by Alga

Created on: December 20, 2008

It was 6:00 p.m. The sun disappeared below the horizon, trees were swaying with a nice breeze from the chained mountains which faced our house. I just came home from my afternoon class. I spotted my mother a beautiful young lady, with long black hair, and a golden sun kissed complexion - she was sitting at the porch, while grinding, straining and bottling a bunch of greyish leaves.

She glanced towards where I was coming from and flashed a big vivid smile. I smiled back, that was the way we use to say "hi" to each other.

As I walked by the storage room, I noticed that the number of bottles, Which were filled with the juice from the greyish leaves were adding up. I exclaimed uh! Again! But I made sure that she didn't hear what I said.

What she was preparing was, a traditional remedy which had an awful taste! Every morning, every member of the family had to drink the juice, before having breakfast.

As my father was the bread winner, my mother was a dedicated housewife who was always very busy throughout the day. Her responsibilities ranged from taking care of the family, up to preparing traditional home made remedies.

One time, in the flu season, my mother sent my brother and I to outskirts of the city to bring fresh eucalyptus leaves. As we were walking in the fairly cold weather, through a twisted sandy path surrounded with hills, we were talking about why our mother preferred herbal remedies vs. medication. We teamed up in admiring the sweet taste of some flu medications, and wondered why our mother never liked it? Before we finished our discussion, we reached our destination. A tall, built gentleman who seemed to be a guard, whistled to get our attention, and prompted us with some questions. As he knew that we needed some eucalyptus leaves, he allowed us to proceed.

We came back home with two baskets full of eucalyptus branches, my mother separated the leaves from the stem, put them in a big pot full of water and let the mixture boil and steam.

She then, brought the boiling hot mixture to my older brother's bedroom where he was laying down, sick with flu. She helped him get up and put his face down towards the steam. After, he steamed his face for a few minutes, she continued to go around the house to dis-infect every room. The whole house smelt of vicks! The next day, my brother recovered from the flu, and was able to go to school.

Everyday at 4:30 p.m, my mother would prepare freshly toasted coffee boiled in a clay pot, while burning incense in the background. wholewheat

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>