2. GENERACIÓN Y APLICACIÓN INNOVADORA
2.3 LAS ESTRATEGIAS DE LA GAIC
I have this far underlined the four major steps in the X-ray processes designed by Mtumishi Barasa in his ritual healing practice. In the sections that follow, I illustrate these procedures with examples of cases from my fieldwork. The aim of this session is three fold: a) to illustrate how the divination or X-ray process took place, b) in line with the first objective of this research, present the range of afflictions or human needs handled by the healer, and related to this, c), show the type of clients who consumed rituals conducted by Mtumishi Barasa. All these cases are distilled from divination sessions and interviews conducted with the clients after the healer conducted the divinations sessions. Only a select sample of the cases can be provided here with comparisons and elaboration offered on variants of the same.
2.3. MB’s divination and redress mechanism.
Dealing with unresolved deaths or murder cases.
Many clients that I encountered in my fieldwork at MBs healing rituals wished to find answers to cases of sudden or violent deaths in their family in which they suspected foul play. In this category were two types of deaths. In the first instance were deaths where family members were known to have been murdered yet the institutionalized structures (such as police and court processes) had in the clients opinion failed to apprehend and punish the offenders to the satisfaction of the clients. On the other hand were situations where clients encountered a series of misfortunes, including deaths of close relatives which to them signalled the operations of malevolent supernatural forces. MB was consulted by both type of clients and I illustrate two such cases below. In all the transcripts of the cases that I cite in this dissertation, I have altered the names of the clients for confidentiality.
Case 1. The deaths of Stephen and Ramos.
This was the case Mrs. Jackie Aoko, a 52 years old lady that I met during her first visit to MB Her divination session was typical of the ‘mention stage’ of the ‘X-ray’ process where clients only listened to confessions from the bible. Mrs Aoko came to the healer after her two sons had died in quick succession and her daughter in law deserted her thereafter. Her husband appeared to be having an extramarital affair and was disinterested in her. She also explained that she experienced generalized body pain and extreme fatigue. She stated that
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she felt that ‘she no longer understood what was going on with her’. She therefore decided to come to the healer ‘to be prayed for’. Sitting together with her in the ‘X-ray’ room were 25 other clients each of who were at different stages of the X-ray session. As was the normal procedure, MB came to the X-ray room and set the X-ray session in motion. After several confessions involving other clients had taken place, a set of voices appeared and made confessions regarding her case. A total of 11 different voices confessed to have been involved in Mrs Aoko’s case. I reproduce the transliterated version of the confessions below.
The following key will be used to designate the different characters in a typical confession at MB’s ritual practice throughout this dissertation.
Key
VFB: Voice from the Bible.
CL: Client.
SEC: Secretary.
CONGREG: Rest of the Congregation OMC: Other member of the congregation.
The Transcript.
1st VFB: My name is Jemba34.
SEC: Jemba you are accused…. (Silence)…. Jemba, talk!
VFB: My name is Jemba. I am a witch. I am the one who has bewitched and ‘finished’35 all the children of Mike.. …the guy called Mike Mutiso (Jackie’s husband).
(Silence) SEC: Continue.
(Silence)
SEC: Who hired you to bewitch Mike's children?
VFB: My name is Jemba James. My name is Jemba. I am the one who bewitched and killed that boy called Stephen. Initially I had bewitched him so that he would not marry a wife and live in peace. I am a witch who uses Djinns to do my work. I use Djinns to kill and bewitch.
I have Djinns from Mombasa. I also have other Djinns from Uganda. I am a witch who has
34 The names of all the characters in all transcripts have been altered and do not bear any connection with anyone whose name may bear any resemblance to those used here.
35 The term ‘finish’ is a direct translation from the kiswahili word ‘Maliza’. When used by the VFBs in the confessions, it is an all encompassing term that means the same thing as to ‘bewitch’ or ritually control and direct a person to an end desired by the ‘witcher’
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killed many other people. Since I started bewitching people, I have killed over 1000 people.
I have killed about 1012 people. I also ensure that children do not successfully finish their schooling. I also make men fail to marry and girls not to be married. I have really travelled throughout Kenya. I have even been to Tanzania, and even to Uganda. I have really killed many people. And I am the one who killed the boy called Stephen. I also killed the other one called Ramos. I had spoilt all of them and ensured that nothing about them ever went straight. I have accepted all that. In this work, I was only assisting a lady called Brenda. I am the one who even killed Grace. I killed her; she is not alive at the moment. I have been assisting Brenda’s family for some time although the only person I dealt with was Brenda.
Brenda is the one who hired me to completely wipe out Mike’s entire household. She did not want them to live comfortably. I put medicines in Mike’s compound so that he would not live well.
SEC: Let us accuse him!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse him.
SEC: Continue with your confessions or give way to someone else.
2nd VFB: I want to tell you clearly, my name is Stephen. I want to explain to my mother that I am dead. I am not alive now. I am dead. I am not alive. I want to explain to my mother that Ouma’s36 family caused my death. I want my mother to know the entire truth; Ouma’s family caused my death. If at any time you sit down and wonder why your son died, please note that my death was caused by Ouma’s family. The Ouma family did not want you to was to completely wipe out Mike’s entire household. I did not want him to live well.
