Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
necticut. For the next four days, we will be constant companions—and frenemies. We call
each other Mr. Jesse and Mr. Jotham. He will claim to help me, but apart from arranging
an otherwise impossible interview he will offer mostly foot-dragging and his own unverified
opinions. For my part, I will act grateful and keep my skepticism to myself. We talk about
world leaders—he admires Mandela and Qaddafi—and acknowledges the latter should have
stepped down while he was still popular. He admires John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and
Dale Carnegie. The night we drive west from Arusha, Jotham recalls the time, when he was
just a boy, he saw Henry Kissinger on an official visit to Tanzania. I say, “Oh, yes, he was
Nixon's secretary of state.”
“Yes,” Jotham says. “Also, he was with President Ford.”
I once again pull into Samunge at dawn, just as Mwasapila is preparing to greet his visitors.
At the widening in the road, Mwasapila's medicine station, a tall, middle-aged, balding man
addresses the gathering crowd. He wears a clean shirt and tie and speaks with a high throaty
voice in Swahili, using the tinny public address system. After a time, he pauses and tells the
crowd they will now hear from the man they came to see. Reverend Ambilikile Mwasapila
takesthemicrophone.Heisashort,oldman,withclose-cropped,whitehairandaroundface.
He greets the crowd by lifting one hand high above his head, silently waving hello. Several
hundred hands rise to return the greeting.
He begins speaking in Swahili, first acknowledging he is the same Babu they've seen on
TV or in the newspapers. Then he launches into a practical FAQ about the medicine itself,
taking on the tone of a shift supervisor laying out the safety rules of the new machinery:
Okay, folks, there are only two size cups of medicine, child and adult. It doesn't matter how
large you are: you still only get one cup
.(Thisdrawslaughter.)
If you vomit here in Samunge,
they will give you another cup. If you vomit after you leave, don't worry, the medicine has
already worked
.
He lists the diseases the liquid cures, but he stresses:
You're not immune, just cured. Don't
engage in risky activities like unprotected sex. By all means, don't commit rape or be promis-
cuous. Keep your diet moderate. Don't drink any alcohol today because it may interfere with
the medicine
.
Aftercoveringthepractical matters, thespeechbecomesmoretheological, andMwasapila
takes on the familiar rhythm of a Baptist preacher, asking for assent every few moments.
I
don't know anything about medicine. I was surprised when God called me to give you medi-
cine. It is neither the tree nor the hand of Babu that heals. It is God who cures. He has put
his power in the medicine, but he could have cured you directly. Okay?
Yes!
