One thing that may be helpful to understand is that people here are very pragmatic. Few would say, "I'm convinced that natural remedies are all you need; I won't go to the modern hospital." Westerners might tend to think in terms of either/or, but I think most East Africans are happy to accept whatever works. Thus, the flip side is also true: few Tanzanians would reject ideas from conventional wisdom simply because those ideas have not been scientifically established.*
This is the case with my friend and her mgonjwa (sick/wounded person). The bones have been set at the hospital, but she's still taking two local remedies for extra help. One is a bottle of pale-colored liquid. My guess is that she boiled some herb or other plant; I didn't push my vocabulary by asking for specifics. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that some of the vitamins or such in the plant really do help the body as it's making new bone cells.
The other object did motivate me to ask for more detail: a bone. My friend said it was a bone from a baboon, and that it helps to heal broken bones.
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| About an hour away from town, the main road passes by an entrance to Serengeti National Park. We always see lots of baboons at the bridge. |
She was happy to satisfy my curiosity, explaining that you pass the baboon bone back and forth over the broken arm of the person and tuck it into the bandages next to the healing bone. Talk about interesting! She certainly values the hospital's x-rays and bone-setting expertise. However, she pointed out that sometimes the modern methods leave an arm crooked after the bone has healed. Using the baboon bone helps the joints to return to full working order. When her little son broke his arm earlier this year, she used the baboon bone, and his arm has healed perfectly.
By the way, my friend is a smart, educated woman. In the same visit this morning, owls somehow came up in conversation, and she told me that many people are afraid that owls can bewitch people--but that it's only superstition, associated with owls being nocturnal (like witch doctors). She's also a serious Christian. To her, the baboon bone remedy is not witchcraft or superstition; it's just how things work.
It's all so different from my cultural mindset. Fascinating.
* Let it be known that I am no anthropologist! These thoughts come from my studies and training (limited though both may be) and from what I have observed and heard from others. The experience and the education confirm each other, but I'm aware that I may be oversimplifying dramatically. My apologies for any misleading blanket statements.
