The starting point (III of VII): A visit to the Juju priestess

     Villagers also sought care from the local Juju priestess who was rated as just "okay" according to Kwasi, one of our close friends. He said that she was a relatively weak Juju practitioner compared to the Juju priests in the neighboring villages. Women frequently sought the priestess’ assistance with the pains of labor and other maladies. In general, my interactions with her were limited, but once, Beth and I made a special trip to meet with her and get a better idea of what she was about. Kwasi, acting as our translator and guide, arranged a meeting with the priestess. We brought the recommended bottle of peppermint schnapps as an offering, and we were invited into the back of her house. She seemed quite amicable as she sat in the back of her small clay house with a corrugated steel roof. At the front of the room was a stool for her to sit on and a shrine of sorts littered with several partially or fully-emptied schnapps bottles. She guided us to some wooden planks serving as benches near the shrine.  Then, she sat down on the stool inches in front of us and began answering our questions while exchanging the required pleasantries. Beth and I both tested are rudimentary knowledge of the local dialect, Twi. In mid-conversation, she appeared to disengage and then she broke into a trance and developed a distant glaze in her eyes. She then threw white powder over her face and at us who were sitting uncomfortably close by. She began thrashing around with a machete while babbling unintelligible words. At this point, Kwasi discretely informed us that she was now possessed (not a striking revelation!). After a while, she calmed down, took a swig from one of the schnapps bottles, and returned to sanity. At this point, we nervously stood up and prepared to leave. She quickly jumped up and asked to have her picture taken with us. She also suggested that we proclaim our allegiance to one another at the next village gathering. I gave a tentative nod to this suggestion, and we made a hasty retreat.

            I was reluctant to publicly condone her practices to the village based on my brief interaction with her and also after having seen at least one case of negligence on her part. A few weeks prior, I had cared for a 14-year-old girl who was near comatose due to meningitis. The child had only been brought to me after having failed to respond to the ministrations of the Juju priestess! Fortunately, I managed to sidestep the whole ethical dilemma of supporting her for her practices via a public proclamation, and we managed to remain on good terms. She may not have been the most powerful Juju priestess, but I decided I would rather not take a chance of her spreading any bad juju in my direction. After 8 months in Ghana, I was ready to return to the high-tech world of modern medicine.

[Returning to the U.S. and “alternative” medicine in small town America…tomorrow]