This week I went to collect data from indigenous healers of the Lembak Tribe. I was meant to stay there 2 weeks. This week and next week. Sooooo did not work out as planned! This is how ethnographic studies go–you NEVER know what will happen. The story of most interest is further down the page, but I want to tell this in the order it happened.

When I was here in January 2020, I visited the healer who lived in this house. This time I stayed at the house with his wife. He passed away in May just after I interviewed him. You can skip the pictures and the next section (if you do not want to read) and go to the video if you would rather hear what I say about the house or turn off the sound so you do not need to hear my narration. The upstairs reminded me of an old tobacco barn–if there was a spark, the house would go up like a Christmas tree that you put up in November and took down a week after Christmas. If you know the smell of a tobacco barn, this is like that, but not as strong. I could smell the old wood.

I really liked the healer who lived here. He was smart about the importance of plants and pollinators. He was encouraging people in the community to grow flowering plants for pollinators. He said insects (butterflies especially) were important for plants. When I arrived, I was devastated to see his garden was destroyed. His wife pulled up the beautiful garden to plant palm oil trees (which is the greatest threat to the environment here and the biggest export–money maker). She will sell these to farmers to support her family–she is a grandmother. Like most places these are economic decisions. I put the pictures next to each other so you can see the changes.

Now the story! I arrived on Tuesday evening. I met with the village chief for permission to stay in the village and interview people. He gave me his blessing. My interpreter (Alvin) visited with healers and asked if I could interview them. Additionally, he was recruiting villagers so I could ask them about the healers. Everything was good. We had 3 healers scheduled for Wednesday. We had 2 weeks there, so plenty of time to talk to people in the community. Wednesday morning I went out for a run about 5:30am. Saw a few people, said hello, and spoke a bit–what little I know. Back at the house at 6:45am. Alvin went out about 8:00am to visit the healers again to make sure the interview times were still good. First interview was at 10:00am. You will not believe this!! The first healer left the village because someone in their family died that morning. He went to check the second healer we had scheduled. DEAD! I am not kidding. The second healer died Wednesday morning at 7:30am. The entire family did not know yet–he had just died! Alvin checked with the third healer several times over the day on Wednesday. Each time the healer would move the time up in the day. The last time Alvin went he was not at home. Tuesday evening when Alvin asked about interviews everything was good and they seemed happy to talk to me. NO ONE in the village would interview with me on Wednesday after the deaths! The best we can understand they thought I was the reason for the deaths. We left Thursday morning. Like I said in an earlier blog post–A + B must = C. So it WAS me, not them!