The herbalism scam
THE Roman Catholic Church has a herbal clinic situated at the Harare Showgrounds. It is run by some nuns and herbalists who apparently have a qualification of some sort in herbal medicine. I visited them on Friday morning and I was a bit impressed that our country is starting to accept “unconventional” medicine. It is run almost similarly to the surgeries we have become accustomed to. One pays a $5 consultation fee, gets into a room to have their vitals checked and then waits their turn to see the “herbalist” who then prescribes the herbs required to treat whatever ailment one has.
They also have over the counter drugs where you can go and buy headache herbs and anything else you feel you do not need consultation for. They gave me a price list for herbs to treat over 50 conditions from memory loss to arthritis; menstrual cramps, diabetes, cancer and even heart problems. In the short period I was there, three patients left after getting prescriptions totalling about $25 each. One woman’s prescription was to the tune of $47.
I looked at them and thought, Wow! What a rip-off ! I am sure an inyanga in Tsholotsho could have given them the same drugs for a small fraction of what they paid. So this is what my people need for them to accept traditional medicines? Approval from the church?
Robert and Mary Moffat; parents of the notorious John Moffat of the infamous Moffat Treaty and in laws to the man who “discovered” the Victoria Falls; David Livingstone; came to Zimbabwe on a mission not only to “save” our souls but also to save us from our uncivilised selves. They came with an attitude that everything European/Christian was superior to everything African.
To be wholly accepted in this “superior” lifestyle one had to denounce everything that they were and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Baptism would then wash away all of one’s sins and they would be a new creation, a brand new man. Just imagine the romance, the appeal and the prestige of being “born again.”
The born again man had to take up a Christian name, abandon all African rituals such as umbuyiso, and completely forsake traditional medicines. Our ancestors were called demons and our healers were renamed witch doctors. The new Christian was told to look to the Lord and doctors for healing. Medical and psychological treatment had been easily accessible to everyone through izinyanga and spirit mediums but people found themselves having to walk long distances to clinics.
Intravenous means: ‘‘existing or taking place within, or administered into, a vein or veins.’’ Traditionally, a newborn baby had various medicines introduced into their blood stream intravenously, by making small incisions on the skin with a sharp instrument or razor blade in modern times; and rubbing medicine in them so the medicine would go straight into the bloodstream.
This is how our ancestors immunised their babies against child killer diseases and evil spirits. When Christianity came, they were told the practise was evil and they abandoned ukucaba for hospital immunisation. Ama “11” which some of us still have, were replaced by the famous injection scar on the upper right arms of most Zimbabwean Children.
To this day, worldwide, the intravenous route is the fastest way to deliver fluids and medications throughout the b o d y. The fact that our healers have been doing it for centuries suggests to me that our medical practices were sophisticated and effective. For years I have been asking myself what is so evil about our traditional medicines. The ones I have come across are all herbal, they come from plants. They can be roots one has to chew, leaves dried and ground into powder and barks soaked in water among others. I have also heard that the dung of elephants can heal certain diseases and if you burn it, the smoke can chase away evil spirits. I have no proof that it works but above all, I do not see the link with evil spirits or wickedness. I assume the dung of animals, especially elephants, is used because elephants are herbivorous so I am sure their excretions are packed with all sorts of herbal components. Most medicines in pharmacies today, are plantbased. They are just the processed and better packaged versions of what we could get for way less from our traditional healers. We all seem to believe our medicines work, but because we believe they are evil; we only go to an inyanga discreetly, like thieves in the night. They heal us but are never recognised for their efforts because once we are healed we then go and testify that we were healed through prayer and prophesy so that people do not suspect us of dabbling in witchcraft. To keep our “good boy” and “good girl’ reputations intact, we refuse to give credit where it’s due. I believe izinyanga are just professionals like any other. Let us look at them positively. Because they are only human, it is possible that some of them are evil and are involved in evil and criminal acts. Just like we have doctors who perform abortions despite them being illegal, we have traditional healers who break the law. It is individuals who are evil, not the entire practice. We need to modernise our traditional medicines. We must research further, determine dosages and identify which part of the plant is medicinal. This will help us avoid carrying around little tanks of water with little trees soaked in them because all we know is that a certain tree treats head lice but we do not know if the medicine is in the seed, the leaves or the roots. We shall be more productive as a nation if we take pride in the things we believe in. We need to be confident in our own systems and develop them without seeking validation from anyone. Before the Chinese flooded our markets with herbal teas and other herbal concoctions, we would not be caught dead with anything that looked herb-like. The Chinese then introduced their Tianshi products and after that Boom! Everyone is into herbs. We take our relatives to India year in and year out for cancer treatment simply because we refuse to be seen trying our inyangas who claim to have treatments for cancer. We would rather sell everything and fly to India. It’s a shame! I write this with a lot of anger in my heart that missionaries came to my country, convinced everyone that herbalists were evil and promoted “orthodox” medicine. After years of suffering, billions spent on medical aid and thousands dying because they could not afford to go to the hospital, they come back, open some expensive herbal clinic that does not accept medical aid and convince descendants of those people, that natural is the way to go!