Traditional Healer

A half hour boat ride across the beautiful lake Bunyonyi will bring you to an island inhabited by a small, but religious and superstitious people. This is where we were introduced to a traditional healer, who forgoes modern medicine in favor of herbal remedies and magic. His appearance surprised me. He was covered in animal skins: a skunk skin on his head, a cheetah skin on his chest, a deer skin on his back. But underneath the skins he was an ordinary man, wearing a suit and a nice looking watch. It was an interesting mix of modern and traditional. He had three wives, who worked on the island as birth attendants.

 He invited us into his hut and (through a translator) began to explain how he cured different ailments. He showed us the powders, mixes, seeds, drinks, and tools that he uses to cure everything from the hiccups to being haunted by the spirit of a relative. He taught us events that bring a curse on your family: if your livestock is hit by lightening, if a girl gives birth while still living with her parents, and if someone dies that you have unresolved issues with. The cure to these curses is a powder made from different leaves. You mix it into bathwater, and the entire family has to bathe in the tub to lift the curse.

If someone in your family goes crazy and is having mental problems, there is a seed he gives you to slip into the family member’s food and sedate them so they can be taken to the healer to be treated. If a woman’s menstruation lasts too long, he puts a mixture of crushed leaves in water onto a wooden stool. The woman sits on the stool and absorbs the mixture into her “private parts” as our translator so delicately put it, and this will stop the bleeding. If someone has cursed or poisoned you, he gives you a mixture to drink to make you vomit out the poison or bad spirits.

The most interesting was the love potion. The healer gives you a sort of rock with sticks protruding from it. You follow the person you want to fall for you, and wait until they reach a crossroads in the street. After they walk, you go to the soil where they stepped and touch the rock to it. Then you gather the soil and bring it back to the healer. He mixes the soil with different ingredients and makes a fine powder. Then, you slip the powder into the food of that person. When they eat, it, they are supposed to fall in love with you. I would love to read a google review on this from someone who has tried it! It was so interesting to hear the beliefs and superstitions of the island’s natives. I learned so much about the people and their culture. When we were leaving, I saw that the healer had taken off his skins and was wearing a fedora on his head where the skunk skin had previously been, which I thought was hilarious. It was an amazing and very informative day! Sorry I can’t get any pictures to upload from my phone right now