Now that I have been with the tribal people one night when the patient is having one of his episodes of sickness, I understand more about why they describe it the way they do.
Night before last, about 7 pm (already dark) they came to our house and asked if I could help attend to young Tabung (he is about 20 years old), as he was beginning to have one of his fits of madness. So I went over there, and at first the young man was huddled with his head down, people around him on all sides. He was coherent for the time being. I put my hand on his forehead, and then I noticed – he was burning up.
The funny thing is we had asked them before if he had a fever, and they said no. At first I didn’t understand why they didn’t notice that he was burning up, but now after having watched one of the fits I do. When the fit of madness begins, they are so focused on holding him down they don’t pay much attention to anything else.
Here is what happened. He started to tense up and his eyes got real big and wide. Everyone jumped on him, with 2 or 3 people holding each limb and one person holding his head from behind. He would try and grab and bite at people but was restrained. While people were holding him down, the one who was holding him by the head from behind would yell and spit at what he believed was the spirit affecting the patient. In the corner the older shaman was continuously talking and commanding the spirit affecting the patient to leave.
As I watched, it occurred to me that a high fever with fits of madness in a malaria prone area most likely equals cerebral malaria. So I went back to our house and we looked it up in the book. Sure enough, most of the symptoms matched. So we brought him chloroquine to take. In between his fits of madness he would be coherent enough to talk and take the medicine, so he was able to swallow it down.
As I write this, the chloroquine seems to have had the desired effect, though he is not completely well yet. All the people in the village believe he is better because the shaman chased the bad spirit away with a machete. Please continue to pray for Tabung and the others, because there is a spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of the Palawanos.
Blessings in Christ to you all
Friday, November 19, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
“My nephew tried to eat my kid last night, we were really scared…”
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ~John 10:27-28
In times of uncertainty, fear of the future about the economy, and a concern for the direction the world is growing, there is one thing that we who believe have as a constant source of hope. The Word of God is certain, and God’s promises are sure – a promise of eternal life, joy, and fellowship with Him for those who believe. We also have a promise of protection from evil (as quoted above), though we may go through trials. We can hold to these promises, even if the economy turns sour, or conflict in this world runs its course, or trials come upon us in this life.
The Palawano that are around us do not have any such hope or certainty of eternal life, or protection from evil. This is a short story of an incident that happened in our village last week.
We were just getting ready to settle down for the night when we heard shouting and banging coming from the tribal house on the other side of the path.
Screams. Bang, smash. Yelling. Someone running through the grass. Shouting. Quiet for awhile. Someone leaving the house with a flashlight, heading down the path. 10 minutes later 2 people coming back toward the house with flashlights. More yelling. Shouts. Someone running up and down the hill behind our house with a flashlight, shouting, looking for something. More banging. Then quiet.
So the next morning I got up to investigate. I went over there. Before I had a chance to ask anything, they told me all about it, in very excited voices –
Egsa nemulpug si Tabung kegabi! Megkabi kenye meyaát teaw. Kimputan ye si Lirin, kinaget ye ne tuldo, empeda inagew ko kenye. Ba kaya pe pinegewidan dye kemenaken ko, esta ba embe surungan ye et lumpád beke melegiu! Kela takut kay kegabi.
Roughly translated, that means–
Egsa, Tabung was demonized last night! A bad spirit got close to him. He grabbed Lirin and bit her finger, but I quickly grabbed her back and pulled away. If they hadn’t held down my nephew, I don’t know where he would have gone flying off and running away! We were really scared last night.
As I investigated more of the story, it became clear they were thinking there was some kind of demonic possession involved here. The same thing actually happened to another girl about a week before, but with less violent activity. The symptoms are that at night the person wakes up, but his or her mind is gone. Sometimes a person with this kind of sickness will go around trying to grab people and eat them, and sometimes they will just run away. Sometimes they will do both. They said that the young man this time had seen a giant spirit called a Lenggam, and it took his mind away and was making him attack people. Then he would try to run off into the forest. I talked to the young man in the morning and he was sitting there feeling ok, but he seemed a bit embarrassed because he knew this was happening to him. I asked him if he remembered anything and he said no.
They say that with this kind of sickness if the person is not treated real soon, they will be carried off by the bad spirit into the jungle and nobody will ever see them again. They actually believe the afflicted person will be picked up like an eagle picks up a snake and carried over the mountains somewhere where he will be eaten. The solution is to get a powerful shaman to remove the sickness. There is a shaman who lives a 2 day hike away, and they say he can see the bad spirits, so he knows how to get exorcise them.
