At the famous Fetish Market in Lome, Togo, traditional remedies and magical talismans compete with modern medicine for Africans looking to cure illness — and also find love or cast a spell.
ALEX CHADWICK, host: In parts of West Africa, traditional remedies used in religions like      voodoo or juju are as popular as Western medicines.  In Togo, in the      capital city Lome, the local Fetish Market is a source of potions for      just about any ailment or simply for good luck.  NPR's Ofeibia      Quist-Arcton goes shopping.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: OFEIBIA QUIST-ARCTON reporting:</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Children fling foam used in purification rites.  On the outskirts of      Lome, tucked away down a dirt road, sits the Fetish Market, le marche de      fetiche.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Mr. JOSEPH OBA MAYEBE(ph) (Herbalist):  Now we are in the Fetish Market      now. And this place be like a farm market for everybody in the world.      When somebody have a sickness now, even if that sickness is      ...(unintelligible) hospital, then we send you to the Fetish Market here.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Joseph Oba Mayebe is a herbalist from the neighboring      country Benin, but runs his market store here in Togo.  He's one of the      traditional healers at the Fetish Market who sell supplies and make up      potions, powders and remedies.</s>Mr. OBA MAYEBE: Here now we have a different kind of ...(unintelligible)      market. This here now we have different birds--vultures, and an owl.  We      have chameleon, the head of a snake viper, cobra, skin of a tiger, lion,      hyena.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Oba Mayebe, nicknamed the Doctor, leads his reporter      through the dusty, fetid fetish market among rows and rows of stalls      hawking neat paths of hundreds of all manner of dried animals, birds and      crustaceans and skulls and skeletons.</s>Mr. OBA MAYEBE: That is a vulture's head, and we garnish with herbs.      And after that, we have to put it on the fire, she has to be, like, a      black powder.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Inside the voodoo market, taking center stage is the      market fetish itself, erected for protection.  It's a messy bonfire mix      of birds beaks and feathers, snake skins and other animal pelts and a      wooden statue bound together with dried blood.  It's a quiet day and the      traders, men and women, are lounging by their goods hoping for customers.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Unidentified Man:  (Foreign language spoken)</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Amidst this setting, slightly offset from the rain bucket      in his shrine, was the fetish priest and voodoo chief of the market.      Chanting incantations, he was offering spiritual benediction and healing      powers at a price.  Faced with a reporter, he came up with an instant      prescription.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Unidentified Man:  (Foreign language spoken)</s>QUIST-ARCTON: `You need a telephone talisman,' said the fetish priest.      And so a tiny little key chain-sized wooden doll goes through the motions      and is handed over as a good-luck charm.</s>Mr. OBA MAYEBE: And this is now--this is one of spiritual power.  Then      we call it (foreign language spoken).  In English, people call it      telephone fetish for a traveling one.  They maybe want to travel from      Togo to America, take it with your left hand.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Addressing skeptics, Oba Mayebe, the traditional healer,      said customers from all over the world come to the fetish market in Lome      in search of healing.</s>Mr. OBA MAYEBE: If you came here with your problem, he can help you.  He      doesn't use the black magic, only the white magic to help everybody in      the world.  When the people came here, they say that they need black      African power.</s>Mr. OBA MAYEBE: Group of Boys:  (Singing in foreign language)</s>QUIST-ARCTON: These teen-age boys just out of school perform one of the      songs reserved for the special Lome Fetish Market closing ceremony held      once a year.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Group of Boys:  (Singing in foreign language)</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, at the Fetish Market in      Lome.</s>QUIST-ARCTON: Group of Boys:  (Singing in foreign language)</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: I'm Alex Chadwick.  More DAY TO DAY just ahead from NPR News.