Traditional Healer

The following blog post was written on the evening of the 18th July. Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.

After Monique and Emily M. requested the opportunity to see a traditional healer, a woman at the Trading Post arranged for us to visit her village and meet with one.

We drove on the main road to the edge of the village, but the van was unable to make it onto the rocky road (some of the roads in Lesotho are something you have to see to believe) so we got out of the van and walked into the village. Since the village is a little off the beaten path they do not get a lot of visitor and a large parade of Americans drew a little attention. Again, we had several children follow us on our walk to the healers house. We had to make a quick stop at the Chief’s house in order to get permission to visit-it is customary to ask the chief permission before doing anything within a village.

The healer explained to us (through Mary, a worker at the Trading Post who translated for us) that her gift was passed down from her ancestors. Her hairstyle was made exclusively of beads, as is the custom for Basotho healers. She explained that her medicine is not separate from western medicine, but will work in harmony with it. Therefore, if somebody is very sick (ie: AIDS) she will recommend for them to go to the clinic (this is not the case with all healers, some of whom believe they can cure AIDS). In addition, she practices Catholicism, which some members of our group had a difficult time appreciating (but for me came more naturally given the openness of my family to accept things that are “outside the box”).

Upon returning to the van, a car stopped by to see if we needed help…and the person offering the help was none other than Kennedy, the Rasta-Basotho-drummer we met the week before! It was a hoot to see him again.