Trusting herself and going for her vision created an immense impact with a fast ripple affect on women from around the world. They know deep within as Getrude Matshe, that they are connected to others and are genuine listened to. Synchronize to our guests vibration of fast action and you will understand and trust your impulses to create new possibilities for yourself and others. Enjoy...
Humanity is loved by our guest. You can see and sense it in any action Getrude Matshe takes. From New Zealand by weaving a web for women to connect or through supplying sanitary articles to girls in her home country of Zimbabwe. Listen to her rich wisdom, it will touch your heart. Enjoy.
DIVERSITY connector App. Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Life Strategist, Philanthropy, 3x TED speaker, UN Commission on the Status of Women Delegate, Podcaster. She helps thought leaders with their TED talks.
Connect with Getrude Matshe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/getrude-matshe-1a65a61
Find more information about her weaving women together here. HerStoryCircle.com
Watch the video of Episode 72 with Getrude Matshe on our YouTube channel Moving To Oneness: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEWKXR957EmpmXvG9Ygbhw
You are invited to bring your wisdom and powerful energy over to our Fb group where you can share it with us and others. Feel welcomed and comforted in our community. https://www.facebook.com/groups/movingtooneness
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In Love and Light,
Meilin
Moving To Oneness, Nourishing Curiosity, Embracing Differences, Becoming One
Meilin Ehlke 0:39
My guest today will bring sunshine into your heart. She is a fascinating woman, following her vision and changing the world because of it. As I am sitting here now in Germany where it's cloudy and windy. So, I love when the wind comes, because it speaks to us, it talks to our heart and it sends out our vibration to everyone. And this is what my guest all the way in Australia does. So, stay tuned to listen to the Moving To Oneness podcast. I'm Meilin Ehlke, your host. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Gertrude, I was saying you're sitting in Australia, right Melbourne and you have and what fascinates me so much about you is, you had a vision like many of us, and you just went for it. I met you about two years ago and you have come so far because you had set such a strong intention to move forward, and nothing stopped you. I want to applaud you for that. And I'm also very, very happy that you took your time, everyone it's morning in Germany, and it's a night in Melbourne, and Getrude, thank you very much for taking the time and being here with me and everyone on the Moving To Oneness podcast. Hello.
Getrude Matshe 2:18
Hello. It's an absolute honor to be with you tonight. Thank you, for the invitation.
Meilin Ehlke 2:24
Yeah, you know, the vision, your vision, you just weren't sitting and meditating when your vision came. Right? You were active, because you're a woman that loves to see the world and love to travel. You're curious about people, humanity and cultures. And so, you have roamed our planet. I would say a lot. Share with everyone a little bit how you got to that pinnacle point where the vision popped up and you knew 100% from within you cannot not follow it.
Getrude Matshe 3:06
Well, this vision came while I was recovering from heart failure. As you know, I had gone through a separation and divorce that rendered me really ill. Hypertension was the main thing. And I had collapsed with congestive heart failure in a rice field while on holiday in Bali, Indonesia. So, I had to go back home to New Zealand and I was recovering from that. I met my second husband during my recovery and he bought me an electric bike, so I could lose weight and try and get my weight down and get fit again. And I had biked all the way to the city one day. Coming back home I was knocked off that bike by a male biker. He clipped my handlebars just an inch, but I fell onto the motorway onto oncoming traffic in rush hour and almost died again.
Meilin Ehlke 4:06
Wow.
Getrude Matshe 4:06
So, I've had a few exits. For some reason something has kept me here. I remember coming out of that accident with scratches on my elbow, my fingers, my knee, on the left hand side of my body, but I was bruised, badly bruised. I couldn't move for two weeks I was in so much pain. But there was something about this accident that kind of showed me that this was an energetic hit, like something had stopped me. And it felt like I was supposed to be still. I was supposed to receive something. I was supposed to get some kind of guidance. The only way I can describe the feeling I had, and I tuned into that and I went back into my meditation and prayers every morning. And I would ask myself the question, What is my next step? What is my next step?
Getrude Matshe 4:15
That is a good question. Ah, I love that. Yes, that is. Everyone remember that.
Getrude Matshe 4:53
Yeah.
Meilin Ehlke 4:53
Because it takes away pressure. Right?
Getrude Matshe 5:05
Yes, of trying to figure out what you are supposed to do.
Meilin Ehlke 5:14
Hmmm. Lovely.
