Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Saturday December 1, 2001
Michael Norton, Associated Press Writer
The treatment isn't intended to attack the virus but the evil spirit believed to be causing the illness. Seeing the patient, Castera enters a trance, during which he says one of the spirits possesses him.
"If the spirit makes me slap my right thigh, I can work a cure. If it is the left thigh, he is incurable," the 49-year-old priest says.
As he speaks, he runs a cheese grater across a human skull to create a powder, which he puts into an elixir for the patient to drink. The red-and-black coffin is supposed to help weaken the evil spirit.
Voodoo evolved in the 17th century among African slaves brought to Haiti. It is often practiced in tandem with Catholicism. Followers believe in a supreme God and a world of mighty spirits who link humans with the divine.
With an estimated 5.2 percent of its 8.2 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Haiti has one of the highest rates of infection in the Caribbean. Like the country's mainstream medical community, Haiti's voodoo priests have had to turn their attention and efforts to treating the disease.
Castera and his wife, voodoo priestess Jeanette Joseph, treat every ailment from lovesickness to cancer.
"We are not the doctor. The doctor is the spirit," Castera said.
Every month, about 400 people seek consultations with the couple. About half say they have AIDS, though the Casteras do not test for the virus.
A consultation costs about $6.30, while a complete AIDS treatment can cost up to $4,000.
Patients looking for help slip into the couple's treatment center - dimly lit rooms decorated with multicolored scarves and altars strewn with lit candles, sequined bottles of rum and perfume, swords and rattles.
Later, Castera said they urge patients to visit a Western-trained doctor because they believe modern medicine also can help.
This year, about $8 million is being put toward fighting AIDS in Haiti, coming from donors including U.N. agencies, the United States and the Netherlands.
"The amount allocated to Haiti will probably increase slightly next year," said Dr. Eddy Genece, director of a Haitian group, Promoters of Zero-Objective in the Spread of AIDS. "But even so, the level of assistance will be woefully inadequate."
Current programs are devoted to prevention, focusing largely on education, distribution of condoms, surveys and some testing. No drugs are being distributed to the infected and little care is available.
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