The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Morocco’s mentally ill await deliverance from their ‘demons’ Posted: 08 Apr 2014 10:31 PM PDT A thin mist hangs in the air as a handful of troubled souls wander aimlessly around the Bouya Omar mausoleum in central Morocco, the occasional chilling cry rising from behind its walls. These are Morocco's "possessed" – from violent schizophrenics to hard drug users – who are believed to be tormented by evil spirits and whose relatives bring them here to await deliverance. But many are left wondering exactly what goes on inside the sanctuary of the 16th-century Moroccan saint, situated in a small town named after him on the plains east of Marrakesh. Bouya Omar's followers claim the mentally ill are healed by the saint's supernatural powers, but rights groups allege gross mistreatment of those taken there, with one former inmate describing months of "hell". Activists say hundreds of people have been kept in chains there, sometimes starved and beaten, making the place a byword for cruelty and highlighting the stigma attached to mental illness in Morocco. Their numbers cannot be verified and officials are reluctant to speak about what they say it is a "sensitive subject". Mohammed, a former drug addict from Tangiers, is adamant that he was subjected to brutal treatment seven years ago. Taken to Bouya Omar by his brother in 2006 to be cured of his "demon", he says he was shackled and beaten repeatedly, given barely enough food to survive and robbed of the little money he had. "I lived in hell for a year," Mohammed told AFP, adding that the experience had left him partially blind in one eye. He says his brother eventually returned and "saved" him. Damning reports about mistreatment, including one presented by a human rights organisation to the UN group on arbitrary detention visiting Morocco in December, prompted the health minister to announce that he would close Bouya Omar immediately – if only he could. "I'm going to do everything I can to get this centre closed. Unfortunately the decision is not for the ministry of health," Hossein El Ouardi said in January. Popular beliefs The issue touches a sensitive nerve running through Moroccan society. Popular beliefs abound in the Muslim country, about good and bad genies ("jinn") capable of affecting one's daily life, and the power over them of marabouts, holy men like Bouya Omar, whose ubiquitous white tombs are credited with the same supernatural forces. Over the past decade, sociologists say, King Mohammed VI has encouraged such popular Islamic beliefs, commonly linked in Morocco to the world of healing, partly as a way of countering extremist ideology. Despite the human rights violations now associated with it, the cult of Bouya Omar falls squarely within this tradition. The saint's modern-day followers, who embody his authority and profit handsomely from the money paid for healing, mediate between the "patients" and the jinn believed to have possessed them, in rituals focused around the tomb and aimed at casting out the evil spirits. "The health minister cannot close Bouya Omar because it serves a political purpose and exists for other social and cultural reasons that are deeply rooted in Moroccan society," says author and academic Zakaria Rhani. Promoting the culture of sainthood also strengthens the king's legitimacy, which is itself based on the mythology of sainthood and inherited religious authority, Rhani says, referring to the monarch's claim to be descended from the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. A source at the ministry of religious affairs admitted Bouya Omar is a "very complex and sensitive subject." "The patient is imprisoned in a way to protect him, and to restrain this force, which is a kind of blind force, to exorcise the spirit," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We leave people there because we can't look after them. But it's a traditional system and it has to change." Crime against humanity The difficulty of properly looking after the patients, by getting them treatment at psychiatric facilities run by qualified personnel, stems from the backward state of Morocco's mental health sector after decades of neglect, medical experts say. Jallal Toufiq, head doctor at the Arrazi mental hospital in Rabat's twin city Sale, says there are only 400 psychiatrists in a country of 33 million people, while some of the psychiatric institutions are in a "very advanced state of disrepair". The US-trained doctor describes the practises at Bouya Omar as a "crime against humanity," lamenting the "extremely negative attitude towards mental illness" in Morocco, which he mainly attributes to poor education. "The level of awareness in the general population is so low that a lot of people tend to interpret their syndromes, their delusions and anxieties, as a curse, as something that has nothing to do with medicine. "So they seek healings in marabouts, and the problem is that they come to see us long after, when they're in bad shape." Mohammed Oubouli, an activist with the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Attaouia, a town near Bouya Omar, has campaigned for years to get what he calls "Morocco's Guantanamo" closed. "We're not against what the people believe; they can believe what they like. What bothers us is the suffering of those brought here." – AFP, April 9, 2014. |
