健康英语新闻:Burundians give up smoking thanks to herbal drugs

BUJUMBURA, May 31(Xinhua) -- As the World No Tobacco Day is celebrated on Tuesday, many Burundians feel happy that they have given up smoking thanks to herbal drugs.

Evariste Ndikumwami, 55, residing in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, said he had been smoking for 30 years, but gave up smoking in January after taking herbal drugs prescribed by an abbot.

"I had been smoking since my teenage and I gave up smoking in January (this year) after I took herbal drugs that I got from a Roman Catholic priest from Uganda working at Rugari parish in the province of Muyinga, some 210 km northeast of the Burundian capital Bujumbura," Ndikumwami told Xinhua.

Ndikumwami said he used to smoke a pack of 20 cigarettes per day, adding that he had found it hard to give up smoking.

He said, "I took the herbal drugs for 15 days. The abbot prescribed me two herbal drugs -- one to be smoked for five days at daytime when I desire to smoke and another one to be applied around the nostrils at night."

After the medication period, he never felt the desire for smoking cigarettes, he said.

"When my friends realized I was no longer smoking, they asked me which drugs I took to give up smoking. I directed them to the abbot who had healed me and they also got cured and stopped smoking," Ndikumwami said.