Getrude Matshe 5:15
Exactly. And I remember it was the 13th of February, 2019, a day before Valentine's Day. And it came like I was dreaming with my eyes open. It was very visual. And it looked like an A4 piece of paper with a diagram. And the diagram had silos of women sitting in a circle of 10 and each woman had a line that went out and she was connected to another 10. So, there were these dots and lines and dots and lines. And it just made perfect sense to me what it meant. That I was supposed to create some kind of women's circles and bring women together, in some kind of a community. So, I posted on Facebook, the next day that I wanted to start these women's circles. I was looking for my first 100 women to come together to a gathering and we would share our stories. We would uplift each other. We would inspire each other through the sharing of these stories. And in 48 hours I had 2500 women respond in 30 countries on Facebook with no advertising. My post just went viral and people started sharing it and sharing it.
Meilin Ehlke 6:38
That is how I found you.
Getrude Matshe 6:40
Yes.
Meilin Ehlke 6:41
One could feel the vibration of that post. I got it from a friend. And I could sense it and there was an instant urge to click or write. I remember and we had to fill something out. And then we jumped on a call.
Getrude Matshe 7:00
And connected. It's been a fascinating two years. So, we had our first in person event in Las Vegas. We had another one in Wellington, New Zealand. In Sydney, Australia in 2019. Beginning of 2020 I went to Oslo, London, New York, and then COVID happened and everything had to stop. I had 15 events canceled for the first quarter of 2020 just for North America and Canada. So, beginning of 2020 was a very, very difficult here. You can imagine with the chaos that was going on with COVID. None of the venues I had booked could refund any of the money. I had paid for food. I couldn't get refunds from anyone. So, I took a huge financial loss last year. And then to compound all of that I had a whole lot of family tragedies happen. We lost my mother in law on the 29th of March. My mother in law was based in Poland. She died of a heart attack one morning while we were on zoom with my brother in law. It was one of the saddest days of my life. Three weeks later, my mother died in Zimbabwe. Two months later, my daughter had a miscarriage. So, it was one emotional tragedy after another and I had to stop. I'm not going to lie to you. I was in a very bad place psychologically, my mental health was suffering. And I just had to crawl into a cave and grieve. And I remember the day of my mother's funeral. My brother skyped us in. So we come from a family of five siblings. I have a sister in Sydney, Australia, a brother in Edmonton, Canada. One is left in Zimbabwe and our youngest brother died. And he zoomed us in, my brother who was living in Zimbabwe looking after the parents zoomed us in for the funeral, so we could watch my mother being buried. But I woke up that morning feeling really depressed and then I remembered a ritual. In Zimbabwe, if you lose someone close, it's customary to shave off all your hair, especially if it's a mother or a father or a sibling. So, I woke up that morning and shaved my hair bold. I remember my sister coming on Zoom, just before the funeral was about to start and she took one look at me and she started to laugh. And she was laughing hysterically and I said, "Patricia, why are you laughing? It's mom's funeral." I was a mess. I'm not going to lie to you. I was in a bad place. And she said to me, "Getrude have you looked at yourself in the mirror?" I'm like, "What are you talking about? She said, "Getrude, you look so much like mom. It's scary." And the honest truth is I did look like my mother. People used to think we were sisters. She had me when she was 18 years old and whenever I walked around with my mom, people used to think we were sisters. And without my hair I became a duplicate copy of my mother.
Getrude Matshe 10:20
Now fast track almost five, six months later, after the funeral, it's now November. I'm still in this dark place. I had a dream one night. In this dream, I was brushing my teeth and I spat and looked up in the mirror. And the person looking back at me wasn't me. The reflection wasn't my reflection. But it was my mother in the mirror. And she was laughing the same way my sister had laughed on the day of the funeral and she said to me, "You see baby. Do you see what I did? I made you look like me, so that you'll remember that I am in you. I am with you. I haven't gone anywhere. But you have to get up. You have to do your work." She said to me, "So long as you are six feet above the ground, the job's not done."
Getrude Matshe 11:17
And it was the strangest dream I snapped out of a state of depression. And I decided to go back to work. And I pushed my speaker's platform online. And I started connecting all of these amazing women through an online Summit. So, we had the first event in December. We had a 31 day Marathon. Every single day I was online for eight hours a day with 15 speakers sharing their stories. We did it again in March for International Women's month. And we have had almost 10 online events since.
Meilin Ehlke 11:58
Fantastic.
Getrude Matshe 11:59
We are scaling faster now than I could have ever imagined. I think again because of COVID women are wanting to connect. They're seeking inspiration. They're looking for something positive to be a part of.
Meilin Ehlke 12:17
Yeah. And, you know, at the beginning already, when you started out, why did these circles happen so fast? Why did people respond? Women, mostly, right?
Getrude Matshe 12:29
Yes.
Meilin Ehlke 12:31
Are we all looking for connection of belonging? Right. We are such individuals. Nowadays we live in our house, we live in our apartment, we walk alone, or drive alone to work. Yeah. Then we go alone home. Maybe you'd meet someone, but you go home anyway. Many are even alone in their relationships, even if they have a partner. Right? So, I think there is this urge that we understand that we as humans we are communal beings, right?