| Westerners head to Gabon for drug-fuelled ‘spiritual’ tourism Posted: 08 Apr 2014 09:13 PM PDT Some in Gabon believe the bitter iboga root comes from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Others elsewhere have derided it as a dangerous drug. Today a growing number of Westerners are travelling to the central African country to sample it themselves as part of an ancestral rite called Bwiti, one of Gabon's official religions. Among them is Remy Causse, who at 45 made the long journey from France in hopes that the ritual would help him to "see more clearly". Bwiti combines worship of ancient forest spirits with elements of Christianity. It is practiced regularly and involves ingesting the powerful psychoactive root, iboga, which has effects similar to LSD, mescaline or amphetamines. "Iboga cleans the insides," says Tatayo, a French-Gabonese spiritual guide who receives many of the Western "bandzi", or candidates for initiation. "The bandzi empties himself of everything bad that is buried inside before coming face to face with himself." But the deaths, deemed accidental, of two Western initiates saw the practice come under sharp scrutiny, notably in former colonial power France where health officials warned it was "hallucinogenic and highly toxic". A report by the Mission of Vigilance against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes) from 2007, called Bwiti a form of cult ritual that is dangerous "both physically and mentally". Tatayo himself concedes that "you must be closely watched when you ingest iboga". But Bwiti shamans like Tatayo believe that when they eat iboga, they are granted the power to see the future, heal the sick and speak with the dead. Users say it helps them to break away from negative habits, and an extract from the root is now being used in Western medicine to treat drug addicts and alcoholics. Like many foreigners before him, Causse turned to "Tatayo", who is originally from southwest France, at his beachside concession next to the president's quarters in Gabon's capital Libreville. By the torchlight Under the light of the torches, initiates, their faces painted white, intone traditional chants over the music of the Ngombi, a form of sacred harp, or the Mogongo, an instrument made of a chord strung across an arc that the musician strums with a pulsating rhythm. Causse starts to eat the iboga, crushed into powder, which Tatayo feeds him by the spoonful until he is overcome by visions amid the deafening noise of singing and dancing by "escorts". Lying on a mat, he seems to be sleeping as his spirit "roams". Ingested in high doses, iboga causes anxiety, extreme apprehension and hallucinations, which are enhanced by the darkness and music. Sometimes Causse rouses and begins to vomit. The visions last all night, and it's not until the early hours of the morning that Causse wakes up. Still groggy from the experience, he is unable to walk for several hours. Despite being "a bit scared", he said he was happy two days after shaking off the lethargy caused by the iboga root. After this he will bear the name "Moukoukou", which means "spirits". "The ritual has given me an understanding that cannot be explained in words, it has answered many of my questions," he says. Risks of initiation Few people in Gabon doubt the effectiveness of the iboga root, which is considered an important part of the country's national heritage. The country's first president was an initiate. Outside the country, a dozen or so deaths have been reported in the United States and Europe among people who experimented with iboga, though the exact circumstances have not been clarified. Medical reports said the victims' nervous systems and hearts appear to have been affected and the deaths generally occurred more than 20 hours after taking the root. In Gabon, neither the French embassy nor the Gabonese health ministry would comment on the bwiti ritual, given that it involves a recognised religious practice and use of a product authorised in the country. Yet despite the dangers and the high price that Westerners must pay for their new experiences – Causse paid 2,800 euros (RM12, 467) for his three-week journey – more and more are coming. Tatayo says that he now receives around 20 to 25 new foreign initiates – mainly Europeans – a year. – AFP, April 9, 2014. |
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