African Medicine

For two weeks, I have been running a fever on and off. Three times I cancelled a visit to the country. Anyway, at about this stage, my African family have got in on the act. I need African medicine, I am told, and it grows at Kirstenbosch (a nearby botanical garden). That will fix it in one night. A pity there's an entrance fee at Kirstenbosch. At the same time, an African brother-in-law has passed on an "African remedy" which doesn't fit with the rest, and seems decidedly suspect. But by now I know the African humour: talk nonsense with a poker face. OBSERVATION: I'm talking here about African medicine, tried over generations by countless adults and children -- not African magic. See, for instance, the Traditional Medicines Research Group in Cape Town.