| Show rm v r VT'" t y T ’rfvrrrt"y ty rr v" m The Salt Lake Tribune try y v-r- December Sunday 21 1986 A19 African Folk Healers Gaining New Respect From Modern Doctors Editor kind of mutual confidence in our relationship with the leader of medicine men" says Dr WM medicinal of the research institute's investigation plants SK The chairman of the herbalists association to share he his are and willing Maingi says colleagues their knowledge but do not want their traditional formulas expropriated by greedy outsiders who would use them to produce medicines The new line of research already has demonstrated that it can help African countries reduce dependence on y expensive imported drugs Scientists at Dakar Universi-tin Senegal say they have produced an effective cough syrup from the indigenous geira plant that can be sold med- locally at half the price of imported codeine-baseicines But some aspects of folk medicine generate skepti- cism — for example claims by a few Kenyan herbalists that they can cure AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome And in Zimbabwe experts warn that a popular aphrodisiac made of crushed beetles and called vuka-vukeffects though it may provide the short-termale purchasers can damage sought by its middle-agethe kidneys In Harare Zimbabwe Cecilia Chingasiye claims to a herbalist and a spiritual medium Snakeskins animal furs and a certificate from the Zimbabwe Na-- 1 tional Traditional Healers Association decorate her office a tin hut under a mulberry tree in the back yard of a suburban home Chingasiye 39 says she became a healer in her late teens after becoming possessed by her ther’s spirit Zimbabwe heal- The president of the ers group is Dr Gorion Chavunduka who has a doctorate in medical sociology from the University of London and teaches sociology at the University of Zimbabwe While he does not believe that spirits cause illness he respects healers like Chingasiye "I am humble enough to accept that those who believe they are victims of an ancestral spirit don't only think they are sick but are sick” he says "This one is for malaria” Oyugi said "This one is good if you are looking for a job" Oyugi respectfully addressed as "daktari” by the Swahili-speakinonlookers wore a three-piec- e suit the jacket of which was barely visible under braids hanging almost to his waist On his head was a straw hat decorated with black and red adhesive tape and dozens of tiny Note — The World Health Organization estimates there Is only one doctor for every 40000 people In Africa but there is one traditional folk healer for every 500 What’s more some of their herbal cures have proved to be scientifically valid providing o safety net for people who can't afford or don't trust modern heolth core $ o g By David Crary Associated Press Writer seashells Oyugi says he learned his craft from his in a village near Lake Victoria Now 59 he began his practice in 1945 in the western city of Kisumu and later moved his office to Nairobi "Business is good” he says "The modern doctors re- high-price- great-grandfath- NAIROBI Kenya — Don't call them witch doctors Many of Africa's traditional healers contend they can cure bad luck and heartbreak as easily as a stomachache but their remedies rely mainlv on herbal formulas not magic And in increasing numbers scientists and physicians are viewing their work as a valuable complement to fer people to me even some Americans and Germans" Another Kenyan healer Barnabas Kiriu says one powder he uses to diagnose internal ailments is made from crushed eyelids of lions crocodiles and hip- modern medicine "If just 10 percent of what healers are telling us is true and can be proved scientifically life could be much better for people like me and you” says Kurt Hostett-ma- n a pharmacology professor at Lausanne University in Switzerland Hostettman interviewed during a visit to East Africa estimated that the continent had 200000 plants not yet examined for their medical properties "That holds a lot of hope for the people in Africa and for us Western people" he says "The potential is so undeveloped It's difficult to say what cures could be out there in the root of a tree used by traditional healers for decades" In Kenya where an estimated 70 percent of the people have patronized traditional healers medicine men are steadily taking on professional trappings They attend resymposiums cooperate with university-traine- d searchers and participate in a national association of herbalists One branch of the association has pledged to expuse members using the organization as cover to practice witchcraft But modernization of the profession has not stamped out all vestiges of showmanship and superstition Associated Press Photo African folk healers like Cecilia Chinga-siy- e have caught Western doctors’ interest At a recent herbalists’ exhibition at a Nairobi community center a cluster of spectators watched as medicine man Otieno Oyugi explained the properties of the yellow white brown and gray powders in glass jars on his table d d pos wk ' Kiriu sees up to 400 patients on his busiest days Sundays and holidays and charges 30 cents for a bottle of medicine made from herbs he collects throughout Kenya and Tanzania In a program similar to those in several other African countries the Kenya Medical Research Institute has been sending its staff into the bush to interview medicine men Back at the institute’s laboratories in Nairobi researchers try to identify the active ingredients of various leaves roots and tree bark used in folk medicine The program is part of a global campaign coordinated by the World Health Organization to make greater use of traditional medicine which in many areas offers a low-coform of health care that is readily accepted by residents wary of modern medicine According to one WHO estimate there is one doctor for every 40000 Africans but one traditional healer for every 500 people In Kenya scientists are proceeding with tact because of the secrecy with which herbalists guard their formulas "Secrecy is important and we must establish some ' a be-bot- great-grandfa- st ' -' 10000-memb- From Curiosity to Obsession Fascinated by Cemeteries Pair Became Chroniclers Editor’s Note — People trying to trace their ancestor s In one corner of Pennsyl vonla owe a debt of gratitude to two housewives who set out to learn more about the maternal greatgreatgand parents they had In common In that process they compiled on Impressive chr on Icle of the area s cemeer les By Tara Bradley-SleeAssociated Press Writer k SHARON Pa — When Loretta DeSantis