Village Walk Part Three: The Traditional Healer

We turned right past the coffee trees and followed a path up a hill until we reached the traditional healer.  This 87 year old man has been working to heal the village for most of his years.  He uses traditional herbs and plants and demonstrated how he prepared the various concoctions.  Before you completely dismiss the process remember that many of our medicines originated from the rainforest.  I was also interested to know that the Bwindi Community Hospital has been establishing a partnership with a few of these healers.  They have worked together to dispel some of the myths that lead to questionable practices while at the same time developing criterion for the healers to agree to refer the patients to the hospital.  I am told that this is having some success and a healer is even employed to work within the hospital complex itself.  But not this fellow.  He is his own agent!