Jucy Prucy: the official medicine man of St Bess

André Gordon, Gleaner Writer

BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth:

"Mi grandmother was a midwife and when mi was growing up I was the youngest one, so mi use to help her with the herbs. She always seh 'Tek ya gimmi, boy', and a suh mi come fi know di bush dem from a young age," said Hubert 'Jucy Prucy' Campbell, the official medicine man of St Elizabeth.

On a regular day, Campbell can be seen parked at the Texaco gas station in Black River with his array of bushes, tonics and roots which he displays on the top of his car.

Campbell was born in the parish of Hanover 78 years ago, but moved to St Elizabeth to benefit from the growing bauxite business in 1968 during the boom days of Aluminium Partners (Alpart). "Well me start off frying dumplings and selling it to the man dem who work at the plant," he related. "Later on, mi buy piece of land so that mi and the family could come out of the two-bedroom board house dat we did live in, but it tek mi 12 years fi build di house and by the time me build it, the children de grow up," he told The Gleaner.

While most of the roots and weeds he needs for his business can be found in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountain, Campbell still has to source some from deep in the Cockpit Country. "Mi pay a man a smalls every now and then to follow me into the bush when mi reach Accompong Town dem man know where they bush dem deh," he said.

Long journey

The journey to his current profession was dotted with various odd jobs and pathways. According to the medicine man, he has been a taxi and bus driver and once made a foray into the handcart business at the market in Santa Cruz. Seven years ago, he made to the decision to use the knowledge attained from his grandmother to work for him.

'Jucy Prucy' is well sought after these days: on a daily basis customers from all segments of society turn up in numbers to buy his special mixes such as Irish moss linseed and icy gloss. "Most of them want the tonic. They like the corkscrew which clean the vein and fix dem vitality problem," he said with a chuckle. "The stuff is like a drain cleaner, it detoxes the body and mek the blood flow and you know what happen when man blood start flow right," he said, this time laughing a little longer.

While business is good for the 78-year-old father of nine, he still believes it could be better. "Mi would like to see my juice dem pon di shelf in the supermarket but mi need help. At my age is not much I can do; this business just help me to be self-reliant because mi can't work for nobody again," he said.

rural@gleanerjm.com