Kemet – Restorative Healing

To heal is to restore balance to wholeness. There are different modalities to heal. Healing moves at different rhythms. It wears different faces. It’s unique to all circumstances! Healing is indescribable but we do our best to capture its essence. So I share my story:

Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma AL

Growing up Black in rural area Selma, Alabama, the birth place of the Civil Rights Movement, the geography of a social change, I heard many controversial stories about my ancestors of African descendant. My elementary school history textbooks taught that African people were brought by brutal force from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade to America. The stories left me inert. There was much talk about fighting racism, segregation, discrimination, and oppression on Black people. I was confused. I did not have a chance to be something other than a slave in society. I asked God on many occasions, “Why did I have to be Black?” My elders’ teachings of Kemet (The land of black people), Africa before slavery and colonialism, lifted my spirit to a certain extent. The only thing that could rejuvenate my spirit would be a trip to Africa. One day, I was sitting in my History & Philosophy of Geography class, and my professor announced the Study Abroad Africa Program. I leaped in joy! The surge running through my body kept me from fainting from overexposure and amazement! The time to heal had come. I was going to Tanzania, East Africa.

After a 22 hour flight I arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. When my feet hit the soil, my perception shifted. I was now on the continent where my African ancestors originated! I lost a sense of time. I was now in a different time zone and experiencing life from the lens of a different culture. Every moment held significance, but there was one that outweighed others.

As I traveled from Dar es Salaam to Arusha in the Rift Valley, I experienced different environments at different elevations on one road that was connected to many. Underneath the roads were compressed minerals solidified over time. The energy within that mass was so powerful it sculptured the exterior. Mountains and craters surrounded me for miles. As I inclined in elevation, the temperature changed from warm & sunny to cold & rainy. The energy moved my busy mind into the state of serenity. At this meditative state, I surrendered to the ultimate power I Am. Time did not exist! It came to me, as we experience life at different stages, no moment is the same. The colors we radiate are parts of the human experience. There will be some mountains to climb and some craters to cross during this experience. If you choose to view it from this point, it is all beauty,  As I stood on the rim of a volcano crater staring at the mountains, I concluded that the force that created this scene was the same force that was within me. It was the beauty inside that created beauty on the outside.

A View From The Top, Tanzania

With every experience I saw a reflection of myself. I am proud of who and what I am. I know where the power lies. The power to heal is within. We attract what is needed to heal.

– LaQuanda ‘Que’ Simpson Laquanda is a vibrant spirit moving to the rhythms of life.  She was born in Selma Alabama ! She believes freedom was given to her as a birth right!  Laquanda has traveled around the sun 31 times! She has invested 10 years in growing one seed. His name is Kwami Malik Ingram! Her grandparents would say Laquanda is a good gardener because she listens!  Gardening relaxes her mind and purifies her soul, drumming and dancing too! Currently, Laquanda is studying Geography Information Science at the University of North Alabama in Florence Alabama! She is an explorer and she loves adventure!  Among friends she is better known as Que!