Getrude Matshe 13:03
Yeah.
Meilin Ehlke 13:03
A community strengthens us. And I think, you hit a point, not so much a wound but a desperation.
Getrude Matshe 13:15
A need.
Meilin Ehlke 13:15
We want to connect. There is a need to connect, to not feel alone, a need to share, right? We're gatherers. That's how we were once upon a time when we roamed the world. This's what we're all seeking to do again, to be heard, to be seen and to laugh. With others it's so much easier to laugh. So, when did you started out again? It was so interesting everyone. I was listening to you, Getrude? So, the mothers disappeared for a little bit, then even your daughter and the miscarriage, so there was a restructuring in a way of how to build up. How to build up again, the connectivity between us, the ones living especially the mother lines, which has been broken by so many. I'm not even going to go there today. Right?
Getrude Matshe 13:15
Yeah.
Meilin Ehlke 13:16
But also to go into the ancestral track and know that they're here for you. I love that your mom came and with fun.
Getrude Matshe 14:28
Yessssss.
Meilin Ehlke 14:28
Mostly we are so made afraid of ancestors or the nonliving. And that's not true. Getrude showed you such a beautiful example of how it can be different. We have to go away of being afraid, and see it as a support to move us forward. That's your team. That is creating strength, right? You don't walk into a room alone anymore, or you don't go out into the world. You have a team of your own family and Getrude what you're creating, you're creating another team for each single woman in the world to move forward as well. And that's what you do. You are like a weaver. You're weaving us together. I applaud you for that. Go ahead. I had to through that in.
Getrude Matshe 15:25
What's interesting is the diagram looked like a spider's web. And now I'm kind of starting to see the lines in the connections in that web. You know how sometimes you can walk in a forest and not see yourself walking into a spider's web. You only feel it once you touch it. That's kind of how this is coming together. And like I was saying to you, when we caught up the other day, it's been a series of little synchronistic events, that looked random in the beginning. But there is so much perfection in why everything has happened. I'll maybe I'll just share the reason why I am in Australia.
Meilin Ehlke 16:12
Please. Please.
Getrude Matshe 16:13
So, you know, New Zealand and Australia shut down because of COVID. And my daughter got pregnant almost immediately and she had a baby due in July.
Meilin Ehlke 16:23
Congratulations.
Getrude Matshe 16:24
So, from May until June last year, I was fighting to try and come to Australia to be here with her before she had the baby. I wanted to touch her stomach and feel this life force, that was coming and it looked like an impossible thing. And then the two countries opened up in June, 22nd of June and I bought the next air ticket out of New Zealand, got here on a Tuesday, and the next day the two countries locked down. So, it was like a one day window opened up to bring me to Australia. Now I haven't been able to go back home since, so I've been stuck in Melbourne for six months. We're actually talking about it tonight, because the baby is six months old this week. And I never thought I'd be so lucky to spend this amount of time with him. You know, I brought up my children in a foreign country alone. They never got to experience my mom or my father while they were alive. They just come and visit once or twice but it's not the same as having your grandmother there with you. Yeah,
Meilin Ehlke 17:30
Yeah, you know, if you can just take it for a moment into your arm or that extra love. Right? There's this extra love, that comes from family. I sometimes think only family can give you, it provides strength to a child. I mean you can have other you know, friends can become family if you don't have one, but the bigger the family and the pure love. You have so much love anyway.
Getrude Matshe 17:57
So, my grandson came with this into this life, you know. In Africa as the grandmother, I get to name the baby. And I had a whole range of names prepared for him. And I kept saying to my daughter, "Come on, pick one of the names. Pick one of the names." And she kept saying, "Mom, let's wait until he gets here. I want to see him first. I want to hold him. I want to feel the essence of him." Because African names all have some kind of a meaning. And then when he was born, she called him Matida and Matida in my language means God you have blessed us.
Meilin Ehlke 17:57
Uhh.
Getrude Matshe 17:57
And when I held this little boy for the first time, he came with this energy I cannot describe. But the first time I held him I felt the love the warmth, this energy that came through with this baby, it filled every hole in my heart. All of the sadness I felt by losing my father, you know, 18 months before my mother died, and then my mother in law. He filled every single hole, that was in my heart and it has been the most surreal experience.
Getrude Matshe 19:19
And then fast track three months later, I had pitched myself in a competition. It was the New Zealand, Australia, women and technology awards, for the app that I've designed to connect my community online. And I won the first prize.
Meilin Ehlke 19:36
Yay, yeppee, yay!
