My mother. My own experience. A search that changed my life.
My mother lived with diabetes and died from complications associated with the disease. I saw what it did to her, and that stayed with me.
Then, years later, I developed diabetes myself. Suddenly this was no longer only my mother’s story. It was my own life and my own future.
I did not want simply to accept that I might follow the same path. I wanted to understand what I could do — together with proper medical care — through food, lifestyle and the traditional knowledge of plants.
Because of what happened to my mother, I went searching for a different path for myself.
That search took me to Africa. There I encountered Bitter Leaf — Vernonia amygdalina — and began learning about its traditional place in food and everyday life. That experience eventually led to MUJONSO.
— Paul Penders
