The Green Gold of Lake Victoria

Our very own daughter once said that Mother Nature is generous but very unforgiving. She went ahead and bagged a Nobel Peace Prize from her environmental and political activism. She might have gone from our sights but three years on, her actions, words and memories are still clear in our eyes, loud in our ears and vivid in our minds. She still motivates a couple of us.

Talking of the unforgiving nature of Mother Nature, it is worrying to imagine the number of lashes we are queuing for, after all that we have done and continue to do. We annoy her every second of our lives. Everything around us is just a shame. From garbage to deforestation and poluted water sources. Everything looks pathetic.

I get this reminder of the awaiting whip every time I use Jogoo Road from Embakasi to Nairobi town. after Donholm, you have to cross a bridge under which flows some murky yucky stuff in the name of water. To call it a spade, the water does not have some sewage spillage but the sewage spillage under the bridge has some water. It all flows in the name of a river. Surely, even if we evade it, Mother Nature will eventually crack the whip on our offsprings as we weep in our graves.

Lest we forget and keep to our comfort zones, the whipping has actually begun. Single out Lake Victoria for instance. There have been increased cases of malaria, encephalitis, bilharzia and gastro-intestinal disorders. Experts trace all these predicaments to the pollution of the lake and hyacinth in particular. The weed has not only provided a habitat for mosquitoes and snails but also presented a menace to the transportation and fishing industries. Every time a child dies of malaria at the lake side or the child of a fisherman goes without a meal, we should remind ourselves that it is indeed Mother Nature who is angry at us. That hyacinth in the lake did not fall from heaven like the biblical firestorms in the land of pharaoh, but was as a result of either negligance, ignorance or human acticities in the lake. The damage has however happened. We can only look for our way out.

From the very words of our daughter, the best thing about the unforgiving nature is her generosity. We irritate her; she punishes us but provides a solution in disguise. It is upon us to look deeper and unravel the misery beneath everything she presents to us. Take a look at hyacinth. Though a threat, the green leafy weed has more benefits than the fishermen of Lake Victoria can imagine.

Those who did not skip the Solvent Extraction topic in their Chemistry class will agree that the method is widely deployed to extract light essential oils from plant matter. Carry out a simple solvent extraction on the flowers of hyacinth and what do you get? Hyacinth Oil. Within the oil is Benzyl benzoate, a viscous liquid with a sweet balsamic odor. Benzyl benzoate is widely used to treat and eradicate jiggers, lice and scabies. Talking of jiggers, some kid somewhere  in Nyanza and some old man somewhere at the foot of Mount Kenya must be smiling at such good news. To put it more clearly, Mother Nature whipped that kid and old man with jiggers but offered them a cure in the name of hyacinth that lies idle in the shore of Lake Victoria. Those acres and hectares of hyacinth are free raw materials that can provide cure to thousands of victims whose lives have been rendered inactive by jiggers. Hyacnth oil not only contains Benzyl benzoate, but also has other valuable components such as methyl eugenol, hydroquinone and cinnamyl alcohol which act as antidepressant, antiseptic, aphrodisiac and hair treatment oil. You can only marvel at its widespread use. Spas, aroma therapy sessions, salons and deodorants, all thanks to the generosity of Mother Nature.

It should, therefore, be brought to our attention that as we mumble and curse the hyacinth, it can be harvested, processed and used to eradicate jiggers in our country. This is, without mentioning, the job opportunities and the effects of trade thereafter. in United States, a 10 ml bottle of Hyacinth Absolute Oil goes at approximately USD 6, an equivalent of over five hundred kenyan shillings. If it's being done elsewhere, why can't we do it?

May I mention that I have never been superstituous, but when the very daughter of the environment departed from this planet, she was cremated in a casket made of hyacinth. She might as well have been pointing to us the gold in the green weed. I rest my case.

                                                                                               

Bsc. Industrial  Chemistry

Quality Control, Pharmaceutical