Local Medicine

 It has happened lots of times. Often when I talk about my back hurting me, people will share their local wisdom about what to do. 

The ingredients

Islanders usually recommend massage (which I agree is a great way to get tense muscles to relax), but several times they have also recommended local island medicine, a paste or poultice of some kind to put on my back.  This often comes with a story of its success in healing someone and a reassurance that it would help me too. Sometimes they rattle off a series of ingredients (local words that I don’t know) and tell me it will help.

We have to be careful with the local word for ‘medicine.’ Sometimes it means a remedy provided by a witchdoctor and steeped in superstition, prayers and things we don’t agree with. But other times it is just a combination of herbs and plants that islanders for generations have looked to for their healing properties.

When our island friend offered to make local medicine for my back, she assured me that it had nothing to do with witchdoctors. I had already thought that at some point I should try the local remedy, partially for the experience, partially so I could say that I had tried it, and partially because it might actually help. I firmly believe that God has littered the earth with plants that have healing properties. So I agreed and copied down a list of three ingredients for Tom to get at the market. 

The grinding

It turned out one was just leaves from a tree that you didn’t have to buy, you just had to find the tree and pick some leaves. The other two ingredients weren’t anything we had ever bought before, in fact I still don’t know what they are. One was reddish brown seeds (similar in size and consistency to a small sesame seed). The other was the dried stems and leaves of a plant. Those three, plus a handful of rice and some water, was all we needed.

We had no idea how much work it would be. Our friend came and started grinding the ingredients one by one until they were a paste. She was there for hours, rocking the big stone again and again, adding water occasionally, until she was satisfied with the consistency.

She left with a smile, our thanks, and a gift of bananas, and told me to keep it in the fridge and put it all over my back for the next three nights.

The ground up ingredients

One thing she didn’t mention was the smell. The first night as Tom applied the thick paste to my back, he wrinkled his nose at its odor. I then remembered someone offering to make local medicine for me years ago, but then telling me that maybe she shouldn’t because my husband might not like the smell.

We were determined to give the medicine a full go, especially having witnessed the hours of labor that went into making it for me, so for three nights Tom applied it. The first two nights I slept with it on, which seemed like the original intention. The third night we applied it after dinner and took it off before bed (and then changed the sheets and used air freshener liberally through our room).

Sadly, I didn’t notice any dramatic effects. Waking up those three mornings, I would say that they were good mornings (pain-wise), so it definitely didn’t hurt, but can’t say that it definitely helped. 

The fragrant medicine applied

I expect that this kind of local medicine may be more for people with muscle spasms or sudden injuries, not necessarily for people like me with a more chronic condition and nerve pain. Still I am glad we did it. It drew us into relationship, gave us an opportunity to rely on our island friends and contacts, and honored their traditions and knowledge…if only it didn’t smell so bad.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our oldest son finished his “Rite of Passage” a series of challenges for him to grow in independence and wisdom as he becomes a young adult.  We are excited to celebrate this accomplishment with him.  Wedding events continue.  We are thankful for the way these events help to deepen our friendships.  We are excited to hear good news from our island brothers and sisters.  One is reaching out to others over whatsapp and finding some people who are interested to learn with him.  Some others met a drunk man who wanted to know more about who they were.  They spoke kindly to him but assumed he would be too drunk to remember.  But the next day, sober he found one of them and continued to ask questions!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have plans!  Tom’s mother, father and aunt are on their way to the islands as we type!  Pray for a great visit with them and that all their luggage makes it (luggage has been delayed a lot in the past couple months). Megan will leave for Kenya a week from today and hopes to have surgery before the end of next week.  Pray for all the preparations to go smoothly, especially since Megan will be making her way there alone.  We have good friends in Kenya who will look after her while she’s at the hospital, and we are thankful for the Lord’s provision in that way.  Pray for surgery to bring relief to her pain and for a safe recovery. Pray for our teammates as they continue to go to wedding events. Pray for our one teammate who is getting ready to leave the islands, as she says final goodbyes, closes up her house and prepares to leave well. Pray for the monthly women’s gathering on Wednesday— may the women come with their new books and have an encouraging time of study together. Pray for our son as he deals with nervousness as he prepares to start boarding school at the end of August (he’s really excited, but there are lots of unknowns on which he can sometimes fixate and worry about).