By Boniface Ndemping Wewe (Ngonyama Ka Brooklyn)
What a difference modern technology and the media make! Michela Wrong, author of “on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo” opines that African life is marked by social realities. One of them is tribalism by which politicians reward their tribesmen for loyalty and another is black magic/witchcraft. I would add in mitigation of Ms. Wrong’s judgment that traditional medicine as practiced by genuine African healers that some mislabel ‘witchdoctor’ relies on plants and the spirit of the ancestors, and the psychology/mental health of their patients. The fake ones have given all traditional healers a bad name all over Africa (see excerpts from newspaper articles further on).
As a producer with works shot in South Africa, I decided to conduct a Google search for genuine traditional doctors and Durban, South Africa. One name kept cropping up following an article in the Sunday Times Newspaper travel/explorer section: Ma Bhengu of Kwangcolosi in the Valley of 1000 Hills in South Africa .The article further stated that she did not misdiagnose diseases and referred patients she could not treat to western doctors. She claimed to save lives with her God-given talents and not to make money. During a vacation to South Africa, I decided to put to test the newspapers claims and to contact Ma Bhengu about a production that documented the institution of traditional doctors, or Sangomas, in Zululand.
As a Bantu from the North (a Cameroonian), my knowledge of Zulu is limited to common phases of greeting and “I love you”. I went to a taxi rank and hired a driver, Bongani Mzimela, who doubled as my translator. We got lost looking for Ma Bhengu but never gave up asking for help and directions from the Zulus. Our perseverance paid off in the end and we ended up locating the residence of Ma Bhengu in Bhekisisa, around the Inanda Dam. The Sunday Times article did not stray from the truth and the rest is now history. I must confess that as a result of my quest, I have successfully tried alternative medicine in the form of treatment and counseling administered by Ma Bhengu for a personal problem.
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