By Cynthia Thanda

The Pan Afrikanist features wrier

The beauty of being African lies in the roots that have given us more; identity, food, shelter, and most importantly MEDICINE.

Join the PanAfrikanist family as we dig our roots with ngaka ya Setswana (traditional healer), Doctor Nkgasapane Nkgasapane, from Letlhakane.

Doctor Nkgasapane grew up in the Boteti District, although he is a proud Mongwato by birth. He is one of the educated traditional healers and has a broad mind as he studied in Egypt, America, and Russia.

He has a Master’s Degree in Law but doesn’t practice because of his passion for helping people through his gift of traditional healing.

He discovered at the early age of nine years while doing standard three that he is born to be ngaka ya Setswana (traditional healer). To him, it was a calling, as he is completely self-taught.

“What was happening was when I was sleeping, I would hear or see things in my sleep that will, later on, come to reality. In the morning I would go to my parents and tell them, this type of person will come wearing this to tell you that so and so is sick or dying or what will happen. I didn’t get this from any church. In fact, I hated church by then”, Doctor Nkgasapane said.

He is a registered ngaka ya Setswana (traditional healer) and has many certificates as a Herbalist, healing people, counselling, and training other upcoming traditional healers.

“The most important certificate is for being a Herbalist. As ngaka ya Setswana (traditional healer), you come into contact with traditional herbs. This particular certificate I was given to preserving how we harvest traditional medicine.

“We are different from people who just take wild plants as we don’t dig the whole plant. We just prune. We take care of how we get the medicine to make the plant grow again”, Nkgasapane explained.

He has never undergone any training. However, he trains people from different churches and religious beliefs, including Sangomas. He is currently training 11 people.

As a traditional healer, Doctor Nkgasapane feels that the constitution doesn’t value traditional medical practitioners, which is a big challenge for him because he is not recognized as a doctor owing to the stereotype that traditional healers endure.

They are erroneously perceived as people that just mix medicinal plants and do not have any formal education.

“In Setswana we can heal for example cataracts by using our tongue to wipe the eyes which is different from going to a conventional medical doctor with whom you need to book an appointment after which you are added to the waiting list.

“Something which I can do within seconds can take up to months in hospitals but I am still not recognised. Furthermore, we are seen as underdogs and illiterate people.

“This makes people not value us. We are undermined. When we charge people, say P200.00 or P400.00 we are considered expensive while people can go to private hospitals and pay a lot of money”.

In addition to being ngaka ya Setswana (traditional healer), he is also an Archbishop at Balefi Apostle Church which he formed years back.

When it comes to balancing between the two responsibilities, Doctor Nkgasapane believes that church and bongaka jwa Setswana are one and the same thing. He states that every plant is made by God and as such he uses what God has given him.

“Christianity, medical doctors, and traditional healers are one and the same thing. What makes them different is us. Our problem as traditional healers is that we don’t package our medicine and because it is not laboratory tested it is considered evil”.

Doctor Nkgasapane firmly believes that traditional medicine must be incorporated into the health system. There are more than a hundred traditional herbs.

For example, there is kakwe which is used for steaming, and usungwa which is Kalanga and used for the same thing. There is Ngapo which is a plant that is burnt and the smoke is inhaled to relieve headaches.

Further, he believes that traditional healers and medical doctors should come together and be allowed to help each other. There should be a channel that allows communication for both parties.

Doctor Nkgasapane +267 77119990 0r +267 77941140