Martin eats razor blades
Aug 05, 2005
LIKE a cobra about to strike, he tucks in his stomach and stares blankly. Then he throws his legs over his shoulder and imitates a soldier saluting and a rebel shooting with a gun.
By Elvina Nawaguna
LIKE a cobra about to strike, he tucks in his stomach and stares blankly. Then he throws his legs over his shoulder and imitates a soldier saluting and a rebel shooting with a gun.
“I am like a snake…no bones!†Fred Martin boasts. A large crowd gathers around him, many of them abandoning their shops on Naboa road in Mbale.
He is a dark frail looking man of about 5’7â€. He is wearing blue track suit pants and a gray vest, which, for some reason or another, he keeps taking off and wearing again. His feet are tucked away in lime green socks and torn flat cloth and rubber shoes.
His face is small, cat-shaped, with tiny glimmering eyes and a receding forehead. “Noti conman, buti acurobati (sic),†he chants to his growing audience.
Before he performs, he asks for sh1,500. Reluctantly, coins start dropping in, one by one, until they make the sh1,500. He stops a passing peddler and buys two razor blades.
“I don’t have food, so I feed on razor blades! My stomach has no intestines!†Martin says, as he unwraps one razorblade.
Showing it to the audience, Martin sticks the razorblade in his mouth and chews on it while walking in circles, occasionally opening his mouth for the audience to see. He swallows without difficulty. He then casually picks the second razor and eats it as though he has done so all his life.
Before he performs another stunt, Martin asks the audience to contribute another sh1,000. This time, the crowd is anxious to see what other trick could be worse than chewing a razor. After collecting the money, Fred picks a knife that has been lying beside his bag and holds it up, like they do when about to circumcise people in Bugisu.
“You are about to see something you have never seen!†Martin says as the crowd quickly raises the money. After counting and tucking it into his bag, he takes off his vest.
He assures the crowd that he can cure a wound in two seconds. He picks a knife that has been lying on the floor, holds it high, raises his head, sticks out his tongue and starts cutting his tongue long strips as blood oozes down his chin and stomach.
He sticks out his bloody tongue and walks around to make sure everyone sees. He then puts his tongue into the mouth for a few seconds and when he sticks it out, it is clean. To add disgust to it, he cleans the blood from his chest using the knife and leaks it.
With his bloody hands, he pulls sticks of clay (Mumbwa) and herbs from his bag, which he markets to his audience. People buy the sticks like hot cakes. He tells his buyers to crash the stick into warm water and drink three times a day as a cure for diseases like ebiseke (a fallopian tube disease), syphilis, heart problems, stomach troubles and tuberculosis.
After demanding a few more hundreds from his audience, Martin lays a splinter of wood of about 30cm over two beer bottles creating a bridge. He takes off his cap and slips his legs between the bottle and under the splinter. Slowly, he slides his way down until his whole body passes under the bridge. without even touching the sides or shaking the bottles, he provokes a roar of applause from the viewers. He suddenly jumps up, picks his bag, changes into a neat blue sports shirt and black track pants and starts walking away, like he was just another pedestrian on the street, leaving the people laughing, amazed, confused and the children following him.
Born 27 years ago in Iganga district, Fred Martin went to Nabuseji primary school in Busike, Mbale, up to P.5 when his father died. “There was no one to pay my school fees, so I went to study acrobatics. Martin went to Tanzania, where a magician called Johnstone Muhangi trained him. Eremiah Bazaale, the Bujagali falls acrobat also trained him for seven months, in 2003.
Since then, Martin has been performing acrobatics and magic tricks to make a living.
“I don’t dig; I don’t do anything else. I wake up in the morning, dress up and do my tricks,†he says.
Martin says it is mainly through physical fitness that he is able to perform his stunts. However, after long pressing, he admits he uses magic.
He says he gets the magic from eating shrubs. Martin says he makes enough money to take care of his two wives and two children. He rents for each of his wives a house in Doko, Mbale. On an average day, he makes up to sh100,000. Ironically, this magician is a devout Catholic who prays at St Denis Catholic Church and does not work on that day.
Martin says he finds nothing wrong with being a magician, since magic existed way before Christianity came to Africa. He says he has never gone underwater as many people think. Martin is the last child in a family of four. He lost touch with the rest of his siblings. However, he is close to his mother who lives in Busike, Mbale, whom he visits regularly.
He insists on using Fred Martin as his legitimate name. Martin has an introduction letter from an LC, which introduces him as Fred Martin.
He hopes that within five years, he would have earned enough money to employ a helper and export his stunts abroad.
