The Way of The Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor's Pharmacy, Khondowe, Malawi.

To become seriously ill and then to be cured by one's ancestors is the way a witch doctor is most commonly forged, according to Dr Kappela, the witch doctor at Rwarwe. And he was no exception, because this was when his ancestral spirits first came to him. They appeared in a dream and instructed him on which plants to gather, and how to make the medicine that would cure his sickness. It must be appreciated in Dr Kappela's case, and in many others of former years, that diagnosis and treatment by modern medicine was, and in remoter regions is still not readily available. Needles to say, on the advice of his ancestral spirits, Dr Keppela was cured, and his visions have come regularly ever since.