The Urban Witch Doctor

Another thing the islands don't have-- playgrounds!

The islands are not very urban. We live in the “capital” of our island but it is only urban if you compare it to the rest of the island villages— at most it is a town, a small densely populated town. For Megan’s medical treatment we have come to mainland Africa— here they have cities! Full-fledged modern cities. I know people have different preconceptions about Africa of the rolling savanna and wild animals, but Nairobi is a very much a modern city and  is becoming more modern all the time.  It has so many things that we don’t find on the islands. Skyscrapers are popping up on the horizon.  High end restaurants, chain stores and malls with the some of the brand names you’d find in any US mall are here in multiple locations.  You can pay by credit card nearly everywhere.  Internet is fast and reliable.  You have 4G mobile networks and all the apps that go along with them.  You can order Dominoes pizza.  You can catch a ride with Uber.  Nairobi feels like a place with all the modern conveniences, and yet it still keeps its African flavor.

Just some of the examples on our short walk

It was while we were walking down a street that we noticed a sign slapped to a telephone pole.  It seemed to be an add for a doctor.  This seemed a bit odd, but hey, people slap all sorts of posters  and adds on the sides of buildings and telephone poles—why not one for a doctor.  But a closer inspection revealed that this was no ordinary doctor.  “Love potions, lost items, man power, magic rings. job promotion, protection…”  this was no a doctor of medicine.  This was an advertisement for a witch doctor.  And as we looked around we noticed more and more advertisements of the same sort, some in English, some in Swahili, but nearly every telephone poll had an ad for someone, sometimes multiple different ads on top of each other. 

Witch doctors seem like something from the village. Something that would have disappeared in such a modern city.  Islanders often hide the fact that they still have witch doctors. But we have been there long enough that we are not at all surprised to hear that many islanders go to see witch doctors for everything from sickness to football matches, but in the big modern city?  Aren’t such things left behind?  Our western side asks, “don’t they know better”? But old beliefs are hard to shake and the desire for a quick-fix to our problems is universal. In the village everyone knows where to find the witch doctor, but apparently the urban witch doctor advertises.

We all have seen the magazines in the check out counters promising ‘5 minutes a day to rock hard abs’ or  “10 ways to keep your lover”, or “3 changes to make to get that big promotion at work”.  It’s all about power and control.  We want to be able to do something about our problems and ideally something easy and uncomplicated. One culture may look to witch doctors, while another looks to scientific studies or dubious “expert” advice, but they both promise the same thing, “get what you really want, now, the easy way.” 

It’s all about getting your way, of finding a way to have power over your difficult circumstances.  It is tempting. We see the promises and want the results. So we foolishly put our trust in the wrong things.  It something we can all fall into too.

This one's a professor

So we have to walk past false promises and remember it isn’t about us getting power and control  but about relinquishing it to the One who has all the power and control anyways.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan went back to the doctor today for a follow-up. She is healing well and the lab results on the cyst showed no malignancy. So that’s great news. She’ll have to have follow-up in some months but she has almost no more pain and has her energy back.  We have been blessed by our time in Kenya— the kids have made some good friends and the medical stuff has gone smoothly. Thanks for praying. Our colleagues on the big island were able to go to the memorial service for the American who died and said it was good to be there. Our teammate is back on the island safely. The printing project should be ready to pick up tomorrow!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that Megan would continue to heal well and that there would be no recurrence of the cyst (the surgeon said it was 50/50 whether it would come back in the coming months or years). We have one more day in Kenya, pray that we get our necessary errands done. We fly back to the islands early Thursday morning. We’ll have one day on the big island before going to Clove. Pray for smooth travels. Pray for Tom as he has taken on the job of interim leader for all the islands while our leader is in the States. Pray for wisdom, humility and discernment in that role. There has been hopes for a medical team to start on the other side of Clove Island— we’re excited to see this happen but first they need to find people to lead the team. Pray that the right person/people would be found.