When mole soup serves as remedy for cough

By PKEMOI NGENOH

Cough is defined as a sudden and often repetitively occurring reflex which happens to clear large breathing passage from secretion, irritation, foreign particles and microbes.

 It can be classified by duration, quality and timing. The duration can be either acute if this is less than three weeks and sub-acute if it is persistent between three and eight weeks and chronic which extends to eight weeks and beyond.

In children between 10 and 15 years, a cough can be accompanied with vomiting if one is eating hence spoiling the meal for those at the dinner table or any meal. This kind of persistent cough is common in cold areas and those receiving rain almost all round the year.

In Kericho County for instance, Chepsir, a 20-kilometre journey from Kericho town, is one of the ever-cold regions in this tea growing area.

Due to this kind of weather majority of the people must make a number of trips to chemists and pharmacies for syrups and other medicines to combat the coughs.

However, a certain old man has discovered how to treat the cough for the time being.

He prepares his medicine from moles, a mammal from rat family with velvety fur and large limbs with powerful paws meant to destroy plants and digging fields.

The old man now nicknamed Daktari found out a couple of years ago that moles’ soup can be used keep at bay such coughs within one week of sticking to simple procedures.

According to some of his patients, once the mole is captured, the mammal is carefully skinned to remove the furry skin which will be dried on metal scrap or frying pan to extract black powder.

The resulting powder is meant for the patient to lick it daily for a week as the remaining meat and other parts are boiled to get soup which the patient must drink as this also believed to combat the cough.

And according to those who have passed through daktari’s able hands, this magic works!