We passed through an open hall that I would learn was used for mass and he pulled out a key ring with at least 20 keys and unlocked the padlock securing his workshop. As he swung open the door, I immediately started to feel uneasy. It wasn’t any one thing in particular. Not the collection of hanging scarves, the various blades scattered on his table next to bottles containing leaves and other traditional remedies, or even the requisite human skulls tucked away under what appeared to be an altar. No. I’ve worked with traditional healers before. They were a large part of the solution to the Ebola outbreak in Guinea. But Philocles is different. Here, in Haiti, he’s called a ‘ Hougan’. But to the rest of the world, he’s known as a voodoo priest. [Read More]