Friday
There are so many examples of Western Medicine imposing its paradigm on other cultures, especially here in Kabala. For example, one day in the clinic, a girl came in with an ulcer on her ankle. It was another jungle ulcer (for I have seen many now), but this one looked a little different. It appeared to be abnormally yellow and crusty. I realized that it was not just pus, so I asked her what she had put on it. Her mother responded that she had broken open a capsule and poured its contents into the wound hoping that the medicine would improve it. She did not know what pill she had used. We have seen many leaves on similar wounds in an attempt to heal it, but the concept of both of theses situations demostrate the misuse of native and western healing. Our long term goal has always been to figure out way to improve health care, especially first aid, in a way that is culturally sensitive and respectful.
In order to learn more about the traditional healing methods, we were able to meet a native healer, named Bahla, today in Kabala on One Mile Road. He is a middle aged man, who was very open and trusting of us. We were warned that most traditional healers refuse to share any information about their craft. But Bahla seemed to be very outspoken and honest with us. He even welcomed our questions. We asked him questions like: What do you think of Western Medicine? What kinds of treatments do you use? Are there any illnesses that you do not treat? Do you think that tradition medicine and western medicine can blend? Have you ever been to a hospital? How were you taught your craft? He proceeded to share examples with us. Three patients were being treated at his house at the time, and he brought them out to meet us.
The first was a boy who was about 15 years old. He had been suffering from "Big Foot," which is some type of swelling from the knees down. We were told that sometimes this condition can affect the whole leg. But this boy had this condition on both legs. The right leg was almost completely healed, and the left leg's swelling had reduced significantly since he had arrived.
The next was a boy who was about 12 who approached us with a slight limp. At first we thought his legs were bowed from the way he was walking, but we soon saw that one of his thighs was enormously swollen. The rest of his leg was uneffected. The native healer stated that he had not figured out what was wrong yet, but that he had tried several treatments already without success. The boy stated that he had been to the hospital many times, as well as to the "chinese doctors" who seemed to have given him acupuncture, but no one has been able to help him.
The last patient was a woman who was suffering from bouts of tachycardia, weakness, and dizziness. The native healer stated that with certain medicines he was able to heal her completely and now she was able to walk and eat normally.
