A Hospital in a Village Form
Located at the edges of Equatorial Rainforest of Congo, the Mbindo Lala Hospital has the appearance of a small village comprised of thirty huts typically for patients and their families. This article describes the daily life of this hospital-village with a focus on highlighting the philosophy of Ngbandi medicine and healers, which structures care practices in the hospital-village. Similarly, the author shows how the social structure and the cultural universe of Angbandi are incorporated in this hospital-village with therapeutic activities organized around three altars (one for the ancestors, another for the spirits of the forest and water, and one to block witchcraft activities), all places where patients gather each day to receive their treatment. It is within the horizon of a politics of authenticity, put forward by President Mobutu between 1972 and 1977, that the status of the village hospital and, more broadly, medicine and healers are discussed. Further, the limits associated with the politics of valorization of a Zairian therapeutic tradition are underlined.