ABOUT ME

 I FOLLOWED MY CALLING

WRITTEN BY INDABUKO MEDIA 

Sangoma, highly respected healer among the Zulu people of South Africa who diagnoses, prescribes, and often performs the rituals to heal a person physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. 

The sangoma may address all of these realms in the healing process, which usually involves divination, herbal medicine, and specific customized rituals to cure illness and restore well-being. 

We chat with Nonhlanhla Vilakazi better known as Rainqueen Makhosi Vilakazi who is amongst one of the respected and known healers in KwaZulu Natal. Vilakazi is a 33year old from Durban Pinetown KwaSanti South West of Durban .

"I have two beautiful daughters. It was all confusing since growing up. I didn't know I had a calling until I went completely blind, and started having dreams," Said Vilakazi

CALLING An individual who is called to be a sangoma must be called by spirit. The calling, ukutwasa, denotes an ancestral and cultural responsibility and is initiated usually by an illness, which is accompanied by strange dreams and visions. 

This disruption in the daily life of the person causes him or her to seek the services of various healers. Because of the availability of Western medicine in South Africa, many individuals who are called, known as thwasa (apprentices), often try in vain to be cured by modern medicine before ending up with a sangoma who can correctly identify ukuthwasa. 

This identification begins an initiation period, which can last from months to years depending on the circumstances. Rainqueen Vilakazi says that

the sangoma confirmed her dreams and that she had to thwasa (prepare herself for the calling). I had a dream about my Gobela (Makhosi Cele) and went to start the Thwasa process, which took 7 months. We are a big family lost mom and dad. Was left with my siblings five brothers and two sisters. 

My family is my everything. I think I'm who I'm today because of them. Especially in my sangoma journey I get strong support from them. This journey is never easy. 

But for me I would say people testimonials and knowing that I'm able to help people and change life is everything. The     Covid19 made everything difficult for me since being a sangoma I require walk ins. I had to change into online. Since we had to social distance. But I think I learned so much