Getrude Matshe 19:40
I am now working with two venture capitalist companies here in Melbourne, Australia. One called Shepreneur and it's a female incubator. They look after female startups and help them get the business into the marketplace. And the other one is called Zash Ventures. They are coming on board to help with the philanthropic side of my work, and the weirdest coincidence is that their office is 15 minutes from my daughter's house.
Meilin Ehlke 20:12
There are always reasons why things happen. And I would love to really hone that point in, everyone. We don't have to be afraid anymore of what comes. Often we can't fathom what lies ahead of us. We can really relax in every moment, and if things happen differently than we have planned, that's okay. Because it always works out. There's an underlying thing you have to do anyway and sometimes our experiences that we had, we're not ready yet to even think about a certain possibility. Right? And you have to trust yourself or be so content in the moment. Getrude you are a beautiful example. First of all, you make very quick decisions, like taking that one a window of opportunity and saying I'm going now. Yeah, you feel this intense pulll to something. And your grandson, right, and you knew what was coming and you had to be there. There was nothing holding you back and I love that. This is a surety that is in you and we all have that as women, but in a way it was beaten out of us, over, Im talking now 1000s of years in many cultures, out of us to have that certainty. We're worth something. That we're able to create something next to just bearing children, which we've been. Yeah, we've decided that we're beautiful be and we have creativity within us that can connect us to each other in the same way we're connected to everything else. And if you really just relax into the connectedness of all, then you see the grandness within and from that point, it's easier to move forward and to decide what your next step is. And then you can move very fast, because we're not in movable beings. We're flexible beings. We're here to move, to be flexible, to change, and not to be stagnant. In every story until you have been telling the truth. You're showing what flexibility creates. So please go on and be in the moment.
Getrude Matshe 22:49
Yeah, and just trusting those knowings, those promptings. You know, if I had waited a day and not bought that air ticket on that day, I would have missed out on the first six months of my little grandson's life. Who knows how long it's going to take before I can even go back to New Zealand? It could be a year. We've had people from New Zealand who are stuck in foreign countries for more than a year right now, because the government only has 3000 isolation rooms, and there's 37,000 of us trying to go back into New Zealand and we can't. So, trusting those knowings, those urges, the things that tell you to act, even if it doesn't make sense, tuning into that and trusting it. And the other thing I've learned is, that when things look like they're falling apart, nine times out of 10 they're falling into place.
Meilin Ehlke 23:44
Beautiful. Yes.
Getrude Matshe 23:47
When things are falling apart, they're falling into place, and that has kind of been the story of my life. I've had situations where my 27 years of marriage collapsed. It was like starting from zero from scratch. And now, when I look back at the divine perfection of things, the things that have happened since, meeting my second husband, creating this amazing business, meant to be. So, I think it's about us trusting, that the universe has got our backs, that everything is for the greater good, even if it doesn't make sense in the moment. You have to trust that.
Meilin Ehlke 24:31
Yeah, what I also find so fascinating about you and why you attract so many people, and it is based on trust. I had to think about that. And I shared that with you last time we spoke. First of all, and now I can see that you have this trust to yourself, you have to trust to all. You also trust people and you're going to share a little bit more about what is happening now with you, but there are many people now suddenly providing support for you, trusting you without even knowing you, with a blink of an eye. So, what is that? How come, that suddenly people support you, out of the nowhere from around the world? There is a strong belief, that what you speak is true. It's heard, that you also implement what you're speaking about. Right? It's not like you're just talking or collecting funds. You don't do that. You also shared the story of your father, that he trusted who you are, and that you grew into the woman you are now already, because you had a parent that saw you as you are, as the beautiful being and supported that and pushed away whatever others said. He trusted you. He trusted whatever you choose is right. So somehow this is in your life. You're born with it.
Getrude Matshe 26:09
It's true. I was born to two amazing parents. You know, my father was the visionary. My father could see things coming. He couldn't explain how or why but he was just born with this very strong, intuitive sense, that he passed on to me. And I was that little girl who would come home with a report card, brilliant, but naughty. I was punished for speaking my whole life. I would be the little girl at the back of the class cracking jokes making the other kids laugh. And I would do kind of speaking. My dad realized, that it was a strength, not a weakness. And he channeled that energy that I had, that chattiness and that funnyness to go into theater. He got me to start drama school and acting and debates club. He would show up at every single debates competition I was involved in, every single recital and he showed me that it was my strength but the biggest thing is you showed me how to use my voice to change the world for good. That is the gift that my dad gave me. My mother on the other side was the entrepreneur she was the Merlin. My mother could turn dust into gold. She could see something somebody is throwing away and transmute it. And so, I had this amazing balance of somebody who could visualize something and somebody would bring those vision into reality. And so I'm hardwired to be able to see something that I want. And so long as the picture of the end vision is clear. I don't figure out how I'm going to do it. The how isn't where I start? I decide on what I want and I take the first step. Then the road kind of just unfolds in front of you. It's like somebody said to me the other day, why do you have so much faith? Where does the faith come from? And faith to me is like walking or driving at night with your headlights on. And you can only see the next two meters in front of you, but you know the road is there. And you keep on driving. It's just taking one step in front of the other and the road reveals itself. The Journey reveals itself once you take the first step. So, it's been a fascinating way to live.
