Unit 1: Indigenous healing

Question 1

Give the definitions for:

• diagnose
• prescribe
• indigenous

Answer 1

• find out what kind of illness someone has by examining him or her
• suggest medicine for a sick person to use
• started in a certain place, no other place has the same
  OR
  anything written in your book is applicable

Question 2

Give 2 meanings of medicine.

Answer 2

• the practice of healing people

- a substance used to treat diseases

Question 3

_____ medicine treats diseases of the physical body, based on _____ and is studied at universities.

Answer 3

• Western

- science

Question 4

Give the definitions for:

• holistic
• ancestors

Answer 4

• treating the whole person, not just the physical illness

- the spirits of people who have died

Question 5

Give another name for indigenous medicine.

Answer 5

Traditional medicine

Question 6

Ancestors are seen as _____ family. There is a very close _____ between the living and the dead.

Answer 6

• extended

- relationship

Question 7

Name the two types of traditional healers and explain each.

Answer 7

1. Diviners (sangomas)
   - healers who communicate with the ancestors to diagnose problems
2. Herbalists (nyangas)
   - use herbs and plants (mixes them) to cure different diseases
   - deep knowledge of the medicine contained in plants
   - use bulbs, leaves, rocks, tubers, stems, bark and the whole plant
   - Healing plants include Buchu, the aloe and the African potato
   - train for many years, as mixing the correct doses is very complicated

Question 8

What does illness does Buchu heal?

Answer 8

Stomach and bladder troubles.

Question 9

Define ‘initiate’.

Answer 9

A person learning to be a sangoma.

Question 10

Name 5 signs of a person being called by the ancestors to train to become a sangoma.

Answer 10

• become ill
• become thin
• scream for no reason
• sleepwalk
• have dreams

Question 11

Give the definitions for:

• apprenticeship
• ritual

Answer 11

• the period of learning from a experienced person

- religious ceremony that is done in the same way every time

Question 12

Training to become a sangoma is very challenging. It involves burning _____, stirring different _____ pots, _____ the medicine, _____ in special water for _____, smears _____ _____ on his or her body and performs _____ dances for the ancestors.

Answer 12

• incense
• medicine
• drinking
• bathing
• cleansing
• red
• clay
• ritual

Question 13

After how many months will the initiate start to use _____ clay on his or her body?

Answer 13

• 3

- white

Question 14

What happens when the initiate has completed training?

Answer 14

Other sangomas inform the ancestors that it is over, then the initiate is covered with a blanket and taken home. The community slaughters a goat to welcome the initiate home. A celebration with singing, presents and dancing takes place the next day.