From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ZIMBABWE: TRADITIONAL HEALERS ALTER
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:13:05 GMT

Area: Opecna Morning Transmission
Title: ZIMBABWE: TRADITIONAL HEALERS ALTERNATIVE TO WESTERN MEDICINE


an inter press service feature

by eulalee thompson

harare, aug 28 (ips) -- two years of frantic effort by john
mutauri's family to have his hallucinations and epilepsy treated
by doctors at several hospitals proved futile.

the family then decided to take him to a village ''n'anga''
(traditional healer) who said mutauri was possessed by an
ancestral spirit that longed to communicate with living
relatives.

to appease the spirit, mutauri was robed in black and white
cloth and given a knobkerrie, a traditional club, to hold.

after the ritual, featuring drums and the music of the
stringed mbira, the spirit was said to have been cast out and
the patient never again complained of his previous illness.

''only after the spirit of the dead is appeased would john be
free'', his brother, robert, told ips.

mutauri's visit to the ''n'anga'' is not uncommon in zimbabwe
where despite the widespread presence of western medicine, the
traditional healer remains the more popular preference of
zimbabweans.

prof. gordon chavunduka, past president of the zimbabwe
national traditional healers' association (zinatha) and now
university of zimbabwe vice-chancellor, says 80 percent of
zimbabwe's 10.8 million people use traditional medicine at some
point.

according to the 1990 statistics, zimbabwe has only 1,320
doctors for a population growing at an annual rate of 3.1
percent.

traditional healers, however, say their accessibility is not
the only reason for their thriving trade.

cheaper consultation fees, readily available ''prescription
drugs'' and a closer bond with the culture of the average
patient are reasons the traditional healers give for their
popularity.

the cultural bond stems from the fact that many patients
believe illness and misfortune are due to some disturbance in
the ''spirit world''.

''nothing just happens'', says 53-year-old bus driver alexio
kamwendo. ''it has some cause -- some ancestral spirit that
needs to be appeased''. (more/ips)


zimbabwe: traditional (2)

kamwendo went to a traditional healer after suffering from a
stomach illness for more than one year and says he has since
been completely cured.

''if i go to the doctor and the medicine doesn't work, i will
go to the traditional healer instead'', says kamwendo. ''but
there are some illnesses that i would definitely just go to the
traditional healer and for others i will go to the doctor''.

mental illness and apparently incurable disorders such as
cancer and aids are normally referred to the traditional healer.

the traditional healers use the ''spirit world' to diagnose
and prescribe the correct herb and dosage.

''we believe in traditional medicine, that there are ghosts
that can cause disturbance or death'', says traditional healer
peter sibanda.

''when the traditonal healer casts away the spirit that can
cause mental illness, for instance, that is part of medicine'',
sibanda told ips.

''a traditional healer doesn't have to talk to anybody. you
sit and look face to face then the healer will be possessed with
a spirit. while the healer is entranced, he begins to elaborate
on the problem. this is the controversial witchcraft stage''.

treatment begins when the patient accepts the diagnosis and
the fee. the healer goes to the countryside to choose the
correct herbs, washes, grinds and mixes them.

sibanda says sometimes the spirit prescribes the dosage
through the ''possessed'' patient. a change in the patient's
condition is usually expected after three days.

traditional healer grace chihuri claims to have treated 300,
cancer and aids (aquired immune deficiency syndrome) patients
since 1990. samples of her medicines recently tested in the
united states show a moderate-to-weak activity against the
humanimmuno deficiency virus (hiv), which causes aids.

but even though traditional healing is accepted by the
government as a part of the health service in tackling problems
like sexually-transmitted diseases, traditional healers still
lack legitimacy, even in the eyes of their patients.

medical doctors say the practice is unscientific, healers have
no formal training and their preperations do not come in
standardised pharmacological doses.

''we think that is rubbish because the spirit gives us the
dosage and also western doctors have no time to look at the
total person, and we do'', sibanda said. (end/ips/et/apc/ar/92)


-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african