Overview

"Hearing Visions Seeing Voices is a very personal testimony of a life centred on helping women and men to understand the violence in their lives and around them, and how Mmatshilo has drawn strength and inspiration from her ancestors - from the spirits of Queen Modjadji, Ambuya Nehanda who led the Shona war of liberation, and Me Katilili, a Kenyan organiser against forced labour in the early 1900s. Mmatshilo says: ""Indeed we come from a long line of women ancestors. A return to their legacy requires learning to decipher the language of the Soul."" A recipient of the United Nations Scroll of Honour Award in 2000 and the International Human Rights Award from Human Rights Watch in New York, Mmatshilo Motsei began her working life as a nurse and midwife."

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9781919931517

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Reviews

Reading this book has been a breathtaking and spiritually enriching experience. Written with disarming lucidity, it is full of warmth and humour. This is a story of a life that continues to be lived by one woman, yet it is the story of a community and of a people. It is more than an autobiography. Details of the author's life are effectively interspersed with sharp political observations. Stories of family gatherings blend with critical observations on the multinational corporations and their role in draining Africa's wealth. Comments on single parenting are placed in a broader socio-political context. Here we find superlative reflective writing on the African condition - on the human condition. Expressed in simple but profound terms, we also find self-examination and self-criticism - for example, on how as a society we have neglected our indigenous languages or how African fathers have missed out on the opportunity to bond with their children on a deeper psychological level. These are just a small part of the author's insightful comments on African life. Indeed you pigeonhole this book at your peril. It contains a letter to a departed soul sister, poems, reflections, spiritual guidance ... She traces the clans from whose loins she has emerged; reflects on food and nutrition in traditional African communities; discusses issues of development and sustainable agriculture as practiced by these communities; and comments on issues pertaining to the stolen heritage of her people. This is not just a romantic longing for a by-gone era. She illustrates quite eloquently how our modern lives can be enriched by these time-tested values. This is a book of multiple journeys - journeys that have been taken and journeys that are still to be embarked upon. And all these journeys must converge at one point: the point of humanity ... the point where we regain our humanity in the instances where we have lost it. One of the most striking journeys is that of healing our environment and

Author Information

Mmatshilo Motsei, a poet, and a former nursing lecturer, social science researcher and psychology graduate, worked for over 10 years as a community development specialist, a counsellor and gender consultant for public and private institutions in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Somalia as well as Europe, USA, Canada and Australia. It is in this regard that Motsei earned a reputation as a global change agent, particularly in the field of gender violence and HIV/AIDS prevention. She worked in the Office of the President of South Africa where she formulated recommendations regarding the setting up of appropriate national gender structures, and for the Ford Foundation as a short-term consultant. As a result of her work, she has received numerous local and international awards including the United Nations Habitat Award 2000. She founded the Asiganang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training (ADAPT) programme in Alexander Township, Johannesburg. Motsei established Senakangwedi Consulting, a company specialising in personal and societal transformation using spiritual principles.

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