A Sangoma in America, Africa in his Bones
In 1998 I attended a book signing at Borders Books (Sacramento) by David Cumes, a South African-born surgeon. His book "Inner Passages, Outer Journey" had just come out, and he was spellbinding audiences across the United States with his declaration that trips to the wilderness led to healing and discovery of the self. Not necessarily a new concept then, but he was certainly encouraging many people to visit places in his homeland, Southern Africa.As he talked about places in South Africa I sat quietly thinking of places in Zimbabwe he could have mentioned, and then he did: Matopo, Great Zimbabwe, Chimanimani, Nyanga. I bought the book immediately and had him autograph it:
"To Emmanuel, hoping this reconnects you with your roots. Everything--healing included--began where you were born."
Before the signature, he threw in a Shona phrase, "Fambai Zvakanaka." Then he talked some more about places in North America that were comparable to the ones he had mentioned, the wilderness where people could go and travel to their inner selves, and the event came to an end. Everyone seemed happy, everyone wanted to hear more, even from me, when it had becomes clearer that I was born "there", this place the writer had mentioned.
I nicely shelved the book somewhere, hauled it together with all my other books to every place I moved, or to storage, but there were moments I would think about it, would want to refer to it, but I could not remember where I had put it.
Guess what, during some reshelving of my books, what I am now deciding to call "Operation Expose Titles", I found the book, still brand-new looking, except for the annotations I made in Chapter 1, which I reread last night and found out that it is brilliant. In it Dr. Cumes starts by reflecting on his childhood in his half-acre Johannesburg home, where he first fell in love with what he calls the "African wilderness" because of all the trees they had, etc. I see how the chapter can easily intrigue someone who is not quite familiar with Africa, etc... .
Then I googled him, just to see what he has been up to, and he has not stopped! In fact, he has a medical establishement in Southern California and is a strong believer in African traditional medicine. Now he calls himself a sangoma, or spiritual healer, shaman, and he gives talks about how medicine and healing orginated in Africa. He also embraces spirituality, as sangomas do, and uses it in working with his patients.
His latest book is entitled "Africa in my Bones" and has his picture on the front cover, sitting in the posture on a sangoma, bones scattered on the floor....
Shamanism, yoga, many forms of spirituality, medicine...he practices and talks about them all, showing his pride in Africa.
"To Emmanuel, hoping this reconnects you with your roots. Everything--healing included--began where you were born."
Before the signature, he threw in a Shona phrase, "Fambai Zvakanaka." Then he talked some more about places in North America that were comparable to the ones he had mentioned, the wilderness where people could go and travel to their inner selves, and the event came to an end. Everyone seemed happy, everyone wanted to hear more, even from me, when it had becomes clearer that I was born "there", this place the writer had mentioned.
I nicely shelved the book somewhere, hauled it together with all my other books to every place I moved, or to storage, but there were moments I would think about it, would want to refer to it, but I could not remember where I had put it.
Guess what, during some reshelving of my books, what I am now deciding to call "Operation Expose Titles", I found the book, still brand-new looking, except for the annotations I made in Chapter 1, which I reread last night and found out that it is brilliant. In it Dr. Cumes starts by reflecting on his childhood in his half-acre Johannesburg home, where he first fell in love with what he calls the "African wilderness" because of all the trees they had, etc. I see how the chapter can easily intrigue someone who is not quite familiar with Africa, etc... .
Then I googled him, just to see what he has been up to, and he has not stopped! In fact, he has a medical establishement in Southern California and is a strong believer in African traditional medicine. Now he calls himself a sangoma, or spiritual healer, shaman, and he gives talks about how medicine and healing orginated in Africa. He also embraces spirituality, as sangomas do, and uses it in working with his patients.
His latest book is entitled "Africa in my Bones" and has his picture on the front cover, sitting in the posture on a sangoma, bones scattered on the floor....
Shamanism, yoga, many forms of spirituality, medicine...he practices and talks about them all, showing his pride in Africa.
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