The Road Less Traveled : Traditional Medicine

I have mentioned several times throughout this blog that the Tongan government provides universal healthcare for free to its citizens. The conditions of the hospitals and the access to particular medicines may differ from what we expect in the US, but Tongans are given vaccines, check ups, and routine medical procedures for free. The doctors and nurses are incredibly bright and well trained, having usually attended university and medical school in Fiji, New Zealand, or Australia. It still takes me a second to remember that Tongans go to the hospital for all medical issues, including minor illnesses like the common cold, as I immediately return to my American fear/anxiety of hospitals when I hear that one my students is missing school to go the hospital, before I eventually realize my mistake.

Of course, no system is perfect. There is only one MRI machine in Tonga on the main island. Dialysis and chemotherapy, while theoretically possible, are extremely rare, and Tongans suffering from cancer who can’t afford to get treatment overseas are left with few options. These are serious issues that leave room for traditional medicine to reassert itself.

I’m sure it surprises no one that traditional medicine stills exists in Tonga. When I first arrived in Tonga, I expected to see some form of traditional medicine, but for most of my two years here I haven’t observed anything. Once in a while a kid would come to school with a weird green paste on a cut, but these incidents were few and far between.

It was not until a few weeks ago that I was first exposed to the world of Tongan medicine. I was walking to town on a Friday when someone from my village offered to give me a ride as long as I first went with him and his wife to the nearby village of ‘Utui. In Tongan, he explained that his wife needed medical treatment in the village. I was confused, as I had never heard of someone traveling to another village to receive medical care, but I assumed that I must have misunderstood what he was saying and would see what happened.

In ‘Utui, the husband and I remained in the car, while the wife entered a house and stayed inside for thirty minutes. Once she returned, we drove into town and went our separate ways. My interest was peaked however. I had no idea what happened inside the house, but I was curious and wanted to learn more. After pestering a few people with my questions, I discovered that there was a whole world of “underground” traditional medicine throughout Tonga that I was completely unaware of. Almost every village has a healer that specializes in a particular kind of medicine. In fact, I learned that a woman I knew quite well from my village is considered very talented at treating stomach issues using traditional Tongan medicine.

I could only laugh. After two years of living in my village, and thinking that I was beginning to understand all of its mysteries, I realized that in many I ways still don’t have a clue. After all this time Tonga continues to surprise me.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy some more photos of the King’s birthday celebration taken by another volunteer.