Herbal Viagra, potions and more - Africa’s own natural healers

 

And magic potions they are for, if you go by the words and beliefs of the people of Principe, every plant they derive their herbal cures from is said to have a spirit. It is a must to explain the cause of taking their parts to the plant’s spirit and to assure it that it’s all done for good.

 

While many find these supernatural beliefs to be baseless, the cures certainly are not. Even science today is accepting these herbal cures to be effective and possess medicinal value.
 

Be it erectile dysfunction, depression, hypertension , high blood pressure, colon cancer, arteriosclerosis, malaria, fractures, hurts, aches or sprains, the herbal practitioners with their tree barks and herbal potions cure them all. What’s more these people are specialists in their own right. There could be a herbalist, a bush surgeon, urine analyst or even a dream interpreter, birth attender or masseur. 

 

They are all called Stlijons –the herbal healers. Their knowledge is passed on from one generation to another, over decades of practice. There are many who have been practicing for over three decades but, all of them have to pass exams before beginning their work as Stlijons. So clearly they are not the usual quacks. They work with 1000 different herbal remedies, made out of 325 medicinal plants growing in their forests. 

 

Here are some of the diseases and the herbs they use to cure them – 

 

Erectile dysfunction – cured with the bark of pausinystalia yohimba tree. The bark is supposed to be chewed till it is soft and then can be spitted. It enhances blood blow to the pelvic region and cures the problem.

High blood pressure – it is cured with the root of rauwolfia vomitoria. Its major content reserpine, is used to cure hypertension.

Malaria – it is treated with tithonia diversifalia, which is known to have anti-diabetes and anti-inflammatory properties.

 

There are many other similar diseases and cures available with these people. But their art is one which needs dedication and years of practice before it can be mastered. Although declared as ‘heritage knowledge’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO), this art is dying fast.

 

WHO has declared Aug. 31 as the International Day of African Traditional Medicine. However, very few youngsters are now interested in this knowledge. The work of Stlijons is expansive, time consuming and yet, very less paying. They have even been banned, condemned and looked down upon by many over the years. This has kept the new generation away from learning this art of herbal curing. Fast going extinct as are the forests, this knowledge is in need for restoration.

 

Many efforts are going on to add a financial dimension to the use of this knowledge. One such step was the publishing of the book 'Ethno-pharmacological Study of Medicinal Plants of Sao Tome and Principe'. All copies of this book were sold hands down. The profits had all been distributed among its three Stlijons co-writers. The royalties worked well for them and the monthly stipend of $30 is even more attractive.

 

Although, the royalties and stipends which the government shares with these healers, for the drugs they develop are tempting; would they be enough to keep this heritage knowledge alive; remains to be seen.