Mary Thomson and her husband, Kanjala, have lost their income amid changing witchdoctors, but their firstborn’s suffering has not changed. Since 2011, Ethel, 15, was frequently bedridden with severe blood shortage, high fever, stomach pains and swollen joints. The parents, from Simon Village in Neno, did not know their daughter had sickle cell, a genetic disorder that affects 38 000 Malawians, according to the Ministry of Health.
Thomson switched to witchdoctors as the nearest health centre—Lisungwi—offered little relief for the girl’s condition, except malaria drugs and blood transfusions. “They couldn’t pinpoint any serious problem, so she would be on the sickbed a week after seeking medical assistance,” she recalls. Her 14-year-old son Chimwemwe experienced similar symptoms in 2012, doubling the cost of care and hospital trips.
“It wasn’t easy,” she says. “Ethel could be admitted on Monday and discharged on Tuesday. On arrival home, I would be back in the hospital with Chimwemwe.” The burden persisted until 2017, when tests at Neno District Hospital confirmed that the pair was suffering from sickle cell disease.
[paywall]
In the meantime, the couple wasted their earnings on witch doctors. “I had almost given up. We suspected someone was bewitching our children as they couldn’t spread the disease to others,” Thomson narrates.
However, the herbalists failed to lift the spell or heal the children. “The witchdoctors gave us different concoctions, promising that our children would get better, but nothing worked out,” Thomson recounts. In 2016, the couple sold five bags of cowpeas and two goats to pay witchdoctors who offered no cure. “We changed witchdoctors, but always returned home without a solution,” says the mother.
[/paywall]
