An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

‗Garlic is good for reducing high blood pressure and cerassie tea (a herbal tea) is goodfor reducing the sugar level in diabetes.‘ ‗You can get Aloe Vera in tablet form and youdon‘t have to cope with the bitter taste although the bitterness in the herb is good forcleaning out any ‗bad blood‘ (impurities in the blood).‘ ‗Boiled soursop leaf is good forstrengthen the nerves‘ said another member of the group. Soursop is a fruit with green skinand prickles on the skin. It is usually eaten by separating the sweet, soft white flesh fromthe skin and the seeds. It may be used to make soursop juice, when it is juiced and mixedwith condensed milk, nutmeg and cinnamon In this form it is regarded as a nourishingdrink that can be used for the sick and infirm who cannot tolerate food. In the words ofone diabetic gentleman ‗This lady told me to rub my swollen foot with rum and crushedginger before bandaging it at nights and the swelling will go down. I was sceptical butdecided to try it out of curiosity. The swelling was gone by the morning. I have been tryingto get rid of the swelling during my stay in hospital and since I was discharged six weeksago.‘We can see this folk medicine still uses a humeral model as noted by Helman (2001) anddiscussed in Chapter Two above. There is still the underlying belief amongst Caribbeanpeople in Britain that certain foods are hot and certain illnesses are hot or cold and requireshot or cold treatment through the selection of foods. For example an infection associatedwith a high temperature is regarded as a hot disease and a painful joint is acold conditionand therefore the hot condition requires a cold remedy.In many respects folk medicine, however, is in conflict with scientific medicine in a similarway to “alternative” and “complementary” therapies. Modern scientific medicine tends touse a reductionist model, whilst folk medicine leans towards a holistic model in their146