HEALING; A TOOL FOR A WEALTHY AND HEALTHY PERSON AND MOVEMENT.
Ever compared yourself to a tree growing either in a desert, water or on a fertile land?
What is healing to you?
What is the connection between wealth, health and healing?
Ever imagined a movement without nature?
How does a Wealthy and Healthy Movement look like to you?
Do you ever walk the path back to your childhood being?
Are you at peace with yourself and nature?
Building a healthy and wealthy person and movement calls for a full inner and outer feeling of all the involved parties; those on the front line, beneficiaries and partners. Our lives and well being depend on the energies we let in and those around us. The relationship between us and the ones we have chosen to surround ourselves with counts a lot in the achievement of a healthy and wealthy person and movement.
During our lifetime journey, we unknowingly and knowingly get hurt or hurt others and move on without minding about the now and post effects. We have been scheduled by the society and environment we are nurtured from; to think and believe that all will be okay and render such moments as minor or as by the ways. We start building walls around us at an early stage, the different layers pile and create a surface within and around us that attracts a foreign substance like algae or moss growing on a neglected building.
When it comes to us Queer persons; we grow up struggling with our own feelings; those about us and all that surrounds us, questioning and doubting ourselves. Life becomes a series of misery for many. Our layers are built by more and unique pressing issues and life becomes unbearable for many when the support system is absent.
Our minds are everyday filled with recurring indifferent opinions. Opinions that are many times just pressed on us; Due to the lack of guidance from the early stage of childhood about the reality of sexuality, due to the rigid norms we never consented to, due to the heteronormative settings even our ancestors never contributed to but rather followed because it was the order of the day.
Along the journey as we try to teach and seek knowledge by ourselves which comes with overbearing hurting from within ourselves and the surrounding. Hurting that is fueled by religions that we were initiated into by our parents, the society norms which choose to never shift by reality and culture we never consented to. We grow up to live a life of a book where the author directs to their selfish thoughts and needs.
We are all on the frontline of fighting something that many of us may be unaware of. The fear of the unknown shields us with warmth that blinds many with fear. Life is Activism itself at some point along our different journeys. We start the battle at our childhood stage; those moments we try to stand up for our younger selves because of decisions made by our parents/guardians (in good faith or with no awareness of the weight of the harm) but only to be silenced because we are minors. Our struggle and fight begins at that point when every human makes the first step and experiences their first cry, when they hit the world.
As adults we fearlessly choose to approach life differently, we awaken all the wounded layers of childhood which affect our ability to grow an enriched and healthy life inclusive of the movements we are a part of and involved in. Our ability to handle life shakes because of the weight from the different burdens we carry. We pack our cargos unknowing the weight it will bring. The cargo which makes us broken human beings, which makes our shoulders itch, our feet to tremble, our hearts to shed unnoticed blood, visible and invisible tears rolling down our faces, our minds roaming and our souls terrified
The Journey of Healing our souls, mind, body and spirit is one gift to achieve a wealthy and healthy person and movement. The nature of our fruits depends on the happiness of our foundation. To build a strong and healthy movement calls for grounded souls. It involves planting a seed that will blossom into a tree which will bear fruits to feed many for years, a seed that can be cultivated forever. The tree symbolizes movements we are in. The wealth and health are the fruits it bears. The seeds are the energies of the different humans that join our movements every other day. Our movements shrive the moment it has a collection of healthy trees bearing good fruits.
“Would our ancestors be when every individual and collective are living and co-existing happily together in this universe?”
Offloading that bad harvest in our cargos is what we may call striving to achieve. When we gather to heal and share stories, our energies flow, striving towards healing everyone involved in the circle. As we heal, we create a ground that is founded by wealth and health of wisdom and knowledge needed to grow and strengthen collectives and movements. That same ground boosts and betters our wellbeing on a personal level.
This world is full of challenges that hit us differently. Recovering may be certain or not. Healing is a continuous journey that we face throughout our lives. Our inner struggles if not balanced, doubles, multiplies and even goes beyond hence affecting our outer person. How heavy would it be to those around you and all other things that surround you?
“We feed the movements we’re in and the movements feed us. How best can we make the two souls happy, wealthy and healthy together?”
Winfred Mugambwa
Queer Feminist and Human Rights Defender
