FAQs: Voodoo, Drugs and Foreign Aid
Interviewer: “What’s your angle here? I mean, why Haiti and what the f*** is a bokor?”
Steve Stratman: Just so you know, if you swear in a blog, no one will ever take you seriously.
“But you swear.”
Not in a blog.
“I heard you swear in front of your dad once.”
He didn’t have his hearing aids in. Is this really what you want to talk about?
“Well, what’s a bokor, anyway? And why does your book end up in Haiti of all places?”
A bokor is a type of vodou shaman. He does ceremonies to try and help you feel better. Or fix a hex your ex-husband put on you. If you believe in that sort of thing.
“What if you don’t believe in it?”
Then I guess he can’t help you.
“Why Haiti?”
I know some Haitians and they’re kind-hearted, interesting people. Plus, I read a book by a guy named Timothy Schwartz. He’s an anthropologist. He spent a long time living in Haiti and had some pretty raw insights on what’s going on in that country and all the international aid that killed their economy. The New York Times and Rolling Stone used his research for a lot of their articles on how the world hashed up their country. It was fascinating. Plus, voodoo pretty much scares the socks off most people.
“It doesn’t scare you?”
I’m pretty sure missionaries made up most of the scary parts.
“How would you know.”
I don’t. But it seems to be pretty standard practice. You know, using fear to motivate people.
“Doesn’t everyone do that, though?”
No. Everyone doesn’t do that.
“There’s a monkey that lives in the top drawer of my clothes cabinet.”
Can we just get back to the topic here?
“Every time I walk in the room, the drawer opens and it blows a dart in my neck.”
You’re making fun of me.
“I’m serious. After it blows a dart in my neck it ducks back down into the drawer and closes it up.”
That’s probably impossible.
“What’s this Ayahuasca stuff you talk about in your book?”
It’s a psychotropic drug that Peruvian aborigines distill out of certain small trees and bushes.
“Sounds like hippie ju-ju bullshit to me.”
They say that their ancestors live in it.
“Damn. Can we talk about voodoo some more?”
Just read Dr. Schwartz’s book for yourself. It’s called Travesty In Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking. But don’t mention that I recommended it. He’d probably not be real happy that I’m associating my book with his.
“Why?”
He has a Ph.D. I don’t.
“That’s not really something you want to advertise, right?”
Yeah. Thanks for that.