He has gone as far as Kenya to market his skills and has also performed for the Tyson Waragi promotion in Paidha.
Ends
LIKE a cobra about to strike, he tucks in his stomach and stares blankly. Then he throws his legs over his shoulder and imitates a soldier saluting and a rebel shooting with a gun.
“I am like a snake…no bones!†Fred Martin boasts. A large crowd gathers around him, many of them abandoning their shops on Naboa road in Mbale.
He is a dark frail looking man of about 5’7â€. He is wearing blue track suit pants and a gray vest, which, for some reason or another, he keeps taking off and wearing again. His feet are tucked away in lime green socks and torn flat cloth and rubber shoes.
His face is small, cat-shaped, with tiny glimmering eyes and a receding forehead. “Noti conman, buti acurobati (sic),†he chants to his growing audience.
Before he performs, he asks for sh1,500. Reluctantly, coins start dropping in, one by one, until they make the sh1,500. He stops a passing peddler and buys two razor blades.
“I don’t have food, so I feed on razor blades! My stomach has no intestines!†Martin says, as he unwraps one razorblade.
Showing it to the audience, Martin sticks the razorblade in his mouth and chews on it while walking in circles, occasionally opening his mouth for the audience to see. He swallows without difficulty. He then casually picks the second razor and eats it as though he has done so all his life.
Before he performs another stunt, Martin asks the audience to contribute another sh1,000. This time, the crowd is anxious to see what other trick could be worse than chewing a razor. After collecting the money, Fred picks a knife that has been lying beside his bag and holds it up, like they do when about to circumcise people in Bugisu.
“You are about to see something you have never seen!†Martin says as the crowd quickly raises the money. After counting and tucking it into his bag, he takes off his vest.
He assures the crowd that he can cure a wound in two seconds. He picks a knife that has been lying on the floor, holds it high, raises his head, sticks out his tongue and starts cutting his tongue long strips as blood oozes down his chin and stomach.
He sticks out his bloody tongue and walks around to make sure everyone sees. He then puts his tongue into the mouth for a few seconds and when he sticks it out, it is clean. To add disgust to it, he cleans the blood from his chest using the knife and leaks it.
With his bloody hands, he pulls sticks of clay (Mumbwa) and herbs from his bag, which he markets to his audience. People buy the sticks like hot cakes. He tells his buyers to crash the stick into warm water and drink three times a day as a cure for diseases like ebiseke (a fallopian tube disease), syphilis, heart problems, stomach troubles and tuberculosis.
After demanding a few more hundreds from his audience, Martin lays a splinter of wood of about 30cm over two beer bottles creating a bridge. He takes off his cap and slips his legs between the bottle and under the splinter. Slowly, he slides his way down until his whole body passes under the bridge. without even touching the sides or shaking the bottles, he provokes a roar of applause from the viewers. He suddenly jumps up, picks his bag, changes into a neat blue sports shirt and black track pants and starts walking away, like he was just another pedestrian on the street, leaving the people laughing, amazed, confused and the children following him.
Born 27 years ago in Iganga district, Fred Martin went to Nabuseji primary school in Busike, Mbale, up to P.5 when his father died. “There was no one to pay my school fees, so I went to study acrobatics. Martin went to Tanzania, where a magician called Johnstone Muhangi trained him. Eremiah Bazaale, the Bujagali falls acrobat also trained him for seven months, in 2003.
Since then, Martin has been performing acrobatics and magic tricks to make a living.
“I don’t dig; I don’t do anything else. I wake up in the morning, dress up and do my tricks,†he says.
Martin says it is mainly through physical fitness that he is able to perform his stunts. However, after long pressing, he admits he uses magic.
He says he gets the magic from eating shrubs. Martin says he makes enough money to take care of his two wives and two children. He rents for each of his wives a house in Doko, Mbale. On an average day, he makes up to sh100,000. Ironically, this magician is a devout Catholic who prays at St Denis Catholic Church and does not work on that day.
Martin says he finds nothing wrong with being a magician, since magic existed way before Christianity came to Africa. He says he has never gone underwater as many people think. Martin is the last child in a family of four. He lost touch with the rest of his siblings. However, he is close to his mother who lives in Busike, Mbale, whom he visits regularly.
He insists on using Fred Martin as his legitimate name. Martin has an introduction letter from an LC, which introduces him as Fred Martin.
He hopes that within five years, he would have earned enough money to employ a helper and export his stunts abroad.
He has gone as far as Kenya to market his skills and has also performed for the Tyson Waragi promotion in Paidha.
Ends