Absurd superstitious beliefs: A stumbling block to proper health care provision in South Sudan

ABSURD SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS: A STUMBLING BLOCK TO PROPER HEALTH CARE PROVISION BY HEALTH PRACTITIONERS IN SOUTH SUDAN

By Malueth Jacob Guet

Our south Sudanese society and especially the dinka are deeply immersed in many superstitious beliefs.they have been tied/glued to these beliefs to the extent that any enlightened person /scientist finds it very hard to demystify such long held beliefs as such individuals have and continue to live in fear.

Some of them are harmful because they create unnecessary fear while others are harmless. Here are some of the major superstitious beliefs in Dinka & by the way some of these are common across many tribes in South Sudan

‘Peeth/ Beny e nyin’: it is widely believed by many dinka that some people have evil eyes/ piercing eyes.these people who are called apeeth are thought to be the causes of diseases/illnesses..as such they believe they can put gravels into someone’s eyes to make that person blind or into the stomach to make her/him have abdominal discomfort

When a epidemic strikes like the current cholera outbreak in Juba, it’s considered a curse from the deadancestors which might be angry for one reason or the other

Sudden death is explained as the work of an evil, jealous brother, relative, friend, former business associate or a perceived curse by angry grand parents

When any person experiences visual or auditory hallucinations (seeing things and hearing sounds that are not real , its believed he /she is being tormented by angry dead relatives , in laws , parents, for not either carrying out certain obligations or other reasons

When a person is born with any gross congenital abnormality like deformed fingers, ears, six fingers, they call it ‘chieek’. The elders usually go head to carry out a ritual to appease ‘chieek’ less the child dies

Some of the minor ones are

Don’t cross the body of a person lying down or you will be wishing her /him death

Don’t whistle at night or you will invite ‘kaa pinny’ or snakes

When you stumble using your right or left foot , something bad or good awaits you some where

Don’t beat a child with a broom or child becomes a bed wetter and to stop the bed wetting habit, cane the child using electric fish (deer)

If your teeth fall off, throw them on top of a roof ( i have forgotten why )

That when a child fails exams , it’s the result of someone’s evil plan against the child or jealousy of a co-wive , relatives

An itchy hand means you will soon touch some money / get some money from relatives/friends

When one’s ear rings , there’s someone talking about them some where or some one is backbiting them

Burry a razor blade at your goal post during a match and you wont conced a goal

These are just a few of the many superstitions. I guess most of those who grew up in rural settings in south Sudan might have heard some if not all. I don’t blame our people because superstitions have been there for centuries for example the Italians thought malaria was caused by bad air hence the name ‘MAL’ meaning bad and ‘aria’ meaning air. How ever some are harmless while others are not.

Take for example peeth ,an irrational explanation for cause of some diseases . you get a person who has a staphyloma ,cataract that may require surgical treatment or stomach discomfort that may be sign of irritable bowel syndrome , gastric ulcers , chron’s disease, ulcerative colitis but he/she may instead seek attention from witch doctor therefore not getting the required medical intervention from a qualified health personnel at the right time.

Take another example: an alcoholic, orphaned young man (Deng) in his 20’s, traumatisedby the decades long Sudanese civil war and death of her fiancée,…who begins to present with bizarrebehaviour, aggressiveness together with visual , auditory , olfactory hallucinations( seeing , hearing ,smelling things that are not there).

Though this could be a possible psychiatric case/ schizophrenic case, the relatives may think that Deng is being tormented by his grandparents that he didn’t burry in 1991…further saying the people Deng is seeing are his grandparents. very absurd!

The resulting effect of such beliefs is health care is delayed then finally health denied to the one who’s in need…. It is therefore of paramount importance to educate our people, sensitise them through awareness programs.

Tell them that diseases /illnesses are caused by microbes (small living organisms) and body’s physiological changes. When we don’t get rid of such, we are still a long way from achieving proper health care

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