In line with our May focus on stress adaptation, Terri's story from The Baobab Home exemplifies turning a stressful situation into something useful, providing inspiration for our farms and our lives. More inspiring stories from Terri's journey at The Baobab Home on the Enlightened Soil Webinar, Thursday, May 15th.
In the 19th century, immigrants from India brought neem trees to Eastern Africa because of their significant medicinal value. At the same time, black crows were brought over and took to spreading neem seeds everywhere. This dual invasiveness led to the trees spreading to an unmanageable degree.
Since founding The Baobab Home in Tanzania in 2004, Terri Place Mwandu has witnessed hundreds of neem trees on their 12-acre farm outcompeting native citrus trees. “They seem to be stealing power from the soil,” she says. With an agroecology mindset, Terri was determined to find a way to make use of this amazing yet invasive tree.
It wasn’t until Terri’s husband and co-founder, Caito Mwandu, was diagnosed with oral cancer - a devastating prognosis that included the removal of his tongue - that her determination to utilize the neem trees found a specific and urgent direction. Terri began reading medical journals and noticed neem being cited everywhere as a potential healing tool for oral cancer. For months leading up to his surgery, she had Caito drink neem and put it under his tongue, like chewing tobacco.
When they arrived for his surgery, his PET scan showed no cancer. Caito had received 3 chemo sessions, but the doctors were certain that the cancer disappearance couldn’t have been from these sessions alone when many patients still have cancer after multiple rounds of chemo.
The cancer has never come back. Caito still has his tongue and continues to use neem today. Terri has since become part of the World Neem Organization and continues to learn how to reduce the number of neem trees at The Baobab Home while utilizing their medicinal potential.
Terri wants to know what our community thinks about invasive plants: Are they like weeds, serving as indicators or even healers? Can we reduce their numbers and alleviate stress to the soil by naturalizing them and finding useful applications? Please share any examples you have in an email response or in the comments below.