Supernatural

           This morning I was working on my laptop while Mireya was lesson planning with a student teacher when our neighbor Paula rushed over to our house in a panic.  She was sobbing and making no sense at all.  Mireya asked if it was the baby (Paula just had a baby a few weeks ago) and she said yes so Mireya hurried back to the house with Paula and I ran to the school to find her husband Selemane.  I felt awful as I snatched him out of a meeting with the school director with no information other than “Hurry, your baby is sick.  We have to go home and take her to the hospital right now!”  I didn't know anything else because I’d just sprinted out of the house before we really knew what was wrong.  I had to walk Selemane back on the verge of a heart attack and assuming the worst.

            Luckily, the baby was fine.

            Rita, however, wasn’t.  In her panic, Paula had said it was the baby when Mireya asked because Rita had been holding the baby when the episode began.  When Paula found her, Rita had one hand around her own throat as if to try to choke herself and the other hand trying to pull the choking hand away.  That was when Paula snatched the baby away and sent her away from the house with another neighbor.  By the time Mireya entered the house, Rita was curled up against in the corner, vomit all over the room.  When Mireya tried to touch Rita’s shoulder, she flailed and tried to hit Mireya.

            When she finally calmed down, we returned back to our house.  The student teacher explained that the episode was called “Magine” and that Rita was very lucky.  He said that during these sudden violent episodes, people have grabbed knives or machetes, started cutting themselves and drinking their own blood.  He described it as a type of demon that possesses a person and attacks every few months.  Paula was petrified by Rita holding the baby when the attack began because apparently the demon can jump into other bodies.  Rita will have to go to the traditional witch doctor to have it expelled. 

            We may not get the chance to see Rita get better.  This past weekend she informed Mireya that Selemane is taking her back to Nampula to stay indefinitely with her other family.  When we asked when she was coming back she didn’t know and said it would depend on if Selemane wanted to bring her back to Montepuez.  After this episode and Paula’s fear that the demon will transfer to her baby, I don’t know if that is likely.