Ogiek Herbal Medicine: Pregnancy and Post-Natal Care Traditions from Kenya’s Mau Forest
- Chepkorir Scolah
- Aug 13
- 6 min read
Editor’s Note: At Green Sea Shells, we explore how culture shapes wellness practices around the world. In this feature, writer Chepkorir Scolah offers a rare look into the Ogiek community of Kenya, an indigenous group from the Mau Forest whose herbal traditions guide every stage of pregnancy, childbirth, and post-natal recovery. These practices—rooted in Ogiek traditional medicine—are more than remedies; they embody a deep connection to health, identity, and ancestral wisdom.
Ogieks are an indigenous hunting and gathering community residing in Mau forest, Kenya. Our traditional way of life is closely tied to the forest. My Tata (paternal grandmother) would always take us with her to help peel barks and dig roots the clients needed. One of the cultural activity that we attach our importance to is use of herbs-barks, roots and leaves for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and maintenance of health during pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum recovery.
Why Herbal Medicine is Preferred
Herbal medicine is preferred over synthetic because they correspond to our ideology of staying connected to the forest and our roots and allays concerns about adverse effects of synthetic medicine especially during the delicate period.
Cultural Beliefs Around Illness in Pregnancy and Childhood
All of the herbal concoctions prescribed to pregnant women and children in the community are used to prevent evil eye or what we call Konyek Chesamis (bad eyes). We believe that any ailment affecting a pregnant woman or a child is not a natural occurrence. We believe that every ailment affecting a baby is infectious and is caused by witchcraft.
Fertility Practices and Personal Experience
If a woman does not give birth within a certain period of time after getting married, questions regarding infertility arise. Ogieks hardly associate infertility with men. After my cousin failed to give birth in her sixth year of marriage despite trying and using herbs to cleanse her tendons and veins to improve her fertility, our family decided to source help from a villager who specialized in curing such.
Her herbs were to be taken with another woman to share in her luck and goodwill, I was the chosen one despite being not married. I was given Sumeto, an herb that induces coming and diarrhoea to cleanse my body of impurities before drinking the medicine with her. At that time, nobody told me that using this herbs would render most methods of birth control ineffective, ten months later I was pregnant with my son.
Herbal Care During Pregnancy
During pregnancy, I was given herbal powder mixed from various herbs to lick every morning. It’s uses were to alleviate and prevent chest problems. I was also given some barks and roots to boil for four hours before drinking and using it to bathe. This concoctions helped prevent miscarriage, aid growth and development of the foetus, control urinary tract infection and protected me from the evil eye.
I was always advised against meeting other pregnant women and those in their periods for fear of being infected. When I was 28 weeks, my fetus was in breech position, the mid-wife who helped me adjust him used leaves of some trees to massage me throughout the process.
Post-Natal Care for Mother and Child
Every morning after giving birth, I bathed my child in medicinal herbs, fed him some and smeared herbal powder to his gums, tongue and fontanelle before meeting people. These herbs and powder are used till the child is atleast two years old. The prescriptions are altered after every few months to aid in strengthening his bones and accelerate growth and development.
The main purpose of these herbs are to aid digestion and ease stomach pain when releasing gas and feces (surrunda) during the first month’s of life. The powder is to prevent oral thrush, sunken fontanelle and ease the pain during teething. I also had to partake in these activities to aid in my recovery. In case of a fever, I would cover the both of us in an airtight blanket over the boiling herbs till we sweat. The medicinal steam helped with nasal blockage and alleviate chest problems.
Specialized Birth and Gender Practices
In some other case, a woman giving birth at home would be given stalks and roots of Talebot to chew to alleviate labor pain and speed delivery. Gender reversal medicines are given to a mother of girls wishing to have a boy. The herbal medicine is to be taken before trying to get pregnant. The aim is to weaken the X-chromosome in the mother. Ogieks believe that a woman is responsible for the gender of the baby. Failure to give birth to a boy might lead to divorce or another woman being married in.
Knowledge Sharing and Cultural Protocols
Leaves, barks and roots of plants are prescribed under the guidance of experienced elders or herbalists. Secrecy in such matters is traditional. Ordinarily, herbs are not freely shared except at family level or commercial level an activity that is cultural in nature. When one wants to learn the skills of another, they have to give a goat to their mentor in exchange. For those seeking only a prescription , a token of appreciation must be given out. Failure to do so renders the medicine useless.
It is believed that when one learns this knowledge or prescribe for themselves without going through the proper channel or blessed with (Kengutyin - an Ogieks thing that involves an elder spitting saliva on your palm to wish you peace and prosperity) the herbal medicine will not be effective. At the family level, the knowledge is shared with all the children and some are picked from the bunch to inherit the full knowledge. Such activities are done to ensure that the knowledge stays within the community.
Traditional Medicine and Modern Healthcare
Some herbal medicine and remedies are not to be taken with over-the-counter prescriptions so that they cannot conflict. Traditional medicine use is stopped before visiting the hospital.
Preserving Ogiek Herbal Traditions
As a result of the secrecy involved and limited efforts to study and document Ogieks knowledge on medicinal herbs, scientific evidence supporting their efficacy is limited. But continuous efforts to document them are in place. Ogieks cultural center in Kenya launched last year features a garden for medicinal plants, a place where it teaches and researches such practices.
Traditional Herbs and Uses
Chepisorweet (Cort tree). Their barks are used during pregnancy and in infant care for growth and development.
Legetetyot (Carissa spinarum). Their roots contain an aromatic smell. Used to improve smell in herbs and help ease digestion and gas.
Tebesweet (Croton macrostachyos). Their barks are used.
Tangururwet (Oncoba routledoet). Their barks are boiled and used to alleviate chest problems.
Chepindorwet. Their roots are boiled and consumed to ease digestion.
Kimolwet (Vangueria Infausta). Their leaves are used for massage and barks used to alleviate chest problems.
Chebitet(Acacia). Their leaves are used for massage.
Talebot (Sodom apple). Their roots are chew to alleviate pain and speed labor.
Chesamisiet (Bersama abyssinica). Their leaves are used for massage and roots boiled for babies.
Sosyot (Palm tree). Roots used for babies.
Labotwet (devil fruit). Their roots are chewed or ground into powder.
Sumeto. Their tuberous roots are used to induce vomiting to alleviate most of stomach problems.
Chekurbet (Solanecio mannil). Their roots and barks are used.
Chemanam beliot. The fruits are eaten and barks used for pregnant women and babies.
Chesita. Their roots are used for brushing teeth and mix with others for a pregnant woman and a baby.
Most of these herbs are used in combination for them to work effectively.
About the Author: Chepkorir Scolah is a mother, farmer, anthropologist, and teacher dedicated to keeping her people’s language and culture alive.
Editor’s Note: This article offers an unedited, first-person account from writer Chepkorir Scolah, sharing the Ogiek community’s fascinating herbal medicine traditions for pregnancy, childbirth, and post-natal recovery. Originating from Kenya’s Mau Forest, these practices blend plant-based remedies with cultural beliefs, creating a system of care that is as much about identity and heritage as it is about health. We have published this piece exactly as written to preserve its authentic voice and the integrity of Ogiek knowledge.
