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I was honoured to be on the judging panel at the E

I was honoured to be on the judging panel at the Educational Speech Competition held at the Cape Medical Museum last week to #celebrate International Museum Day.

As someone who would much rather be writing than speaking to an audience, I was blown away by the courage of these learners to stand up and speak in their second language. This year's #theme was Museums, Sustainability and Wellness, and interesting points of view were raised.

Congratulations to the winners:

🏆Asiphe Makasie Harry Gwala HS
🏆Imi Cimani Cosat HS
🏆Sisipho Rumbu Sinenjongo HS

And well done to programme director Bongiwe Maliwa for a successful afternoon, and to my fellow judges, Nwabisa Moshenyane and Michaela Clark. We had a tough job!

#speechcompetition #southafrica #museums #capetown #capemedicalmuseum #capetownmuseum #westerncapegov #internationalmuseumday #museumssustainabilityandwellness

I'm using creative license to post about St George

I'm using creative license to post about St George's Cathedral as my offering for #internationalmuseumday.

The word #museum comes from the Greek for the place of the Muses. It's a place of #contemplation where one might go to see objects of historical, artistic or scientific interest.

The #cathedral played a key role during the anti-apartheid #struggle due largely to the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu whose ashes are interred beneath a simple floor tile inscribed with his name and the dates he served there.

Also buried here is Geoffrey Clayton who became #archbishop of Cape Town in 1948, the year that the National Party came to power. On the day before he died he signed, on behalf of the bishops of his church, a letter to Prime Minister JG Strijdom refusing to obey or to counsel the people of the Anglican Church of SA to obey the Native Laws Amendment Act that sought to enforce apartheid in all Christian congregations. His ashes are interred here as he did not wish to be buried in a cemetery for "whites only".

#southafrica #history #heritage #capetown #apartheid #stgeorgescathedral #desmondtutu #geoffreyhareclayton #anglicanchurch #churchofengland

It takes a village to produce a #book. Thank you t

It takes a village to produce a #book. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on, shared their stories, held my hand or lent a shoulder. Wonderful to be in the District Six @homecomingcentre to celebrate the launch of my book #offcentreandoutoffocus surrounded by family and friends. My father's memories of District Six are at the heart of this book. A big thank you to Bonita Bennett for leading the #conversation. 🙏🏾❤

#heritage #apartheid #history #booklaunch #firstbook #booksofinstagram #thankyou #homecomingcentre #districtsix #capetown

On International Day of the Midwife I'm resharing

On International Day of the Midwife I'm resharing images of The Flower of Maryam, Rose of Jericho, or Resurrection plant, used for generations by women to aid in #childbirth. The #hygroscopic #plant slowly expands when immersed in water, acting as a visual aid to help relax and expand the #cervix. When it dries it shrivels up into a #tumbleweed again until the next time it is required.

#flowerofmaryam #labour #pregnancy #midwife #resurrectionplant #roseofjericho #labouringplants #internationaldayofthemidwife

What a privilege to meet and chat to Ouma Hanna (J

What a privilege to meet and chat to Ouma Hanna (Johanna Jass) in #Paulshoek recently. For many years she served her #community as a #vroedvrou (midwife) and #smeervrou (masseusse).

She told of how she learned her skills from an older #Nama woman, and how she used indigenous herbs like #baarbos to help women during #childbirth. Johanna Mariana Lot, para-ecologist and co-author of #fieldguide 3, describes Ouma Hanna's hands "as good as #sonar" in assessing #pregnant women. Now that she is in her 80s, she no longer helps women with #delivery but continues doing baby massage.

In one of the clips she talks about how they were punished as children if they spoke Nama.

#northerncape #Namaqualand #midwife #herbs #massage #masseusse #heritage #stories #southafrica #indigenousknowledge #Kamiesberg

Thank you to all who gathered with us yesterday at

Thank you to all who gathered with us yesterday at the Cape Medical Museum. Oh, how we gathered! So wonderful to hear my essay being read in a multitude of voices.

Thank you to Bettina Schouw, Karen Schmidt, Zara Allie, Michelle Burgers, Ayesha Mukaddam, Bongiwe Maliwa, Joshua Cohen, and Scott Eric Williams for reading, and to Philippa Kabali Kagwa for holding the space.

Thank you to @capetownmuseum and @lucaschoolofarts for hosting us.

Limited copies of Fieldguides for a Preternaturalist published by @k_verlag can be bought @clarkesbookshop in Cape Town.

📷 @oskarsghost
#fieldguides #gathering #reading #fieldguidesforapreternaturalist #chapbook #unpickrestitch #doilies #medorahs #LUCASchoolofarts #labouringplants #capetown #tellingourstories #lostnarratives

It was with great pleasure that I revisited the Mo

It was with great pleasure that I revisited the Montagu Mission Church, now a #museum. Four years ago I had the privilege of assisting with an #exhibition that brought together the oral history of the area, the forced removals from the centre of the town, and the rich heritage of medicinal plants. The museum director at the time, Emile Badenhorst, and Dominee Reginald Boesak, were the motivators for the new exhibition in a space that spoke loudly of the #erasure of the #history of people who had lived, loved and worshipped there. Through interviews with elderly residents, old photos and tattered documents, we were able to piece together and record some of that #history.

We situated the exhibition by adding the indigenous names of the two #rivers that run on either side of the town, the #Keisie and the #Kingna on opposite walls of the church.

#montagumissionchurch #history #heritage #oralhistory #Montagu #medicinalplants #forcedremovals #groupareasact #southafrica #tellingourstories

From the Kamiesberge to Signal Hill via #Sutherlan

From the Kamiesberge to Signal Hill via #Sutherland (the coldest place in SA - that's our icy windscreen), #Matjiesfontein and #Montagu, and pass many, many Karoo sheep! Wonderful to see the Montagu Mission Church Museum again, four years after we worked on the #exhibition there. Thrilled to see that the medicinal plant project has been passed on to the next generation.

#southafrica #history #heritage #roadtrip #karoo #hantam #hessequamunicipality #montagumissionchurch

From Signal Hill to the Kamiesberge: a return. Ro

From Signal Hill to the Kamiesberge: a return.
Road tripping with @nothing_of_importanc_occurred and @nele____moeller

#roadtrip #southafrica #northerncape
#Namaqualand #Kamiesberge #Kamieskroon #knersvlakte #clanwilliam #marchlilies #nieuwoudtville #kokerboom #glacialfloor #skilpadflowerreserve #namaquanationalpark

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2021 Nadia Kamies. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Volt Africa. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

ABOUT NADIA KAMIES

Nadia Kamies was born and raised in Cape Town. She holds a BSc Occupational Therapy and an MA Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, and a PhD History from the University of Pretoria. Her writing focuses on the afterlives of slavery and apartheid.

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2022 Nadia Kamies. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Volt Africa. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy