Lunar New Year 2018

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
I wish you all a good health and successful year in 2018!

This is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture, for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year. It is also the first year that I am not be able to celebrate together with my family. It is a bit loss, but it is also a new experience for me as growing up and start my own life. Japan does not consider Lunar New Year as one of their national holidays, so there is no festival atmosphere here at all ~~ The weather is still cold as always, and it also caused a lot of problems (at least for me). But anyway, I heard it will get better soon!

New Year Traditional Food (*≧▽≦)

 

Moringa oleifera, a feasible alternative coagulant for water treatment.

The Moringa plant is native to Africa and Northern India, where it was first described around 2000 BC as a medicinal herb. It was used for treatment of conditions ranging in severity from minor skin blemishes to more serious illnesses like asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease, ulcers and kidney stones, as well as respiratory illnesses like tuberculosis. Moringa was also knowns as the Miracle tree. The Moringa tree spread eastward from India to the lower parts of China, Southeast Asia and the Philippines.     

Picture of Moringa tree with seed pods

                                       

This tree has in recent times been advocated for, as an outstanding indigenous source of bio-active protein coagulant, suitable for treatment of drinking water. For example, in the Western Part of Africa, one of the best-known applications for Moringa oleifera is the use of powdered seeds to flocculate contaminants and purify drinking water, but the seeds are also eaten green, roasted, powdered and steeped for tea or used in curries.

A commendable population in the world, mostly living in the rural communities of developing countries lack access to water of required quality standards as recommended by WHO. The problem is accelerated by the lack of affordable water treatment technologies. The consequences of drinking inferior quality water have resulted in outbreaks of water borne diseases, mostly diarrhoea, cholera and dysentery. Deadly typhoid outbreaks have also been reported in the outskirts of Uganda’s capital city of Kampala in late 2014.

Such realities are what should drive researchers today to search for natural and affordable options of water treatment technologies. Moringa oleifera could be one of the lasting solutions to improvement of water quality at decentralised community level. Given the multipurpose applications of this plant, and its strong adaptability to tropical and sub-tropical climates, most African countries may adopt the use of this natural coagulant if its application gets well researched.

We should therefore spearhead and disseminate information to the implementing authorities of different governments to priotise and promote use of natural coagulants like Moringa oleifera in decentralised water treatment plants or at homestead level.

Ronald Katalo (Uganda)