As more and more Malawians convert to the American/UK way of living, attitudes towards issues concerning cultural rituals have changed. More specifically the practicing of witchcraft for healing. I think its important to ask whether it exists first. Which of you honorable forum members are convinced this stuff really works?
We had a long drawn out topic not long ago about the same thing.
Witch doctors - by that I mean herbalists have a lot of knowledge about roots and concoction that cure diseases. Or course they have, they have been doing before western civilisation existed. And the knowledge has passed on till today.
A lot of medicines like we have them today were derived from local knowledge. Quinine for instance.
Some methods were a little bit unorthodox but they worked all the same. A lot of them by placebo effect.
As for witches in the supernatural sense. Well, I guess you know what I think about that.
traditional herbs do work... the problem is with our 'doctors'. a patient suffering from migrane headaches would be told all sorts of funny stories. he auje ndamene akupatsa matendawa... unlike other places like china, india... their traditional medicines are commercialised, and the drugs we use for malaria(artersunates) are derived from chinese traditional medicines. if we could do the same with some of our drugs, well, we could be some where... just imagine gondolosi, could compete or replace viagra, have you heard of chiswa bubu or nkhondo kubedi...these are some drugs you get selling hot in local pubs by locals... and boy, they do work! -:)
no no no, you are wrong... when you copulate either you would do at your best 3 rounds in one night, right? now suppose you took some drugs and you bumped 8 rounds, wouldnt you say that stuff works. now listen if you would have a time to look at some aphrodisiacs and check on the ingredients of those things you will realise why they work! if you havent tried those things in malawi, try them, it doesnt hurt to try. if you tried and nothing changed check your 'hormone' levels... and another thing check on the chemistry behind 'libido'
Medicall there's no such thing as an aphrodisiac. Well, none that has been proved yet. If there was, trust me someone will be an instant billionaire. The truth is the mind is the most important sex organ. Pheromones also play a great part. But you see no one has been able to seperate human pheromones and put them to work. Neither is there a sinlge chemical mixture that increases apetite. Well alcohol, but that's a different story.
I've had this conversation for years with believers. And the truth is just like the witchcraft argument. You'll always find a crackpot claiming it worked for them when it was just their own mind.
As more and more Malawians convert to the American/UK way of living, attitudes towards issues concerning cultural rituals have changed. More specifically the practicing of witchcraft for healing. I think its important to ask whether it exists first. Which of you honorable forum members are convinced this stuff really works?
In the first place why do you convert yourself,it sshows you want to change identity.Secondly if you go to malawi cultural rituals havent changed and they have improved such as one man one razor blade podula mphini.The witchcraft has also improved with women owning training schools and men owning fleets of aircrafts.They have better missiles than before.Mtera has also been improved,we have chambe on the market and many bogus ones as well.People enjoy it and the gvt can't do any thing for fear of reprisals from wizards.It works during political campains,even maintaining a senior ministerial position one should have it once every bathtime.My friend,it doesn't convince but zosiyira ku makolo.Many people have been healed and stolen items recovered without following the thief.Am told they can use to call someone from abroad without him knowing.Ladies flock to these people just to help them catch the best guy or chikhwaya,some use it to milk their husbands.Zikuchitikabe pano.
So please the rituals are rampant in malawi and hey! some can make someone very good in bed
But I doubt if it works when you are out of africa,mainly malawi
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If Iam not for myself,who will be for me?And if Iam only for myself,what am I?
Peoples ingorance will never seize to amaze and irritate me in equal measure. What witchcraft! Anyone who actually believes in witchcraft is either just an idiot or worse still lives under a rock. It's a pity we still believe in superstition. That's one of the things that keep Africa behind. i can condone religion to an extent, but people flying at night and stuff?
In fact, all religion is bogus. Witchcraft is bogus.
Abre honey let me put it this way , there is a an internal burning usually terminating in self-destroying implosion. People will believe what they want to believe and you my friend don't believe in anything .
*Kiss*
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SUN GODDE'SS (The Earth Mother , Queen of Africa and Warrior Activist and Conqueror Ancestral Spirit and Revolutionary Mayibuye!)
Geez you put me out like I don't believe in anything.
I believe in love, logic, art, beauty, music (specifically jazz), poetry, science, you know aesthetic stuff. Stuff I can feel, emote to. Get inspiration from, feel awe and cry to, smile to, laugh to.
Nowhere in that list does religion fit or God fit in. They're all man made.
You are right abre, people live under rocks,one of them is witchcraft,poverty,hate and yes ignorance.Now with a big fraction of our population uneducated imagine how this belief works.Its like tying a one tone to a man and force to pull.To them they enjoy like how you enjoy science.
But what if fate was onto us,no education,rotting ourselves in the village,ulu!disaster
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If Iam not for myself,who will be for me?And if Iam only for myself,what am I?
Majority if the problems out there are a result of ignorance. Ignorance is used a lot as a political tool. Just look at America for instance. For a developed country it is as ignorant as most thrid world countries.
I mean GW Bush. They voted for him twice. TWICE. I think it has been a wake up call to the world to resist american dominace. Al qaeda and them lot are just a sympton of this resistance.
If you look at the history of most empires it was the little rebellions that ate away their sovereignty bit by bit. America is no different. Besides its economy is hanging on a string held up by China and to a lesser extent Japan.
A few weeks after sept 11 i was at work and these two young guys were talking about bin-laden and how much they hated him and wanted to see him dead. Well, I asked what it was that he had done to them personally and they couldn't even answer the question.
On of them mentioned 9/11 as if it happened in England and I was like "do you even have any proof that he did it"? I mean how can a man living in a cave in a mountain in Afghanistan co-ordinate such a spectacular event?
No one has answered that question yet.
So I'll be honest. I don't have any fight with Bin-laden. I don't hate him. Why should I hate someone because the government says so. They have no right to tell me who to hate. No one does.
And in retrospect he has more insight into politics than Bush does.
thats why its called al quaeda network,its like the wires in your brain,cellular and effective,what i dont like about these people is that,they have beef with bush yet they go and bomb people in africa,apart from that the whole jihad and die for a course stance is a load of bull.
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all i have is my word,and i dont break it for nobody.
But Abre that dont make sense we equates God with the combination of "love, peace, and harmony." Basically how can you argue and say God doesn't exist when the experience of "love, harmony, and peace" is real for you ?? *Kiss*.
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SUN GODDE'SS (The Earth Mother , Queen of Africa and Warrior Activist and Conqueror Ancestral Spirit and Revolutionary Mayibuye!)
Read Jason Burke's book called Al-qaeda. It is the most accurate description of what really is Al-qaeda away from the self-serving political rubbish. The writer knows his stuff, has travelled all over and used confidential documents to explain his work. It is a great revelation.
To believe that it is an organisation with a chief, headquarters and cells all over the world is a product of some James Bond villan fantasy. Like Iraq, everything the CIA said about Al-qaeda has turned out to be bogus.
Believe it or not, there still isn't proof that links Bin-laden to 9/11. If he got to court today the case would be thrown out.
Can we start another topic for Bin Laden or alqaeda,this is a different topic.This fight for alquaeda is not political,stay close to a moslem and you will hear more.They are fighting the west and the christians,they also want to rule the world
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If Iam not for myself,who will be for me?And if Iam only for myself,what am I?