kagablog

Invisible Earthquake has been a long time incubating, but now she’s finally here….

Malika Ndlovu has written a book in which she shares her journeying through the grief of losing her third baby, a girl, Iman Bongiwe, to stillbirth. The reader is allowed to enter the intimate dark space that a grief stricken mother goes into as she tries to come to terms with her loss. Stillbirth, like miscarriage, statistically happens much more frequently than is widely known, and yet it has not been written about much in literature. It is something women are asked to get over without much ado or attention paid to their grief. Malika bravely pays attention to her experience through writing and thus opens up a space for others who have experienced similar losses to be mirrored in their grief, to have their anguish acknowledged.

Invisible Earthquake - a mother’s journal through stillbirth - is framed with an essay by Sue Fawcus, a specialist obstetrician at a public maternity hospital who writes of stillbirth from a medical perspective, she writes of statistics, causes, and of her experience as a medical practitioner in dealing with stillbirth and neo-natal death. Two social workers from the same hospital, Muriel Johnstone and Zubeida Bassadien, write about how they accompany women who grieve for their babies.

The book also contains a resource list of books and helpful organisations. Colleen Crawford Cousins is the cover artist as well as the co-editor with me, and Hannah Morris did the hand-lettering on the cover. Charley Pollard took the photograph of Malika that appears in the book. Making the book has been a collaborative effort. Enormous thanks are due to all who contributed to the book.

Colleen Higgs
Modjaji Books
cell: 0727743546
tel: 0216965503
fax: 0865179066
http://modjaji.book.co.za

LAUNCHES

Invisible Earthquake will be launch in Cape Town at

Kalk Bay Books

Time: 16h00
Date: Saturday 14th March, 2009

Book Lounge, in Roeland Street

Time: 18h00
Date: Wed 15th April 2009

Whenever I have witnessed the dread in a mother’s eyes suddenly turning cold, on hearing that their baby has died, I have had to curb the urge to run away. This intensely personal and powerful journal that Malika has brought to us should become an essential adjunct to any journey that begins with that moment of sharing a baby’s death. Not only does her writing elicit the full range of human emotion, but the additional resource section makes this book extremely relevant, especially to South African women.

Dr Carol Thomas, Specialist Obstetrician Gynaecologist
at theWomanSpace

In the 7 years since my own loss and subsequent ongoing counselling for other bereaved parents, I have never read more explicit and perfect words that describe the gut wrenching feeling that all mothers suffer. This is a must read for all family and friends who want to begin to try and understand the enormity of our desperateness.”

Kim Palmer, The Compassionate Friends: Support Organisation for Grieving Parents

“Malika Ndlovu writes the way she lives. ‘Invisible Earthquake - a woman’s journal through stillbirth’ is filled with abundance - from terrible grief and sorrow to healing and the joy of her son’s words ‘I have a sister’ as he draws her - bigger than the page.You feel Iman Bongiwe’s presence in Malika’s life and poetry. You hear the pain of a mother who rocked her baby in her womb and felt her baby’s heartbeat echo her own. As she gently lowers her white daisy onto the waves of the ocean Malika honours Iman’s journey through life and death. Her poetry and song hold you, her reader as she holds herself. As you hold this book, as you read her words, you feel the pulse and rhythm of your own heart…and of the children who come ‘through you but not from you’

Pregs Govender, SA Human Rights Commissioner & Author of Love & Courage – A Story of Insubordination

“ This work speaks for itself: it whispers, cries, weeps, sings, reaches far for consolation. It invokes and even delicately touches at times the great wings spread over us if we but bother to look. It was a joy (and a sorrow) to read this manuscript with an editorial eye. It is joy alone to watch the formidable talent of Malika Ndlovu unfold. This is a voice our healing nation needs to hear.” Shauna Wescott (Editor and Writer)

“Malika has created a piece of work that gives grief a voice. I know this will bring solace to all those who read it, anyone who has lost any loved one will see themselves in her words.” Joy Mc Pherson (Founder Midwives Inc.)

Praise is due to Malika Ndlovu for having narrated such a powerful story that takes a reader through one of the most painful and profoundly life-changing experience.

Inspired by baby Bongiwe’s passing within her, Malika uses the delicate language of poetry and journaling to invite her audience to bear witness to her deep pain, grief and sorrow.

As I read this manuscript and felt moved by its honesty and immediacy, I couldn’t resist thinking that this is the first time a woman has managed to get to the core of what “inimba” really means without mentioning the word. Inimba represents the seat of our soul that connects us to our ancestors, and at the same time provides a link to future generations. It represents that which makes us truly respond to each other’s pain and suffering and most importantly that which gives us the ability to ‘feel for”.

This is indeed a treasure from a generous heart and soul. Malika not only invites us to bear witness to her journey, but offers all those who have travelled her path a resource to soothe their souls and aide their healing processes. Her offering is both a balm and a well of wisdom that invites fellow sisters, and their supporters to use which will inspire and replenish their weary and flagging souls.

Abaphantsi bathi Camagu sis’wam! The Ancestors Salute you, my dear sister!

Nomfundo Walaza,

Clinical Psychologist & CEO of Desmond Tutu Peace Centre

Malika Ndlovu
New Moon Ventures
“healing through creativity”
Tel: +27( 0)21 448 6877
Fax:+27( 0)866 898989
Cell: +27( 0)83 745 1398