It was with great excitement and lots of nerves that the Community Health Programme (CHP) prepared for the first in its new series of workshops at the end of last month.
The reputation of those that we had recruited went before them and we had heard both positive and negative stories about them. None of us knew what to expect as we had never met one, let alone consulted one.
To put it simply: was the first workshop ever to be held in Kaptai Upazila for traditional healers – also called shaman or witch doctors – going to be a success or a disastrous failure?
Indigenous
There may be a perception that Bangladeshis are strict, conservative Muslims. While some are, the vast majority of people practise Folk Islam, which is heavily influenced by superstition, traditional practices and pre-Islamic religions, namely Buddhism and Hinduism.
In addition, the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts are from animist and Buddhist backgrounds. Such beliefs mean that many people consult traditional healers and only go to medical centres as a last resort; mazars (the shrines of Islamic saints) are popular places to seek healing; most pregnant women wear tabij (charms) around their stomach; babies have kohl spots on their heads to stop demons stealing beautiful babies; and even some highly trained doctors will prescribe traditional remedies or a visit to a mazar.
Against such a background, it would be irresponsible for the CHP to pretend these practices don't exist.
Instead, we believe that we should engage with traditional healers to build a relationship of mutual understanding, learn more about their work and encourage practices that work (or do no harm) and discourage those that don't.
Malaria
Despite heavy rain, 20 Boiddo (healers from a Buddhist Pahari background) and Molobi (Bengali Muslim healers) from all over the remote Chitmorom Union attended the workshop. Using focus group discussions, we learnt more about the healers and their work before finishing with an education session on malaria, which is the single largest cause of sickness and death in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
It was fascinating to hear about how they had become healers and the special powers they believe they have. They offer treatments for a range of medical conditions as well as exorcism of demons and ceremonies for reconciliation between enemies. Treatments are in the form of herbal medicines, the wearing of special threads or tabij, ceremonies, mantras, water, Koranic verses, special breath (fou) and meditation.
The CHP will need to carefully consider how to respond to this. Yet, we firmly believe that by working together with traditional healers, we can improve the health of needy communities in the Hill Tracts and we are already planning to hold workshops in other unions.