Traditional Healers

[ramonmercado]

Healers help mend Maasai broken hearts
By Katie Nguyen
Mon Feb 13, 5:27 AM ET

In Kenya's Maasailand, the war of love requires a weapon more potent than the chocolates or red roses that bombard sweethearts the world over on Valentine's Day.

When hope fades and acts of bravery fail, many a loveless warrior turns to traditional healer Nashuru Kipeen, whose armoury of sweet-smelling herbs is famed for curing heartache.

In times past, Maasai warriors, armed with long spears and shields made of buffalo hide, used to prowl the grassy savannah stalking and killing lions in a daring display of courage.

But the bravado of a young warrior is not always enough to impress the ladies.

"If a warrior comes to me seeking to win over a certain girl, it's up to me to give advice and mix a potion to grant his wishes," said Kipeen, who has tended to the lovesick with home-grown remedies for decades.

Leaving the smoky darkness of her mud house, she wanders into the arid plain of thorn bushes and acacia trees, tearing succulent leaves, digging up roots and plucking wild berries for her pharmacy.

Kipeen swears for every complaint of unrequited love, jealousy or infertility there is a different herbal cocktail to be washed down with milk, tea or honey.

Only when all other means of wooing are exhausted, however, will she prescribe a love potion.

To court a Maasai girl, she counsels the would-be lover to present a gift of a cow or sheep to the girl's father.

To catch a man, she advises the girls to be scrupulous about their cleanliness, adorn their necks with beaded jewellery at all times, and emphasise agility and grace when dancing.

"The successes are many. Some go to the extent of giving me goats, sheep and calves to thank me for my services," said Kipeen, whose smile reveals more wrinkles than teeth.

FEAR OF RIDICULE

Yet such visits to the healer, who learnt the trade from her mother, are often kept secret for fear of ridicule in a tribe whose men are revered for the painful lengths they go to show physical strength, spiritual fortitude and sexual prowess.

To foreign visitors, the Maasai are the face of Kenya, trekking the grasslands of the Rift Valley stretching from the edge of Nairobi to Tanzania in search of pasture for their cows.

Of all the east African country's myriad tribes, the Maasai are the most striking. Often tall and slender, many still dress in brilliant red cloth tied at the shoulder, staining their hair with ochre and carrying a balled club by their side.

Despite growing exposure to western influences, Maasais still drink cows' blood, drained from an arrow shot to the vein, or dance by thrusting their chests and leaping in the air -- traditions that are the stuff of films, books and safari trips.

To become a fully-fledged elder, the Maasai man must undergo a series of arduous rites, including circumcision, which perhaps explains their reputation for fierce virility.

"The Maasai are known to be proud. Every Maasai man needs to appear to be strong. If you need help to win someone's love it's a sign of weakness," said Michael Tiampati, a junior elder.

"But it's the best man who wins the best woman. Even in a Maasai setting the woman has the right to reject someone. A Maasai man may go to extreme lengths to win back a love or regain his sexual faculties, even if it means seeing a healer."

As couples around the world kiss over champagne and candle-lit dinners on Tuesday, Kipeen will be grinding herbs and waiting for the lonely warrior who may not celebrate Valentine's Day, but knows the pain of unrequited love.

Heart

 

[ramonmercado]

Traditional Healer murdered, others threatened. Vid at link.

April 20, 2018-

A traditional healer and elder Olivia Arévalo Lomas of the Shipibo Konibo Indigenous people of Peru was assassinated yesterday with five shots to the heart. The unknown assailants killed her in her home in the community of Victoria Gracia located 20 minutes from the town of Yarinacocha, in front of her family and in the presence of children. ...

In addition to the attach on Lomas, the following written death threat against another Shipibo female healer reads: "Señora y Sr Magdalena Florez Agustín, Bernardo Murayari Ochavano You have 48 hours to flee. One bullet for each of you and if you don't do as told there will be the consequence that more bullets will rain down on you" ...

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/ne...aditional-healer-assassinated-peruvian-amazon

The BBC report that a man accused of killing her has been lynched.

Canadian accused of murder is lynched in Peruvian Amazon

... It is not yet known when Mr Woodroffe arrived in the area or what he was doing there.

Ms Arévalo's murder sparked outrage in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, as it followed a number of unsolved murders of indigenous activists who had repeatedly faced death threats stemming from their efforts to keep illegal loggers and palm oil growers off native lands. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43858482

 

[ramonmercado]

An appalling case.

A young South African girl who disappeared last year aged six was allegedly sought by a traditional healer for her eyes and fair complexion, a court has heard.

This is among the allegations that have emerged at the ongoing trial of Joshlin Smith's mother, Kelly Smith, who has been accused of orchestrating her kidnapping. Ms Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn have pleaded not guilty to charges of human trafficking and kidnapping.

Joshlin's disappearance in February 2024 from outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, sent shockwaves across South Africa and, despite a highly publicised search for her, she is yet to be found.

Ms Smith initially said that Joshlin, who has a fair complexion and blue-green eyes, had gone missing after she had left her in Mr Appollis's care. Prosecutors later accused her of having "sold, delivered or exchanged" the six-year-old and lied about her disappearance.

The trial, which is now in its third week, is being held at a community centre in Saldanha. During the first week of the trial, the court heard details about the day Joshlin went missing, including that Ms Smith only alerted the police more than six hours after she had first noticed that the young girl had disappeared.

The court also heard that she appeared calm during the frantic search and seemed more concerned about her boyfriend's whereabouts than the missing child.

More shocking claims emerged in the second week.

A local pastor said that as far back as 2023, he had heard Ms Smith - a mother of three - talk of selling her children for 20,000 rand ($1,100, £850) each, though she had said she was willing to accept a lower figure of $275.

Joshlin's teacher then alleged in court that Ms Smith had told her during the search that her daughter was already "on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa".

These revelations paled in comparison to the explosive details made by Lourentia Lombaard, a friend and neighbour of Ms Smith, who turned state witness. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39v27p0mwyo

 

[Frideswide]

Just...