La femme mariée est comme une défense d’élèphant, n’y touches pas (Proverbe Kikuyu – Kenya).
The married woman is like an elephant tusk, do not touch it (Kikuyu proverb – Kenya).
Today, we will be talking about the Kahun Papyrus, which is among the oldest and most important medical papyri of Ancient Egypt and of the world. This is a papyrus dealing with women’s health – gynecological diseases, fertility, pregnancy, and contraception; it dates back to the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, c. 1800 BCE. It is a three page document, 1 m long and about 33 cm wide. The name Amenemhet III was written in the right upper corner behind third page name. The document was torn in places and patched with gum and papyrus.
It was found at El-Lahun (Faiyum, Egypt) by Flinders Petrie in 1889 and first translated by F. Ll. Griffith in 1893 and published in The Petrie Papyri: Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob. The later Berlin Papyrus and the Ramesseum Papyrus IV cover much of the same ground, often giving identical prescriptions. ‘Kahun’ is the name Petrie gave to the Lehun town site, which in 1825 BC had been a thriving, prosperous town; the name was probably a misspelling from this European in contact with a foreign language (see Abidjan). The papyrus had been so heavily used that its ancient owner had to repair it, with a patch bearing an administrative fragment visible at one point on the back. This gynecological papyrus originates from the Middle Kingdom (Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt) to the reign of the childless female-king Sobekneferu, whose interest in gynecology might have been sparked by her elder sister dying at an early age.
The text is divided into thirty-four sections, each section dealing with a specific problem and containing diagnosis and treatment; no prognosis is suggested. Treatments are non-surgical, comprising of the application of medicines to the affected body part or swallowing them. The womb is at times seen as the source of complaints manifesting themselves in other body parts.
The first seventeen parts have a common format starting with a title and are followed by a brief description of the symptoms, usually, though not always, having to do with the reproductive organs. The second section begins on the third page, and comprises eight paragraphs which, because of both the state of the extant copy and the language, are almost unintelligible. Despite this, there are several paragraphs that have a sufficiently clear level of language as well as being intact which can be understood.
Paragraph 19 is concerned with the recognition of who will give birth; paragraph 20 is concerned with the fumigation procedure which causes conception to occur; and paragraphs 20-22 are concerned with contraception. Among those materials prescribed for contraception are crocodile dung, 45 ml of honey, and sour milk.
The third section (paragraphs 26-32) is concerned with the testing for pregnancy. Other methods include the placing of an onion bulb deep in the patients flesh, with the positive outcome being determined by the odor appearing to the patients nose.
The fourth and final section contains two paragraphs which do not fall into any of the previous categories. The first prescribes treatment for toothaches during pregnancy. The second describes what appears to be a fistula between bladder and vagina with incontinence of urine “in an irksome place.”
To learn more about it, check out “The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus: Ancient Egyptican Medicine” by L. Smith, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 37 (2011) 54. University College London also has an extensive page on the manuscript with its translation, as the manuscript for the health of mother and child.
Mzilikazi (meaning The Great Road), was a Southern African king who founded the Matabele kingdom (Mthwakazi), Matabeleland, in what became Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. He was born ca. 1790 near Mkuze, Zulu Kingdom (now part of South Africa). The son of Matshobana whom many had considered to be the greatest Southern African military leader after the Zulu king, Shaka. In his autobiography, David Livingstone referred to him as the second most impressive leader he encountered on the African Continent. He was also the father of Lobengula.
The territory of the Northern Khumalo was located near the Black Umfolozi River, squeezed between the lands of two strong rival groups: the expanding Mthethwa empire of Dingiswayo and the land of the equally ambitious and much more ferocious Zwide of the Ndwandwe. Mzilikazi’s boyhood was spent in the household of his grandfather Zwide. Inevitably, as he grew to manhood he observed the less powerful Khumalo being drawn into the conflict between Dingiswayo and Zwide.
| IZIBONGO ZIKAMZILIKAZI KAMATSHOBANA
Bayethe! Hlabezulu! |
THE PRAISES OF MZILIKAZI, THE SON OF MATSHOBANA
Bayethe! Ndebele Nation! |
« Always bear in mind that people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.» (Amilcar Cabral).
Here is a poem by Patrice Lumumba (1925–1961), published on Pambazuka News. Patrice Lumumba was elected the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Assassinated by Belgian colonialists and the CIA, Lumumba was a founder member of the Movement National Congolais (MNC), which led the Congo to independence. Patrice Lumumba is the symbol of aspirations of an entire continent, and he continues to serve as an inspiration to contemporary Congolese and African politicians. His spirit lives on, and his pride is ours!
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Dawn in the Heart of Africa
For a thousand years, you, African, suffered like beast,
Your ashes strewn to the wind that roams the desert.
Your tyrants built the lustrous, magic temples
To preserve your soul, reserve your suffering.
Barbaric right of fist and the white right to a whip,
You had the right to die, you also could weep.
On your totem they carved endless hunger, endless bonds,
And even in the cover of the woods a ghastly cruel death
Was watching, snaky, crawling to you
Like branches from the holes and heads of trees
Embraced your body and your ailing soul.
Then they put a treacherous big viper on your chest:
On your neck they laid the yoke of fire-water,
They took your sweet wife for glitter of cheap pearls,
Your incredible riches that nobody could measure.
From your hut, the tom-toms sounded into dark of night
Carrying cruel laments up mighty black rivers
About abused girls, streams of tears and blood,
About ships that sailed to countries where the little man
Wallows in an ant hill and the dollar is king,
To that damned land which they called a motherland.
