Babalawo
Freshman Composition
Professor Curtis
November 13, 2013
The Babalawo of America “The babalawo’s method of ministering to patients seemed, at the beginning, esoteric, compared to the government- and missionary- run clinics that we normally patronized, yet it did not take too long for me to begin to detect and voice out (strictly among us sibling delinquents) certain familiar features of the babalawo’s curative methods.” A Babalawo is a traditional healer who wards off evil through spiritual forces. In “Of Africa” the Babalawo was the neighborhood healer. However, many of the neighborhood people did not appreciate the duties of the healer because everyone in the Babalawo’s house were pagans. The Babalawo performed consultations than provided the medication to help heal his patients. The Babalawo’s clinic was a place to obtain any herbal concoction that consisted of tree roots, oils, astringent and bark. His healing potions were used for various reasons from cramps to fevers, etc. The Babalawo had conviction in his patients as much as his patients had conviction in him. The patients had a strong firmly belief in him even though he was ridiculed by the neighborhood. He is compared to European doctors but somehow he was better. He was able to ally the patient, physically, to forces within the entirety of his or her healing culture. These certain occurrences does not only happen in the motherland continent, let us take flight over seas to the continent of North America. The country that contains many cultures, races, and ethnicities- the melting pot United States of America. There are many babalawos in the United States of America, however, they are not called “Babalawo” and are not looked down upon as pagans. Often, they are as useful to Americans as doctors with medical degrees. There are actually some religions that do not believe in going to a doctor: Christian Science and Scientology and sometimes Rastafarian. They believe in receiving all of
Professor Curtis
November 13, 2013
The Babalawo of America “The babalawo’s method of ministering to patients seemed, at the beginning, esoteric, compared to the government- and missionary- run clinics that we normally patronized, yet it did not take too long for me to begin to detect and voice out (strictly among us sibling delinquents) certain familiar features of the babalawo’s curative methods.” A Babalawo is a traditional healer who wards off evil through spiritual forces. In “Of Africa” the Babalawo was the neighborhood healer. However, many of the neighborhood people did not appreciate the duties of the healer because everyone in the Babalawo’s house were pagans. The Babalawo performed consultations than provided the medication to help heal his patients. The Babalawo’s clinic was a place to obtain any herbal concoction that consisted of tree roots, oils, astringent and bark. His healing potions were used for various reasons from cramps to fevers, etc. The Babalawo had conviction in his patients as much as his patients had conviction in him. The patients had a strong firmly belief in him even though he was ridiculed by the neighborhood. He is compared to European doctors but somehow he was better. He was able to ally the patient, physically, to forces within the entirety of his or her healing culture. These certain occurrences does not only happen in the motherland continent, let us take flight over seas to the continent of North America. The country that contains many cultures, races, and ethnicities- the melting pot United States of America. There are many babalawos in the United States of America, however, they are not called “Babalawo” and are not looked down upon as pagans. Often, they are as useful to Americans as doctors with medical degrees. There are actually some religions that do not believe in going to a doctor: Christian Science and Scientology and sometimes Rastafarian. They believe in receiving all of