixed with Carbide, the gas gets absorbed into the bananas and they get ripe.

However, the banana vendors are not that literate and so they do not know the exact proportion of Carbide to be used for a dozen of bananas.

As a result they end up using excess quantity of Carbide which gets absorbed into the bananas and ultimately enters our stomach. Due to this excess use of Carbide, tumors can be formed in our digestive system.

Aquinas Nyakundi is a graduate of Communication and Media Tech from Maseno University in Kenya. He is a journalist based in Kisii running an agriculture based blog: Small-Scale Farming Commercialize