Adventures in Lesotho: Lesotho's Dreamers

I can’t believe I only have one week left in Lesotho! The past 4 weeks have flown by, and I honestly don’t think I am quite ready to leave. There is just so much more to learn here, and so much more to talk about on my blog. Recently, a fellow Notre Dame student and his friend arrived at TTL to do their own research. This boy, Jason, is the only Basotho at ND. He found our school through an African scholars program, he’s a physics major, and let me tell you he is one smart dude! His friend Maseeng (Mah-see-ang) is in the process of applying to colleges in North America. It’s fun living with Basotho here at TTL because they can give us the inside scoop on cultural practices in Lesotho. It’s also cool to see two people who come from well off families in the capital, Maseru, adjust to life in the rural area of Mokhotlong. They are doing research on traditional medicine and it’s interplay with HIV/AIDS…I bet by the time they leave they will have some interesting findings!

On my first day of outreach, we actually saw a traditional healer walking along the road beating a drum. I thought nothing of the woman at first, until T yelled to me from the front seat, “Annie, take a picture of this woman!” (T really says my name like “Ahn-knee,” he thought I spelled it Anny). I try to be sensitive about taking pictures of people and I usually ask permission first (I don’t want people to think I am gawking at them!), but this was just too cool to miss! I promptly rolled down my window and snapped a picture of this very interesting woman.

Sticking my camera out of the window for a good shot!

The le thuela beating her drum.

T soon told me that she was an “ngaka” (nah-ka) or a doctor. She wasn’t just an ordinary doctor, however, she was a “le thuela” (lay tway-la)…a traditional healer! So of course in Western fashion, I just had to ask questions about her. T told me that the Basotho traditional healers prophesize in order to determine diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plans. Their prophecies actually come from the dead. This healer was beating her drum in order to call the ancestors, who give her the power to heal and the wisdom to perform miracles. Usually, the ancestors come to traditional healers in their dreams, giving them messages about each patient’s condition and how they should be healed. Sometimes, they get premonitions in their sleep about where to find a certain plant to be used as medication. Often times, one will go to a traditional doctor and will be told to come back the next day (and we complain about wait-times in America!). If the healer didn’t know you were coming, he or she might be unprepared for your visit and need the night to hear from your ancestors. Apparently traditional doctors are not present in every village, so many people have to travel to them. I was told that you can invite them to your home, but this is a more expensive method of seeing the healers.

An up-close picture!

While learning about the role of the traditional doctor, I couldn’t help but wonder how people justify seeing both traditional healers and doctors who practice Western medicine. Obviously, I asked T about this. The answer I got was interesting, and actually pretty similar to what people who see homeopathic doctors at home would say. The traditional healers are good for some diseases, but not for others. For a long time, when facts about HIV were merely rumors and myths in Lesotho, a lot of people would see the traditional healers to be cured. After a while, though, people began to realize that AIDS patients of traditional healers weren’t surviving. Eventually, as stigma decreased and HIV education initiatives reached the villages in Mokhotlong, Basotho learned to accept Western medicine as a better treatment for HIV/AIDS. So, even though one may see a traditional healer to get rid of the common cold, they recognize that certain diseases require real medical attention. T told me that the two diseases traditional healers could not cure or treat are HIV/AIDS and “sugar” diabetes. Diabetes is referred to as “sugar” diabetes here because Type II diabetes, the one associated with obesity, is more prevalent than Type I, the genetic form.

I did a little bit of research online and found out that there is definitely some tension in Lesotho between the medical doctors and the traditional healers. To be an MD or a healer, you must be registered with Lesotho’s government. Unlike at home, however, you do not need an MD to actually prescribe medicines. Medical doctor’s do not want traditional healers prescribing chemically-based medicines to their patients because they are not trained in Western medicine, but there is nothing stopping traditional healers form doing so. This is where the tension lies. I am curious to know how many traditional healers actually “prescribe” pills, considering their main forms are healing are through herbal and natural substances.

Lesotho's Ministry of Health in Maseru

Interestingly, the pharmacies here sell a lot of drugs over-the-counter that require prescriptions back in the US. This is frightening because it means that the chemists (or pharmacists) here might sell medicines that can be harmful to a person rather than helpful. Not only could a person be allergic to an antibiotic, but there is also a high risk of buying counterfeit or substandard drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa. I did a project on counterfeit medicines in the fall semester and came to learn that they are a HUGE problem in developing countries. Counterfeits result in a variety of risks: harm to a patient, development of drug resistance, and economic loss to a country. In 2009, Lesotho police trained by INTERPOL seized a large amount of fake drugs in the capitol city, which included steroids, antibiotics, antifungals, and contraceptives. If these were all found in the capitol, imagine what is found in Mokhotlong where regulation of chemist services is non-existent! (Don’t worry, brought all of the meds I could possibly need from home.)

The local version of a CVS Pharmacy

I am hoping that I might encounter another le thuela before I leave, but they are not easy to come by. I will just have to keep an eye out for someone wearing feathers as earrings, beads on their wrists and ankles, and carrying a drum…wish me luck!

Some of my favorite pictures as of late!

(Click on them to see the full-size image.)