The name Olasumbo Ayodele may not be as popular as Quincy, but both belong to the same person. Anywhere there is a talk about slimming, there is always a generous mention of Quincy. It's a household name for overweight people. Quincy, a one time banker, moved into herbal medicine practice, and she has been living happily ever after. In her medicine chest is the widely acclaimed Quincy herbal slimmers. In this interview with RONKE KEHINDE, she talks about her journey into herbal medicine, the challenges involved, the most memorable days of her life and how Quincy became greater and bigger than Olasumbo Ayodele.

Tell us about your journey into herbal medicine?
I have always been in herbal medicine since my childhood, because my grandfather was a practitioner of herbal medicine. My grandmother was one. I was born in the village. I lived in the village and I still live there up till now. I grew up with herbal medicine, I've been exposed to herbal medicine since the time I knew how to call daddy. That was back in my village in Olorunsogo, Abeokuta, Ogun State. The journey started from there. I was sent to school. I finished and I started working like a normal human being. But when you talk of medicine or treatment in my family, it must be agbo (herbal drink). Even when you are pregnant it must be agbo for us in the family or nothing else.

My father will not care whether you marry an accountant, a medical doctor or anything. For his female children, he will warn the husband that, look I brought up my children with agbo, that is what he told my husband. That was how we finally lived our lives when I got married in Abeokuta, and we finally moved to Lagos after marriage. I've never lived in Lagos before. My husband brought me here. My father warned him that let me let you know that 'I brought my daughter up in the village by using traditional medicine; now that you are taking her to Lagos don't go and pollute her system with any other form of medication apart from herbal medicine'.

It has always been something with me from that age, it's just that I didn't plan to take it as a profession. In those days you cannot wake up and say you want to be a traditional medicine practitioner. No. I went to school normally. I graduated, and I worked in a bank. The only thing is that when I was in the bank I was always advising my colleagues on what to do when they were sick. Most of them were always laughing at me. I did not even understand why they were laughing at me, because if you are ignorant of something, and someone was telling you that you should take agbo for what you are suffering from because that is what will heal you. In the case that they did not heed my advise, I will go to Elewe omo (herbal medicine seller) and buy the things and bring to the office for them. Some will take it and some will not take it. That is how the whole journey started. I found myself practising herbal medicine, and I had to go back to school for it. Here I am answering God's call, because it's a very different profession but it's a unique one.

Did you enjoy working in the bank?
It was a nice, fantastic job experience in the bank. I enjoyed the bank, the power and everything that was attached to my position. I was the personal assistant to the MD, and Mrs. Ayodele was a very powerful woman in the bank in those days. That was at Society Generale Bank. I was working directly with Baba Saraki and his son, the current governor of Kwara State. That made me to have that power and of course the knowledge of the job. I was given so many responsibilities and I did not fail in any, because I was very hardworking. I had everything good in the bank. I had no regret working in the bank at all. But when God wants to use you, you cannot dodge him. That is what the Bible says. Jonah dodged, he was caught. Samuel was trying not to understand the call of God, but he was still captured. If God wants to use you for humanity, you cannot dodge. I am talking from experience. You can try to be wise, you'll say it's not true. When he actually captures you, he will set the path for you to get there. He will establish you, even the sky cannot limit you. That is the story of my life.

Are you a Christian?
I am a Christian, I go to The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

What are the peculiar memories you remember while growing up in Olorunsogo Village?

A lot, I didn't grow up with my parents. As at that time I was in the village, my parents were in England. I grew up with my grandparents. I had very nice memories growing up in the village. It was a nice thing living in the village as a child. We have no knowledge of the outside world. There was no fear, there was no bill to be paid. No fear of anything, we could forget ourselves outside in the evening after having dinner and sleep off, until my grandmother would come and pick me up to enter the room about two o'clock. Not because of thieves or kidnappers but because of cold, so that you can have some warmth in the room.

In the village, I learnt that you cannot have your dinner not later than six in the evening. There was no clock when I was in the village, but there was a way we used to know time by using the sun and the moon. When you look outside in the morning and the sun is rising, you will know that, that is very early in the morning. I still do that, it's just that in Lagos you cannot tell where the sun is because of modernisation. When it's around 11, 12 you will know where the sun would be. And when it's at the center you know that, that is one in the afternoon, and when it shifts, that is 2p.m. when they ring the bell for us in school to start coming home. That is how we used to know the time.