Meilin Ehlke 28:53
We should all live this way. Yeah, that's why I love it. You decided to share your story and do more with story. This is the way. That's our natural state to live in this way and we have lost that. I think people around the world and COVID is intensifying this desire to find that. Because we're all feeling something is not right. Not the truth is spoken how we should live and we're not living our truth. And so, you are nudging all of us forward, a bit forward by being that beacon of possibility, showing us it can be done. Set that vision because that's pure sorcery. Right. That's ancient wisdom. You're walking your talk. You are walking your knowledge, that all of us have, and you're using it.
Getrude Matshe 30:00
I know a book which might help people really grasp this. There is a book called 'The Way of the Wizard Merlin', by Deepak Chopra, and it talks about living backwards in time and seeing the end before you start, and almost reverse engineering, how to get there. It's a fascinating book, The Way of the Wizard Merlin, and we all have these magical abilities. We create through the power of our words. One of the things that I have learned that has helped me manifests so quick and so fast, is because I share my vision, I share my dreams. I've gotten really good at articulating what that end thing looks like. People believe it, people see it with me. They say that you can't bring a vision into being unless you can convince somebody standing next to you that it exists.
Meilin Ehlke 31:00
Ah, ha. Because you are very precise, if you think about it. I always say it's very mathematical. You're very precise and you're focused right when you share it with someone so they can understand it you have set it with precision, you know, from the intent, the intention and brought it out from the non-material into the material world at this is moment.
Getrude Matshe 31:29
Everything already exists. Everything you desire is already there in a vibration form. It's just not physical. So, our jobs as human beings is to bring what is invisible into the physical world.
Meilin Ehlke 31:41
Yes.
Getrude Matshe 31:43
And this is all based on quantum physics. And that's why I'm saying we create through the power of our words. When you look at the old Wizards of the past the sorcerer as they used words, conjure up the physical, and we all have that magical ability to do this. It's how much conviction do you have, that this thing is real. So, when I talk about my visions, when I talk about my dreams, I have that ability to take people into the room with me. I have that ability to make them smell the meal I am going to cook in that imaginary house I want to buy. So, it's a matter of using all of your senses. It's not just the the inner eye. It is that sense of taste and touch and using all of your senses to feel yourself teleporting into the future. And then also knowing, that the future is already there waiting for you to catch up with her.
Meilin Ehlke 32:45
Yes. I believe so strongly in that too. I'm also a person that supports. I can sense what a person needs. What they need to be in that moment what to concentrate on. Often I don't even think about you know what's behind or has been done, I go for that little nugget, that is moving you, catapulting you really forward.
Getrude Matshe 33:09
Forwards.
Meilin Ehlke 33:11
Right? This way of believing in ourselves, that we've already created the future.
Getrude Matshe 33:20
Yes.
Meilin Ehlke 33:22
Right? This is what we are rekindling now all around the world. And you're also a very beautiful example, because you're living it. It's important everyone, synchronize to Getrude. Synchronized to her. Connect your vibration with her. Sense her vibration, and let yourself be pulled. Getrude you are such powerful woman. You're so clear and pure in your vibration, in your energy, in your light and in your love. You can hold millions of people coming because these parts they don't diminish. They keep on replenishing. You can share over and over and over and over and over and it's still there.
Getrude Matshe 34:12
As I said we all have this. They say, that a musician becomes good at playing the saxophone or the piano through practice. I think the biggest gift I have is coming from a continent where there is limitation. A continent were there this poverty. A continent where the only option I had was to dream myself out of the poverty. Dream myself in abundance. So, a lot of people are stuck in environments where there is abundance. And so, that becomes something that pulls them back. They're too scared to take a leap of faith into the unknown. Now, you will never be given a vision, that you cannot bring into being and no two people are ever given the same vision, and if they are they will never do it the same way. So, time is an illusion. Time is a construct, that human beings have puts together, so we wake up at eight o'clock in the morning and we go to work and finish at five. But imagine, if time did not exist, and your past, your present, and your future exists at the same time. And you can just go into the future you and say, "What am I supposed to do?" I actually play a lot with the future me when I feel, that I'm struggling and trying to do things and things aren't working. When I'm putting in a lot of effort and not getting any results, I know I'm going the wrong way. To bring myself back into alignment, I tune into the energy of the future me and I asked her, "How did we do it?" and she has been guiding me. Sometimes it percolates through a dream, and I will wake up with clear words in my head of what the next step is. Or I'll be talking to someone in conversation, and the person I'm talking to will say something, that is connected to what I'm trying to sort out and in the answer comes. So, I believe that every single human being, that has come in my path. You being a really good example because as I'm talking to you, you are just reflecting back to me and reminding me of all of this magic. You know sometimes I forget who I really am. And you are just reflecting back at me, as you listen and as we have this conversation, who I am and what I can do and what abilities I have. So, being present to the people who come into our lives, I think is another very important piece to this whole puzzle. Nothing happens by accident.
