Even though dancing and dawa are often interchangeable, many Sukuma people depend on traditional doctors for physical and psychological ailments. Today the classic boundaries of Bagika and Bagalu have become blurred among many of the traditional doctors as have the specialists given way to general practitioners. T here are many different types of Sukuma healers. Traditionally, one may have consulted a ngemi wa mbula for information and aid concerning rain, a nfumu wa ngoko, a chicken diviner, for advice on the future, or a manga for spirit possession. Some will read the entrails of a chicken in divining the future while others may use a gourd rattle.
Traditional doctors inherit shitongelejo, or objects of ancestral remembrance, from their ancestors.
These objects, such as a fly whisk, gourd rattle, or beaded headband, are used in healing practices and are said to stimulate the aid of the ancestors in curing a patient. Bulungute Muleka, the current leader of the Bagalu Dance Society and a famous traditional doctor in Usukuma, explained that his ancestors give him advice concerning the condition and treatment of a patient. Nyumbani Shilinde often gives offerings to his ancestors, and seeks medical guidance from his deceased grandmother, who was also a healer and his teacher. Mbula, a young practioner, also gives offerings to his family and uses shitongelejo when contacting his ancestors for assistance. Strength, energy, powers of healing, of giving peace, of bestowing children, cattle, good crops, etc, are believed to reside in these shitongelejo.