There your child, your wife were ground, day and night
In a frightful, merciless mill, crushing them in dreadful pain.
You are a man like others. They preach you to believe
That good white God will reconcile all men at last.
By fire you grieved and sang the moaning songs
Of a homeless beggar that sinks at strangers’ doors.
And when a craze possessed you
And your blood boiled through he night
You danced, you moaned, obsessed by father’s passion.
Like furry of a storm to lyrics of a manly tune
From a thousand years of misery a strength burst out of you
In metallic voice of jazz, in uncovered outcry
That thunders through the continent like gigantic surf.
The whole world surprised , wakes up in panic
To the violent rhythm of blood, to the violent rhythm of jazz,
The white man turning pallid over this new song
That carries torch of purple through the dark of night.
The dawn is here, my brother! Dawn! Look in our faces,
A new morning breaks in our old Africa.
Ours alone will now be the land, the water, mighty rivers
Poor African surrendered for a thousand years.
Hard torches of the sun will shine for us again
They’ll dry the tears in eyes and spittle on your face.
The moment when you break the chains, the heavy fetters,
The evil cruel times will go never to come again.
A free and gallant Congo will rise from black soil,
A free and gallant Congo-black blossom from black seed!
Patrice Lumumba
On ne conduit pas chez le coiffeur un enfant qui n’est pas encore né (Proverbe Dogon – Mali). – Ne vendez pas la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué.
We do not take a child who is not yet born to the hairdresser (Dogon proverb – Mali).- Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.
Here is a description of the Market of the city of Djenné, another one of the crown jewels of the Empire of Mali, by the French explorer René Caillié. Bear in mind that René Caillié was the first westerner to return from Timbuktu, Mali. Also note the description of Suya by a European in 1825!
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“The Kola merchants stand at one end of the market, placed in two lines, each having in front of them a small basket of Kola nuts that they sell in retail, eight or ten cowries* each : the low price came from the large quantity of these fruits found in the entire country ; but they are normally worth fifteen to twenty cowries.
A few Butchers were established in the market; they lay their meat like in Europe: they also put in skewers small pieces of meat that they dry with smoke, and which they sell in retail. There is in this market a lot of fresh fish and dry ; earthen pots, calabashes, mats, and salt which is sold in retail, because that which is sold wholesale stays in shops.
We see an infinite number of merchants in the streets carrying their merchandise and yelling like it is done in Europe : these are fabrics of the country, things homemade, kola nuts, honey, vegetable butter and animal, milk, firewood. This last item is rare here; women bring it from 12 to 15 miles around. Millet stubble is also sold in the market; during my stay in this city, every night I saw negro women who had bought this fuel for 10 cowries, to cook their supper …”
René Caillé, Journal d’un voyage à Tombouctou et à Jenné dans l’Afrique centrale. Tome 2, P. 199 et s. English translation by Dr. Y., Afrolegends.com
*Cowry: small white sea shells used as trade money in Africa up until a recent times.
Le serpent dit qu’il arrangera ses pattes quand it sera grand (Proverbe Bamiléké – Cameroun). – Une occasion manquée ne revient plus (pour le paresseux).
The snake says that it will arrange its legs when it gets big (Bamileke proverb – Cameroon). – An opportunity missed does not come back (for the lazy one).
A short father and a short mother gave birth to 4 tall children. But these children weren’t just tall – they were vain. When they got old enough to think for themselves, they looked down their noses at their parents and said, “These people cannot be our parents. We are too big to have come from such little things.”
So they left their parents and went to ask the King to provide them with a new set. They knew he would never give them new parents if he knew they already had some, no matter how short they were; so they lied, and told him that they were orphans.
You should know that these children were planning on making a living by baking.
The King listened carefully, and then he said; “I will give you parents. But in return you must give me 2 sacks of charcoal. But this charcoal must not come from wood. You must make it out of pure fire.”
The tall children had no idea how to do this, so they went back to ask their short parents for advice. Of course, they did not want to tell them how they were trying to get new parents, more befitting to their tall stature; so they lied again, and told them they went to the King only to ask for food.
“We asked him nicely, but he told us to make some charcoal from nothing but fire! How do we do it?”
Of course the parents wanted to help their children, so they agreed. “Okay. Go back and tell him that the charcoal is cooking, but that in order to prepare it properly you need to have jars filled with the King’s tears.”
They went back to the king and did as their parents had asked. The King said, “I have no tears. But I now know you have not been telling the truth. You are being too clever. Someone must have told you to play this trick. The only people who would help you in this way must be your parents.”
And so the tall children had to go back and live with their short parents.
So what is the lesson of this story? Whether they are rich or poor, or tall or short, strong or weak, you must love your parents as they are. They are irreplaceable in your life. You can search the whole world but you will never find anyone else who will be parents for you.
This is a Congolese tale from Melvin Burgess blog.
In order to remember the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprising, I decided to share with you these images and song from the movie Sarafina! which focused on the 1976 Soweto riots. It is simply beautiful! The character says: “They fear you because you are young, they fear you because you are the future; How fearful they must be that they shoot you children? How powerful you must be that they fear you so much. You are powerful because you are the generation that will be free. The violence, the beatings, the torture, the killings, all this is the bad pain of our free nation. … Freedom is coming tomorrow!” In essence, this is a message for all the youth around the world: You are the future, you are strong, take hold of it, and do the best!
African Heritage 