Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Ancestors guide LGBT+ South African healers to mend mental scars

Ancestors guide LGBT+ South African healers to mend mental scars

KIM HARRISBERG SMOKE swirled around Badanile Maci as she crouched on all fours, clapping and chanting with half a dozen other sangomas - South African traditional healers - to greet their ancestors' spirits. Widely respected by South Africans as spiritual guides, healers and counsellors, gay sangomas like 23-year-old Maci are also challenging the idea that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT+) is unAfrican. "When we are together in our traditional ceremonies, we are free," said Maci, who knew she was gay at the age of 15 and brought her first girlfriend home a year later. "Our traditional beliefs have…
Read More