Well, this wasn’t the end. The next night there was a wedding at the village downriver from us. Lots and lots of people went there. The next day when everyone came back, I asked around to find out if anything happened. Sure enough, Tabung had been afflicted again the same way. Only this time it was more powerful. He had grabbed one of the strongest guys in the village and bitten down hard on his hand. Several people grabbed him and forced his jaws open so the other guy could pull his hand out (I saw the bruises later, and he said it hurts). Lots of people were there and witnessed the event. They all said it took about 14 people to hold him down until the sickness passed. When there were only 10 people holding him down, he was too strong for them and got away and ran off into the jungle, but he came back, because the sickness had not yet fully overpowered him. More people grabbed him and held him down until the sickness passed.
So the next day the father took the young man to an albolariyo in town (an albolariyo is a folk healer and is not a tribal person). The father is not Palawano, but is married to one, so I assume that is the reason he went to an albolaryo instead of taking the 2 day trip to another village where the powerful shaman lives. The albolariyo did some kind of rituals to cast away the demon, and afterwards they brought the boy back home. I asked him, and he said he felt the spirit leave when the albolariyo was doing chants over him. As soon as they came back they prepared a pasasalamat, a feast as a thank offering to Empu, which is their name for God. The local shaman explained to me that in a pasasalamat they are only calling on Empu, but in other ceremonies like an umanat, they call on multiple different spirits.
I talked to Tabung after the feast and he said he felt better, but his eyes told me he was still scared. He has bruises and scabs all over his neck from where they had to hold him down.
This boy, or young man, Tabung, is very vulnerable right now. His father practices a religion that teaches that they have a right to abuse Christians, animists, or anyone else who is not of the same religion. His father has also murdered people in the past, but has in the last few years seemingly tried to start living a life settled down and raising his family in peace. Yet there is no peace in that family. Tabung is the 3rd oldest, and both the older 2 siblings have had this same kind of sickness/ spiritual attack on them in the past. We will be teaching the Gospel soon to these people, but we expect the father will forbid anyone in his family from listening to the teaching because it is not of his “superior” religion. Yet the only thing that will deliver them from the darkness they are in is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Please pray for the Palawanos as God prepares their hearts to hear the Gospel for the first time soon. Pray also for our partners as they prepare the Gospel lessons, that they will be clear. Pray that Tabung and their family will be allowed to hear the teaching one day. Pray for protection for Tabung from the evil spirits that seek to do him harm. Pray that the Palawanos will soon be delivered from darkness into the glorious light of Christ. Pray that our language and culture studies will be effective so that we can communicate clearly with the Palawano people.
That is the biggest event from Palawano land recently. We are so thankful for your prayers and support as we continue to look to the Lord and study the Palawano language and culture! May God bless each and every one of you!
Blessings in Christ
click the pictures below to view a larger version in your browser
At the pasasalamat feast to give thanks for deliverance from the demonic spirit (faces are obscured for posting)
Tribal kids are fascinated by my drill press
In times of uncertainty, fear of the future about the economy, and a concern for the direction the world is growing, there is one thing that we who believe have as a constant source of hope. The Word of God is certain, and God’s promises are sure – a promise of eternal life, joy, and fellowship with Him for those who believe. We also have a promise of protection from evil (as quoted above), though we may go through trials. We can hold to these promises, even if the economy turns sour, or conflict in this world runs its course, or trials come upon us in this life.
The Palawano that are around us do not have any such hope or certainty of eternal life, or protection from evil. This is a short story of an incident that happened in our village last week.
We were just getting ready to settle down for the night when we heard shouting and banging coming from the tribal house on the other side of the path.
Screams. Bang, smash. Yelling. Someone running through the grass. Shouting. Quiet for awhile. Someone leaving the house with a flashlight, heading down the path. 10 minutes later 2 people coming back toward the house with flashlights. More yelling. Shouts. Someone running up and down the hill behind our house with a flashlight, shouting, looking for something. More banging. Then quiet.
So the next morning I got up to investigate. I went over there. Before I had a chance to ask anything, they told me all about it, in very excited voices –
Egsa nemulpug si Tabung kegabi! Megkabi kenye meyaát teaw. Kimputan ye si Lirin, kinaget ye ne tuldo, empeda inagew ko kenye. Ba kaya pe pinegewidan dye kemenaken ko, esta ba embe surungan ye et lumpád beke melegiu! Kela takut kay kegabi.
