Battle, Gampa – In the afternoon wet on the outskirts of Bangul, a woman known as SAF* carries a basket of plants from her garden. She moves urgently to avoid intrusive eyes, and she makes its way to a hidden location, where the air is thick with an earthy scent of unspeakable tobacco leaves pending converting them to the famous drug Taba.

Suddenly, her phone rings. client. Smile knowing. “It is one of the favorites because it continues to return.

TABA Seller, 68, says contracts for contracts to sell the material for women.

Tobacco, in local Minda A word for crushed tobacco is consumed, in Gambia for generations, usually by smoking, acquisition and chewing. But in recent years, the modified TABA is used by adding other materials to the tobacco powder, for various purposes.

Sellers like normal SAF TABA take and mix it with strong chemicals to enhance their intoxicating effect. Many women use it inside the vein, believing that it enhances sexual pleasure.

Meanwhile, others, including some traditional therapists, insist that using it within ministers have medical properties – from helping to treat genital infections and headaches to cases such as epilepsy, high blood pressure and infertility – although these things are not medically proven.

Although TABA is not illegal, health authorities, doctors and activists in Gambia warn of their dangers and warn against using them. But many women continue to search for this.

For Fatmata*, 36, “Works Works Wonders”.

Married a decade ago, FATMATA’s husband left Europe only three years of their marriage. He fights her with his absence, a friend of an intimate friend to Taba.

“I do not want to have out of marriage for religious reasons, so I resort to Taba,” she says, ashamed.

“The worst mistake in my life”

For others, the effects were less convenient.

The first time I used Rose*, 28, Taba after a friend suggested to try it, she felt an overwhelming feeling of dizziness and nausea before he vomited violently. The attempt continued, but the third time she used it, she says she almost lost her life.

“I remember the burning feeling, severe pain, and how my physical reaction was as if my interior was burning,” she says. “I could barely breathe and I think I would die.”

She said the pain was intense but brief. After that, she slept, and when she woke up, there was uncomfortable pain between her legs. But she did not seek medical assistance, for fear that she would be presented as a TABA user at a time when the government was warning against her He – is.

After her ordealI never pledged to touch Taba again.

“It is dangerous, and the woman needs to stop entering them into their genitals before it is too late,” she warns.

TAABA*, 28, and ISATU*, 42, started using TABA to treat health concerns.

“Taba has harmed my system,” says Taraaba, who was initially taken in an attempt to treat the gonorrhea.

“Initially, I only used it for this purpose.

What followed was painful. “I felt that the fire was burning inside me, and my entire body became [temporarily] Shallal. ”Unlike Rose, whose pain was brief, she lasted for a whole week.

ISATU first used it as a supposed treatment for cellon. “I heard for the first time about this powder three years before her colleague.

But when ISATU tried, “I was bleeding in abundance;

Neither Taraba nor ISATU seeks medical assistance, and instead chose to bear their pain in silence. ISATU says she is still shocked by experience.

However, the usual FATMATA insists on the user that TABA has no harmful effects on its health and claims that most women use them without any complaints.

The SAF SAF agrees, saying that most of its customers have been buying from it for years. “If it is harmful, they will not continue to return.”

“Internal fat”

Little is known about the health consequences of TABA within the ministers, according to the magazine, which is reviewed by the peers, Tobacco Control. “It is possible that it has negative health effects” based on what is known about the use of tobacco that does not smoke another.

Dr. Karamo Suaret, an army specialist in the General Hospital, is the second large hospital in the country’s large hospital: “Intravaginal is harmful”.

“It causes irritation, infections, burning sensations, itching, emptying the unpleasant smell and bleeding during sexual intercourse,” he says to the island forces.

Dr. Suwarier warns that TABA contains a carcinogen, and says that there is a need to search to see if it can lead to cervical and vaginal cancers. During pregnancy, nicotine and other unknown substances may increase the risk of labor prematurely, restrict the growth of the fetus and childbirth.

“Taba disrupts the vaginal pH, making women more vulnerable to sexual intercourse such as gonorrhea, pink and HIV.

The Ministry of Health in Gambia was noisy about the potential health risks of using TABA Intravaginally, with a warning that it might pose a growing risk of cancer or life -threatening complications during childbirth. Some women use it in an attempt to relieve labor pain, but medical experts warn that it can cause severe damage instead.

The Ministry used social media to educate the public about the risks, and in a video clip that became a viral, the Minister of Health was seen by the Samatiya, taking the gathering. In a local language to warn it of its harmful effects.

“Taba is dangerous, and women must reject it,” Minister Samatiya said in the video that first appeared on the Internet in 2022.

Women’s rights organizations were also aware of the harmful effects of TABA.

