Traditional Healer

Aloysius

Aloysius came in for a refill of his HIV medication today.  As I obtained his history I discovered he was a Traditional Healer.  He agreed to a personal interview for the blog.  He is 56 years old and has been married 4 times.  One wife died, one left and two remain at home with him.  He admitted neither of his remaining wives has been tested for HIV but he promised to bring them in with him next month.  His father was also a Traditional Healer and Aloysius began on the job training with his father when he was 12 years old.
 
The 2 ailments he sees most often in his patients are “belly bite” and infertility.  He is most interested in patients with “belly bite” or insomnia.  I inquired if many patients come to him for Malaria.  He replied that many came but the malady is not one he likes because it requires “much time to fix”.  He boils a concoction of herbs for his malaria treatment.  His fee for a consultation is one chicken and a ounce of castor oil.
 
Aloysius has not traveled outside of Cameroon and his hobby is working on his farm.  Most farms here are what we would consider large gardens at home.