February 5, 2007
A Good Gambian Laying of Hands is in Order?
Yahya Jammeh, the president of The Gambia, the smallest country in Africa, is making big claims. He alleges he has mystical powers that enable him to cure asthma on Fridays and Saturdays, and HIV/Aids on Mondays and Thursdays.
Full story here. No comment on what he is able to cure on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Sundays...
In his speech, he said: "The cure is a day's treatment. Within three days, the person will be [HIV] negative."
Well sometimes you wonder why Africa has image problems and then sometimes you remember why it is that the entire continent often gets treated as such.
Yammeh's statements are clarified in his Wikipedia entry:
The full text of his speech seems to suggest that the 'cure' may in fact be addressing intestinal parasites ("With regards to HIV/Aids, they should be kept at a place that has adequate toilets facilities because they can be going to toilet every five minutes.")Posted by marty at February 5, 2007 1:23 PM
I've been enjoying the heck out of your blog. It's brilliant. I hope you keep it up. This line, "Well sometimes you wonder why Africa has image problems and then sometimes you remember why it is that the entire continent often gets treated as such."
If this kind of thing was the sole reason for the way Africa is treated and looked at, then I think America would be in much trouble, given the image that its President is giving the world.
I think the main reasons Africa is downtrodden lie elsewhere, and are much uglier.
Posted by: Rethabile at February 9, 2007 12:52 AMOh I agree. And I definitely was not saying that I approved of such, but just explaining how people could take things as such.
Thanks for reading :)