138 Part II: Outsiders
The patient then receives the khlua ki tesh, the “wrist string,” specially
braided with three colors of thread, around his neck, wrists, and ankles to bind
his beleaguered soul more securely to his body. An X in lampblack is drawn on
his forehead to disguise him from the evil spirit who may still be lurking in the
vicinity for the next few days. And the triumphant warrior, the shaman, relaxes
with a pipe of tobacco smoked in an old unexploded steel US 2.7 air-to-ground
rocket pod left over from Vietnam War days.
Will the patient be cured of his epilepsy? Of course we wonder. We do
know a great deal about the body-as-machine, and epilepsy as a disease. Do we
know as much about the powers of the mind on the body? We are quite sure of
our medical paradigm, but might not other models of human suffering prevail
elsewhere, producing different forms of suffering? Or, at the very least, do not
we also call priests and healers into hospital rooms to pray over and lay hands
on patients attached to ventilators or dialysis machines? Who knows what
powers lie behind and beyond the known diseases?
The shaman is healer and spiritual leader, physician and priest. He diagno-
ses, divines, tells the future, does war with evil spirits, sends food-gifts to
friendly ones, and stands between humans and the chaotic, invisible world that
is the cause of all their suffering.ENDNOTE
(^1) The one-child rule was relaxed for everyone in 2013 as the side effects of severe regulation of
the population began to be felt: labor shortages, unequal sex ratios, lack of care for the elderly.
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