I am very old school when dealing with some aspects of my everyday life. I was raised by traditional parents. My mother raised us the way most children are in a typical African family. I was and I am still in awe of her. Strong. Focused. Dedicated. And most importantly, a fixer of all problems. There was no problem that was too big for her. Looking back, I realise that perhaps the problems were actually big but like a good African woman, she never complained much.

Interestingly though, my mother believes in modernity but like someone born in the 50s, she is still suspicious of anything that is connected to the Western world. For instance, she believes that immunisation must be done, but she questions what the contents of those injections are and if they have no side effects.

Early this year, my mother rushed Kwezi to hospital when she started vomiting uncontrollably and her temperature was rising abruptly. The main thing she is afraid of is malaria but the rest, she tries home or herbal remedies and I am trying to follow in those footsteps.

For instance, Kwezi is now battling a cold but my mother insists that there is no need to pump a child with medicine. Her reasoning is that for a girl who is about to join school, the issue of colds is to be expected on a more regular basis. So she gets honey, lemon, garlic, mixes them and for three days, she gives Kwezi spoonfuls of the concoction. Interestingly it works like magic.

She has been trying to teach me how building the child’s immune system is something that most people don’t pay attention to, yet it is the key to keeping your child free of illness.

Most of our children do not like vegetables and because we are desperate for them to eat, we are okay when the child eats whatever is on the plate. Vegetables don’t have to be dull. There are many adults who also can’t stand them but the secret is in how you prepare them.  Personally, I have realised that boiling the mix of veggies, including and adding garlic and some other ingredients, and then blending them before adding a small amount of margarine has got Kwezi interested. I am yet to master how to add greens (dodo) into her diet and make it more interesting but I am working on it.

I am also investing in honey. A spoon of honey every two days is packed with lots of benefits.

I grew up on herbal medicine and it was mostly used to deworm us. Today, I have to take four tablets which make me sick for three days just to get rid of worms. The herbs that I used to take growing up used to do the job in less than two hours and there were no side effects. I know that this is not the 80s but my goal is to keep my child away from modern medicine as much as I can. So help me God.