CL: Why?
VFB: I agreed with my wife Brenda. I wanted to just tell you the truth.
CL: So you want to wipe out Mike’s family?
VFB: I have told you the entire truth. I started bewitching this household long time ago.
This is not anything that I started recently. I started this work long time ago. I have accepted all that and I want you to know how things are.
SEC: Let us accuse him!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse him.
36 Ouma is the husband to Brenda mentioned by the first VFB
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5th VFB: I want to tell you clearly my name is Brenda. I am the one who has bewitched the entire household of Jackie Aoko. You see when her children were working and progressing in life, she used to laugh at me. She did not want me to eat and also live well. She looked down upon me and other people. She never considered others as human beings. That is what annoyed me and I decided to bewitch her family members. I have been doing this for a long time. We agreed to do this together with my husband called Ouma. I want to explain to you clearly so that you may understand. I agreed to do this with my husband, Ouma. We agreed to bewitch the entire family of Mike. I bewitched Mike’s wife so that she may not educate her children properly. I also bewitched their daughter so that she may not school properly.
We bewitched the girl so that she may have problems. I don’t want her to live well.
CL: Why?
SEC: Let us accuse her!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse her.
VFB: I want to explain to you guys clearly. When we first killed the first son, we placed
‘medicines’ on that grave and this caused the death of the second son. Usually the medicines make ‘graves to attract each other’. Then there was a second death in the family. Now we have placed more medicines on the last grave and we know before the end of December or January, there will be another death in that family. We want to completely wipe out the entire family of Mike Mutiso. We want to wipe out the entire family. My name is Brenda Jemba.
SEC: Let us accuse her!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse her.
CL: Why do you want to wipe out my family?
SEC: (turns to client) Be patient, you will ask those questions in the next session, today it is only the ‘mention’ and so you cannot ask any questions.
6th VFB: My name is Kiptum.
SEC: Kiptum you are accused!
VFB: My name is Kiptum. I am the one who assisted . . . I am the one who assisted the woman called Jane . . . to send sickness to the lady called Jackie. Jane explained to me that Jackie did not want her to live well with her husband. Jane explained to me that she was already in love with Mike (Jackie’s husband). I am the one who gave her ‘medicines’ to put in Mike’s food, so that he would love her more than he loves his wife (Jackie). She wanted Mike to hate Jackie and to stop living with her. I am the one who did all that, . . . I gave Jane
‘medicines’ that she put in Mike’s food so that Mike would love her more than he loves his wife Jackie.
SEC: Let us accuse him!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse him.
86 7th VFB: My name is Jane.
SEC: You are accused!
VFB: My name is Jane Anyango.
SEC: You are accused.
VFB: My Name is Jane Anyango and I am the one who has given Mike ‘medicines’ so that he may love me more than any other woman. I have taken ‘medicines’ and mixed them with my menstrual blood, then cooked them together with food and fed Mike. I want to tell you clearly, this man now completely loves and belongs to me. I have had sex with him everywhere in this country. I have allowed him to have all manner of sex with me; I have even allowed him to have anal sex with me, so that he may completely have fun with me. I have completely taken Mike for myself.
(Silence)
SEC: We accuse her.
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse her.
(Silence)
SEC: Give way to the next one to come.
(Silence)
SEC: Give way to the next one to come!
(Silence)
SEC: Allow the other one to come quickly!
Silence.
8th VFB: My name is Rispah. The lady here (Jackie) is my mother in law. You see when my husband (Ramos) died, I was told that his death had something to do with rivalries at his parent’s home. That is why I do not want to stay there any longer. A lady friend of mine advised me to leave immediately after my husband’s funeral. She advised that I should not even spend a night there. She informed me that there was a trap set for me, that there was something ‘they’ would do to me so that I may die and follow my husband. You see, Stephen just died like that without a wife and was buried just like that. But for me, I had my husband Ramos. So, they put a trap for me. They wanted to get me during the funeral, as the arrangements for his burial continued, they would get me and harm me, so that I may die and follow my husband to the grave. So, I already knew that. A friend already told me that I should not spend the night there after the funeral. There is no way I would have agreed to spend the night there, only to end up in problems. My name is Rispah and this lady here is my mother-in-law.
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9th VFB: My name is Ken Machoka. My name is Ken Machoka SEC: Machoka you are accused.
VFB: Yes, my name is Ken Machoka. There was this guy called Ben Mati. There was this guy called Ben Mati. He asked me to help him bewitch the son to his brother called Mike Mutiso. He wanted me to do this because he said his brother’s family was quite prosperous.
My work was to help Mr. Ben Mati. And this guy, Ben Mati died recently…. actually three days ago. He just died recently even the soil on his grave has not settled. I just wanted to explain to you clearly. We took soil from the grave of that young man called Stephen, mixed it with ashes and ‘medicines’ and threw them back to Stephen’s compound so that misfortunes may just revolve around their compound and not get to Ben’s compound.
