A sangoma is the name for a traditional Zulu healer. Sangomas heal people by communicating with their ancestors and by offering you muthi, which is a concoction of traditional herbs. So my question to you is, would you trust a sangoma to cure you? I faced this very question last weekend in my rural homestay in the village of Impendle in South Africa. My homestay brother wanted to know if I would ever go to a sangoma, and I tried to avoid answering until I could figure out what his feelings were on the matter. I finally just settled on maybe, partly because I didn’t want to give an answer different than his, seeing as he clearly had strong feelings about the matter, and partly because I was not really sure what my answer was. Luckily, he just laughed at my answer and was all right with everything, but this led me to wonder if I would ever actually go to a sangoma.
There are many types of sangomas in South Africa. Some live in the countryside and some live in the big cities. Believe it or not, some are Christian and some are not. My host mama is actually an example of an urban, Christian sangoma; she became a sangoma in 2002. Sangomas are actually “called” to become sangomas. This involves having visions and dreams during which you are able to verbally communicate with your ancestors and they tell you that you should become a sangoma. Current sangomas are also able to identify potential sangomas by communicating with ancestors.
After my mama was called, she went to train for a year in Pietermaritsburg. Training involves a variety of things, including communicating with your ancestors at all hours of the night, dancing and praying. At the end of the training there is a test to determine if you are ready. This involves the chief sangoma hiding something from you and then seeing if you can find it. If you are able to find it, then it means that you are able to help people with their ailments.
Since my mama is an urban, Christian sangoma, she doesn’t often treat physical ailments. She did tell me that when someone has HIV, she tells that person that they need to go to the hospital in addition to providing the patient with traditional muthi. My mama has on occasion treated stroke patients by cutting their arm and putting ground up herbs in the cut and by having the patient sniff ground up herbs. Most patients, however, seek out a sangoma after experiencing bad luck, which, according to my mama, is when your ancestors are mad at you and are causing unfortunate events to happen to you. In order to cure bad luck, the sangoma will communicate with the ancestors and tell the patient what they need to do to satisfy their angry ancestors. “Cures” might include prayer, taking muthi or sacrificing goats and chickens. My host mama said this works most of the time.
Sometimes people have to travel many miles to see a sangoma. My mama works about 10 minutes away from her house in the Cato Manor township. She works in a traditional mud hut that is behind a standard Cato house. The hut is dark, with a straw roof, and lit by candles. I had to take off my hat and shoes before entering. Once inside I saw a few straw mats where people prayed and a large bucket of liquid muthi, which my mama told me was for treating vomiting. The hut was a very quiet and spiritual environment, and I felt a little out of place standing in it. My mama was very eager to answer any and all of my questions, which was difficult because I speak broken Zulu and she speaks broken English. Nevertheless, I certainly learned a lot from just speaking with my mama and visiting her workplace.
So, would you trust a sangoma? Personally, I am not sure. When I have had a string of bad luck, the first thing that pops into my mind is not that my ancestors are punishing me and that I need to see a traditional healer to remedy this. I can certainly understand, however, that in a society that typically distrusts all things western, seeking out something familiar for ailments might be just the remedy. Hopefully, I won’t have the need for any medical attention while I am here, but if I do, I will probably go see a doctor first, and if that doesn’t pan out well, I may just give my mama a call and see what she has to say.
Megan’s column runs bi-weekly on Tuesdays. She can be reached at m.stiles@cavalierdaily.com
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