Traditional Healer

Today we got to take a trip to a traditional healer, something that is still deeply woven into the culture here in Mozambique. This is something I am extremely curious about and I really want to go back and have a conversation with one later on when my Portuguese skills are a little better. Before the visit, we had a mini info session on traditional healers and learned that the health system really tries to incorporate traditional healers into services provided by medical centers. They work with traditional healers and have them inform patients that it is also important for them to seek treatment at the health center after they visit the traditional healer for more serious illnesses. There are still a group of people who will only seek treatment with a traditional healer, but I think this is a really good thing to have them working together because it allows the patient to have more control over their treatment and follow their personal beliefs. Your brain is a magical tool, and just the fact that they believe so strongly that the healer helped them might have an effect on the success of their treatment.

 

On the walk their, it was beautiful! Surrounded by mountains

 

The traditional healer was located in a remote area in a small circular hut with a reed roof. We all took off our shoes before entering hut and sat cross-legged on the floor. Inside, there were various animal skins on the walls and floor, a big chunk of lion fat hanging from the ceiling, and a large number of bottles filled with different things used for treatment:

 

 

 

The healer started off by explaining how one goes about becoming a traditional healer. There is schooling that they go through, but he made it very clear that not anyone has the ability to become one. For him personally, he said the spirits entered his body and made him sick which is how he knew his calling was to become a healer. Some people try to become healers who are not meant to be and these people often advertise their services, which is how you can tell they are fakes because true healers never advertise their services, rather people know of them by word of mouth.

 

He then went on to explain what happens when someone comes for treatment. They come in, sit on the floor in front of him, place there money under a piece of animal fur that sits on the floor between them. He then asks for their name but nothing else. He has a bag of different items such as sea shells, coins, and few other things that I am not quite sure what they were. He then takes a nibble off of a stick and spits it into the bag and this action is what activates the spirits which will allow him to diagnose the patient. He then dumps the bag of items out onto the animal skin and the way that they arrange themselves also tell him something about what is wrong. There were also a set of four or five brown oval shaped shells that he shook in his hands and threw down onto the animal skin like you would do with dice and the way they landed told him another piece of information. He said then he can see the spirits that are inside of you making you sick around the room. Based on the spirits, he chooses what treatment to give you. One example I caught for treatment was he gave you a certain type of Tabaco which you would them smoke and it would make the spirits leave your body. I really want to find out more about the various treatments, we ran out of time before he could get that far into it.  

 

It took me a while to try to take all of this in, and I am sure some of it was lost in translation along the way as well. I am still pondering it a bit to tell you the truth. Coming from the western world, it is hard to imagine believing in this type of healing. Everything in relation to medicine in my life has always been purely scientific and it is easy to take what they say and just laugh at it. However, it is so intriguing at the same time and I want to be able to understand their mindset and where they come from. I don’t think this will be able to happen until I get my language skills up to par to have that conversation, but it is defiantly one of my goals.    

 

 

The group :)