Traditional Healer Breakthrough

December 30th, 2008

Last week we had our meeting with the traditional healer’s council. Very interesting…..I definitely understood how some of the plants could help with various ailments, like ginger for upset stomachs, etc. However, when I asked the head healer how he thought HIV originated, he said that what happened was a white man married an African woman, but he didn’t really love her. He then slept with a dog. The dog had HIV. After that he slept with her again and infected her with HIV. She was so upset that he didn’t love her that she slept with many of the men in the village and they also contracted HIV/AIDs. The healer also said there were two types of HIV/AIDs. One type is the real type that he couldn’t always cure, but the other type was fake HIV that came about because of witches in the village casting spells on various people to make them think they had HIV/AIDs. Apparently, the healer can cure the witchcraft HIV/AIDs, fairly easily.... So, needless to say, after that meeting I didn’t have much hope, as far as, getting through to the traditional healers. BUT, today it seems we might have made a break through afterall. One of the healers brought his patient with HIV to the hospital next to UKUN. He explained that after speaking with us that he thought HIV was not a traditional disease and can’t always be cured in traditional ways, so he wanted us to try western medicine on his patient. I was so happy that I hugged him. He had told me he was very honored that I would come all the way from America to meet with him and the council. He really wanted me to get him a machine that he could use to make his plant medicine into pill form. Of course, I tried to explain that wouldn’t be possible, but he gave me his address……Maybe I can just mail some herbal remedies from home.... Great day overall and very hopeful!