Loliondo

Loliondo
—  Village  —
Loliondo
Coordinates: 2°03′S 35°37′E
Country	Tanzania
Region	Arusha Region
District	Ngorongoro District
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Loliondo village is situated in Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Northern Tanzania. Together with neighbouring Wasso village, it hosts the district offices and forms the commercial centre of Loliondo division. Loliondo is the seat of the current District Commissioner for Ngorongoro.

The ethnic make-up of the entire area was traditionally Maasai with pastoralism the main land-use, in more recent years the Chaga and Warusha ethnic groups have increased, leading to an increase in cultivation in the valley which the village occupies. There is also a significant population of Sonjo agro-pastoralists due to the Sonjo majority in areas to the east.

'miracle healings'

Loliondo has become a very famous place in Tanzania due to the "miracle cure" administered by Ambilikile Mwasapile a retired pastor from Lutheran churches famously known as "Babu wa Loliondo" (meaning Loliondo Grandfather).The cure is said to cure all incurable diseases such as cancer,HIV/AIDS,ulcers, etc.

The curing plant that is used there is called Carissa edulis from the Apocynaceae family. It has been there since ancient times and C. edulis is found in Arabia and reaches through tropical Africa to the Transvaal, Botswana and north and northeast Namibia, in warm bushveld and scrub.

Geographic distribution Native : Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Japan, Kenya, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia,Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen

Products Food: Fruits are sweet and pleasant to eat; in Ghana, they are normally added to the food of invalids as an appetizer. Vinegar can be made from them by fermentation; in Sudan and Kenya, they are made into a jam. The roots are put into water gourds to impart an agreeable taste and are added to soups and stews for the same reason. Fodder: Goats and camels in the dry parts of Sudan browse on C. edulis. Fuel: The species is a source of excellent firewood. Poison: In Kenya, a piece of the root is fixed into a hut roof as a snake repellent. Medicine: Roots contain an active ingredient, carissin, that may prove useful in the treatment of cancer. The twigs contain quebrachytol and cardioglycosides that are useful as an anthelmintic against tapeworm. In Guinea, the boiled leaves are applied as poultice to relieve toothache. Root bark is mixed with spices and used as an enema for lumbago and other pains in Ghana; root scrapings are used for glandular inflammation; ground-up roots are used as a remedy for venereal diseases, to restore virility, to treat gastric ulcers, cause abortion, and as an expectorant. An infusion of roots along with other medicinal plants is used for treating chest pains, and a root decoction is also used for treating malaria.It has also Antiviral effect very successful in treating Herpes simplex virus and other several viral infections.