Cape Town - Paul Fombuto is lying on a narrow bed with a small wooden box on his bare stomach and needles sticking out of his legs and wrists.
Smoke escapes from holes in the box, emitting a pungent aroma, which can easily be mistaken for marijuana, but which is later identified as mugwort, a herb used in traditional Chinese medicine.
It is only Fombuto’s second treatment, but the 52-year-old construction foreman, originally from Cameroon, is more than happy with the initial results.
“I’ve had back and neck pain for 15 years but it’s gone,” he says, almost in disbelief.
Fombuto is a patient at the Flying Needle Project, a free acupuncture clinic in central Cape Town which was set up seven years ago.
Dr Alex Smuts recently took over the reins as director from founder, Gidon Levenbach who returned to the US earlier this year.
Smuts said Levenbach’s plan had been to have a mobile clinic that would travel to the townships to treat people, but without any interest from the government and resistance to such a project in some quarters, it is now operating at the Scalabrini Centre, a non-profit organisation that works with refugees.
It initially treated refugees with HIV and Aids, TB and diseases such as cholera and parasitic disease but last year moved to the Carpenter’s Shop in Roeland Street, which works with Cape Town’s destitute.
These days the Flying Needle Project is open to the general public every Tuesday and Thursday from 9.30am to 2.30pm on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Smuts, who studied at the University of the Western Cape’s School of Natural Medicine towards a five-year BSc degree in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, said he’d always been interested in alternative treatments such as reflexology, homeopathy and shiatsu. “I researched Chinese medicine and it seemed holistic and integrated,” Smuts said.
He spent some time in China in 2010 and visited a clinic at the University of Beijing.
Smuts said more people in South Africa were using natural remedies as the side-effects of Western medicine became more apparent.
Acupuncture involves the insertion of needles through the skin at strategic points on the body.
“Acupuncture is like an electrical system and the points are like power stations.
“By manipulating the points you alter the power station,” Smuts explains.
They treat arthritis, joint disease and weakness of the joints. The burning of mugwort is a treatment called Moxibustion which has warming properties and is good for blood circulation.
“With lifestyle factors such as diet or trauma (the body) goes out of sync and if you can pinpoint what is out of sync you can reconnect the dots.”
Smuts, who also has a private practice, said a committee of volunteers had been appointed to raise funds for the project.
His vision is to see the project grow into a full-time clinic: “Maybe even a hospital.”
There is certainly a need.
The waiting room is packed as we leave.
Helen Bamford, Cape Argus