Blog Post 16 – Witchcraft
Heh heh heh, I've been sorta interested in this one since I came, and it appears that living in a village I get to hear many stories about local witchcraft.
Like the girl who was lost, and was forced to live in an underground house for 7 years. Then a local preacher prayed for her, and suddenly she was found again. She told stories of a man who brought her food every day, but never talked. Turns out, according to my source, that this is the cause of a satanist, likely one of the wholesalers in Lusaka. These men do no work, but boxes of money and goods just show up in the night at their wholesale depos.
Luckily we have witch doctors. Witch doctors are the ones who help to cure witches. And on top of them all are the traditional healers. These are the leaders of the witches. They are experts on the local herbs, plants and animals, and can cure anything. Like broken legs. This girl (actually the first daughter of the family I stay with) broke both her legs in a car accident, so she was taken to the hospital and they were put in a cast. But the thing that did the trick was the magic ointment that a traditional healer put on the outside of the cast, in order to ensure the legs healed properly. And they did. Unfortunately the girl is now cursed and has not been able to find a job even though she graduated from collage, on account of this traditional healer also putting a spell on her, but her legs are fine.
So is it real? I have yet to meet a witch or traditional healer – for some reason no one wants to take me to one – but I shall keep trying and inform you once I find out. But I can leave you with one more story of potions that I know is true. While travelling with a man from FreshPikt, one of the Lusaka agro-processors buying beans from the farmers to make into canned and baked beans, we stopped in Mbabala for nshima and to pick up Steve. Steve lives in a pretty sketchy part of town, and we stopped the truck near some men tasting powder from a plastic container. This man from FreskPikt was quite interested in the contents, and purchased a large quantity for about 5 pin (1 dollar). After listening to much laughter and Nyanja, I discerned that the contents were indeed the mystical Tonga potion, with similar qualities to Viagra. Supposedly this amount will last him more than a month.
Heh heh heh, I've been sorta interested in this one since I came, and it appears that living in a village I get to hear many stories about local witchcraft.
Like the girl who was lost, and was forced to live in an underground house for 7 years. Then a local preacher prayed for her, and suddenly she was found again. She told stories of a man who brought her food every day, but never talked. Turns out, according to my source, that this is the cause of a satanist, likely one of the wholesalers in Lusaka. These men do no work, but boxes of money and goods just show up in the night at their wholesale depos.
Luckily we have witch doctors. Witch doctors are the ones who help to cure witches. And on top of them all are the traditional healers. These are the leaders of the witches. They are experts on the local herbs, plants and animals, and can cure anything. Like broken legs. This girl (actually the first daughter of the family I stay with) broke both her legs in a car accident, so she was taken to the hospital and they were put in a cast. But the thing that did the trick was the magic ointment that a traditional healer put on the outside of the cast, in order to ensure the legs healed properly. And they did. Unfortunately the girl is now cursed and has not been able to find a job even though she graduated from collage, on account of this traditional healer also putting a spell on her, but her legs are fine.
So is it real? I have yet to meet a witch or traditional healer – for some reason no one wants to take me to one – but I shall keep trying and inform you once I find out. But I can leave you with one more story of potions that I know is true. While travelling with a man from FreshPikt, one of the Lusaka agro-processors buying beans from the farmers to make into canned and baked beans, we stopped in Mbabala for nshima and to pick up Steve. Steve lives in a pretty sketchy part of town, and we stopped the truck near some men tasting powder from a plastic container. This man from FreskPikt was quite interested in the contents, and purchased a large quantity for about 5 pin (1 dollar). After listening to much laughter and Nyanja, I discerned that the contents were indeed the mystical Tonga potion, with similar qualities to Viagra. Supposedly this amount will last him more than a month.
hahaha. I love your voice coming through your posts, I can just see you investigating this kind of thing. Do you think the people you've asked to take you to a witch doctor are afraid that you won't respect their culture/won't appreciate the honour/privelege? (I'm sure you've thought of this)
ReplyDeleteCheep thrill :P
ReplyDeleteAlthough I haven't seen it, I am a believer of witchcraft. It does not scare me at all because I believe in karma. Everything you do will come back to you - seven folds. Fashion Handbags
ReplyDelete