Sub-Saharan Africans

• Many Eritreans strongly believe in the healing powers of different plants, particularly roots. They also believe in the power of some plants to ward off snakes and to cure them from snakebites. Some Eritreans return to their country when they are ill in order to receive this traditional healing.
• Folk medical therapeutic burning (moxibustion), has been observed in children from East Africa. Burns along the abdomen, wrists, elbows, and ankles may be administered to treat any cause of jaundice. Among some people from East Africa, burning is also used to treat abdominal problems resulting from the “evil eye.” These burn injuries are clearly inscribed, appearing like cigarette burns. They could be confused with abusive injuries if the family’s cultural beliefs and native country's medical practices are not considered.
• In the traditional Oromo culture of Ethiopia, illness and misfortune may be considered a punishment from Waaqa for sins a person has committed, and the “evil eye” may be seen as a malevolent influence caused by an individual and resulting in disease, especially in vulnerable young infants.
• For some Somalis, traditional medicine modalities include fire-burning, herbal remedies, spell-casting, and prayer. Fire-burning is a procedure where a stick from a special tree is heated till it glows and then applied to the skin in order to cure the illness. Seizures are treated with herbs and readings from the Koran. Stomachaches and backaches are treated with the herb known as habakhedi, while rashes and sore throats are treated with a tea made from the herb dinse. Traditional doctors also cure illnesses caused by spirits, such as fever, headache, dizziness, and weakness. The illness is cured by a healing ceremony designed to appease the spirits. These ceremonies involve reading the Koran, eating special foods, and burning incense.
• In many African cultures the concept of the “evil eye” is part of the belief systems of some people. It is believed that a person can give someone else an evil eye either purposefully or inadvertently by directing comments of praise at that person, thereby causing harm or illness to befall them. For example, one does not tell a person that she looks beautiful, because that could bring on the evil eye. Similarly, many Somali mothers cringe when they are told that their babies are big and fat, out of fear the evil eye will cause something bad to happen to their child. It is more acceptable to say that the child is “healthy.”

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