Writer - Counsellor - Teacher - Trauma Informed Specialist
HOPE - "It is as if our heart is attached to a butterfly's wings, lifting and alighting us, taking us into the ether where hope builds on more hope."
“When the River Wakes Up ventures courageously down paths rarely explored, the Western medical model and African mysticism from Zimbabwe. What is the cost of labelling those with sacred gifts for all of humanity? Is there a way to open ourselves to unimaginable wisdom that will illuminate the pathforward for us all? Alyson Quinn writes this story with her heart immersed in cauterized memory of her beloved homeland and an unquenchable curiosity for undiscovered worlds.” — Malídoma Patríce Somé, PhD, traditional elder, author of Ritual: Power, Healing and Community; Of Water and theSpirit; and The Healing Wisdom of Africa
When the River Wakes Up is an exploration of paths rarely explored—the colliding of Western beliefs and Shona mysticism. Abigail, in all her fragility, is a resolute pioneer alongside her African brother, her soul compatriot, and vessel of African wisdom: Zukah. Through their relationship they open up closed minds and hearts around them, and forge a different path in the new Zimbabwe. Any government transitioning from a racist minority rule to a majority government is careening down a road of unfathomable chaos; Zimbabwe is no different. Seen through the lens of Abigail’s father, acivil servant, the process is filled with potholes of despair and unforeseen hope.