One of my regrets in life is over a missed opportunity. A few years ago at a street fair in Thies, Senegal a local healer was selling all sorts of sovereign remedies for whatever ails you. One of his products was a jar of snake oil which I foolishly neglected to purchase. I went back the next day, but he was gone.
Many of you know that I enjoy listening to medical advice from radio doctors. Street healers are also right up my ally. They advertise on the radio in Senegal claiming they can heal just about any ailment. The Senegalese people call these folks charlatans because a real healer doesn’t need to advertise. They tend to go to the local healers before trying doctors and hospitals.
When MT got hit in his eyes by a spitting cobra, his neighbors were amazed that he went to the hospital, rather than the local healer known for his abilities in treating snake related injuries. My friend Babacar broke a leg in a car accident. The orthopedic specialists at the local hospital set the leg and put it in a cast, but it was not lined up correctly. Babacar gave up western medicine in disgust and went to the local bone healer. I would love to know what that guy did. As the story goes, his treatment of Babacar’s leg led to total recovery.
Prevention is better than treatment. In Senegal the first sellers of Quail eggs got rich claiming that they had all sorts of therapeutic properties. In the package there was a verse from the the Bible (Numbers 11:32)and the Quran. I heard Dr Bob on the radio promote a nasal spray with grapefruit seed extract to prevent Covid. So far it has worked for me.
Adventures in Suburbia 