Mental Illness Remedy

A man in the village has gone mad. As a youth he had refused to undergo the tribal initiation to manhood. The marabout explains that according to the Koran if one does not do that which he is ordered, he will truly be punished. The villagers wait in silence for the marabout’s signal. When the signal is finally given, the villagers undress the man and begin to whip him publicly. They believe that pain reestablishes an equilibrium hat has been upset. Whipping is both an act of exorcism and a warning.

Therapeutic Autosuggestion

A Mundari witch sucks on the body of an old sick woman. She is seeking to transfer the evil spirit tormenting the old woman into a younger healthier body able to resist the spirit. This way, the old woman will survive.

Urine Therapy

For many indigenous African people, medicine that is not magical is not medicine. Among the Azande of Central Africa, an ill person suffering from whatever disease is stretched before a healing fetish.

Hydrotherapy for Mental Illness

Among the people of Eritrea water is magical because it heals and also purifies. Here, individuals considered mentally unstable are dipped into ponds situated 6000 meters above sea level to cure them.

Ethiopian Remedies

There are plenty of medical practices among indigenous people that western medical practice cannot understand. One of them is the dislodging of the uvular, practiced among indigenous tribes of Ethiopia.

Mithridatism

Bushman's Secret

 

For over 140000 years the Bushman developed unique knowledge that enabled them to survive in the unforgiving terrain of the Kalahari Desert. It is intriguing to learn that the Khoisan who had been looked down upon for a long time has recently attracted several pharmaceutical companies in the search for remedies where conventional drugs are failing. This documentary unravels the injustices shrouded therein.