Building community
"You are as the shining moon to us. For you came at a time when our village was facing darkness, and your arrival brought hope and light to the villagers."
Sometimes the simplest gestures can begin the process of healing the wounds of the past.
In 2012, I was asked to create a community upliftment team-building project for young professional from Menzies Aviation. The funds they provided helped to bring much needed infrastructure to my community, including a preschool, irrigation piping and water trough for cattle. These things have made a massive difference to the daily lives of community members. But the project also brought the healing of historical wounds, and building of trust and Ubuntu.
The people from Menzies were teamed up with members of our local community who had skills and experience with bricklaying, plumbing, and painting. As the groups all worked together to get the work done, and the hierarchies of white privilege and wealth fell away, and people discovered ubuntu and common humanity.
The people of my village are used to seeing wealthy white tourists speeding by in air-conditioned buses on their way to luxury lodges the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi reserve. After this project, many villagers commented on how good it was to see visitors to the reserve coming to do something positive for the community, to spend a few days living as we lived, using the long drop, sharing meals, walking on our ancestral paths.
Sometimes the simplest gestures can begin the process of healing the wounds of the past.
These community building experiences can be included with any of the sacred journeys. Email healingpaths69@gmail.com to find out more.