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Developments:
Explanations given by mothers in Hlabisa for respiratory and diarrhoeal illnesses in their children, in a 2004 Africa Centre study:
- Mother transgressing social taboos during pregnancy
- Moral misconduct by the mother
- Lightning fumes - when you cross a path that has been struck by lightning, you are thought to inhale dangerous, disease-causing fumes
- Bad dreams - if a mother dreams of being stabbed, for example, her child will experience sharp, piercing chest pains
- Evil tracks - when moving, animals and people leave behind something of themselves and absorb something from the environment. Sometimes, however, these tracks are left behind by evil sorcery ('umthakathi' in Zulu), causing disease in the person who steps over them.
For most of the illnesses these misfortunes cause, modern medicine is considered an inappropriate remedy. Instead, parents turn to ritual healing, herbal medicines and treatment by traditional healers.
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