When Lesley Robinson and her partner Glyn travelled to Zimbabwe back in 1998, they had no way of knowing that they were embarking on a journey through a new land which would lead to a bigger adventure – a change of direction for Lesley's career and a close bond with a community whose lives were very different to their own back in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.

Back then, Lesley was marketing director for a big American pharmaceutical company whose products were known worldwide. Today, she runs a small business selling natural alternative therapy products whose ingredients grow in Zimbabwe, and have been used for centuries by native healers or witchdoctors.

The business is a family affair – with her daughter Jo and son-in-law Jan closely involved in everything from packaging and website design to keeping the accounts. From tiny beginnings, the cottage industry now turns over £270,000 a year, a chunk of which finds its way back to
the impoverished people of the Matopos Hills area of southern Zimbabwe.

It all started with a skiing accident, in which Lesley, who is now 57, tore the medial meniscus cartilage in her knee. After an operation, physiotherapy and months of painkillers, she was still in great pain, the knee was twice the size of the other, and walking was difficult.

Despite this, Lesley and Glyn went ahead with a holiday to Zimbabwe, booked months previously. After Victoria Falls, the couple travelled on to Bulawayo in the south, where Lesley remembers standing on the station platform in tears of pain.

"We were met by 'Bagman', who was to be our guide while we explored from a camp," says Lesley. "We talked about the plan for our few days there and said we'd wanted to do some walking, but that would be difficult for me. He asked what the problem was and when he heard about my knee, said: 'We can fix it'."

Bagman drove the couple out into the wilderness, over dry river beds and up and down hills to a remote homestead where they were met by a woman of Lesley's age who was dressed in leopard skins and a necklace of teeth.

"Rosina spoke no English, but Bagman translated and she looked at my leg. She said she could heal my knee but in order to do see she had to consult the gods, which was not something she could do that day, a Wednesday. We had to return the next day. As we left, Bagman said – very matter of fact – 'The gods never work on Wednesdays'."

Rosina is the community witchdoctor, and the remedy she suggested for Lesley's knee was a couple of pieces of weird-looking root, skewered on a stick and wrapped in newspaper. They were to be boiled up twice a day to produce a black liquor, and while they were still very hot, dabbed on the good knee then the bad one twice a day for three days.

The tuber then had to be returned to Rosina, who would bury it where she had dug it up. As it withered so would Lesley's pain.

After three treatments, Lesley's knee was less swollen and she tried a walk in the bush, carrying conventional painkillers with her. More than 14 kilometres later, she returned to camp free of pain, with the tablets still in her purse.

"I'd never been particularly into alternative medicine, but I was open-minded and at that point I was ready to try anything."

Before returning to the UK, Lesley bought a pot of a potion made from the fruit of the Kigelia or "sausage tree", said to be good for skin conditions. She gave it to Glyn's dad to try on his psoriasis and for a couple of friends who had eczema.

Within four months, the psoriasis had disappeared and the friends were reporting big improvements in their skin, too. Word got around Holmfirth, and other people came asking about the cream. Lesley got on the phone to health shops in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, to see if she could source more of it.

On the first call, she found a pharmacist called Aktar, and arranged for him to send her a large quantity of the cream, whose name is Themba ("Hope"). At this end Lesley filled the pots and put simple labels on them. They sold very quickly around the Holme Valley, and Glyn said Lesley would need to make an important decision about her future.

"I could feel there was something amazing going on," says Lesley. "Glyn said it was obvious that I had to make a choice between nice salary, car, bonuses, pension and all that, and going it alone, selling a natural remedy from Africa. I handed in my notice, and my boss and colleagues thought I was mad."

Lesley took her pots of Themba to a health industry show at Olympia and later a woman who'd bought some of the lotion for her psoriasis got in touch. She was a researcher for a health columnist on a national newspaper and she'd been very impressed with the results of using Themba,

An ensuing article resulted in 7,500 phone calls from people looking for relief from all kinds of skin complaints. Feedback reported improvements in chronic skin conditions including acne, as well as cold sores, verrucas, viral warts, cuts, burns and bites.

Since then, Lesley and Glyn have returned to Zimbabwe many times, finding out more about the people of the Matapos Hills, where Rosina the witchdoctor and her extended family of 15 live in poverty in a land bled dry by decades of political turmoil.

"I feel I owed a lot to Zimbabwe," says Lesley. "I set out to find ways to help them. We also met Aktar each time, and discussed other native remedies that we might sell alongside Themba. In 2001, we launched Simba , which comes from the African potato tuber. It's used to strengthen the immune system, and commonly used over there to help people with HIV/Aids."

Little Herbal now sells six products, including an anti-stress/depression capsule, a moisturiser based on the African potato tuber and a "Pimple Pack" to deal with spots.

It was only when Lesley revisited Rosina and showed her the Simba capsules, explaining what they were made from, that the witchdoctor revealed it was the same thing which had helped Lesley's leg and started this whole adventure.

Over the years the relationship with the people of Matopos Hills has strengthened, and Lesley began to find ways of relieving their basic needs without routing money through official channels which might result in none of the cash reaching its destination.

"Between our trips we noticed people getting thinner, and the shops in the towns having nothing to sell. Inflation was so rampant that a US dollar was worth 1bn Zimbabwean dollars one day and 16bn dollars the next. And still it wasn't enough to buy anything.

"When we go there we buy maize and make sure it gets to the community. We also support the people when we are not there through a British friend who runs an eco-tourism business in the area.

"We have a major commitment to help pay for the education of village children at the White Water Primary School in Matopos Hills, and the Ethendweni Orphanage nearby, where some of the 36 children have HIV/Aids themselves and some don't, but have been orphaned by it.

"We've also built a maternity clinic for women in the area, so that they don't have to walk miles and miles when they are in labour.

"I feel a great duty to give something back," says Lesley. "When we go we also take clothes and drugs, and anything else we can. How can you visit a country where things are so bad that a little boy can die as a result of mouth ulcers, and not do something to help?"


Anyone who'd like to support the school and orphanage in Matopos Hills can get further details from Lesley Robinson on 01484 689807, by visiting the website www.littleherbal-int.com or emailing enquiries@little herbal-int.com