Meilin Ehlke 37:04
Yeah, you have roots. I understand a little bit. It's so funny, Right? When I learned, that I'm a physical channel, which came through because I was doing the dances of the African gods.
Getrude Matshe 37:26
Oh, really.
Meilin Ehlke 37:27
So, that is how I learned to observe myself and I understand that ancientness. I'm a big believer, that the more we go back in history, and I mean 10,000 years and further, and we look how did we live there? How did we move around on this planet? How do we connect to each other? How were we present to each other? How did we cherish each other and respect? I mean, I don't even like the word respect. There is a new word we have to find. Really it's not important. But to be fully present for anything that exists and seeing the vastness of a child, that is already born, right? It's already a full thing, and it can do already magic moments. You have one and can kiss it. You brought back memories for my little boy. It's not little anymore, he is tall now. Everything is so precious. Also the moment being together is precious. A thought, an idea is precious. It is beautiful. It's not to be wasted.
Meilin Ehlke 38:41
Yeah.
Meilin Ehlke 38:42
Yeah, and to be pushed aside, and if you do push it aside it lingers in the back. So, whenever you're ready to pull it out do it. Getrude, you're doing beautiful work also now in Africa, you're bringing back your philanthropy work, that's the word I was looking for. How did you get to that? Because did that come from your mother, because you said she already was someone who found ways? You do that with your clothing, right? You're someone who gives new life to things. You have always done so and learned that from your mother, that you don't waste. Again because even material is precious. Materials are medicine. And it also reflects how you treat others. Right? I remember, there was one of my teachers, he said, "You can recognize a healer. Already when they're children in two ways. One way is animals look into your eyes. Right? The second way you fix things, toys." So, when you have that ability within you, you're ready yourself. And for everyone who is a parent out there, observe your children. How do they react to nature? And do they fix it? Support them in being a healer because they're different. They're truth. Like Getrude, right? They've sense the truth. They want to be pure, they want to bring love. So as a parent, as a grandmother, it is also our role to give them this space to be themselves. That's all they need and to feel that love and light around them, that they can be more of who they are. Right? This is the best thing we can do as women.
Getrude Matshe 40:44
It is so true. And it's funny you should say that, I was that little kid who would bring all the birds with broken wings, home, stray dogs and stray cats. It used to drive my parents crazy. I would keep butterflies and oh my goodness. Yeah, you're right.
Getrude Matshe 41:10
You are the healer of community. I just had to think about it. That came right into my head while you were talking. You really are healing connection, connectivity. You're making it easier again for us on this planet, because your energy goes everywhere, to feel comfortable, and trusting to be one's original self with that. Thank you.
Getrude Matshe 41:40
Yeah, I never could quite explain my magic and I never owned magic for a long time, until I started coaching people to write books. I started coaching people to tell their stories and I could see the transformation and the healing that came out of it. So, in Africa, we believe that a problem shared or a story shared is a problem halved. The minute you tell your story to somebody else, it's not yours to carry alone, that person carries the story in their hearts. What I've observed with the speaking platform I've created is. I have a lot of women who have had traumatic experiences, women who've been raped, domestic violence, emotional wounds, that take a very long time to heal. But what is happening is I asked them to go back into the story and observe it's like they're watching a movie. I don't want them to go back to the drama and the emotion of the pain. But to watch it like a film, because sometimes when you have a wound, and you put a bandaid over it, if you haven't gone into a dress the woods and clean it out, it become septic and it will manifest again. So, part of the writing and the telling of these stories is just to revisit the wounds and clean them out and just be with them. And then come back out of that renewed. Now I'm getting a lot of feedback from speakers, who have come to share their stories, women who've never had the courage to talk about what has happened to them as children, women who were sexually molested and raped and the shame that they carry, although they were children. The shame is what makes a lot of women not talk about these things. And so we've created a safe space for women just to be heard, with no judgment and with no expectation. We're just there to hold space for each other. And that's where the healing begins.
Getrude Matshe 43:47
Yes it does.
