FMT in partnership with The Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) brings you a Covid-19 healer from South Africa.

Gogo Ndabezinhle is a spiritual healer with access to the wisdom of “okhokho nomkhulu” (our forefathers).

While her initiation ceremony was delayed due to social distancing, she continues to advise her clients and community through her spiritual gift.

In “pahla” (meditation), she prays for those who have lost loved ones and those who have fallen ill.

She speaks honestly of the large expectations that have suddenly been placed on healers like herself, and the burden of being restricted from doing the actual job of healing.

Gogo uses herbal ingredients like “umhlonyane” (African wormwood) to treat ailments like flu and respiratory illness to help patients with limited access to Western medicine.

She shares the benefits and possible side effects of these treatments with her patients, the same way a doctor would.

Gogo also works as a teacher and has returned to school to help students navigate these tough times.

Tshepiso Mabula is an independent writer and photographer born in Limpopo, South Africa. She studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the Market Photo workshop, where she was the 2018 recipient of the Tierney fellowship. Tshepiso’s work looks at how history can be reconciled with the present. Her focus is to tell stories that rewrite the narrative and change the perception of marginalised bodies that exist in everyday culture. View her profile here.

‘The Other Hundred Healers’ is an initiative by the non-profit organisation GIFT. The 240-page, full-colour, hardcover book can be purchased here at US$40 per copy for a minimum order of 20 copies.