However by bad luck, after I made my charms, they rebounded back to Ben and as I have told you…. right now as I am talking to you…… Ben is dead. Ben is now about 2-3 days dead. You see I had already informed Ben that if I made these ‘medicines’, and dispatched them to Stephen’s family, in the event that Stephen’s family was innocent,….. then there would be great danger. But he still insisted that I concoct the ‘medicines’. And so I made my ‘medicines’, my ‘medicines’ went to Mike’s homestead and realized that they (Mike’s family) were innocent, and so they rebounded back to Ben. As I am talking to you now, Ben is dead.
VFB: My name is Jared Okoth. I want to explain to you, the lady sitting here is my sister-in-law. Jackie is my sister in sister-in-law. And I want to explain to you, Jackie, that I have brought all types of ‘medicines’ to your compound so that your compound may experience all manner of problems. I don’t want you to live comfortably. I don’t want you and your children to live well. I did this because you bewitched me so that I have not been able to get any children. I only got one girl. But you managed to get sons who are well educated and have jobs, you now live very well, but for me I only got one child. I consulted a witch who informed me that your household was responsible for all my woes. I was informed that you were the source of all my problems. It is your household that spoiled mine. Let me tell you clearly, I went to consult a medicine man and he informed me clearly that your house was the one ‘sitting on mine’. And I decided that I would not just sit there and watch as you spoil my family. I have now acquired ‘medicines’ to destroy your entire family in all ways.
Do you hear that? And for me, my name is Okoth – Jared Okoth. Do you hear that? And I have brought enough ‘medicines’ to destroy your entire household. You are the guys who bewitched me so that I may not get any children. I just got one girl and everything stopped there, because of you guys.
SEC: Let us accuse him!
88 CONGREG: Yes, we accuse him.
11th VFB (speaks very quickly): My name is Ruth.
SEC: Ruth you are accused.
VFB: My name is Ruth.
SEC: Ruth you are accused!
VFB: I am the one who bewitched her (Jackie) so that she may not plant any crops and keep any cattle in her compound. I am the one who spoilt her plans to keep cattle and plant crops in her farm. I was not interested in killing anybody. I was not involved in killing anyone. I just did not want her to succeed in planting food or keeping animals. That was my work.
SEC (asks client): What is the relationship between you and Ruth?
CL: She is the wife of my brother-in-law.
SEC: Let us accuse her!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse her.
12th VFB: I want to tell you my name…. I am really jealous of Jackie. But my name is Prisca Oduor. I am really jealous of Jackie’s household. I am really jealous.
SEC: We accuse her and her jealousy!
CONGREG: Yes, we accuse her.
(Silence)
SEC: Allow the other one to come.
End of Transcript.
As is consistent with the ‘Mention’ stage of the X-ray process, the client was expected to be passive: to only listen to voices of people confessing their evil deeds against her. Mrs. Aoko appeared to be interested resolving three main problems, namely the death of her two sons, her seemingly unfaithful husband and her persistent body pains and fatigue. I conducted interviews with clients after they had already talked to MB and at times having participated in part of their X-ray sessions. And since I only talked to them after the intervention of MB and the X-rays session, it was not possible to obtain, (at times even pointless to try) an objective assessment of what their problems were prior to the X-rays sessions. Throughout the interviews, I often got the impression that the clients explained their problems based on
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what they presented to MB, what MB divined for them as well as what they heard from the X-ray sessions.
Prior to the X-ray session, Mrs Aoko held a divination session with MB where MB thoroughly interrogated her regarding her family, her husband, her children, the dates of their death and the circumstances surrounding their death, her property, her neighbours etc.
At the end of this initial session, MB informed Mrs. Aoko that he would call the people who caused the death of her children to confess their deeds. He also informed her that he would call her sons to confess if anyone had killed them, establish whether her husband was cheating on her, find out whether and why her daughter in law had deserted her as well as finding out if anyone was responsible for her general body pains and fatigue. In short, MB promised to look into the entire realm of her problems. Based on this initial tentative diagnosis, Mrs Aoko waited for the more elaborate divination session from the X-ray session.
In the X-ray session reproduced above, 12 different voices from the bible provided a thorough explanation to each of the afflictions faced by Mrs Aoko. The death of her two sons is attributed to the work of a jealous neighbour as well as an act of both jealousy and revenge from her in laws. The X-ray session reveals an array of actors and motives for the deaths of her children. Initially there was the voice of a witch (VFB 1) who confessed to have been consulted by Mrs Aoko’s neighbour (Brenda) to kill her two sons. Besides boasting about his bewitching abilities, the witch explains that initially, he only bewitched
In the X-ray session reproduced above, 12 different voices from the bible provided a thorough explanation to each of the afflictions faced by Mrs Aoko. The death of her two sons is attributed to the work of a jealous neighbour as well as an act of both jealousy and revenge from her in laws. The X-ray session reveals an array of actors and motives for the deaths of her children. Initially there was the voice of a witch (VFB 1) who confessed to have been consulted by Mrs Aoko’s neighbour (Brenda) to kill her two sons. Besides boasting about his bewitching abilities, the witch explains that initially, he only bewitched