The Hungry Soul: A Literary Magazine -- Articles: Stories That Heal: Reconciliation in South Africa-- Michael Morain

Stories That Heal: Reconciliation in South Africa
By Michael Morain
The following is the preface of a book entitled Stories That Heal by poet, storyteller and South African peace activist, Michael Morain.

The nature of healing people and the nature of storytelling are two very similar things. This is so because memories are composed of images and stories are the same, so it is natural that they should compliment each other. The stories in this book are based on such themes and have arisen out of work with people for healing and reconciliation. An example of this is the poetry for peace initiative which Nisa Malange and I worked on together.

When we organised the launch of the Poetry for Peace book we asked people who contributed to come and read at the launch.

For those who may not have heard about this work, the theme of the book and the programme which proceeded it was to commit people to peace and reconciliation. We held the launch a day or so after the miraculous elections for a new South Africa in 1994.

A friend Vusi, was one of those who read. He stood up in front of the audience and related how he had been going towards a train when some people came up to him and shot him through the head. The crime was politically motivated as he had been doing work for the party he supported. Fortunately, he did not die, but his speech was affected slightly and of course he has scars. There were many people in the audience hearing this who did not have dry eyes by the time he was finished.

Another memory is of December 1993, when we held a day of readings for peace in Durban, South Africa. We had famous poets, as well as lesser known poets come and read. What I remember most is the participation from the public. Many of us remember a very old lady who came and said a few words for peace. I remember people who would be regarded as street people or outcasts, who said something for peace. Parents and their small children. People from the international community, all were there, all were treated equally and all said something for peace. It makes one believe that despite the negatives, there is hope for humanity and it made me believe in the power of writing to transform.

To develop this theme of how writing and stories can have a healing power we need to look at history. In primitive societies and societies throughout the ages stories, legends, and images have dominated. The Egyptians with their hieroglyphic writing is but one example.

Dreams and images play a very vital role in the consciousness of the human race. It is said by psychologists that the subconscious of anyone works on images. Is it any wonder that storytelling has come to be a very great influence on humanity?

From the generations of humanity has come the growing picture of the evolution of humanity. We see it in the legends and traditions of all societies.

How can we use the above knowledge? I am a romantic at heart. I believe in the value of stories, myths and legends. In a letter to a lady in America I wrote about South Africa:

Storytelling is at the essence of this. In Africa there are many people who teach their traditions and values, who teach what they know by means of stories, passed from one generation to another. It is interesting to note that many stories around the world have characters that in essence are similar. Look at a lot of the fairy tales. Compare any story and I am sure you will find the majority of images there.

Another example of the image process is television programmes. Have you noticed that many programmes follow a similar theme? They have a father type figure, a mother type figure (male or female) plus children type characters. Of these latter characters one will be a comedy character. In television programmes this pattern along with good and evil, heroes, etc is repeated over and over in differing programmes. Just notice how many television programmes have similar plots or themes.

There are good and bad stories, as well as television programmes. Despite having said this, what one may classify as bad images may not necessarily have a bad influence. Recent research published in a book The Healing of the Gods, describes how investigation into the legends of the Greek Gods and other stories of other lands, has led the author of the book to conclude that the Greek Gods had very human qualities for a definite reason. He concludes in his book that the Greeks used these images for therapeutic purposes. Thus if a person was troubled with say, an overbearing mother, by going to the God associated with those symptoms and working with images associated with the God, a healing process could begin to occur helping to resolve the whole problem.

This tends to confirm the idea that myths, legends and stories and writing about ones problems may be a means to resolve problems.

When I attended a conference in Portugal in 1993, one of the psychologists there talked about the use of sand in therapy. Sand was placed in a A4 size block and the person was encouraged to draw in the sand. From the drawings problem areas would become apparent and the sand was used to help the child alter the drawing and this would alter the perception of the child. I understand that this type of therapy works very well. In a similar way writing can be used as just such a tool.

Stories with strong images that catch the imagination and attention, are bound to effect, but not only this. I have been taught as a teacher that the hand is the way to the intellect and so many other levels for young children, yet it is also so I believe for older people. So writing can be a way to change peoples' perception of themselves and the world.