ABSTRACT
Most of the origin beliefs expressed to me during my fieldwork in Zimbabwe were conspiracy theories. Some theories implicated medical workers, just as did those discussed in the literature (e.g., van den Borne 2005: 61–62; Wilson and Hill 1998:57, 245). Conspiracy suspicions pointing at healthcare providers have a long history, as I found out while reading in the National Archives in Harare. I was surprised to learn that presentday responses to HIV/AIDS were similar to those of Zimbabweans during the epidemic of Spanish influenza in 1918–1919. Across the country, individuals desperately ill with flu had refused the healthcare provided by British colonizers. The native Zimbabweans believed that the medicines were poisonous, and administered with the intent to kill. It was generally said that it was sure death to take such drugs. 1 A certain Reverend Skold reported nearly a century ago:
One day I found quite a number of natives ploughing in a garden, but at the sight of my cart they all ran away, except an old woman. When I asked her why they ran away, she replied to me “We have heard that Umfundisi 2 was coming with medicine but we do not want the white men’s medicine which only kills us.” (Skold 1918)
