Mujonso Tea for all

The Ocean Residence, a boutique resort, in Langkawi serves a unique bitter-sweet welcome drink called Mujonso Tea.

Few are aware of its health benefits. Mujonso, a leafy herb that grows wild in Sub-Saharan Africa, is regarded as a wonderful gift to human especially women due to its numerous medicinal and beautifying values. Purportedly, drinking it is good to ease stomachache and reduce acne, insomnia, arthritis, skin infections, cough, bleeding and diabetes.

Resort owner Paul Penders introduced this welcome drink after learning about Mujonso and its health effects. He brought some cuttings back to grow in Malaysia and now has almost 20,000 of these plants growing in The Ocean Residence.

Recently, working with Friends of Langkawi Geopark (FLAG), he took a bold yet magnanimous step to cultivate Mujonso on a large scale in the new geosite of Pulau Tuba, the second largest island in Langkawi.

This collaboration has given birth to the project to set up the Langkawi Organic Botanical Garden that will involve the local community especially women and the disabled. Operating as a business venture, the locals will grow and harvest the leaves and other herbs there for the manufacture of cosmetics under the Paul Penders brand name.

The bigger plan is the move to manufacture Mujonso Tea in sachets and sell them in Germany and Holland, and locally where there is a ready market.

Paul Penders Co. and The Ocean Residence has pledged to contribute initial capital as a gift to get it started like buying a tea packing machine, and other tools, office relocation, website development, logo design, trademark, etc.

This venture led by FLAG president Dato’ Dr. Kamarulzaman and supported by Paul Penders has the technical backing from Dr. Amina Ather, a German, who is currently serving as UNESCO’s doctoral jury for sustainability and community outreach.

Co-incidentally, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) is also in the process of setting up a small test garden of Mujonso plant in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru for pharmaceutical use. With more scientific information on the goodness of the plant, it will strengthen the marketing of Mujonso Tea as a health tea product.

The soon-to-be-setup botanical garden, a community-based project to improve the lives of the locals on Pulau Tuba, may turn out to be a revenue spinner when it evolved into a tourism destination.