WITCH DOCTORS IN MODERN AFRICA

We awoke on Wednesday the 21^st of May to the news that a mob of 300 men rooted out and killed 11 so-called witches in 2 villages not far from Kisii. Kisii is 2 hours from where we’re living and working and is the town we drive to when we need to buy a lot of groceries as we did last week. Most of the residents are from the Kisii tribe although there are now many people from other parts of Africa living there too.

I scoured the online news sources for more information but in spite of the story’s unusual and sensational appeal, I found very little reportage the following morning. Even the NY Times gave the story but a short paragraph. The mob had a list of purported witches, 7 women and 3 men aged 75 or older. They were burned to death, some after having their throats slit or their heads bashed in.

The story was so shocking that, in the middle of the day as I was going about my clinic business, I’d find myself staring at the lake wondering about those murdered “witches”. And about that violent mob. How could a group of 21^st century men get so impassioned about an ancient belief that they could resort to violence against 75 year old women?

It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that the clinic was quiet enough for me to talk to a few of my co-workers about it. In Kenya, any conversation starts with pleasantries. We talked of the weekend and our plans to drive to Migori. A bucket was sitting nearby and Daniel asked me if I knew how to carry it on my head. I gamely played along, trying and failing to balance a bucket for even one minute. The remaining patients all enjoyed our playfulness, with the women laughing at my ineptitude with such a simple thing. Sammy remarked that it would give them something to talk about the rest of the day. There’s very little they enjoy as much as seeing a Mzungu being silly.

At the right moment in the conversation I told Evanys I had read a news story about the witches and asked what he could tell me about it. He knew the story and had strong beliefs about it. He told me that these people were killed because they had caused the death of many other people. They were well known in their community and had practiced evil for many years. They made the children stupid. They could cast a spell on someone resulting in their death. They could poison food while a person was eating and cause it to decay in their stomachs. They could take epilepsy from one person and cast it into another person. They stirred up trouble wherever they went and they cheated people out of money.

Evanys said that times were changing and that people who were educated could not be hurt by the witch doctors. He said that although he was immune to them, they had very strong powers and needed to be stopped from hurting other people who fell under their powers. He felt it was right and just to weed them out but stopped short of advocating murder.

At the clinic he often finds himself in the position of discouraging such primitive beliefs. He said he tells people “no one is out to get you. You are sick. Take your medicine and you will get well”. He told me of a friend who, when he visited 2 months ago, was on his death bed. The man’s wife was very worried and thought her husband had HIV but the husband believed someone was trying to kill him and had paid to have a spell placed on him. He consulted a witch doctor who told him certain people in his family and in his community were trying to kill him. It caused many bad feelings. Evanys convinced him to go to a clinic and found out 2 weeks later that the man had been diagnosed with TB. He was on medicine and was starting to feel stronger. He acknowledged that Evanys was right but still clung to his ideas that he needed to appease the witch or he might put another hex on him.

The Daily Nation, the Nairobi daily paper had dozens of online comments about the murders in the days that have followed. Many Africans who live in western countries wrote to say that people in the west condemn these killings because they don’t understand the reality of witchcraft. Many gave witness to stories of illnesses and deaths “known” to be caused by witches. Many stated in essence, “I don’t believe in witchcraft myself but I know witches are very powerful and hurt many people”. These were people who participated in online discussions from computers in countries far from their native homes. People of the 21^st century. People who hold unshakable beliefs about the dark power of witches and spells. That is the paradox of Africa.