+27714671365 Traditionalhealers and modern medicine, Sangoma in Sangoma in Polokwane,Lebowakgomo, Mankweng, Mokopane

 South Africa Madagascar

Officials and NGOs hope to work with healers, who thrive inremote areas, in order to reach underserved communities.

Proff. Abudul is a traditional healer and a pillar of his community inMadagascar [Tom Maguire/Al Jazeera]

By William Worley

Published On 1 Aug 20161Aug 2016

South Africa – In Limpopo village in theremote south of polokwane, it is said that the man whom people seek out to curetheir sickness was trained by a ghost. Sixty-year-old Proff. Abudul is a traditional healerand claims his potions and spells can treat diseases and psychiatric disorders– and even make people fall in love.

He is the sole inhabitant of a wooden house – a rare luxury in aregion where many families cram a dozen people into one small living space.Inside, a brown and yellow tapestry emblazoned with depictions of butterfliesand vines hangs across a wall. Pinned to it is a 2016 calendar and a weeklytimetable. Tools, boxes and a bicycle are neatly stacked around a sizeable bed.

Sitting on the thatched floor, Abudul explains how the knowledge of his craft came tohim. “In 1975, I fell sick,” he says. “I had to drink Zebu blood [the blood ofthe local humped cattle]. Soon after, a ghost came from the sea and taught meeverything I know.”

Another 4,860 ghosts followed, Abudul says, and they always sit on his shoulders –even as he speaks. “I take them as gods, they guide me.” They are his counselin healing and advise him on how to treat people, he says.

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He is one of many healers practising his craft in Madagascar, oneof the poorest countries in the world, where 80 percent of people live in extremepoverty. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional healingas “the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, andexperiences indigenous to different cultures”. Abudul provides a face to anissue present in many developing countries – across Africa an estimated80 percent of the

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The community pillar

Abudul’s remedies and solutions are at odds withmodern medicine, but he is a pillar of the community in a remote place whichfeels forgotten by modern institutions owing to the lack of infrastructure andservices. 

From his small shack in Polowane, Abudul diagnoses patients andprescribes “treatments”. “There are two kinds of diseases, those that needhospital and those that don’t need hospital,” Abudul says.

“The only thing that I cannot heal is something which has to bedone by surgery, but the tools of how I do it change every six months.”

Delivering babies is not something Abudul defines as needinghospitalisation, but for cases of tuberculosis – theleading infectious killer in Polokwane – Abudul gives patients a plant and then sends them tohospital. He also admits that he cannot treat HIV.

READMORE: Polokwane – The vulnerability to tuberculosis

He does not restrict his repertoire to physical ailments.

“I also break curses, and cure foolishness,” he says, referring tomental illness. “If someone is walking around with no clothes on and has noshame, he can come to me … The community will still accept him if he comes tome.”

Despite delivering results of varying quality, traditional healersare often integral members of their communities and local culture and heritage.They thrive in places where doctors are few and far between – in Madagascar,only 60 percent of the population has geographic access to health facilities,according to NGOs working in the country.

Those who fall sick in remote communities may have to walk a dozenmiles or more to reach medical help. Getting around is tough: South Africa hassome of the least developed infrastructure in the world and the quality of itsroads lounge at the bottom of the International Trade Centre’s global rankings at 120th out of 148countries.

Even if a person is able to complete that journey while sick, theymeet with a doctor unknown to them, who represents a healthcare systemdescribed as inadequate by officials and aid workers alike. And despite theirefforts, the Malagasy healthcare system is extremely weak and heavily relianton foreign aid. According to those working in the health sector, it facesmyriad challenges, including poor management, and maintenance of infrastructureand medicine stocks.

Many of the staff work voluntarily, having not been paid foryears, which means that for the sick, just making it to medical help doesnot guarantee recovery.

Traditionalhealer Abudul uses seeds, mixed in a pile with coins, playing cards, somebones, a bracelet and small pieces of wood to diagnose ailments [WilliamWorley/Al Jazeera]

Diagnosis and treatment

Still, their diagnostic tests seem more likely to be accurate thanthose provided by Abudul. Back in his house, he reaches into a drawer, takes out his toolsfor identifying a patient’s problem and arranges them on the floor.

Below his feet are seeds, mixed in a pile with a collection ofcoins, both Malagasy Ariary and old francs. Next to the pile lies a deck ofplaying cards, some bones, a bracelet and some small pieces of wood.

Patients do not have to be present at this diagnosis, Abudul says. He can do it overthe phone, sending his treatments across the country. To be diagnosed by thepatterns these objects make costs just 200 Malagasy Ariary, which is less than$150.10.

When the treatment is determined, it will cost the patient severalthousand Ariary (less than $150.00), depending on the case – though he providesfree treatment for children under a year old.

Abudul reaches into a drawer again, and pulls out moresmall pieces of wood from a plastic bag. These have writing scrawled on themidentifying the type of wood needed for a certain treatment.

Some are driftwood, others are from trees. One set is for physicalillnesses, another for “foolishness”. Another set can be used to treat animals– this is a lucrative market in the agrarian region, where cattle are morehighly valued than cash.

“The wood is made powerful when it is ground by a stone,” Abudul says. “Then it is drunkwith water …Handicapped people must take the wood that comes from the sea.”

Abudul also plays Cupid for those unfortunate in love.

“If a man wants to marry someone who is not interested, I give himthis,” Abudul says, reaching for a bar of bright pink soap. A special potion ismade and doused on the soap, after which Abudul instructs the bachelor to wash with it, and th e subject of his love will accept him.

Traditional healer Abudul shows his collection of coins, bothMalagasy Ariary and old francs, which he uses in diagnosing ailments [TomMaguire/Al Jazeera]

A strategy forcollaboration?

The widespread presence of traditional healers is deeply rooted inmany parts of the developing world, including Madagascar.

Some traditional healer remedies have been found to be effective.For instance, the World Bank cites a study which indicatedthat herbal treatments for shingles used by healers in Uganda were effective.

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