Desórdenes nutricionales del arroz

Now let us take a look at the person who has sustained an injury on the field. It has to be emphasized that injuries and illnesses are by no means always attri- buted to witchcraft and sorcery. ‘It’s very normal for a player to get injured on the field,’ Essomba says. ‘At the moment, I have a fever. We should not be

thinking of witchcraft. You cannot always run to the traditional doctor whenever you are hurt.’

Kalla tells me that he used to be responsible for the players’ well-being, so his job was to see that injuries were treated properly. The player is usually taken to hospital to get a medical report, some medicine and a few injections. There are two instances in which the player can decide to see a traditional doctor after- wards. First, I heard that when a player has broken something, it is likely that he will visit a traditional doctor. Kalla:

We Africans believe that there are certain things that cannot be treated fast in hospital. The hospital has a gradual process for treating a fracture. Say, a leg gets broken. It’s very difficult for a hospital to treat it in a month’s time, but the native doctor can treat a broken leg in 14 days. He uses the bones of a lion and a leopard. He rubs herbs on the broken leg and then he ties the bones to the leg very strongly. We believe that the leg will get as strong as those of the bones.

Whereas it will probably take two months for a broken leg to heal with hos- pital treatment, the traditional doctor can do it four times faster. Of course, the sooner the player gets well, the better. Another advantage is that the traditional doctor is less expensive than the hospital. ‘It depends on the gravity of the problem,’ Kalla says. ‘If it’s a broken leg you can spend about FCFA 15,000 to FCFA 20,000 (€ 22 to € 30). But in hospital it will be FCFA 100,000 (€ 152) or more.’

‘You will go to the native doctor,’ the team manager goes on. ‘The native doctor will ask you for a calabash of wine, a fowl, salt, oil, cowries, and when you add it all up, it’s not more than FCFA 10,000. Then he tells you that the spirit’s bag is FCFA 10,000. Most of them have contracts with spirits but there are some who have become masters of themselves. When he tells you about the spirit’s bag, it’s his payment.’

According to the team manager, the player will usually go and see a medical doctor afterwards to see if the traditional doctor has done his job well. So it is not a question of either the medical doctor or the traditional doctor but rather both of them because they are thought to operate in different ways.

The second reason for going to the traditional doctor is when the injury some- how does not appear to be very normal. I heard that most traditional doctors will tell the player that it was indeed witchcraft or sorcery that caused the injury. Now, there are several types of traditional doctors, as Kalla explains, depending on what the player wants from him. For instance, there is a difference between wanting to know who caused the attack and wanting the injury to be cured. Of course, most players will ask for both.

‘The native doctors can be divided into three categories,’ Kalla says. ‘There are the ones who see and do not treat; the ones who see and treat; and the ones who only treat. Some of them know the herbs to treat your broken leg but he does

not know the cause of it. There are some that know the cause but cannot treat it. He can throw cowries on the floor and call somebody’s name. He foresees and tells. If it’s natural, he will tell you. But if a player has done it, he will tell you and he can direct you to another person who can treat you. And then there are some that see and treat.’

The team manager − alias the former team captain of Buea Boys − has already provided us with an example of how the traditional doctor finds the identity of the perpetrator. He also gave us an account of how a traditional doctor is able to treat a patient. From his story we learn that there can be good and bad traditional doctors. A good traditional doctor will only ask you to bring him some items and leave it at that. He will not ask you for much money. Also, a good doctor looks at the injury and then directs the player to a doctor who is able to treat the injury. A bad traditional doctor will always treat the player himself, even if he does not know how do to it, simply to collect the money. ‘There are good and bad people in every business,’ spiritual adviser Zé says. ‘There are people who don’t even know but they pretend as if they do.’

The team manager of Buea Boys knew that the first doctor was a good one be- cause he detected the problem and directed the team manager to a herbalist who could treat the injury:

You know, to do harm to somebody is very easy but it’s difficult to do good to somebody. You can have one hundred sorcerers around town but just a few are good ones who can perform miracles. The others are just there because they are looking for money. When you come, he plays his tricks and collects money. A bad sorcerer first of all asks your reason for coming here and when you tell him, he uses what you have said and can even create enmity between friends. He could say that your friend is the cause of your illness.

But if it’s a good sorcerer, he starts to tell you about yourself without you telling him any- thing. After consulting his oracle, if he can cure you, he’s going to tell you, but if he cannot, he will direct you to another person who knows how to cure it.

But these liars who pretend that they can do it immediately start asking for fabulous sums of money. He can even ask FCFA 100,000 for the first treatment. When you come back the following week, he will tell you that you have to pay an extra FCFA 700,000 (slightly over € 1,000). He knows you cannot afford that and that you will abandon the whole thing. Your FCFA 100,000 is gone.

A very good sorcerer doesn’t ask for too much money. The person who cured me didn’t even have a signboard. They just directed me to the person. But when you go around town, you see those liars with signboards outside their houses. Sometimes you have to go to another village to find a good sorcerer.

We also learn from this story that a bad traditional doctor will always point out someone who put witchcraft or sorcery on the player, even if that player has had nothing to do with it. Most of the time, the traditional doctor makes sure he knows the latest gossip. For instance, he may know that the player has a problem with another player in the team and in this case he can easily use the information to find the perpetrator.

One attack can easily lead to another, even if there was never any witchcraft or sorcery in the first place. So although accusations are bad news for the function- ing of the team, the domino effect it can create is even worse. Zé tells me that goalkeeper B in Olympique de Buea, after ‘discovering’ that the old goalkeeper had bewitched him, retaliated in exactly the same way. ‘I’m sure he (goalkeeper B) realized what was going on because you saw how the old goalkeeper (A) was catching against the team from Ghana during the international match. He was also catching just like the other goalkeeper, so that’s how witchcraft operates.’

To round up this story, Kalla says that the hospital bills and those of the tradi- tional doctor are being paid by the club. If a player comes to see him and says that another player has bewitched him, the team manager will tell the other player to refrain from using witchcraft and sorcery and the case is closed. Nobody gets punished. ‘We, the management, don’t look at it as a problem caused by the players,’ Kalla says. ‘We look at it as something that happens naturally.’