Village Remedies

It is interesting the line that my host family walks between life in the village (which for us is more like suburban Batumi) and living in the 21st century. Tradition, despite how contrary to modern life, still dictates a lot. I find the meeting of modern medicine and village remedies an interesting case study.

My host mother is a physician, a pediatric neurologist, and our house has plenty of Russian medicine around, but the mercury thermometer continues to unsettle me. While she facility she works in is still lacking by American standards (the Mayo Clinic it is not), she does not hesitate to use modern medicine to treat illnesses. Or to use village remedies as well.

For a long time I've believed that homeopathic remedies do have value and can be mixed with modern medicine to obtain results. However, there are times when homeopathic remedies border on the crazy. I've seen such in Georgia.

In my village it seems that cabbage is the go to for all of one's aches and pains. The first time I saw cabbage work its magic was with my Bebia (grandmother) and her head ache. We were eating lunch and Bebia brings out some cabbage leaves, which I presumed she was eating. No, she began to put them on her head. I turned to my host sister, and before I could say anything, she responds, "Grandma has a headache...the cabbage is to help it." She returned to eating and nothing more was said. She acted as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

Being a Westerner, I was highly skeptical that it would help her at all. The day the cabbage leaves went on her head, making her resemble a Cabbage Patch Kid newly hatched from the cabbage patch, she did not look well. In fact, it looked as though she could go at anytime. The next day the result was astonishing! She looked as though she had years to live, and was joking with the grandchildren as if nothing had been wrong. I thought I would have to look into village remedies some more.

My second encounter with village remedies still unsettles me greatly. It happened last week, and there is no way I will ever do this one. My host brother had been suffering from a low grade fever for several days. On about day 4, we were in the study with one of the host cousins, who by Georgian standards, is very nice to look at. All of the sudden my host brother has his hand down his pants.

"Jaba...ara." He continues despite my protests.

Now the host cousin gets involved, admonishing him in Georgian, yet Jaba does not stop. Soon he pulls something out of his pants and throws it across the room. It was cabbage. At this point I am thoroughly confused. Cabbage...? Pants...? Why...? I thought over and over. Soon my host sister arrived, and I told her what had happened.

"Ummm...Jaba had cabbage in his pants. What is going on?"

Without a hint of irony in her voice she says, "Oh...it's for his fever."

"But he had cabbage. In. His. Pants."

And she walks away. More or less immediately I figured it out. I also decided I never want to know the reasoning behind that remedy ever. However, it does make a good story to tell and when my North American friends hear it, the reaction is always the same, sort of "WTF?" My sentiments exactly.