An aspiring doctor and sangoma is, for obvious reasons, a highly unusual combination.
One learner and sangoma at I.D Mkhize High School in Cape Town dreams of one day being both — but says she is bullied so badly that she is thinking about leaving it all behind.
The grade 12 learner, who has not been named, told Scrolla.Africa that her schoolmates accuse her of spreading illness.
“Whenever a fellow learner gets sick, they all look at me,” she told Scrolla.Africa.
Some would say “go heal the sick” with magic, while others would accuse her of “bewitching” the sick learner.
“It’s hard every day when I think of going to school.”
The 17-year-old matric learner can no longer take humiliation and abuse.
“My sin is being a sangoma. I am mistreated. I cannot take the bullying abuse anymore,” the teenager added.
She wears her sangoma attire underneath her school uniform but was recently asked to remove the sangoma clothing by the principal.
“I put my clothes and bracelets underneath my uniform, they are not exposed, but the deputy principal always targets me,” she said.
She has been banned by the school from wearing her traditional attire.
It is believed by some that traditional healers fall sick once they stop practising or wearing these garments.
After taking her sangoma clothing off, she claims she lost her vision temporarily.
“Sadly, I went blind and only got my sight back after putting them back,” she explained.
The teenager’s mother doesn’t understand why her daughter is the target.
“She is not the only sangoma at the school. Why humiliate her?” questioned the mother.
“I cannot force her to stay where she’s abused. The department needs to fix this. My child’s education is important.”
Western Cape Department of Education Spokesperson Unathi Booi said the school is addressing the matter and looking at ways to manage ancestral callings.
“In the interim, learners with ancestral calling have been permitted to wear the necessary ancestral calling items such as the bracelet,” Booi said.
The department is engaging with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport and Traditional Healers Organisation of the Western Cape to discuss the management of ancestral callings in schools.
Pictured above: A grade 12 learner who is a sangoma
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
