Beliefs And Practices Of The Nuer Community Towards Mokism And Monorchidism In Wanthoaar Woreda And Itang Special Woreda Gambella Region

This study was conducted in Nuer community in Itang special woreda andrnWanthoaar woreda, Gambella region on “Beliefs and Practices of the Nuer Communityrntowards “Mokism” and Monorchidism”. The study has used qualitative method withrnpurposive and snowball techniques to collect relevant data. The tools used for datarncollection were semi-structured and unstructured interview with opened-ended questions.rnStudy respondents were 28 (M = 23, F = 5); meaning, 4 community elders, 2 traditionalrnhealers, 1 lord of the land, 2 youth with inborn monorchidism, 1 non-disabled youth, 8rnreligious leaders, and 10 health professionals. The main objective of this study was tornexplore traditional beliefs about the community thinks causes inborn “Mokism”,rnMonorchidism, and Acquired Monorchidism as well as the applied cultural practicesrntowards persons with these mentioned conditions in the Nuer community. Resultsrnobtained from respondents on traditional beliefs about the causes of both inbornrn“mokism” and monorchidism have fallen under three major sources of beliefs aboutrndisability in general: Traditional animalism, Christianity fatalism, and Medicalrndeterminism, respectively. Eighteen respondents on “mokism” followed by ten 10rnrespondents on monorchidism, have said that both inborn conditions are caused byrn“cultural-related factors” (traditional animalism), followed by medical determinism withrn12 & 6 respondents for inborn monorchidism and “mokism”, respectively, and finally,rnChristian fatalism with 6 & 4 respondents for inborn monorchidism and “mokism”rnrespectively). Study results (findings) have been analyzed using descriptive/narrativernmethod. In general, study results have shown that traditonal beliefs about the causes ofrninborn disabilities are still predominant in the Nuer community. Though explanations onrnthe causes of inborn conditions differ considerably, the results indicated that Nuerrncommunity believes their victims “possess” evil spirits, supernatural powers, and killingrnspirits/powers that can hurt or possibly kill non-disabled community members. Inrnaddition, the results have shown that the community has “unique” traditional healingrnrituals for both inborn victims performed by local traditional healers and lords of thernland (leopard skin chiefs) on the one hand, and “simple” to “serious” harmful culturalrnpractices such as “Extermination of Victims”, on the other. According to the studyrnresults, most of harmful cultural practices performed on the victims of inborn disabilitiesrndirectly stemmed from the prevalent negative traditional perceptions and beliefs towardsrnthem on the account that the victims possess “perceieved” evil or killing spirits and,rnsupernatural powers

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