It could be difficult for people outside South Africa to appreciate the level of popular superstition, and the brazenness of those who exploit it. So I'm starting a little series, showcasing some of the advertising. First up one of the pamphlets promoting 'Dr Raju', who offers an impressive array of services including some top of the line divination, and medical interventions that will change physical proportions (making penises larger, and vaginas smaller, 'like a virgin'). Readers should note that the service comes with a 'guarantee' and includes offers to help at the 'Gambling Cassino' (sic). My favourite, though, is the assertion that the good doctor is able to 'sit on a crocodile and lion skin while floating on water and communicating with the dead'. I would totally pay ZAR200 (about USD 26) to see that.
Here's the front and back of the pamphet. I get these dropped into the mailbox where I live regularly (around once a month) and also get handed them at traffic lights, and find them generally lying about the place. Dr Raju is not the only such service provider - I'll follow up with other examples in the future.
Oh, and ... uh ... I seem to have recovered the will to blog. For a bit. Maybe.
1 comment:
I almost always have one of Dr Raju's pamphlets under my windscreen wiper when I finish sanshou classes on Saturdays, and I used to enjoy seeing what new powers he had gained each week.
The one week he got promoted from the standard "under world / specialist / healer" to the King of Tokoloshe, when he gained the ability to send them back for revenge purposes. The next week he apparently mastered the tricky floating on water talking the dead thing. Unfortunately, he now seems to have settled at his current level, although he recently gained the ability to have his pamphlets printed in sort of a pink to green gradient, rather than the usual flat black.
Like you, I also find the floating on a crocodile and lion skin to be his most intriguing ability. I mean, does the floating assist with inter-dimensional communication, or is just done for effect? Is a lion and crocodile skin easier or harder to float on then, say, an antelope skin or a grass mat? Does he do this in his pool, his bath tub, or does he go down to the beach, perhaps? So many questions. If you do ever go along, you'll have to let me know.
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