Love potions: “He will love to love you!”

That was the promise made by a “love doctor”. In Bujumbura, many are the celibates craving for love and single ladies waiting for a husband. However, the ticking clock makes people take extreme measures: love potions.-Joanna Nganda

Various powders to find love, secure your marriage, and soothe angry husbands’ tempers.©Iwacu

Anita, 34, is single since 2007 and she can’t stand it anymore. “My friends are married and have children…but here I am, still living with my mother. The pressure from my family is unbearable: they hold family meetings to advice me, they make me go for blind dates, etc…” she laments. In 2013, Anita’s aunt decided that enough was enough and urged her to see a “specialist”. “One afternoon she took me at JABE’s market and introduced me to a man who swore his products will work, but I was very skeptical. He gave me a couple of roots and powders. It cost me BiF 20,000…I paid it thinking that it was money thrown by the window”, remembers Anita, who is now married. “I was very surprised to see how many people were attracted to me; I had a lot of marriage proposals! I am happily married and we are now trying to have a baby”, Anita says, while showing me the thick gold wedding ring on her finger. So, I decide to go to look by myself. When I arrive at JABE’s market, it’s two o’clock in the afternoon and the beaming midday sun is heating a variety of sun-dried bushmeat, along with unusual-looking plant roots. The smell is terrible.

Dried bushmeat powder to drink

One of the “love doctors” approaches me and pulls me towards his shop. There, underneath a large bird’s carcass, between a black live chicken and tortoise shells, he shows me a seat and starts his consultation. I explain that I am looking for “love medicine” and quickly, he starts his skilled salesman speech “I will give you the whole package on discount! You will get a powder to dilute in water to purify your body in the shower. See this red powder? Mix it with your body lotion, it will attract love and success, this is so powerful that you will even get a new job. I will also give you a slice of this root…put it underneath your tongue before talking to the man you are interested in: he won’t resist a word you say! He will love to love you!” he says. However, when he mentioned shredding some sun-dried bird’s meat into a drinkable powder, my attention started its downfall. He shows me the white-feathered carcass hanging from the ceiling: “see how white this bird is? This is to purify your soul”. Lonely hearts get the package for the modest cost of BiF 50,000. He promises fast results, “if in a week you don’t get results, come back and I will give you your money back.” Ernest bought the BiF 50,000 package but his experience wasn’t as successful as Anita’s. “The woman I was trying to marry did not change her behavior and kept ignoring me. Later on, she got engaged to someone else” Ernest fulminates, “since there were no results, I went back to ask for my money but the charlatan failed to pay me and even blamed me for not using his potions as prescribed!” Whether these concoctions work or not, dried bushmeat in one’s tea does not sound like the safest way to meet one’s soulmate.