In a typical african home, there will always be a concuction or remedy that the mother will just develop naturally or the one she learnt from her mother who also learnt it from her own mother that also learnt from her mother and so on.
In my home, when i am sick, the remedy i use depend on the type of sickness i am battling with. If i am down with malaria or typhoid and i can't go to the hospital at that time, i do what my mother always does when i was young . She prepares a concuction (Agbo) which is the combination of Tea leaf, Moringer leaf, pineapple back, lime, scent leaf and so on. She puts everything in a big pot, add a little watter and puts it on fire to boil. Then She will bath me with cold water especially if i are running temperature. She has this balm called Aboniki which she will mix with locally made shea butter (Ori). She will apply it as cream on my body then makes me wear a very thick cloth, cardigan, head warmer that covers my ears, joggers and socks all at the same time. I will now look like a peron who just came back from the moon. My sisters do call it 'Armor of War'. After putting on everything, i will take the concuction, then go to bed still covered with a thick blanket. Now the main purpose of the armor drama is just to make me sweat. Then my mother will say 'when you sweat, you will be okay'. And no matter how sweaty i am, i dear not remove those armors, you should know what an African mother will do to you in that situation. Just like magic, when i wake up from that sleep , especially when i sleep through the night, i will be feeling okay and well except if my village people are after me. Note that even wth the fact that i am feeling better the next day, i must finish the whole concuction in that pot, if not, i won't hear the end of hiw she wwnt into the bush to get those leaves.
There are other small cases like stomach ache. It depends on the particular part of the stomach you are having issues with. As funny as it is, my mother in her own theory, divided the stomach into two parts. If the pain is at the center of the stomach, she tells me to boil water and add a little salt then drink or squeeze bitter leaf (Ewuro) , add a little salt to the juice and drink it. Both methods work but for the latter part, i will go to the toilet immediately and i will be relieved. If the pain is at the left or right conner of the stomach, she tells me to boil water, get a clean towel then deep it in the hot water and place it on that specific area. When i do that, it is as if it dissolves a frozen pain in me. Infact my mother will always warn me not to play with my belly button, if not, i will have stomach ache.
So i use these remdies when i started living on my own and it works. When i encounter a new type of sickness and i dont know what to do, i put a call through to my mother ASAP and she always has a solution. Just like when i travelled to the nothern part of the country, after a week i started feeling pains in my mouth to the extent that it was difficult to drink water not to talk of eating. So i called my mother and explain to her. The first thing she asked was that, how is the food i am eating there? Is there enough pepper? I said no. She said 'baby you are okay u just need to eat enough pepper', then she ended the call. I was like, what does pepper has to do with mouth pain. I started adding enough pepper in every food i take , then within two days i was okay. An african mother's remedy will get you on you feet quickly.
I hope one of these remedies will come handy to you one day. Thanks for reading.