Afrika Ikalafe Pluriversity Online Courses Information Webinars

21/01/2025

International Day of the Midwife: Healing The World Through Birth Webinar

17/04/2025

12/02/2025

Honouring Ancestral Knowledge of Pregnancy and Childbirth

02 May – 04 May 2025

What is this about?

The word thari has different meanings – it refers to a woman’s ability to conceive, or a goat skin used by the mother to carry the baby on her back. If used in a collective phrase e.g. “bana ba thari” this refers to people belonging to the same clan, lineage, or race.

In this weekend retreat, we use the collective notion of thari ya sechaba to reflect on our ability to conceive and give birth to spiritually grounded communities by changing the way babies are born.

By sitting at the feet of elders we learn about:

Suppression of Indigenous knowledge of birth and its impact on our cultural
and spiritual wellbeing.
The role of childbirth rituals and ceremonies in healing families and
communities.

Who is this retreat for?

The retreat is open to health practitioners, birth workers (biomedical and Indigenous), doulas, mothers, fathers, parents (including prospective parents) to join us in a retreat that is meant to redefine birth from an exclusive biological perspective to one that honours ancient knowledge and practices which were wiped out because of colonialism.

Why this retreat?

This is an invitation for you to take time out of your busy schedule to join us in our search for our grandmothers’ knowledge and wisdom. In this search, we seek answers on how we can heal and reweave the soul of the nation by changing the way babies are born.

In other words, the aim of the retreat is not limited to acquiring knowledge for its own sake. Rather, the retreat is aimed at healing the wounds that we suffered at birth (both as mothers and babies), as well as contemplate ways of decolonising maternal health in South Africa.

Schedule of activities

Friday 02: Welcoming ceremony

Introduction of participants
Drumming around the fire

Saturday 03: Following our grandmothers footprints

Welcome to an ancestral shrine by our elder, Mme Boitumelo Motsei, a 92- year-old nurse, midwife, spiritual healer and author.
Sitting at the feet of the elder telling us stories of her life as a midwife at a time when biomedical midwives worked in collaboration with traditional healers.
Reading about Indigenous birth traditions.
Enjoying Indigenous food cooked by village women.
Write to Heal: Writing and sharing our birth stories

Sunday 04: It takes a midwife to heal a community