and Sally Dufford began looking for their roots in local cemeteries their curiosity grew into an obsession to record tens of thousands of lives summarized on tombstones The housewives spent five years mescopying the sometirnes-crypti- c sages on more than 100000 headstones in 160 cemeteries and three more years compiling their findings They are publishing on their own a set for genealogists tracing families from Mercer County on the Pennsylvania-Ohiborder The books 12 of which are completed and on sale also are in libraries from Seattle to Ft Wayne Ind to Tulsa Okla “Sometimes the only record that a person ever lived is liis tombstone" says Mrs DeSantis 54 of Sharon "That's why this is so important to us We wanted to get the cemetery stones before they disappear so that we can save these records now for our generation and future generao tions" "We always had a fascination with cemeteries" says Mrs Dufford 53 of nearby Sharpsville “And I was sure that some of my ancestors were buried here if I could just find the stones That's what kept me going I was so sure that right around this corner I was going to find my roots" The women friends since grammar school started looking at tombstone inscriptions in 1978 when they wanted to know more about the maternal great-gregrandparents they share The project took on greater proportions after Mrs DeSantis discovered a gravestone bearing names of seven ancestors "If that tombstone had disappeared 1 would have been stopped at says Mrs my DeSantis who traced her family to 1634 in this country and to the 13lh century in England "Once we hit something like that and realized how important it is we decided this was a project we should do" she said The two women tramped through cow pastures hacked away briars and brush and cajoled suspicious landowners in their search Among the most common names they found in this part of Pennsylvania were Uber Garrett Mitcheltree Zahniser Mattock Titus Stright Linmger Pearson Perrine McMillan and Mc- & cause they had trouble reading and sorfing their notes after going home "We had bad vibes in that cemeMrs DeSantis says "It was a small one and it took us four or five days to copy when it should have taken only one We could never get it straight It was the strangest thing It was almost like the cemetery didn t want us to get it copied "As we were reading the stones we realized there were a lot of tragedies tery” there like an entire family that had gotten burned” But at least one cemetery Good Hope in Greenville emanated pleasant feelings Mrs DeSantis says “A cemetery like Good Hope is so peaceful that you could just sit there for the rest of your life and never care about anything” she says The women both easygoing nevertheless approached their task differently Mrs DeSantis copied inscriptions without thinking but Mrs Dufford contemplated everything she read "1 would really take it to heart and get upset" Mrs Dufford says "I’d just stand there and I would put all these families together and feel so bad This one died and three days later this one died” "I never got depressed until we did a veteran's section in a cemetery in Grove City" Mrs DeSantis says "They were all memorial plaques to the soldiers killed overseas in World War II so they weren’t really there It was just stone after stone after stone of these 18- - and boys who never came home" The worst part of the job though has been the last three years of sorting indexing and typing the records into the books Mrs Dufford says The work is particularly without the help of a word processor and it is sometimes disquieting "When you live with nothing but — Associated Loretta DeSantis left Sally Dufford apply chalk to often elusive details The ered gravestone in order to death burial dates night and day night and day it’s depressing” she says “It gets lonely in your little room with your typewriter and everybody's death dates” The books consist of cemetery maps an index of last names and page after page of names dates and any other information that was inscribed on a tombstone Several hundred copies of each were printsell for $9 each plus ed Volumes hand-draw- Pet Complex D r Kim O Haze n All City is pleased to announce the Association of (formerly ol Animal Care Clinic) who joins Drs Kroeger Stock & Moody flu ClTV ftT CoMPltX anting Sbopp'g Center 2530 W 4700 S Salt Lake City at 47th South (Exit 15) Tdviot s 9664700 OPEN 7 DAYS CUSTOM GARAGES ALL SIZES AVAILABLE PRE-F- i i-- AB 24FT24FT GARAGE COMPLETE KIT WITH PRE BUILT WALLS AND TRUSSES MARTIN STEEL DOOR NOW ONLY & 2695 BUILT GARAGES COMPLETELY ?4Ft ?4F! includes Concrete Pad & Labor 4400 NOW ONLY Financing You OualOv Coy Armed with crowbars the two even pried up part of the sidewalk in nearby Greenville w hen they found it consisted of old gravestones from a church cemetery that had been moved In an Indian burial ground they copied the markings on boulders that served as headstones They also copied gravestones in one Amish cemetery but the elders of another community wouldn't permit them in their cemetery “They said they knew who they were and they knew where they were and anybody who left the church didn't have any business knowing" Mrs DeSantis said One small cemetery befuddled them however They had to the inscriptions several times fie n DON- Hr4 Hnoto genealogists have compiled impressive list of Pennsylva-ge- t nian cemeteries data that took friends a decade to gather weath- - ing some of the older mostly m for $2 for postage and volumes 8-$12 Volume 15 when it’s finished will be at least $15 because of its size -- Mrs Dufford says "I imagine that when we do them all there may be a small profit” she says "but we’ll never recover our always one more relative you have find If you find one you've got two more you have to find because that one also had two parents" ble If markers gave them problem' there was doubt about a da’ name nothing was assumed or "It gets in your blood and you just have to know about your ancestors" '! Mrs Dufford says Despite more than a decade of research the two still aren't finished filling in the blanks in their own family trees time” Although they did their best to read the inscriptions using wire brushes to clean the headstones and powder chalk or even mud to raise the letter Copies of the genealogy books mov be ob- tamed by writing to Loretta DeSantis JJ J Jefferson Ave Sharon Pa 16146 Tele- "Nobody that's into genealogy ever Mrs DeSantis says "There’s phone: (412) quits" an Apple Before Dec and Get a Tax Break! 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