Cape Town - She knew she had a calling the day she grabbed a hen, ate it alive starting from the feet, then took its feathers and placed them on top of her head, like a crown.
Following this, each time she saw hen feathers she would take them and put them on her head.
Nondumiso “Makhosi” Mayikute, 46, quit school at 13 to follow her calling and is now a full-time traditional healer helping hundreds of people each year.
Originally from the Eastern Cape, Nondumiso now lives in Samora Machel with her four children.
“I had to quit school, because when I was at school I would be unable to speak and my face would turn on top of my left shoulder facing my back.I couldn’t be myself anywhere.”
Leaving school was devastating for her, until she understood her calling. Along the way she also lost a lot of friends.
Her parents took her to a prophet nearby, because her family was religious and didn’t believe in ancestral callings. They prayed for their daughter day in and day out, blaming evil spirits and hoping that one day she was going to be a normal child. Days later the prophet turned her back home, as she couldn’t help her in any way.
At this point things were getting out of hand. They had to do something before they lost their child. She was a dreamer and most of the time her dreams would come true.
“I would have weird dreams warning me about something or dreams telling me to do something… it was scary. I would also hear voices in my head,” said Nondumiso.
This was too much for a 13 year old but there was nothing the family could do to stop the calling.
She dreamt of a traditional healer in Chatsworth, Durban. The dream was clear on what she must do and where she can find the person. She had never been to Durban before, but she knew exactly where to go.
Her mother had to go with her and when they got to the man’s house he was already waiting for her arrival. The man owned a shop.
On her first night in Chatsworth she had a dream that people were coming to rob the shop and when she woke up the shop owner was already awake and ready for the robbers. This is when her mother started believing that she really had a calling.
They had to go back to the Eastern Cape to perform rituals for her. In the first ceremony, they slaughtered a goat, which symbolised that she had accepted the calling.
She was also given a new name, Namb’encane (small snake). The ritual is known as Imvuma Kufa (accepting the calling) and the ceremony took almost five days to complete.
The family accepted her for who she was. They had to perform another ceremony, which was the last one where they slaughtered a cow and used its tail as Itshoba (a stick to use during ancestral dancing).
At this ceremony a sangoma (traditional healer) would have their first dance. People would gather around singing traditional songs, celebrating them for passing the calling.
She said when she gave birth to her third child, he was born holding beads in both hands. The doctors and nurses were shocked but she knew her son was just like her. She named him Manzi.
Nondumiso is making a living from healing people, she has never been formally employed.
“I am glad I followed my calling, because today I am able to heal what western doctors cannot heal.”
Manzi had difficult times at school, because other children were calling her mother names.
“They call my mother a witch but I do not care because I know she can heal people and I love that about her,” Manzi said.
The husband is also understanding about the situation.
“I met my wife in primary school; the callings did not bother me at all. People said she had bewitched me but I knew the day I met her that she was the one.”
One of her initiates, Noluthanda Sommango, looks up to her. She said that she was one of the most powerful people she had met.
“I used to have seizures, until a dream about her, a woman helping me putting beads on and the woman was Makhosi. After I met her and acknowledged my calling to the ancestors the seizures were gone.”
Richard Sihle Makoanyane, from the Traditional Healers Organisation, said that when accepting a calling, your heart had to be in the right place and your reasons for accepting must be for the benefit of the ancestors.
“Accepting a calling means that you acknowledge and accept the healing powers in you and you are prepared to allow your ancestors to work through you until they say otherwise.
“If you choose to ignore your calling, you are not only bring yourself bad luck but your entire family and you might also get sick and have people turn against you,” Makoanyane added.