A Taste of Our Own Medicine

Does traditional healing hold the answer to our health?

With so much focus on our health these days, it’s no wonder that a lot of us are looking back to a time before all the health problems began to find the answer. Deadly Vibe recently caught up with Edgar Williams from Kokwam, a traditional healing organisation, to find out how our cultural practices can help us stay healthy.

Edgar Williams has always been interested in health. He spent the last 22 years working for the Health Department before deciding to set up Kokwam, an independent Indigenous traditional healing company, following his family tradition.

“My people are all healers on Dad’s side and on Mum’s side. I’m surrounded by healers on both sides and Grandma Williams was the old traditional midwife,” says Edgar.

As with most Indigenous traditional healing, the healers at Kokwam work with the spirit, mind and body to heal in a holistic way. The Kokwam healers have been trained by their elders and mentors in the traditional ways of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. They heal by combining spirituality with herbs, plant extracts and oils that they believe have special healing properties. As with most traditional healers, Edgar says he was born a healer and believes that there is still a place for traditional healing to work side by side with Western medicine.

“We’ve got a major role to play in this country but, unfortunately, that’s not happening as much as it could,” says Edgar. “I honestly believe we are too quick to run to the chemist when we’ve got natural remedies we can use first. Even the old green ant if you smash it and eat it with hot water will help with a head cold or chesty cold – it’s just a little old green ant, but we can use it instead of taking Codral.”

Edgar says that the problem with relying on Western medicine for minor complaints is that many prescription medicines have side effects that can make you feel worse than the illness you have, whereas the traditional medicines that he uses have no known side effects.

Edgar says that skin conditions are one ailment that responds particularly well to traditional medicine.

“I’ve used bottle brush oil with a coconut oil foundation on a couple of skin conditions,” says Edgar. “One client came in and his face was stiff and sore. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, so I swam him in the medicine that I use and then smothered him in the oil and he was a brand-new Murray, hey!”

As with many alternative therapies, there has not been enough scientific research into the remedies to say exactly how they work, and it could just be a case of the ‘placebo’, or mind over matter, effect. But for Edgar, the important thing is that it can help some people, especially those whom Western medicine has been unable to help.

“I don’t really know exactly how it works – if it’s just faith that people think they’re going to be fixed or whether the tingling feeling people often feel after using the oils is because the medicine helps the capillaries open up and the oxygen go through.”

Edgar says he has also had success using his traditional medicines on diabetic sores and ulcers. Edgar admits that for traditional medicine to have its full effect, as with Western medicine, it must be used as directed.
“Some are successful and others aren’t as successful because people don’t follow the instructions for the remedies. At Kokwam we’ve had some wonderful wins and some losses, but that’s part and parcel of the job of healing. With anybody, even a doctor, if you don’t do as you’re told you don’t get the benefits. It’s also important if you are taking traditional medicine to tell your doctor what you are doing – especially if it works so they know it’s not just their medicine making you better,” he laughs.

Edgar has worked with Western medicine at his local hospital, as these days more health professionals acknowledge the need to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders access to traditional healers.

“An Aboriginal social worker used to call me in sometimes to the hospital when patients would ask for a traditional healer. I would have a yarn with them and we have helped quite a few people. I believe God or our creator or rainbow serpent or whatever you want to call him gave us a gift and maybe we can get back to our own roots a bit more with health. I’m dreaming of us using more of our own traditional ways and living as we should. I reckon if you gave me a dozen diabetic persons and let me take them bush they’d be the healthiest they’d ever been,” says Edgar.

And Edgar is not alone in advocating the health benefits of a traditional lifestyle. A recent study in a community in Utopia found that the residents, who follow a much more traditional lifestyle were much healthier than other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

For now though, Edgar is doing his bit to make his community healthier because he believes it’s important that the old ways are not lost and that the next generation continues to respect the benefits of traditional healers.
“I’m 63 now, so I hope I can continue on because I’ve lost some of my old people and healers. We need to encourage younger people and look at who will follow on with the tradition.”
For more information, visit www.kokwam.com.