By 6p.m. when the sun was about setting, our dinner was ready. All of us would gather around the mat, we would all eat. After eating, my grandfather would tell us tortoise stories, and other stories and a couple of histories about his generation. He used to tell us the history of Sodimu family, where he was bringing us from, where he used to live. Even though all of us were young, when he passed on, it was that history and all the things he used to tell us that made us to still hold on tight to being the head of our village in Olorunsogo. If he had not told us the history of how our generation came to that village I wouldn't have been able to fight for the heritage.

What are the challenges involved? Have you ever encountered any challenges in the course of your duty?

When I started talking about herbal medicine in the nineties, I encountered a lot of challenges. It was very strange at that time for anyone to talk about herbal medicine. In the nineties, if you talk about herbal medicine, they will categorise you as a witch or Mami water. They will say; she is even light in complexion; she is a spirit from the water. But I persisted because I knew that what I was talking about then had nothing to do with the spirit.

I was only talking about the medicinal usefulness of our plants and the herbs which we have in abundance in Nigeria. In those days, religion does not allow people to separate treatment from belief. They were not able to separate tradition from belief. They were mixing everything together. I persisted that tradition is different from your belief. In some cases belief can be inside tradition. Your belief in God or any other thing is different from tradition. I persisted by explaining to them that medicine at all is not even a belief. You can bring your belief to make medicine to work, but it's not dependent on belief.

When we are talking of medicinal properties and their uses, it has nothing to do with your belief. It's just the knowledge that I know about the uses of these plants and herbs that I'm telling you. Try it and see whether it works for you. It worked for them. I said put your belief aside.

In some cases, you can ask God that “Please Jesus let this thing work for me”. That's when you can apply your belief, but don't say because she is talking of herbs and I'm a Christian, I cannot drink agbo, then you'll just die. Since she is talking about the medicinal agbo, if she is talking about the medicine of agbo why can't you just try it. In as much as I am not going to say come let me chant incantations on what I'm giving you. No, you'll take whatever I'm giving you with the knowledge of the thing. I will tell you what you are taking. Or in some cases I'll tell you go and pluck it yourself. If you say I put spirit in my own, what of the one you are going to use, are you going to put spirit in that one too. That's how God has helped me to conquer that challenge. Apart from that no other challenge. Now, everybody is proud to be associated with Quincy, because I did not stop talking.

The Bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge. I did not let my own people perish for lack of knowledge. I kept on educating them, I was on air, in the papers, in interviews like this, telling them the difference between your belief and medicine. I thank God that He has made everybody's eyes to be open to nature and they now know the importance of medicinal herbs.

What would you consider your greatest achievement so far?

Well, I've not reached my peak. God is yet to do that greatest thing I'm waiting for, but if you are talking of achievements, I will thank God for how he has taken us so far, because I will say categorically that God has made Quincy Herbal Slimmer to be bigger than me. That is what I'll always told God: That Quincy is bigger than me now. I ask him, what do I do? But God has helped us not only to be able to manage what is already bigger than us, He himself is in the business managing it for me. I did not know that Quincy would be this big, now that it's bigger than me, God should continue to give me the strength and the wisdom to be able to cope with what He has started. If that is an achievement I thank God for that. But the greatest one is yet to come.

What has been the greatest sacrifice that you have made for Quincy to be this popular?

I have sacrificed a lot, like sleepless nights; working round the clock there is no free minute at Quincy herbal slimmers at all. As I'm talking to you, some people are waiting to see me. I finished all my appointments in the office. If I get home I'll be working. I've sacrificed a lot of my time, energy, strength and the greatest sacrifice is my family. They are in this with me - my husband, my children. It's like I've given everything back to humanity. I don't have a time of my own anymore. I've no friend, my job is my friend. I am not regretting. If it's a call, I've given everything up. No social life. No time to socialise anymore. It's either I'm at Quincy, in the factory, in the village, in the bush, with client at home, or abroad or on the phone talking about the job. On air, interviews, that is my life now. In the past, I used to have other lives, like partying, going to clubs with my family, but right now I've given everything up. Continued    Source: nigeriafilms.com - Nigeria Films