The Hindu Business Line : Love's in the herbs

Are you looking to ensure that the love of your life stays by your side forever? That is exactly what the umuthi — magical herbs believed to be `love potions' — promise. Needless to say, the fabled umuthi is not easy to come by. Not only are there doubts whether these herbs really exist, they have also been known to hasten the end of some relationships.

Take the case of Barbara Rusere. Married to a Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority manager, she reportedly wrapped his underwear in umuthi and placed it in the glove compartment of her car. The two had been married for 12 years and were going through a rough patch, no longer sharing the same bedroom. Her husband, Raphael Rusere, told the magistrate, to whom he was brought on charges of violent attack on his wife, that he found his underwear in his wife's car when he was looking for his own car keys. He confronted her and she denied that they belonged to him. Raphael turned violent and struck Barbara with a stone, hurting her left ankle. The magistrate, however, sentenced him to 15 months in jail, nine of which were suspended conditionally and he had to make up for the rest by doing 210 hours of community service at a Harare hospital..

Zany concoctions

While Raphael has appealed against the conviction and sentence, Zimbabweans in general are debating the value of love potions. Some say it is a myth and an invention of jealous people bent on destroying other people's relationships. The relatives of a man, on the other hand, are usually quick to accuse his wife of using love potions to ensure that their son listens to her and no other person in the family.

Says Gordon Chavunduka, President of the Harare-based Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, "Men also use love potions to get women to fall in love with them."

Love potions come in various forms, including tree roots and concoctions. Some potions are believed to help a man successfully propose to a woman. "The men put the herbs under their tongues so that they can talk their partner or girlfriend into doing whatever they want," says Chavunduka. Some men dissolve a mixture of herbs in water and gurgle with it. As they spit out the mixture, they say aloud all their wishes and plans for the object of their love. Others have talismans that they keep in their pockets so that any woman they meet and fancy falls in love with them. "With others, it is inborn, and women dream about such men and just fall in love even when the man makes no effort," Chavunduka added.

But for those who must work hard to get noticed, Chavunduka and company have a variety of ingredients for zany concoctions that can be secretly slipped into food and offered to lovers. Scraps of flesh from a blind puppy will make a woman blindly do whatever a man wants. A lizard's tail will tie a woman to the house when she has finished her duties at home instead of going out to look for boyfriends and gossip. The heart of a pigeon ensures that the wife is always in the company of her husband.

Booming trade

Love potions are particularly common among men and women who are anxious about marital fidelity in an era of HIV/AIDS. A snap survey in Bulawayo revealed a booming trade in love potions. The elderly women in this trade usually conduct business in public toilets to avoid detection. A visit to the public toilets at the Bulawayo Communal bus terminus is an eye-opener. Women display their potions on the filthy toilet floors, advertising their wares to every person who comes in. Those who cannot stand the stench can always visit traditional healers.

And a new breed of love-potion peddlers moves from door to door, selling the love potions to housewives in the comfort of their homes while their husbands are away at work. "These women sell a variety of products, ranging from aphrodisiacs to love potions that ensure that the husband sticks around and does not run around with other women," says a woman who was once confronted by a trader selling "women's things". It is widely believed that love potions and aphrodisiacs from Malawi and Zambia are the most potent.

Some of the herbalists travel overseas, and one even has agents in the UK to handle that end of the business. She says, on condition of anonymity, "These herbs have been in use before you were born and no harm has come to society because of them. Those who overdose give us a bad name, but it is possible to do so even with Western medicine. If someone takes a chloroquine overdose, would you say that chloroquine is not good?"

Meanwhile, the debate continues, especially in circumstances that are not easily explained: How else to account for situations where a woman is abused physically and emotionally, such as when her man brings another woman into the house in her presence, and yet stays put? Chavunduka and his team have the answer: it is the power of the love potion. However, the jury is still out on that one.

Women's Feature Service

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