The Medicine Man

So, I finally got to hang out with a real life Traditional Healer, or as some prefer, witchdoctor. Robert was a shockingly fun and quirky man. I went with 2 other volunteers from Denmark, one volunteer from Iceland, myself and 2 Ugandan co-workers. Now a little history before I delve into the experience. Uganda has more traditional healers than actual clinics. Surprisingly, traditional healers are more expensive than clinics. This is namely because Uganda practices a ‘Universal Healthcare’ system. What that really means is you negotiate prices. When you are seen for something at a clinic you bribe them and depending on the circumstance you may or may not have to pay for medicine from the pharmacy. When you go to a witchdoctor, he only asks a small donation of what you earn, so that may be a few hundred shillings (5-20cents). Then when you are healed, he will ask you for something of value like livestock or a large sum of money. If you cannot give that to him then he will threaten to bring back your disease, sometimes even worse than before. Witchdoctors are many within subcounties but those who see them are those who usually do not practice an organized religion. For those who are ‘pure Christians’ it is frowned upon to do so, and if caught, you will receive ridicule; although, I have it on good authority that there are quite a few ‘pure Christians’ that still go to the witchdoctors. In order to become a witchdoctor you have to be chosen. For most, it is a family tradition and one inherits it from their lineage. Robert, he man we saw, his father had been a powerful healer and when he passed, the spirits summoned Robert to follow the path. Robert even said that the spirits kept him from going to school so that he could stay focused on his work as a healer. Interestingly, he said that there are not bad spirits but there are strong ones. They have the national leadership which leads all the witch doctors in Uganda, she is called Mama Feena. There are some false traditional healers and so this ‘clanship’ fights against them. Recently, there has been a lot of child sacrifice around the county in Uganda under the name of false healers. Some will say bring me the tongue of a child, or something along that line. So the traditional healers have to guard against fake practices. The false ones that are found will be given to the police for punishment. They perform a ritual every month, towards the 28th, where they slaughter a goat and give thanks to the spirits. Sometimes when he calls the ancestors, they appear in the form of a huge black snake and he places a cloth over it. He has herbs from the natural world for mostly everything; Mango leaves for cough; Mukikumbu for headache; Bones of a wild pig for curing spells; Eating the soup of a cow leg can cure joint pains- he only calls the spirits when he doesn’t know what to do. Sometimes, when he calls the ancestors, they attack the patient and he has to stab it with a special spear to make it go away. When he summons the ancestors they usually speak in tongues that he does not understand but they can find common ground through Luganda. Robert beats the drums, sings ritualistic songs to call the spirits and when they come forth he shies into a trance and communicates with the ancestors in another dimension. He cannot cure HIV, blood transfusions, dehydration, malaria but can cure the symptoms of those illnesses. Most come to the witchdoctor for mental problems. The man who took us to see the witchdoctor told us that his sister had been acting mad, which meant that someone had placed a curse on her or as they say ‘bewitched her’. This happens as a means of revenge. So he took his sister to the witchdoctor. Robert performed a ritual of drumming and singing to call the ancestors and he said they came and were screaming- moving all around the tent. After that his sister was fine and remembered nothing. I happened to have a sore throat when we went to visit him and he gave me bark, in the local language is called Abasi. I couldn’t find any information on this anywhere. I took a small bite of the bark and chewed it then swallowed. It was so hot! Like a cinnamon type of flavor just very intense. Sure enough, it cleared the pain in my throat and it has not returned since! Although, my taste buds are still a little out of sorts, it was worth it for a pain-free throat. This was an awesome experience and it definitely sparked my interest to continue such investigations in other parts of the world.