Rae Graham's life as a witchdoctor is far removed from her other life as a Johannesburg city councillor and even farther from Bristol, England, where she was born. Rae grew up "on the wrong side of the railway line" but gained her chance in life by becoming a nurse in wartime England, rising to become the youngest Head of Hospital in the country and the first person to administer the new drug penicillin. Along the way, Rae met a South African soldier studying at Oxford. In spite of objections from his very proper mother, Cecil Graham married the young nurse and took her home to Johannesburg. From there the couple was sent off to run the family's trading station in Sibasa, capital of the traditional homeland of the Venda tribe. Adjusting to life with neither electricity nor plumbing but with plenty of snakes, scorpions, and tropical diseases, Rae Graham established herself as a friend of the Venda. She was the only Western-trained medical person in the village, but she quickly came to know and appreciate the native herbalists and witchdoctors in the area. When the Grahams relocated to another family trading post in Bechuanaland (later Botswana) ten years later, Rae ventured into the Kalahari Desert where she gained a close understanding of the Bushmen. Once back in Johannesburg, Rae determined to become a witchdoctor herself. After initial strong resistance, she was accepted for a rigorous ten-year apprenticeship with a witchdoctor teacher. She was instructed in the traditional manner without accommodation for her color, gender, or native culture. Ultimately she gained the knowledge and acceptance to practice the wise and ancient craft. Rae Graham is often called "the blackest white in South Africa" as her understanding of and relations with the country's ten black tribes are truly extraordinary.

White Woman Witchdoctor: Tales of the African Life of Rae Graham

Biographies & Memoirs

McCallum, Taffy Gould

Community & Culture

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White Woman Witchdoctor: Tales of the African Life of Rae Graham