Getrude Matshe 43:58
So, this is my life's work. You know, when somebody says, "Why are you on this planet?" I know this is the work, that I chose to come and give to humanity and also to remind us, that we all one, that there is no separation between us. There is no you. There is no me. And that's the Ubuntu philosophy, that I share with people around the world through my presentations, my workshops. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, literally translated means, a person is only a person through other people. It is our way as African people to explain the condition of being human. That we are one. We are an organism. My grandmother would describe the philosophy like this. She would say that the human race is like the human body. Your cells have the same whole. So, if we cut your finger and you started need your white blood cells will rush to that point to heal it. In a week's time, you can't even see the scar. And that's how we should be reacting and responding to each other in the world. So, imagine if the 7 billion people on this planet heard that there is an earthquake in Haiti, and we each donated $1 to help restore that country. It could be done in a blink of an eye, in a heartbeat. But we are living in a sense of not enoughness and scarcity right now. We're living in a sense of individualism, of you and me and not we. Our superpower as human beings is to remember to go back to the connective, to go back to our oneness. I believe COVID is the gift, that has come to remind humanity of just this. COVID is reminding us, that we are literally a breath away from affecting and infecting each other. That if one person in the world is not okay, we are all not okay. So, if somebody is infected in the United States, it's going to hit us here in New Zealand. We've seen it happening already. New Zealand is one of the countries, that responded quickly. We shut down immediately for three months. And we went back to normal after three months but a year later it's come back again. So, if one person in the world is not okay, right now we're all not okay.
Getrude Matshe 46:41
And COVID has come to remind us to reconnect with the people, that are most important in our minds. The people in your home, your husband, your wife, your children. It starts in your home. It then extends to your neighborhood. When was the last time you said hello to the neighbor who lives in the left or the right and really tuned in and find out if they are okay? When was the last time you did that? And then in your neighborhood. When you walk to the supermarket are you paying attention to the homeless that are in the streets? Checking in to see, if they've had a meal, if they're warm? And then it extends to the rest of the world. You know, COVID is affecting Africa in a worse way than the AIDS pandemic hits us. I grew up during the AIDS pandemic. This is my second pandemic. I watched family members dying by the 1000s in the 80s. Then the point was your sexual practices. With COVID you could be standing next to somebody in a supermarket. You don't have a choice. Are you guys thinking of people in developing countries? Vaccines are not available in those countries. 2% of people in Zimbabwe have been vaccinated. The death toll is horrendous. Imagine the number of orphaned children, that are going to come out of this pandemic. What are you going to do to help in those countries? So, the Chinese write the word for crisis with two symbols one stands for danger, the other stands for opportunity. COVID is presenting us with a dangerous opportunity right now. And there's going to be people who get it, who remember that every single time they talk to an elderly mother or grandmother on the phone. They are fully present to them. They listen. And they say goodbye and know that that goodbye could be the last goodbye. And that's what happened with me and my mother. If anybody had told me, that last time I hugged her was the last time I would see her, I would have held her a little bit longer.
Getrude Matshe 49:30
So, it starts at home and I hoped, that you become more present to each other. You know, after my mother died, I was in a supermarket a very kind lady walked up to me and she said, "Hello." She looked into my eyes and she said, "Are you okay?" And that morning? I wasn't okay. And I had a breakdown. Just one question, just one random act of kindness from a stranger in a supermarket made my day. You could be going to work and you're in an elevator, and instead of all standing facing the door, about turning around and saying good morning to everyone, and talking to them, and finding out who they are. People are sad, people are lonely right now. People are experiencing amazing amounts of traumatic emotional experiences by losing loved ones. Are we tuning into each other on a day to day basis? We're having to deal with our stuff. A lot of marriages are collapsing at this time. We're being forced to deal with things in relationships. Parents are having to deal with their own children. We can't just flock them off and send them to school. There's something magical happening right now.
Getrude Matshe 51:50
And then you look at the environment. The Earth is breathing again. Carbon emission has gone down because of all these airlines that I've stopped flying. Mother Earth has a way of talking to us, of reminding us, what we need to do, to bring back balance in this world. And right now there is a need for a feminine energy. Women need to be more visible. Women need to be using their voices at home, in the workplace, and governments to bring back balance to an imbalance world. So, there is a gift, that the universe is giving us through COVID. Empathy, the levels of empathy have gone up on a cosmic level. There's nobody who's coming out of this pandemic unscathed. You know when I moved to New Zealand, I will talk about the AIDS pandemic, about how my grandmother had 11 Children, 34 grandchildren, and how 19 of my first cousins died of HIV related diseases. And when I shared that story, it sounded like fiction. It didn't sound real. I talked about mass graves and going to bury a cousin a week before I left New Zealand. I went back to the same graveyard to bury a second cousin and I had to walk two kilometers. There were two kilometers of fresh graves in two weeks.
Meilin Ehlke 52:53
Uhhh, that is an amount.
