Indigenous healing in South Africa

Question 1

Diagnose

Answer 1

Find out what kind of illness someone has by examining them

Question 2

Prescribe

Answer 2

Suggest the medicine a sick person should take

Question 3

Origin

Answer 3

The place where something begins

Question 4

Indigenous

Answer 4

Having always been in a place, rather than having come from somewhere else

Question 5

Holistic

Answer 5

Treating the person as a whole, and not just the physical illness.

Question 6

Initiate

Answer 6

A person learning to be a Sangoma.

Question 7

Apprenticeship

Answer 7

The period of learning from an experienced person

Question 8

What is medicine?

Answer 8

Medicine = two meanings:
Medicine means the practice of healing people. The illness of a sick person is diagnosed by a doctor or healer.
Medicine can also mean a substance that is used to treat diseases. Medicine is prescribed for the sick person to take

Question 9

Indigenous healing

Answer 9

Indigenous medicine was used in South Africa long ago by hunter-gatherers, herders and African farmers. Indigenous medicine is still used in South Africa today.

Question 10

Western medicine

Answer 10

• Western medicine is called ‘western’ because it = western Europe
• Western medicine treats diseases = physical body
• Based on science = studied at universities
• Western medicine = introduced to South Africa settlers from Europe
• Western medicine used by most South Africans today = not replaced indigenous healing practices and beliefs
• Many people use both Western medicine and traditional medicine

Question 11

What is holistic healing?

Answer 11

• Indigenous medicine that we use originated in South Africa
• Indigenous medicine = traditional medicine
• Traditional ways of healing passed on from one generation to the next
• Indigenous healers treat the whole person, and not just the physical illness
• Traditional healing is therefore called holistic healing. - Ancestors = important in the practice of indigenous medicine.
• The spirits of these ancestors are seen as an extended family
• Close relationship between the living and the dead. - Two main kinds of traditional healers:
  Diviners
  Herbalists

Question 12

Diviners

Answer 12

Healers who communicate with the ancestors to diagnose problems
They also prescribe medicine for different diseases
(Sangoma)

Question 13

Herbalists (Nyunga’s)

Answer 13

• This group of healers use herbs to cure different diseases
• They have a deep knowledge of the medicine contained in indigenous plants
• There are more than 500 different kinds of medicinal plants in South Africa
• A herbalist specializes in mixing herbs and plants to cure different diseases
• They use bulbs, leaves, rocks, tubers, stems, bark and the whole plant
• Healing plants include Buchu, the aloe and the African potato
• Herbalists are trained for many years as mixing the correct doses is very complicated.

Question 14

Sangomas

Answer 14

• Sangomas = born with a special gift
• It is believed that they are called by their ancestors to help people.
• Different people experience different things when they are called by the ancestors to be Sangomas.
• Some become ill, others become thin, scream for no reason, walk in their sleep, or have dreams
• These people cannot be helped until the family takes them to an experienced Sangoma
• The experienced Sangoma will ask the ancestors what they want the initiate to do.