those were the best days, those were the worst days
September the 10th
Today
is about traditional health care in Kenya.
We
start with a little bit of information about traditional health care
and what that means. Some names were mentioned that made me think of
a historical novel: medicine man, traditional birth attendants,
circumcision performers, voodoo practices, religious healers, and so
on. It was interesting to know how does that work, if they are
popular in the community, what kind of diseases they treat and how,
what is the effect of their methods.
And
we were so lucky to have the opportunity to meet some of those
people.
First
we visited the medicine man. He was just an ordinary guy, nothing
distinctive about him. Tall, very slim, dressed in regular, not so
clean, modern clothes, he lives in a small clay hut with his
wife/wives and his children (5 of them). He is polite and answering
our questions in a neutral tone. Yes, he treat all kind of patients
with all kinds of problems. No, he doesn't take care of broken bones
or refer people to the hospital. He doesn't diagnose people with
diabetes but he treats them. He uses plants and roots which he gets
from the wild. We got to see the potion,which he explained that he
boils for like about 3 hours and the "patients" have to
drink it daily from a couple of days to a week, depending on the
problem. And the problems can be numerous: from back pains to stomach
ache. He says he is popular, that a lot of people demand his
services, some people are coming as far as 40 km away.
Really?
I actually don't know what to believe. Although I am aware that is
impossible to cure everything with a potion, faith can move
mountains. I have no doubt that he believes he is helping his
community and in various ways I'm sure he does help: he is, if
nothing else, a hope provider. And I will never find it in my heart
to condemn him or others alike. If you look at it in a local content
than you might understand that the medicine men have been used for
generations in the rural areas and there were created behaviour
patterns that are difficult to change. The change is not exactly
stimulated by the public hospitals, which are crowded, under-staffed
and a lot of patients feel poorly treated. If you look at it from a
Danish perspective you could say that our medicine man is the Natural
Remedies industry, which has been booming incredibly in the last
years. More and more people in our part of the world lose trust in
the conventional medicine and turn to use herbs, tees and all stuff
of vitamins, minerals, juices and so on. And we have to face it that
there are people in Denmark which, out of desperation or maybe
ignorance or just shear believe, choose natural treatments instead of
meds to fight cancer, diabetes or other chronicle diseases.
In
the afternoon we visited 3 traditional birth attendants which are
working in the community. They don't have any training what so ever,
other than what their mothers and grandmothers taught them. The trait
is kept alive from generation to generation. The women,unlike the
medicine man were looked exactly as I imagined. They were
traditionally dressed, looked very old and the body language gave the
impression that they were important in the community. It didn't
looked like hygiene was a priority. They actually told us that if the
birth canal is to small they burst it with their nails. I looked at
their nails and they were black and it wasn't because the colour of
the skin, it was just dirt. Shock is a mild word for what I felt. I
was in dire need to control my self, I felt a compelling urge to save
all those pregnant women from those monsters. The biggest problem I
had was that the message was clear: we don't want to change anything,
we did it like that for many generations, it works for us and we will
keep doing it in the same way in the future. They don't think that
the high mortality rate for women giving birth is a problem: they
aren't that many. When the rage was over, the rationality came as a
balm. What was I expecting? Correct hand hygiene? A bed for women to
give birth in and not in the dirt? I looked around again and again.
They really do what they can with what they have. And if the birth
attendants weren't there to help, who will? The hospitals are miles
away and the conditions aren't necessarily better. There is a
positive thing in all of this though: the birth attendants monitor
the pregnant woman from her last trimester and they stay with the new
mum for about a week to help her with the baby.
The
funny part was when we told them that some women in Denmark give
birth in a tub. i am sure they thought that we were crazy.
And
the day wasn't over yet. To be prepared for the next day we were
supposed to watch 2 films about FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) or
more commonly known as female circumcision, "I will never be
cut" and "The day I will never forget". I went to bed
crying.