Getrude Matshe 52:57
We're in the middle of a war and there was no war. Right now we've seen those visuals in New York, in Italy, all over the world. We're seeing mass graves because of COVID. So, the levels of empathy in the world are going up, whenever there's these catastrophic events that make us feel something, that goes out into the cosmos and helps bring balance to an imbalance world. So, I'm seeing COVID as a gift to humanity. We have been forced to pause. We have been forced to stop. We don't have a choice, but to address a lot of things in our communities, in our countries, in our families. And that is the gift, that COVID is giving us all.
Meilin Ehlke 53:50
Beautifully said, I am a big believer of that as well. The time for us to reflect on ourselves, to move ourselves back into our strengths. Where we don't move away from others, seeing the other and giving them more space, giving the child more space, or a parent, but also embracing them then. Right? When we've looked at why it didn't function, if it didn't function, or how can it function better. How can it be more beautiful? right? That embrace, when you said that. How barely do we touch ourselves? I mean touch ourselves, yes, and others or an embrace. How many shrink by an embrace. That is another topic for another day. You said, that we are alone. Right?
Getrude Matshe 54:57
Yeah.
Meilin Ehlke 54:58
But we're not alone. The moment I go out and say hello to someone or present them a smile. You don't always have to speak, if you're not comfortable with that, but give someone a smile. Right? This is a very simple thing. It makes you feel connected right away to that person and you're giving someone a present and they know someone saw them.
Getrude Matshe 55:21
Yes
Meilin Ehlke 55:23
And this will really ripple quickly out into the world and then that overlays, if it comes from all directions.
Getrude Matshe 55:27
Ripple effect.
Meilin Ehlke 55:28
Ah, Getrude, we could speak for hours. Listening to you, I barely wanted to interrupt you. You took me and I bet the listeners too, into this beautiful spiral of storytelling, that is healing, at the same time, of bringing up a new possibility, new ways of seeing things, new invitations to act in a different way. And I thank you, thank you, thank you for this. So, everyone follow Getrude and her work. Support her, because she does, we were talking about the philosophy, where she supports people and young girls with sanitary objects. I forgot the right word. Yeah, that they can go to school or do better work without having to feel that shame. Getrude, I had to think often, to do more rituals of shame, that came up in my work a lot recently. How much of shame we women carry.
Meilin Ehlke 56:46
So true.
Meilin Ehlke 56:48
And those young ones, all the way to the old ones and that it's time to really take a precise look at it and not move away or be feared to look at ourselves and our history and our future. So, how is the best way for people to get in touch with you?
Getrude Matshe 57:05
I'm on Facebook. I'm on LinkedIn, and Instagram. Those are the few platforms where I play. So, my name is very easy to spell it's Getrude without the r Getrude Matshe. Please, reach out to me and if you're inspired to find out more information about my philanthropic projects. Right now like you said, we are trying to build a women's cooperative to train the mothers in our village how to make the reusable sanitary pads for the girls. A lot of African girls do not go to school, if they have a period. Our governments do not import menstrual products, that the poor can afford. Little girls miss out on school. So, we are designing kits that come with seven pads wherever every day of the week. We put in two bars of soap. We put in three pairs of panties. Young girls are getting raped because they don't have underwear. Something as simple as a pair of panties can prevent a young girl from getting raped. So, if anybody's inspired to help me with that, please reach out. We've got a website, the HerStoryCircle.com. You can go onto that website and see some of our social impact projects on there as well.
Meilin Ehlke 58:26
Yeah, and I will put that also in the show notes for everyone. Getrude is also in our Moving To Oneness Facebook group. There you can ask her questions and connect with her. And wow, Getrude, what a beautiful conversation, beautiful stories. To give the last little nugget before we end the show. What is a word or sentence you want to send out in this moment to the world?
Getrude Matshe 58:56
Ubuntu. Ubuntu is spelled U B U N T U and Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu is, a person, is a person through other people. We are reflections of each other. My hope we don't forget that.
Meilin Ehlke 59:00
Beautiful. Thank you. Oh, my love goes out to you. I feel this warmth all the way in my heart and my whole body.
Getrude Matshe 59:30
Thank you.
Meilin Ehlke 59:33
Everyone, thank you, for listening. Be who you are. We're here to support you. The whole world is here to support you, to take tiny steps in being more of you. Speak a few more words, that make you feel more comfortable. Reach out to someone. Be a strong shoulder for someone to lean on. Gift someone a smile. And our world is going to change quickly. Very fast. And we are it. We are the ones, that bringing again this beauty into being and to this planet. So, thank you, everyone for listening. I am Meilin, your host of Moving To Oneness podcast. Goodbye.
Getrude Matshe 1:00:02
Thank you, Meilin