‘In pain I found myself’: Kwa-Thema businesswoman creates space for healing
From overcoming abuse to rebuilding lives after financial hardship and personal loss, women shared stories of survival and healing.
Kwa-Thema – Elegantly dressed women from different walks of life gathered at Cafe 69 in Kwa-Thema for the ‘In Pain I Found Myself: From Pain to Power’ Women’s Healing Programme, on November 7.
Kwa-Thema businesswoman Nomvula Kutuka hosted the intimate event to create a safe space for women to connect, heal, and grow through their trials and tribulations.
The event explored several topics, including healing through sisterhood, boundaries and self-worth, and rebuilding one’s identity.
It featured a lineup of guests, including Bertha Gxowa Hospital CEO Lebohang Precious Khumalo and Kwa-Thema-born artist Ntunja.
Kutuka shared her traumatic childhood experiences of sexual abuse, navigating the court system as a minor, being stigmatised by her peers, undergoing sangoma initiation and facing marital challenges.
At the same time, she was pregnant with a child doctors had told her she would never have.
“Through the pain I’ve passed through, I told myself I’m going to build something out of this pain. Most of my clientele are women who come to me crying, who come to me in tears. So, with my pain, I said I will help those who are hurting like me,” she said.
The mother of one encouraged women to invest in themselves no matter how little they have, strive for independence and prioritise their own well-being.
Speaker Ntombizanele Dubula emphasised the importance of boundaries and self-worth, explaining how she lost the comfortable life she once enjoyed following poor financial decisions, stretching herself thin for others and placing too much importance on other people’s opinions.
Dubula recounted how she went from being an award-winning call centre agent, running her own business to washing human faeces off plastic waste so that it could be recycled.
“I went back home with refuse bags. I don’t even have a decent bag to go back home with. Of everything I had, I came back with black bags and a Bible,” she said.
Through the sisterhood she shares with Kutuka, Dubula is now working at one of South Africa’s financial institutions as she steadily rebuilds her life.
“People are not bad people. It’s how you give yourself to people. If you don’t have boundaries, what do you expect will happen?” she asked.
Echoing her message was Nonzwakazi Cekete, editor-in-chief at Moja Love, who also experienced loss and heartbreak after losing her partner in a motorcycle accident in 2016.
“I want to encourage you that whatever you are going through in life, go through it knowing that God put you there for a reason. He knows what potential you have to solve that problem. No life is smooth for everybody. We are all faced with challenges daily,” she said.
Kutuka said the women’s healing programme would continue next year, with plans to accommodate a bigger audience.
“I went through pain; that’s where I found me. That’s where I decided to be me. That’s where I decided to build other women who are suffering in silence.”
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