Roughly translated, that means–
Egsa, Tabung was demonized last night! A bad spirit got close to him. He grabbed Lirin and bit her finger, but I quickly grabbed her back and pulled away. If they hadn’t held down my nephew, I don’t know where he would have gone flying off and running away! We were really scared last night.
As I investigated more of the story, it became clear they were thinking there was some kind of demonic possession involved here. The same thing actually happened to another girl about a week before, but with less violent activity. The symptoms are that at night the person wakes up, but his or her mind is gone. Sometimes a person with this kind of sickness will go around trying to grab people and eat them, and sometimes they will just run away. Sometimes they will do both. They said that the young man this time had seen a giant spirit called a Lenggam, and it took his mind away and was making him attack people. Then he would try to run off into the forest. I talked to the young man in the morning and he was sitting there feeling ok, but he seemed a bit embarrassed because he knew this was happening to him. I asked him if he remembered anything and he said no.
They say that with this kind of sickness if the person is not treated real soon, they will be carried off by the bad spirit into the jungle and nobody will ever see them again. They actually believe the afflicted person will be picked up like an eagle picks up a snake and carried over the mountains somewhere where he will be eaten. The solution is to get a powerful shaman to remove the sickness. There is a shaman who lives a 2 day hike away, and they say he can see the bad spirits, so he knows how to get exorcise them.
Well, this wasn’t the end. The next night there was a wedding at the village downriver from us. Lots and lots of people went there. The next day when everyone came back, I asked around to find out if anything happened. Sure enough, Tabung had been afflicted again the same way. Only this time it was more powerful. He had grabbed one of the strongest guys in the village and bitten down hard on his hand. Several people grabbed him and forced his jaws open so the other guy could pull his hand out (I saw the bruises later, and he said it hurts). Lots of people were there and witnessed the event. They all said it took about 14 people to hold him down until the sickness passed. When there were only 10 people holding him down, he was too strong for them and got away and ran off into the jungle, but he came back, because the sickness had not yet fully overpowered him. More people grabbed him and held him down until the sickness passed.
So the next day the father took the young man to an albolariyo in town (an albolariyo is a folk healer and is not a tribal person). The father is not Palawano, but is married to one, so I assume that is the reason he went to an albolaryo instead of taking the 2 day trip to another village where the powerful shaman lives. The albolariyo did some kind of rituals to cast away the demon, and afterwards they brought the boy back home. I asked him, and he said he felt the spirit leave when the albolariyo was doing chants over him. As soon as they came back they prepared a pasasalamat, a feast as a thank offering to Empu, which is their name for God. The local shaman explained to me that in a pasasalamat they are only calling on Empu, but in other ceremonies like an umanat, they call on multiple different spirits.
I talked to Tabung after the feast and he said he felt better, but his eyes told me he was still scared. He has bruises and scabs all over his neck from where they had to hold him down.
This boy, or young man, Tabung, is very vulnerable right now. His father practices a religion that teaches that they have a right to abuse Christians, animists, or anyone else who is not of the same religion. His father has also murdered people in the past, but has in the last few years seemingly tried to start living a life settled down and raising his family in peace. Yet there is no peace in that family. Tabung is the 3rd oldest, and both the older 2 siblings have had this same kind of sickness/ spiritual attack on them in the past. We will be teaching the Gospel soon to these people, but we expect the father will forbid anyone in his family from listening to the teaching because it is not of his “superior” religion. Yet the only thing that will deliver them from the darkness they are in is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Please pray for the Palawanos as God prepares their hearts to hear the Gospel for the first time soon. Pray also for our partners as they prepare the Gospel lessons, that they will be clear. Pray that Tabung and their family will be allowed to hear the teaching one day. Pray for protection for Tabung from the evil spirits that seek to do him harm. Pray that the Palawanos will soon be delivered from darkness into the glorious light of Christ. Pray that our language and culture studies will be effective so that we can communicate clearly with the Palawano people.
That is the biggest event from Palawano land recently. We are so thankful for your prayers and support as we continue to look to the Lord and study the Palawano language and culture! May God bless each and every one of you!
Blessings in Christ
click the pictures below to view a larger version in your browser
At the pasasalamat feast to give thanks for deliverance from the demonic spirit (faces are obscured for posting)
Tribal kids are fascinated by my drill press
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