Inspiring people to re-imagine their relationship to their world
The Sustainable Together Exhibition and Celebration was opened on November 12th to a feast of images, voices, and visibility of the Ekhupumleni community’s rich heritage, of their connection to stories of healing, vivid memories of connection to the land and food, and sustainability that carried the origins and hidden histories of lineages and ancestors, of those who came before.
The element of earth was brought into the venue as an installation to remind us of our connections. It became a central piece for the exhibition and an integral part of bringing the community together through a simple ritual of taking a handful of earth and adding it to a mound that already held stories of loss, separation, seeds of unity and planting, and a manifesto that speaks to growing together.
The images alone called forth a moving feast that mobilized a community to reflect on the value of themselves where separation and apartheid had ingrained the not-enough-ness of a rich culture steeped in deep self-worth, but stripped by an all too familiar narrative of spiritual destruction: “You don’t belong”. Co -created by the residents of Ekuphumleni (“Our place of rest”) and Return To Origin, the exhibition accompanied by a sound recording that echoed the haunting stories of the past, the hope in the present and the re-imagination of a future in sustainability that included respect, love, well-being and healing. We were transported into a world that this community knows only too well. A return to the land, and the soil to plant seeds of inspiration is where the magic lies, and from there everything is possible. As one participant says: “Then we have everything we need”. Please go to our projects page to find the stunning images by Ndiphiwe Kwakweni, his first exhibition and the beautiful sound installation by Kuhle Ngqezana.
Mbali Marais - Founder Return To Origin
A rites of passage must be marked with a ceremony witnessed by the community.
These young men and women have completed a 3 year program in returning to their origin. Through deep nature connection, rigorous inner work, reflection and creative projects they have received direct hands on lived experience essential to Indigenous Knowledge Leadership Programs.
They have tracked with the Khomani San Bushmen, walked the Umfolozi trail, studied san rock paintings with Dr Jeanette deacon, Craig Foster and Leon Lewis has worked with them as a guide to their original signature and Anna Breytenbach provided animal communication training.
They have served underserved communities around Cape Town through our Guardians for Nature program, providing day long trainings to reconnect young people to nature. Through Return to Origin's Trees for Tomorrow project they have along with the community planted nearly a 100 trees. We have witnessed unique transformation when inner and outer work are a parallel process often overlooked by most leadership programs.
We celebrate the next steps of their journey.
Builds sustainable systems, and healthy communities, where the issue of well-being and self-worth are at the heart of our project designs.
Drawing on indigenous knowledge systems, with a focus on cultivating a connection to the land and nature we offer powerful transformative and long-lasting forms of cultural and environmental education often omitted in leadership programs.
Assists our leaders to give back to the next generations, establishing a reciprocity where an understanding of our rich heritage and legacy is deeply rooted. Guardians for Nature Project
Invitation to Collaborate - we welcome your collaboration opportunities.
Please contact us: info@returntoorigin.org.za
“I want to learn about our history. The way we used to live, so I can live and survive with that knowledge.” - Youth participant
Return to Origin in partnership with Ingcungcu Community, Kenton-on –Sea, will explore through the Sustainable Together project, community involvement in sustainability in the face of adversity in a post-Apartheid present. With a deep legacy of sons and daughters of the soil - and the origins of those who came before, and their connection to the land, farming and thriving - the community look to the past in order to heal and make sense of the future. The extraordinary grassroots work already in place and still to come will honor their origins. In the re -telling of the stories, the community knows that the intrinsic links between re-rembering the past and passing down this knowledge will not only bring healing, but also leave a legacy of hope for future generations.
“We have everything we need right here” - Zanele Mayiza, Teacher
In the past we embodied our connection to the land and its ways. Yet in living it, we may not have known its true value until, at the hand of historical processes, this connection to land and heritage has been severed; our ways of protecting and honouring them, forgotten. There is, however, the potential to re-member what has been severed; the potential to both deepen and expand our rela-tionship to the earth, our histories, our communities, and ourselves. Wholeness begins with an acknowledgement of what was lost, for it is in the loss of home, that we come to find it, and in be-coming who we are not, to recover who we really are. It is, as the old proverb echoes and reminds us, in the wound that the blessing resides. The work of recovering, rehabilitating and restoring rela-tionships to land, ourselves, each other, and communities, begins with reconciling the past. Discon-nection, and severing continues to reverberate in a post-Apartheid present where traumas to, and from, ourselves are still deeply embedded in our blood, bones and lineages.
“When the tree bears fruit everyone will benefit from it” - Tata Phixsle, Elder
Community involvement in processes of planting, harvesting and preparing food, contribute to a deepened sense of belonging, self-worth and an awareness needed to care for the earth and ourselves. Our fathers and grandfathers planted, and cared for the land. We have come to tell our stories. We have lived through the dangers and traumas of a single narrative, and by it, have witnessed many perspectives, practices and ontologies being wiped out. Wisdom and ways of relating to the world, silenced and forgotten. Yet, there are stories still to find expression in the world; stories with a light that, though dimmed, burns brighter; stories that once told, ignite the light in others. Our vision is to create a space for the holding and sharing of stories, and to foster with it, the beginnings of recon-ciliation and healing.
“When we work together, we grow together.” - Mbali Marais, Project Manager
The co-curated outputs of the Sustainable Together project with the community will include a sound documentary, and photographs, telling the stories of resilience, sustainability and remembering of self-worth through heritage in this community. This culminates in an exhibition celebrating the ex-traordinary grassroots work done to hold people together during the Covid-19 lockdown, and the shift towards a longer-term sustainable food- and care system that values the stories and well-being of those who are part of it, and the natural world that supports them, in Ekuphumleni. In addition we are calling in the creative artists, beaders, potters and musicians. These will form the backdrop for interactive sessions that demonstrate in practice what an ecologically sustainable system could look like when rooted in the cultivation of well-being, self-worth and purpose. We are spotlighting through this exhibition the community’s gifts as a collective, whilst honoring and celebrating the Ekuphumleni community's rich food heritage, memories of connection to the land and water, ex-changed between elders and youth, and a return to a sense of belonging to the land after the dis-connections of our recent history. At its core it is about giving voice to the hidden histories of this area, and leaving a legacy for future generations.
