Commentary

Why I don't believe in obeah

By LEIGHTON WILLIAMS, STAR Writer

I WAS REALLY hitting my head against a wall for something to write about this week. I thought about writing a sequel to previous hack notes about soap operas or even about my current peeves Barney and Sponge Bob.

But, midway I got bored and deleted everything. Then I remembered a lead story in THE WEEKEND STAR about obeah potions and voila! all my problems were solved.

Obeah has been a part of our culture since the ignorant Europeans decided to take us from Africa and plant us here. And, while probably not as widely spoken about as, say 50 years ago, it is still here. I've never believed that it works and after the experiences I've had in seeing how obeah practitioners operate, I am still convinced they do not work.

You can't blame the obeah practitioners though. If someone is stupid enough to give me his or her money for some bogus information why not take it?

What has solidified my disbelief in obeah are the experiences I've had in my not too short life. Two years ago I was asked to track down an obeah man for a story. After combing the bushes of St. Thomas we finally found him with his 'offices' behind a church that had a long name representing about seven denominations.

Of course, visiting an obeah man is bound to draw attention from those who live in the area. But, what made our trek more interesting was that we were in a marked vehicle and, of course, neighbours from far and wide all gathered to see why we were visiting the obeah man.

Blasphemy

To cut a long story short we did not get our story but he said we would die in an accident on our way back to Kingston as we had blasphemed (who we blasphemed against is still a mystery). Well, to this day The Gleaner's Rav4 is still on the road and we came back in to Kingston quite safely. The driver is still driving and I'm still alive, all this happening after he 'foretold' our deaths.

I remember while growing up there was a woman who was said to be a 'good' reader woman. I had to pass her home every day. I am yet to overcome the shock of her complaining out loud one day to another woman that someone gave her a cheque that bounced. Still, after that disclosure, people still sought her 'advice'. She was even able to demolish her dilapidated board house and build a huge mansion as people flocked to her house everyday for a bath or to have a read.

Then, the one that gets me every time, I remember walking home from school where there was another reader woman whose house I would pass depending on the route I took home. I remember one evening while 'prophesying' she told a homeless man he would live only nine more days after he ate two grapefruits from her table. Of course, the homeless man laughed as he ate the grapefruits and she chanted scriptures that foretold his inevitable death. The homeless man lived past nine days and outlived the reader woman by four years!

So, after seeing all that do you expect me to believe in obeah?

e-mail: leighton.williams@gleanerjm.com.