...:::Brunei Trans Africa:::...

Week 3 in Brunei

Gosh, time runs fast. Almost a week since JAMBO was loaded into the container which must be now floating
somewhere on the Indian Ocean. And still so much to do. Norhayati needs visas, but she got very good help from the
Ministry of Foreign affairs.
"It should not be a problem." Many thanks to them.
And there is Sheikh Jamaluddin the Tourism boss. The gentleman with a vision. He steps in, wherever needed.
His help is grateful received.

We look forward to meet our 4 w/d machine again. Since we disconnected the batteries, they should not be discharged
but provide the power for a “turn of the key start.”
On our way we will have now a laptop to update our web page weekly; which we designed it together with
Marlon the webpage miracle man. He teaches us so enthusiastically as if it is him who is traveling.
A 3 CCD DV Camera for our filming purposes is with us too.
Counting our coins up and down it is just not enough to go for a High Definition one. The thing cost B$ 4.600.-
A digital camera with a 10 times zoom should be enough for our web page photos and for a newspaper should we come to an
agreement with one of them for publishing our stories and later eventually to write a book.

But let us turn to Africa now and their beliefs.

Transfer your thoughts 12000 km West-South-West, to this fantastic, but tormented continent and follow our story of VOODOO,
a traditional religion originated in West Africa, which has spread now throughout and as far as the Americas VOODOO, is the call to
unseen spirits, deities and ancestors for help and advice in the Africans daily life's.
Off course our faith Islam, pushed in from the north east with the Arab traders and Christianity too with all the conquerors of Europe,
still VOODOO is embedded in the daily life of the Africans. Spells and charms are as common to them as for you a Handkerchief in
the pocket.

A women possessed by a spirit Voodoo fetish to harm someone
is cleansed during a festival

Animal sacrifice during a festivity Cure of a belly problem by a Voodoo priest

     Voodoo Spells and charms are used where all other means fail. For Love and money most!
   You do not believe in VOODOO?
  Hold on! It does not matter whether you and I believe in it, only what the charmer or the charmed think,
counts here.
In every small village or market, there is a VOODOO man somewhere. Often shone by the public, being afraid that he might cast
a spell on them.

In Tanzania on a house wall I saw a handwritten paper sign:
“Urinate here!” The place was smelly like an unflushed toilet in the second week. “Why for heavens sake the owners want people
to pee on the wall corner?” I question a bystander who happens to be the landlord.
“It smells terrible already and it will be worst, sir.”
“The smell is from before!” He advised me. My signboard is new. Before, passing men under pressure used the wall for their relieve.
I had a large sign” URINATING IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! “And?” I wondered. “It was ignored. But now I ask the public to “Pee Here!”
That raises suspicion. ”Why does he want my pee here? What VOODOO is he practicing? And they go somewhere else.

Voodoo together with native medicine it is a thriving business. A Voodoo speller will cast the devil out of the believer (if there ever
was one), but surely he vacuums the money from his burse as their service is not cheap.
Moreover, you as a customer must satisfy his financial demands. Otherwise, you worry; he put an unwanted spell on you.
Like in Nigeria a few years back. There was the rumor among men:Should you shake hands you have lost your “comrade for life!”
There were serious fights on the road, before they checked it out to be found untrue. Again some insisted, nothing is “there” anymore!

“ Buwunde the famous international snake charmer and Voodoo speller” I read on a colorful sign board on the
roadside in Moshi, Tanzania.

My powerful spells make everything possible!”
(Everything? He never got rich; otherwise he would not be there)

The sign went on:
Some of my famous cures:

Your husband fancy younger girl take medicine no. 9 5 shillings
(Would we need this medicine in Brunei?)

     Girl want marry rich man                                      medicine no. 12      7 shillings
    (how much medicine he could sell to
     our lovely Filipinas and Indon girls?)

Get rich quick (plenty customer for that!) medicine no 1 100 shillings

Want girl follow you medicine no. 3 10 shilling

No power in trouser? medicine no 21 40 shilling

It went on. The witchdoctor had a “cure” for every ailment one could think off, including Aids. Where did you get the knowledge
I asked him. His eyes rolled up I could see only the white of the eyeballs. In our Voodoo festivals. Ogou our spirit talks to me.

Voodoo believers gather to annual festivals to honor the spirits. There they scarify animals, sing and dance and are
100 % convinced they communicate with the unseen world. They perform cleansing rituals with waters, or as in Haiti in a mud pool.

Immersed in trance and in the “sacred” Mud pool

In such festivals they renew their beliefs and seek personal strength.
A Voodoo believer will wear his charm in absolute confidence of its power.
This faith is misused sometime by unscrupulous leaders. Like during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.

Performing a voodoo ceremony the priest gave the soldiers a talisman saying: “You are now invisible to the enemy!”
The young men walked singing and laughing into the battle and gunfire, falling by the dozen. Fleeing and
screaming they looked for the priest: “Maybe” he said:” “the enemy had a more powerful spell……”

Perhaps we have a chance to witness such a Voodoo ceremony on our travel.
I’m curious and will share this experience with you all.

Only 3 more weeks to go, then we are on the plane to the most exiting continent on our planet.

Cleansing ritual during an Ogou festival

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