When Badimo call, you cannot decline

Gasebalwe Seretse
Correspondent | Friday May 20, 2011 00:00

Take Sangoma Mantho Kgakge of Mokwena ward in Pilikwe. For starters, Kgakge is one of the few sangomas found in the area if not in the country making her one of the revered if not feared traditional doctors around. But how did she get the call to be a sangoma given the fact that there are very few Batswana in the trade? 'I got called to be a sangoma as a young person because I was sickly as a child.  Many traditional doctors told my father that they could not heal me since my sickness required the intervention of Badimo (ancestors) while on the other hand, western doctors tried in vain to help,' she said.

In his quest to find a cure for his daughter, Keakelwe Kgakge took her to many healers. One such healer was a man known only as Semphethathogo who used to stay in Pilikwe. The healer said the only way the child could be saved was by answering the badimo's call. An aunt visited a church in South Africa where she was asked to urge the young Kgakge to answer her call.

The sangoma is now 51-year-old. She did not fancy the idea of becoming a sangoma because she was raised in a Christian family. But the more stubborn she was, the more her health problems increased.

The badimo or madlozi would make visitations to her in dreams and visions. Sometimes, they would speak to her in an 'audible' voice. 'When badimo call you, it is not easy to avoid them,' says Kgakge who added that it was clear that she was a special child.

The sangoma said that one day, her legs got swollen to the waist level and her father took her to a Chinese doctor. As the man put his medical apparatus on her, the machine went dead and he said, 'traditional doctor, mosadi'. Kgakge said this was an indication that only a traditional doctor could help her. She found a good job in Gaborone but to her surprised she was always in financial woes.

As the badimo continued to put her under pressure to answer the call, she would suffer from mysterious and temporary paralysis, muteness and blindness, which western medicine could not cure.  One day, she visited an apostolic church in Gaborone where she met a certain prophetess who told her that she had to answer the call of the badimo for her woes to go away. Needless to say, Kgakge was caught between a rock and a hard place because she did not like the idea of becoming a sangoma. So she consulted her parents. Her father was opposed to her becoming a sangoma while her step-mother thought it might be the only way to overcome her challenges.

Her father, who had stood with her throughout the years died in 1990 and in November of the same year, she decided to go to an initiation school to twasa (train) under the tutelage of one Orpha Mokalake for a year. She trained in herbs and bone divination for six months in Gaborone. Another six months was spent at a sangoma school in Gweru, Zimbabwe.'I graduated in September, 24 1991 and there was a big graduation party in Pilikwe that was attended by sangomas from all over Botswana and neighbouring countries,' said Kgakge.

She went to Ramotswa for further training in 2000, graduating in August the same year. She was in school for five years because she could not raise the amount required for her release until her elder brother came to her rescue.  Kgakge said that the five years she spent at the sangoma school in Ramotswa were the most challenging in her life because she lived like a servant at her trainer's home doing chores as per the guidelines of training.  She felt free when she finally went home.

Kgakge is also known as Nkuku Mmadithabeng. She explained that this is the name badimo gave her. The name belongs to an ancestor who was a great healer a long time ago. Kgakge said she has been in perfect health since answering her call. She got the gift to be a sangoma from both sides of the family. She said when she traces her family tree, she realised that some of her ancestors were famous traditional doctors.

She is not happy that instead of sharing in the joy of her achievement, the people of her village shun her.  True to the saying that a prophet is without honour among his people, the sangoma claims that she has had a few customers in Pilikwe as they shun her services.  She said a case in point is when a villager got lost and she was not consulted. 

Instead, the village elders chose to visit traditional doctors from elsewhere.  She said the lost person was not found until she was consulted and she directed the search parties to where he was.  She denies that she can kill to make her muti stronger.  She says  she is a Christian and she cannot take another person's life.

One of her wishes is for people to accept her call and use her services.  She claims she can heal many diseases and sicknesses.  She says that one of her gifts is to bind families together.