Magic

So today I was riding my bike back from a nearby village, when I came across a man coming out of the bush carrying a live owl by the wing. It was an odd sight, so I pulled over to greetgreetgreet and “What have you got there?” The man brought me to his house and explained that he was a marabout (Traditional healer of sorts, see earlier entry), then showed me all his marabout accoutrements--sticks, leaves, shells, ink, etc--for making jujus. I then asked again what he planned to do with the owl. He explained that the owl was a devil who had been sent by a person to steal the good health of children in the village. He had been in the bush collecting things for making jujus when he saw the owl, had called out to it, and it had come down. Then the man cut its wings so that it couldn‘t fly. This owl was a dangerous thing, but because he was wearing such strong jujus he would be safe. Then he began yelling at the owl (in Jola, unfortunately, so I don’t know what he was saying), sounding almost like a mother scolding a child, and a crowd gathered. Whenever the owl fluffed himself up, or postured with his wings, everyone gasped and stepped back. Another man stepped up to yell at the owl, in mixed English and Jola like this “Jolajolajola F*ck you! You awful thing we kill you! Jolajolajola!” (actually the F word is more common here than I would have guessed, but it doesn’t seem to carry the same weight). When I asked again what their plan was with the owl, he said that he would kill it to protect the village, and within three days, the man who sent it would also die. But we’re going to taunt it first? Awesome guys.
I did say that I didn’t think the owl was dangerous, of course they disagreed. I did consider trying to take the owl home, but not having any training in how to care for this injured wild animal, not to mention I own a cat, decided it might be better if they would just kill it. I did feel sad about it though. I’ve talked with a lot of people about magical beliefs versus scientific explanations, and it strikes me that they use the same tone of language that I use when talking about cultural differences (Gambians see knees and thighs as very sexual, but think that breasts are no big deal. Toubabs feel the opposite. Cultural difference.), and perhaps on some level, they’re right.
When talking about why women hide their pregnancies, and why its rude for me to ask when a mother is due to give birth, I was told that if a woman openly acknowledges her pregnancy, she is worried that she may be cursed by someone, and she will lose the baby. This woman told me that while toubabs believe that a body loses the baby through medical reasons and science, and Africans believe that it is black magic curses, just a cultural difference. And this person is fairly well educated, such that she at least knew what the medical perspective on miscarriage is. Do I know all my body’s minute intracellular functions? No, I know things on a more macro level, and if I need to know more I know where to look for this information, and what sort of sources to trust. I know that there are a variety of reasons a body may miscarry, and that none of them are black magic. Why do I “know” these things? I was told from a very young age to trust the doctors around me, and that there is a scientific answer for everything. Cultural difference. Maybe we do just believe in a different type of magic, I just trust that someone somewhere can prove what I believe. They probably believe the same. I’m not trying to be judgmental here, everyone is a product of their environment, and the President of Gambia claims to cure HIV/AIDS through witchcraft, what are people supposed to think? I’m pretty sure a similar phenomenon exists in the States right now, only its God who makes all these things happen and that’s all any of us need to know.
This happens in other areas as well, even when its not a medical issue, more just a practice which I would like to discourage. Toubabs believe in having only few children, we believe “a person must suffer.” The toubabs believe in not burning everything in our fields at the end of the season, but we Africans have always done that, so that is what we will do. Sometimes when I make a suggestion, or at least try to begin a dialogue, I’m told “Toubab, this is none of your business.”
So the difficulty is, the burden of proof is on me if I‘m to educate people about healthy practices and choices. Even people who have been to school and heard the scientific explanations still carry some traditional beliefs. But I feel like the detailed medical explanation for things is often too long and over people’s heads, and even if I could show these processes in all their cellular detail, I’m not sure I would be believed, but my only other answer for these explanations is “It just is!” which is in itself no more concrete than explaining that I’m sick because an owl devil took my good health.