Face-to-face with the ‘doctor’
Mr Hassan Sheikh Yahya Hussein displays popular prescriptions for his clients’ perceived problems at his Nairobi clinic. Left: A ring which double-ups as a charm. Photos/CHARLES KAMAU
When Hassan Sheikh Yahya Hussein is in Nairobi, he operators from a three-star hotel. The area outside his room, functions as a reception where clients lounge on leather sofas.
A client removes his shoes first. The room is dimly lit and filled with the smell of burning incense. At one corner of the room, is a table on which are several jars with labels that read: Mtego wa Mke (wife trap), Kumvuta Mtu Aliyepotea (Attracting Missing Person), Nguvu ya Kiume (Male Strength), Kuacha Sigara (Quitting Smoking) and Kuacha Pombe (Alcoholism Cure), among others.
Between the bed and the wall, there is blue carpet upon which a red cloth is spread. Around it are burning candles. Clients sit on the red cloth as Mr Hussein goes through the motions of treating or diagnosing their problems.
I sit on the cloth, the smell of incense overpowering, as Mr Hussein goes about the business of looking into my future and what it portends.
According to the alignment of the stars, I can be a very wealthy man in the future. But for this to happen, I would have to move into the import-export business and travel around the world.
“You are Sagittarius. Sagittarius is an arrow and hence it is constant motion. For you to prosper, you need to move far and wide,” he advises me.
