Forget Viagra. There’s a natural alternative that’s bound to keep you up all night, writes Mercedes Sayagues
If you live in Zimbabwe, you have probably heard the stories: of dusk-to- dawn erections that exhaust women; of non-stop sex and multiple ejaculations all night long; of formidable hard-ons that land men in hospital, even kill them. The stories are true. Scientific research backs them up.
Forget Viagra. Get vusankunzi (wake up the bull, in isiNdebele), the indigenous aphrodisiac. On the streets it is called vuka-vuka (wake up, wake- up), or chipikiri in Shona
It works, and is cheaper than Viagra. At the market, less than R20 will buy you a week’s supply. At the surgery of a famous healer in Harare, it costs five times more – but still less than Viagra, which sells illegally in Zimbabwe at $Z300 [R1 800] a tablet.
Zimbabwean vuka-vuka is famous, especially among the Zulu and Ndebele people. Traders buy it for resale across Southern Africa. Truck drivers crossing at Chirundu border post stock up on it.
Last week Dr Peter Mutandi Sibanda, cultural secretary of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha), brewed 10kg for a customer in South Africa. Zinatha bottles, labels and sells vuka-vuka made by famous healers.
In Bulawayo and Harare, healers agree vuka-vuka is the most popular muti sought by male patients, young and old. It comes in two forms. One is a general tonic for the body, concocted of herbs, among them aloe. A brown powder with an astringent smell, it is taken daily, diluted in soup, water, traditional beer or flat coke.
“It was a subtle effect, but I felt energised,” says a man in his late 30s who recently tried some produced by Dr Georges Moyo, a well-known healer in Bulawayo.
It reminded him of a root he tried years ago, when he used to hang around singer Thomas Mapfumo. After concerts, musicians chewed a root, light beige in colour, with a fresh aroma. “It felt like a mouthful of coke, you got an energy buzz that could turn sexual,” he recalls. Years later, he saw Bushmen in the Kalahari chewing the same root.
The other variety of vuka-vuka is the real thing. Also a powder taken in diluted form a few hours before intercourse, it provides enormous erections. It is not mind power or faith which drives the spectacular erection; biological and chemical properties explain its effects.
Clinical pharmacologist Norman Nyazema researched vuka-vuka. He found inyangas ground bits of the Myalabris beetle into it. Similar to the Spanish fly, slightly larger than a fingernail, with black and white or red on white specks, it is found on legumes. This beetle’s defence system is cantharidin, a toxic substance. If it touches the skin, a rash or blister may develop.
Mixed with herbs, cantharidin engorges the penis. It provokes an erection, regardless of arousal, which lasts for hours. It can be pleasurable – or it can turn painful if it lasts too long. This medical condition is known as priapism. Nyazema says he has seen many such cases in his practice. “It’s very common. People are obsessed with sex here.”
A lecturer in urological surgery at the University of Zimbabwe says he sees an average of three patients a year with priapism. Blood remains in the penis and clots. If not treated, it forms scar tissue. The longer a person waits before seeking medical attention, the more drastic the treatment required.
However, most users never see a doctor, because cantharidin is eliminated by the body after a few hours.
Many healers feel cheated by the Viagra craze. “The herbs were stolen from us. I can tell because some side-effects, like dizziness, are the same,” says Moyo. At his surgery in Tchabalala township in Bulawayo, men of all ages queue for his famous brew.
“They discovered this now? We have had it for centuries, it is just that we don’t talk about it,” he adds. His father had nine wives and 120 children. Moyo has several wives and 18 children. “Thanks to my natural vuka-vuka,” he says.
On Saturday nights at beer halls in Bulawayo, vuka-vuka is sold, wrapped in newspaper, just like Ecstasy or cocaine is sold in the discos of Harare.
Some of the young men believe vuka- vuka contains baboon’s urine, another known aphrodisiac. But reputable inyangas say that ingredient should not be used, because a child conceived with it would be a thief, like a baboon.
Inyangas deplore the use of vuka-vuka by young men because it leads to promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases. Zinatha’s Bulawayo secretary, Jane Bhunu, says her instructions are not to sell it to unmarried young men, but how can she tell?
Sibanda sees a disturbing trend in the increasing number of young men who suffer impotence. In the past three weeks, between 20 and 30 young men have consulted him. They cannot have sex, complain about pain when urinating and believe women have bewitched them.
Sibanda says this is because Zimbabweans do not follow the traditional practice of giving boys herbal teas mixed by the elders to strengthen their sexual drive. Coitus interruptus, controlling ejaculation, or having sex with a menstruationg women can also block the sexual mechanisms, he maintains. Treatment begins with body cleansing through diuretic and laxative herbs, followed by daily doses of mazondo (traditional beer) and only then, vuka- vuka.
Do women complain about their men’s ardour? “An 80-year-old can be like a young man. African women like it. No complaints,” says traditional healer Barbara Sibanda, who owns a surgery combining modern and traditional medicine in Bulawayo.
Others see it differently. “It is better not to complain of too much sex because the man is fired up and will look for other women,” advises Josephine Sibanda, who sells her herbal potions at the market. “Once men drink vuka-vuka, they have to ejaculate. Don’t take it if you are alone.”
Her warnings are echoed by healer Sam Sithole at a neighbouring stall. “Don’t drink it for a whole month or you will go raping. Don’t drink it if you are alone, or you will overdose and go for too much quick service, do you understand?”
Vuka-vuka has other dangers. Cantharidin affects the kidneys. “Why do you think Zimbabwean men have such high rates of kidney failure?” asks Nyazima.
Heavy users may start passing blood in their urine. Uninformed healers, instead of sending them to a doctor, tell patients it is not a problem, because women also pass blood every month. The condition gets worse.
Peter Sibanda recalls a night of passion with a Venda woman known for her art in aphrodisiacs. “In the morning I went home, and the erection tortured me for the next two weeks. My wife was desperate because she couldn’t handle my sex drive, I had become a sex lunatic.”
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