"Our Branches Are Broken:" Using the Tree Of Life Healing Methodology with
Victims of Gukurahundi in Matebeleland, Zimbabwe
Dumisani Ngwenya
Between 1983 and 1987, an estimated 20,000 people from Matabeleland and parts of
Midlands Province in Zimbabwe were killed by state security agents, mostly from the Central
Intelligence Organization and a specially-trained battalion of the Zimbabwean National
Army, during an operation code-named Gukurahundi (a Shona word meaning “the rain which
washes away the dirt”). The main purpose was to deal with those thought to have sympathies
with Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) and Zimbabwe African People’s
Union (ZAPU), its political wing. In practice, this involved violence against Ndebele
individuals and communities, the story of which has been documented by the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP, 2007).
No apology or any form of healing process has been offered by the government. If
anything, the government has contributed to ongoing pain by actively suppressing any such
initiatives. As a result, individuals and communities in these areas have never been afforded
opportunities to openly talk about their experiences or to seek relief for their painful
memories of the past. This article investigates the effectiveness of the Tree of Life (TOL)
approach to community healing. Following a process which took place over two years, the
participants reported that they experienced “a measure of healing.”
A comprehensive discussion of healing after violence may be found in Ngwenya
(2014) and only a few general points will be made here. Healing can come about in a number
of ways, which are not mutually exclusive: some individuals manage the healing process
from their own inner resources; some receive help from family and friends; some are helped
by traditional or faith-based rituals; and some benefit from face-to-face counseling (pp. 6596). This research is based on another option, where traumatized individuals come together in
a group to seek healing.
According to some scholars, (Agger & Jensen, 1996; Lemaire, 2000; Erickson, 1995;
Edkins, 2003; Staub, et al., 2005) state repression, ethnic wars and political violence do not
only affect individuals. They tend to disrupt communal and family support and coping
mechanisms in an effort to break down any political resistance that a unified community can
present. While violence might appear to be targeted toward individuals, its overall purpose is
to break down the social fabric and support systems; as such, this form of violence affects the
whole community. In other words, a whole community can sometimes experience collective