From the Malawi Daily:
TWO YEARS FOR WITCHCRAFT
by Mike Chipalasa
The Mtakataka Magistrates' Court last week sentenced four sorcerers to two years imprisonment for bewitching Alindi Jemstala, 18, through a whirlwind.
Dedza Police public relations officer Franklin Gausi, siad the four are Elenola Gilbert, 68; Benson Chimkola, 68; Julieta June, 65; and Jacqueline Gilbert, 64, all from Mlangeni Village, T/A Kachindamoto in the district.
The four were arrested last week and they all admitted committing the offence.
"They picked the girl through a whirlwind and dropped her in Salima but cannot bring her back because it is too late to do that now," said Gausi.
Gausi said the four are currently serving their sentence at Dedza Prison.
Passing judgment, Second Grade Magistrate Yohane Banda said the offence was contrary to Section 6 of the Witchcraft Act.
Banda said he had handed a stiffer punishment to deter would-be witches from committing similar offences, adding the practice was rampant in the district.
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Now, before you become too judgmental and sarcastic, remember that it was not too long ago that we were burning people for witchcraft.
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9 comments:
Hmmm. I think I need more details on exactly how they determined the victim had been bewitched, what the state of the bewitchment entailed and how the whirlwind approach works. Then, I will feel free to make sarcastic and judgemental remarks.
Here here Sharlee! I am too left with more questions than answers...do we have the girl telling her story? Or is she just gone? I am concerned that there may have been a tornado...you know a TWISTER that day...plucking that poor young lady up and depositing her some place else.
Try looking for her in Kansas!
Happy Birthday Erin!
holy crap, erin! i slack off on blog checking and i come back to find you on mt. kilimanjaro. well done.
I gave you the whole story, so unfortunately I have no further details. I too was left with more questions than answers. I tried to ask the British ex-pat lady who owns the hostel I am in, but she just replied by telling me another story about a man who changed himself into a jumbo jet and crashed into his grandmother. I think the lesson to go home with is: don't f with the Malawians, they might be able to do something really weird to you. I'd rather not find out. One of my professors at UW actually never published for his PhD for this very reason.
Can you pick me up a couple of love potions and some invisibility dust while you are there? You may have a problem at customs coming home though. Try to get the invisibility dust that doesn't come in a white powder.
-Fid
white powder is bad
Hi Erin, great blog you’ve got here. I was fairly good about reading it last spring but spaced it all summer. Sounds like you’re having a crazily wonderful time (or maybe wonderfully crazy time). In response to the whole witchcraft thing I just spotted this a couple days back.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008427707
Sounds like the four “sorcerers” in Malawi might have gotten off easy with just two years. Then again I don’t imagine that prisons are particularly hospitable in Malawi. Well keep on keeping on. - Klayton
Anthropologist Michael Taussig writes surreal and detailed ethnographic narratives of drugs, sorcery, and communal storytelling in rural Colombia and his native Australia. I'd recommend in particular The Nervous System and My Cocaine Museum.
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