One man’s dedication to traditional medicine

THE human body is an interesting, unique and captivating thing and caring for the amazing machines called our bodies is vital. While we have doctors, trainers, and a better understanding of caring for the human body today, some people prefer the old-fashioned methods of health care. The discussion between traditional medicine and cures has long been a bone of contention. Some turn to western medicine, while others believe in traditional cures that everyone cannot learn.

Mangal Persaud grew up in the community of Wales on the West Bank of Demerara. As a young man, rather than playing sports like the other boys of his community; Mangal was interested in deeper things. From the tender age of nine, Mangal dedicated his time to learning traditional medicinal practices.

The 66-year-old still leads and extremely active life, and he says it is all owed to the knowledge he gained on caring for the human body. A West Bank man at heart Mangal was raised in the community of Wales, a village along the West Bank of Demerara. “I grew up in Wales from the age of nine years old. Growing up in Wales was mighty, I have no complaints about the village.” Mangal shared.

Although health and well-being are his passions, Mangal was also an estate worker for many years. He loved and held on to this job for more than three decades. “I used to work on the farm at first and then I began working in the sugar estate. I worked there for forty-three and a half years. I loved estate work,” Mangal said.

Today, he works at a store in Vreed-En-Hoop. But almost every person comes to Mangal at his job for a wide assortment of issues that they believe he can fix. Mangal has a long list of patients who come to him for everything from nerve damage and arthritis to a slipped disc or dislocated ankle. And his patients have the utmost faith in his abilities.

“I look after people who have problems with their nerves. Their backs, feet, fingers and knees, I have fixed people’s ankles at work before,” he told the Pepperpot Magazine. Mangal seems to have a phenomenal gift. He has people come to him every day with an assortment of ailments that fixed with a few cracks and adjustments.

“I have been doing this since I was nine. And old guy taught me this job and I started experimenting with what I learnt from him,” Mangal explained. The man who taught him had a great influence on Mangal. He shared that he has practised noticing people’s health problems from the time he was a child and says today, he has improved that particular skill.

Although the majority of problems people come to Mangal with are simple, like neck and back pain, there have been a few cases where he was presented with far more severe cases. Mangal says he has had three cases where a person cannot walk, and in all three cases, he claimed to have been able to restore that person’s ability to walk.

“They came in a car and they could not move their foot, and I talk to them and rub their feet,” Mangal stated. He further explained that everyone’s body is unique and thus requires different treatments. By no means does Mangal claim to be a doctor, nor does he claim to be able to fix all health problems. But the people he has seen do have the utmost faith in him and his abilities.

But treating people, young and old, is his passion. Mangal does not consider what he does as a job. As such he does not take payment for the work he does, but rather whatever the person being treated can afford. “I do not do this as a business,” Mangal stated.

He explained that helping people is far more important and he likes his nine-to-five job just fine. Mangal has begun teaching various people in his community how to do what he does. Mangal considers what he does and what he knows to be common knowledge and says it can be taught and learned by anyone. Mangal said that, “I know the work that I do, so when people ask, I do not turn them down.” He further explained that his goal is to educate and help others. Better health, he shared, is dependent on oneself. He explained that traditional medicine is not magic but an old understanding of the human body guided by the same principles used by doctors. Mangal urges people to take better care of themselves and eat better in order to live better.