The Witch Doctor

We pull off the tarmac and drive for another four or five kilometres passing traditional villages before arriving at the home of ‘Dr Kamuchila’. After greeting us and sitting down outside Dr Kamuchila explains that he became a traditional healer following the death of eleven of his children in infancy. ‘a family member of the wife was witching the children and when they reached six months, they died’ While Dr Kamuchila received some training and guidance from elders including his parents most of his training and direction come from spirits who come to him in his sleep ‘so that even when a patient is coming tomorrow I can know that patient is coming, spirits talk to me in my sleep’

Indeed Dr Kamuchila later proudly shows us his qualification certificate, a hand written document from 2004 stamped – ‘Republic of Zambia, Chieftianess of Nyanje’. Dr Kamuchila claims to offer ‘treatment’ for a wide variety of ailments including headache, constipation, chest pain, abdominal pain, leg pain and cough. He does clarify that he can not treat TB and later informs us that he himself is attending the hospital for TB treatment. He believes that many of these ailments are cause by bewitching and that he can help his patients to discover who is bewitching them, even if that person has run away form the country.

I ask him about HIV and he explains that the problem is related to pregnant women passing on the infection to their children. He categorically states that this is a disease and has nothing to do with bewitching.

Intrigued to find out what the process involves I ask Dr Kamuchila to treat me as a patient. He leads us inside a small thatched building, we remove our shoes and the three of us sit on a grass mat. We are facing a wall a square of which has been painted black with charcoal. The procedure begins with Dr Kamuchila producing ‘medicine’ for us to take. Prior to offering it he checks that I have never had an operation or suffer from epilepsy. The medicine is a drink presented in a dirty cap, tastes foul and induces a fair degree of nausea. He explains that the drink is made from herbs which he has boiled and then fermented and that he and each of his patients must consume this at the beginning of the process.

Dodgy home made liquor on board Dr Kamuchila then passes around a bowl with water and twigs from which to wash our faces. He explains that after some thirty five minutes from consuming the medicine we will be able to see images on the black area of the wall which he describes like a television. He will direct the ‘grassie’ to find that person who is bewitching me so that I can see. Sometimes the process can take up to four hours. As part of the ritual he bizarrely produces a bible and asks me to open up a page and what is written there will direct us. Deliberately I open the book towards the back in an effort to avoid any vengeful Old Testament readings.






While we are waiting for the medicine to have its effects he sings some hymns including ‘John stayed in the house of the fish for three days’ and ‘Those who don’t believe in Jesus will be punished’ followed by a few Alleluias. After some time Dr Kamuchila begins to try to invoke the ‘grassie’ to show Cormac from Ireland who is now in St Francis what his problems are. Thirty five minutes of repeated invocations elapse and we sit looking at a black square on a wall. Thankfully the only adverse effect thus far from the medicine is nausea.

At this stage I find myself quite under whelmed by the process. Surely sitting looking at a crude painting of a TV on the wall isn’t what traditional medicine is about. I ask Dr Kamuchila does he not wear masks or do a dance. We have had enough and politely thank him for his time and explain I am relieved I have not seen anyone who is bewitching me. We ask what treatments would be offered if he had found a problem. He explains that he would make a razor incision over the part of the body where the problem is and the rub on herbs to affect a cure. We get to see some of the herbs he uses.

Throughout the time I can’t help thinking that we are not seeing the authentic deal, that he has altered the whole show because he has white people visiting from the hospital. He tells us he would just see five to six people a day and spend up to four hours with some of these. Doing the ward round in St Francis I see countless patients each day with razor mark tattoos from visits to traditional healers. I wonder did they actually believe that getting herbs rubbed into cuts in their skin would help them.

Such beliefs seem ridiculous until I remind myself that back home in Ireland many of my patients would also attend what we call complimentary health professionals with no evidence base such as homeopaths and osteopaths. Some even go to seventh sons of a seventh son in the hope of relief from ill health. Maybe deficiencies in mainstream health care are among the reasons why such enterprises exist both in Africa and Ireland.

In any cases I believe most of these practices are at best harmless and at worst may cause serious illness. In St Francis we have seen patients present with acute renal failure secondary to traditional medicine and even women who have tried to get abortion induced by the traditional healer by means of a stick shoved up into their womb.

We cordially say our goodbyes to Dr Kamuchila more certain than ever that what he professes is all a pile of nonsense. Thing is he is probably thinking the same about us.

(With thanks to Kapil Sharma Final Med, NUI Galway for help with this piece)