A view from the Usambara mountains of Lushoto District, Tanzania, 1996. Photo by Barbara Thompson.
Barbara Thompson (unedited)
Waganga wa madawa ya kiasilia
Mimi ni mwanafunzi wa sanaa za Afrika katika chuo kikuu cha Iowa. Kiangazi kilichopita nilikwenda Tanzania na mtoto wangu kufanya kazi ya utafuti na waganga wa madawa ya kiasilia. Sikufahamu Kiswahili kwa hivyo nilitaka kuajiri mfasiri. Sasa ninajifunza Kiswahili ili niweze kuongea na waganga mimi mwenyewe nirudipo kuendelea utafiti wangu Juni 1997.
(I am a student of African arts at the University of Iowa. Last summer I went to Tanzania with my child to do research with traditional healers. I did not understand Swahili, so I had to employ an interpreter. Now I am learning Swahili so that I will be able to talk with the healers myself when I return to continue my research in June 1997.)
Mwaka uliyopita nilikaa Tanzania miezi mitatu kujifunza habari za madawa ya kiasilia na sanaa za kupona. Waganga walinionyesha tunguli za madawa na vitu vingine ambavyo hutumiwa katika kazi ya kupona.
(Last year I stayed in Tanzania for three months to learn about traditional medicine and the arts of healing. The healers showed me medicine gourds and other objects that they use in processes of healing)
Tunguli za madawa zinakuwa nzuri sana, zinapambwa na ushana ya rangi nyingi, kazi ya madini, kazi ya ngozi, na vitu vingine. Lakini maana ya uganga ni madawa ya miti ambayo yanachangwa na waganga na yanawekwa katika tungulini. Pamoja, madawa ya miti na tunguli za pambo yanakuwa na nguvu za kiroho. Nguvu hizi zinaweza kuwasaidia waganga kuponya watu wengi kutokana na matatizo yao.
(The medicine gourds are very beautiful, decorated with many-colored beads, metal work, leather work and other things. But the importance of the medicine is the medicinal plants that are collected by the healers and placed inside the container. Together, the medicinal plants and the decorated gourds embody the spiritual powers. These powers can help the healers to cure many people of their afflictions.)
Waganga wa madawa ya kiasilia wana maarifa sana ya kimiti na nchi ya kiroho kwa sababu pa moja wanakuwa na nguvu kuleta afya, ujazi, na bahati njema.
(Traditional healers have much knowledge of medicinal plants and the spirit world, because together they have the power to bring about health, abundance and good luck.)
A traditional healer in Lushoto District, Tanzania 1996.
Photo by Barbara Thompson
Medicine gourds, tunguli, of a traditional healer in Lushoto District, Tanzania, 1996. Photo by Barbara Thompson
A traditional healer at the district market. Lushoto District, Tanzania,1996. Photo By Barbara Thompson.