Read Elizabeth's field notes, click here.

 

Hello everyone,

I am doing my practicum with Catholic Relief Services and just spent a week in Buea (SW Province) doing an analysis of the Diocese to see which type of intervention for the care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS would work best in this area. This is positively my favorite part of my job. The goal is to not only identify the real needs of people living in the area (for this I met with a PLWHA support group), but to gauge the level of involvement of other key stakeholders in the fight against HIV. In all I spoke to over 50 people in different levels of society. Some in one-on-one interviews, some in working sessions.

One group of stakeholders which is often overlooked in the HIV battle is traditional healers. They are an integral part of the society here and their services are sought by at least 70% of the community for one reason or another. As westerners, we tend to dismiss them, but personally I think they play an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. At my request (and he thought it was an odd request) Mr. Ndufor, the Health Coordinator for the Diocese and also our host for this excursion, was able to get us an interview with the head of one of the traditional healers associations (a woman which is very unusual.) Attached are my field notes. They are not elegantly written, so take them for what they are -- field notes. I type them in my computer while the interview is taking place, so they can be a bit sketchy - but they are very "real." I thought you might enjoy seeing a bit of the raw data, as it were. I think you may be surprised by the responses. (note: when reading the field notes, the abbreviation TH refers to traditional healer, though they tend to refer to themselves are traditional doctors. This distinguishes them from the larger group of traditional healers which include herbalists, diviners, faith healers etc. who are all considered healers.)

I have also attached a picture of the group. Note that Mr. Ndufor, our host, is the second gentleman from the left. He is not a traditional healer, but the rest are. I am certain this is not what people expect traditional healers to look like. Also note that the hat that Madame Ndip is donning is a traditional cap. She is wearing it because she has recently returned from a death ceremony of one of her relatives. As is the cultural practice, her head was shaved for the occasion and the cap given to cover her head thereafter. She was quite concerned that it should appear in good form for the picture. You can see she was adjusting it when this was taken. Also note that she and the gentleman on the right are wearing the same panya (patterned fabric.) This is most likely the pattern they chose to symbolize the association to which they belong. If they were having an official meeting, they would all be wearing clothes made of this fabric.

I hope you enjoy reading this bit of insight as much as I enjoyed collecting it. Something I didn't mention in the field notes was that after our meeting had ended, Madame Ndip offered each of us some of her signature medicine powder. She put a spoonful in each of our palms and we just popped it in our mouths. When in Rome... She said it was good for the stomach in particular, but also other aches and pains. It was a bit bitter, but not awful. My guess is it contained both minerals and organic matter as it was very gritty. I could definitely taste a hint of cinnamon, but couldn't tell you what else was in it. I can't say that it cured me of anything (I've been feeling pretty fine), but it made me feel no worse for the wear.

Cheers,

Elizabeth