Loliondo in the spotlight

[kelpie]

This is not at all gem related and doesn't really have a point but I thought it might be interesting to a few of you to hear some background on one of the Tanzanian villages whose name is often attached to the garnets that hail from there. Loliondo is a tiny generally sleepy village near the Kenyan border. It used to be if one heard Loliondo mentioned at all in Tanzania it was rarely for it's association with spessartite. For the past few weeks however, Loliondo is all over the news. There is a trans-national phenomenon happening in Loliondo which is attracting pilgrims from all over East Africa.

A retired Lutheran minister there is claiming to have divinely discovered a concoction made of boiled tree roots that cures cancer, HIV, diabetes, and you name what else. What is surprising is just how many people are swallowing the malarkey and even the government's failure to dismiss these claims. Politicians actually talk in the newspapers of funding indigent constituents' pilgrimages to Loliondo to have a cup of this tea. The Tanzanian equivalent of the FDA at first insisted that the potion stop being administered until it could be chemically analyzed however that course of action proved so overwhelmingly unpopular that even they have allowed the ministry to resume (not that they could have stopped it).

The town of Loliondo now has a 20 km long and growing traffic jam on the tiny dirt road leading to it. Food is growing scarce there and with the influx of pilgrims meat now goes for $7 a kilo and drinking water for $3 a bottle. Consider the working class Tanzanian might make $2 a day and you'll see the sheer insanity that this is creating. Furthermore, there are many overextended but free hospitals available to people near the cities yet the very ill are staking their faith in a 3 day journey to a remote village with no available medical care to drink a cup of tea. Of course the pilgrims are still dying of their ailments despite have had the purported cure and Loliondo is faced with an influx of dead and dying people as well as thousands of squatters in the streets creating a sanitation disaster. This phenomen started about three weeks ago and the more publicity it gets the more people flock to Loliondo making it a veritable boomtown.

 

[Aoife]

This is horrifying to read about. What is particularly disturbing, in addition to the humanitarian issues, is that this hoax is being perpetuated by someone who should really have more compassion.

Is this retired minister, um, playing with a full deck?

 

[kelpie]

My guess is not but I haven't heard on whether or not he is charging for this concoction. It could very well be he is playing on people's faith to make himself a millionaire while his followers neglect to pursue the medical care they desperately need.

 

[tefutefu]

Perhaps someone should come up with a "miracle" cure for those who can come up with such evil schemes and those who fall easily for such cures
Having said that, it's really sad that they only make an average of $2 a day, and now have to face such inflation in the price of basic necessities

 

[Arkteia]

He may honestly believe that he has discovered something "divine" or have delusions of grandeur. I am more concerned about the sanitary aspect of it. Excessive influx of people (and from your story, the influx is humongous) does increase the rate of epidemics in the area.

I do not know about the effects of his potion - ironically, it may help some conditions (not cancer), since some well-known Western drugs have been derived from plants. I am very much concerned about possible side effects of this stuff that haven't been studied.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Ah, these poor people !
I don't know what else to say, really....

So much craziness in the world.

 

[Arcadian]

I read this and just smh. the ish that people do for money.

Sadly that type of snakeoil witch-doctoring is pervasive especially where you have a lot of poor and disadvantaged.

-A

 

[chrono]

Very sad situation and unfortunately believable. I've heard these types of heart wrenching tales in 3rd world countries where sanitation and medical care is lacking.

 

[kelpie]

When people have very little their faith tends to be very strong. That's the case in East Africa at least for better or for worse. People are very susceptible to fraud here. A bar owner in Uganda claimed to have a magic potion which when applied to money, tripled the amount. People could not hand him their money fast enough. The strong faith also works in positive ways as you often see people with very little smiling and counting their blessings.

This preacher turned medicine man is gaining business by word of mouth so I'm sure it started among the locals and spread from there. The paper says a couple thousand people arrive everyday. People might stay several days waiting to get the tea. These are diseased and immune compromised people in close quarters without sanitation during the rains which means epidemics are highly likely whether the herb plays any role at all other than drawing them all to one place.

 

[Kismet]

It's pretty sad that he's hurting a lot more people than he's helping (assuming he's not just attempting to line his own pockets in which case he'd just be an all around scummy character.)

 

[kelpie]

I finally found out today the cure costs 500 shillings ($0.35). That is a lot of shillings from thousands of people. It's probably $700 a day from 2000 people which is what a lot of Tanzanians make in a year. It's becoming a disaster with dying people every where, he has asked for no new patients until April 1 while he addresses those waiting. It's so sad yet just stupefying people would go to such lengths to place their faith in this.