“No woman should feel pressure on harmful practices like TABA,” says Sariba Badji, a program official in the girls ’agenda. “Our goal is to provide women with the knowledge and support they need to make decisions about their health without fear or stigma.”

MBASSEY MANNEH, a human rights activist, was explicit about its use. But she notes the rooting of the use of TABA among Gambian women’s societies.

“If you go to naming celebrations and social events, you will find women selling repentance among them,” as I told Al -Jazeera. “Many of these women are sexually not satisfied with their husbands, so they resort to Taba as a substitute.”

Some women even talk about the code when referring to TABA. “They call it” Simang Kolla “A-Mandinka for” After Dinner “.

Secret recipe

Although there is no law currently prohibits TABA within the ministers, its forbidden nature demands the surrounding secrecy – and both sellers and buyers work in the shade. Taba is usually sold secretly in Markets and within the circles of the older women, but they are not available in stores.

For SAF, which runs a temporary company on the outskirts of Bangulgop near agricultural land spots and grazing livestock, the estimated authority is the key.

“I sell Taba for a living – this makes me happy when people come to me because of a simple recommendation,” she says with a wide smile, proud of the fact that the oral word brings its new customers.

SAF is known only to reliable customers, and in the society in which you live and work, it is known as a gardener that sells regular plants in the market.

“My family is not fully against me to sell it [taba]But they do not want me to do so publicly, for fear of arresting or revealing. “

In its store, TABA is usually wrapped in paper or plastic. For 5 Dalasi (7 cents), its customers get a small pinch – it is sufficient for one use. Part 15-DALASI (21 cents) is slightly larger but is still modest. Heavy users or those who buy in large quantities may spend up to 500 dalasi ($ 7) once. A larger quantity, like what buyers get in bulk, can fill the tea.

SAF says she votes her raw tobacco leaves from a resource in Guinea -Bissau and treats them by herself, and mix them with other materials to make them “more powerful”. Some demands are added, such as heroin.

“It is a secret recipe,” I told the island when I was asked what is in its mix. “I do not share it with anyone.”

The TABA supply chain extends beyond the Gambia. Tobacco merchants, such as Saikou Camara, whose store is drawn from Guinea -Bissau and Casames, to the south of the country, insists on not using TABA products in a wrong way.

“I heard that women use them for other reasons, but this is not what this means,” he says. “I don’t think it treats back pain or enhances sexual pleasure.

Nevertheless, the sellers believe in the non -exciting health benefits of their product.

In one of the most crowded markets in Bangul, the 75 -year -old insists on the medical properties in TABA, claiming that he heals wounds, relieves back pain and treats headaches.

In her temporary booth, the woman who was in trade for decades publicly works in public but secretly.

For reassuring eye, it is just another seller who sells cooking ingredients. But it was placed in the mud jar – which looks deserted at first glance – is TABA. Every fast and calculating treatment; She wipes the ocean carefully before opening the jar, recovering the product, and sliding in the hands of a waiting agent.

When she was asked if she was taking the jar to the house, she shook her head. “I leave the jar, but I go home with Taba.”

She says women travel from all over the country to buy a doctor from them.

In her kiosk, a rural village bought TABA with a value of 2000 Dalasi ($ 28). A woman, in the fifties or sixties of her life, is also a seller – she buys her in large quantities, repairs them, and resales them in her village at a higher price.

“You will return next month to more,” says the biggest seller.

Government government?

According to a study conducted in 2023, published in the tropical magazine of obstetrics and gynecology, 63.2 per cent of the Gambian women, who were taken from the current users of the tobacco powder in ministers.

The study revealed that women, whose value is more than 40 years is more likely to use TABA more than younger women, while women in rural areas are more likely to use it in comparison with city residents.

Despite some research on the use of TABA, Dr. Mustapha Bittaye, the main medical director of the Gambia Education Hospital, says that data related to health effects is still limited.

“We lack adequate evidence to extract a final conclusion,” he says to Al -Jazeera. “Capricorn [of health]We will conduct a more comprehensive and objective study to properly assess the size of the case. “

While the use of General Tobacco is organized in the country – for example, smoking is prohibited at home and in public places – the use of tobacco powder including TABA is still unorganized.

Dr. BitTaye suggests that a starting point in addressing the TABA case may be the tobacco control law, which legislates how to use and sell the material, while the Ministry of Health works with NGOs to educate Gambian women about TABA risks.

But while the authorities are deliberate, women are still demanding them and sellers are happy with the show.

“I earn a lot of money from selling TABA,” says SAF. “The government and other people who say it will not give me what I gain from this work.”

And what if the government did not fall?

“We will only find new ways to maintain our trade,” says the seller.

“The woman needs them.

*Blocking names to protect privacy.