We Are the Rhythm, the Return, and the Rising

This month at Afrosavvy has been nothing short of sacred.

We opened August beneath the bright gaze of the full moon, not just to witness her beauty, but to honour her power. Our Full Moon Drumming Circle was more than a gathering; it was a homecoming. The sound of the drum echoed into the night like a heartbeat; ancestral, steady, alive. Each strike of the skin called forth memory, each rhythm an invocation. We did not dance to entertain, we danced to remember and in doing so we aligned ourselves with a language older than words; the language of Spirit.

As we drummed, we also honoured. We paused this month to celebrate our women; the wombs that bore us, the hands that raised us, the voices that shaped us. From the ground-breakers and healers to the mothers and silent builders of homes and nations, we lifted their names high not only with praise, but with presence. We gave them their flowers while they could still smell them, and in return, they reminded us who we are. This Women’s Month was not was reverent, rooted and real.

In the same breath, we lifted the memory and wisdom of Africa’s Indigenous Peoples; the first guardians of land, language, and medicine. We remembered the stories before the textbooks, the names before the maps. We paid homage to the Khoi, the San, and to every silenced voice that once spoke with the trees, walked barefoot with the rain, and understood healing as something communal, not commercial. In honouring them, we committed again to a path of restoration; of returning what was taken and reviving what was buried.

At the heart of all this work is a sacred remembering and our Return to Embo - Homecoming Programme continues to hold this flame. The current circle of participants is walking through deep reconnection, healing, and ancestral awakening. Week by week, the transformation is visible. It is powerful to witness. It is life-changing.

And still, the journey continued.

As we closed this powerful month, we offered one final gathering. A collective moment to root our feet even deeper into the earth.

We hosted an African Traditional Medicine Webinar, open to all with a heart for remembering. Seekers, students, healers, and the simply curious came together in this space. We explored foundational indigenous plants, their medicinal and spiritual uses, and opened a dialogue on what it truly means to decolonise our understanding of healing.

This was our offering to the collective. A way to say: You have come home. You have learned. You have remembered.

And in the first week of September, we begin our Medicine Course, a deeper dive into African Indigenous Healing — a virtual learning journey held on Thursday evenings. There is still space to register, and we welcome those ready to take the next step in reclaiming traditional knowledge because we believe the healer is not just the one who mixes herbs.

It is the one who remembers.

The one who listens.

The one who returns to the land with reverence.

August has taught us this:

We do not need to rush our healing.

We do not need to outsource our knowing.

We are the medicine.

We are the memory.

We are the return.

Let us close this month the same way we opened it; with intention, Spirit, and in honour.

✍

Celuxolo Stewart aka Gogo Simenjalo