May 11, 2025 • 49 mins
What happens when we finally listen to the signs that have been guiding us all along? In this breathtaking conversation from the beaches of Sierra Leone, Rico sits down with racial healer and founder of ReKinNectar, L3C, Yvonnie DuBose, who shares her remarkable spiritual journey back to her ancestral homeland.
Growing up in Chicago's Ida B. Wells Projects with an unusually strong connection to spirit, Yvonnie describes how she maintained her spiritual gifts despite society's attempts to dim them. "Children are very connected," she explains. "They all are. But we talk them out of that." For twenty years, she suppressed her spirituality during a marriage to someone who questioned whether her gifts were "God-driven" or possibly "satanic" – until a friend's brutal honesty helped her reclaim her true self.
The universe works in mysterious ways. When Yvonnie found herself resisting an invitation to Sierra Leone, strange signs began appearing – a swarm of dragonflies, a rare red bat in South Shore Chicago, moths that followed her persistently. These spiritual messengers all carried the same message: step beyond your fear into the unknown. The moment she surrendered and said yes to the journey, everything fell into place.
Having discovered through DNA testing her connection to the Mende tribe years earlier, Yvonnie's arrival in Sierra Leone completed a circle. In a moving rebirthing ceremony, village elders named her "Majapo" – mother of children, agriculture, and reconciliation. "I never knew what to call home as a Black woman," she reflects, describing the profound recognition she felt among people whose mannerisms and speech patterns mirrored her family in South Carolina.
This conversation invites us all to consider the signs we might be ignoring and the spiritual connections waiting to be strengthened. As Yvonnie suggests, simple practices like meditation can help us tune back into what we already know: "It's a good way to have your subconscious tell you what you already know, but you don't get a chance to listen to."
Ready to reconnect with your own spiritual gifts? This episode will inspire you to begin that journey today.
F.L.Y. L.I.B.R.E. a guide for healing and liberation can be purchased here: amzn.to/4iCzAAM
Get Dr. McBride's book "Becoming Changemakers" to explore more stories of resilience and community transformation. Connect with the Become Center at becomecenter.org or email dmcbride@becomecenter.org.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Buenas familia, soy Jose Rico, or Rico, if you know
me from the hood.
Thank you so much for yourattention today.
It means everything to me, andI want to welcome you to Hope
Dealer, which is a podcast aboutour journey towards hope,
resilience and joy through thestories that we carry about our
(00:25):
return home, and my intentionfor our time together is to
remind us that we carry powerfulmedicine within us that is our
guide to our transformation.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
I am so grateful to be able tointroduce you to incredible
(00:46):
people, incredible spirits thatwill share their journeys with
us.
Buenas familia como estan?
(01:18):
How the body?
That's how you say it.
A greeting here in Sierra Leone.
Welcome to Hope Dealer, apodcast about our journey
towards hope, resilience, joythrough our stories of returning
home, and today you're going tohear an incredible story of
(01:42):
someone's rebirth and her returnhome, and so I'm positive that
the time that we're going to bespending together is going to
not only lift up your spiritsbut hopefully connect you to
those spirits.
This is Jose Rico, and areminder that this podcast and
(02:04):
these stories are a way formyself and for us to remember
that we are the medicine that wehave with each other.
Today I am coming to you fromthe waterfront, from the coast
of Sierra Leone.
We're at the beach right now,so you might hear the ocean, you
might hear families playing,and one of the reasons that I am
(02:29):
here Is because I have anincredible honor and pleasure Of
being here with my mana, mysister, who was named Ivani
DuBose and now she's going totell you what her new name is.
And Ivani is a racial healerand equity practitioner.
(02:50):
She is the co-founder ofReconnectar, which she will talk
a little bit about, somebodywho is Chicagoan, who's been
doing incredible work bothlocally and nationally, and so I
(03:23):
just want to be able and wanther to just introduce herself,
and we really want to ask herright now how's the body to you?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
We are in Sierra Leone and I think this is how
many days have we been here now.
We've been here about five sixdays.
I am Yvonne DeVos.
I have in the last five years,done my somewhere within the
last five years, done my DNAwith AfricanAncestrycom if
(03:57):
you've never heard of them, notAncestrycom, not 23andMe, not
any of those other ones, not23andMe, not any of those other
ones, but actuallyAfricanAncestrycom that has a
larger pool of DNA from themotherland and it showed that I
(04:22):
am.
I think it's 23% from the Mendetribe of Sierra Leone and so,
and then I think it's somethinglike 24% or something very
similar.
I can't remember the tribe, butthey are in Guinea-Bissau.
I want to say they're likeBende or something, bantu or
something I can't remember, butanyway.
So I'm right here in the regionof them both, but right on the
(04:43):
land of Sierra Leone, and I wentto the Mende tribe, a Mende
tribe village, because the Mendetribe is the most dominant
tribe here in Sierra Leone.
It's the largest tribe stillhere in Sierra Leone.
They're on the east, north andsouthern parts of Sierra Leone
(05:06):
and I got an opportunity to goto one.
The chief actually said we knowthat the ancestors led you here
because you could have gone tomany Mende villages and you came
to this one.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, and we can talk about how succinct that truly
is spiritually about me beinghere, um.
But they renamed me in a um ina rebirthing ceremony and my new
name, while in sierra leone, ismajapo, so ma jo po they don't
(05:43):
pronounce r's clearly becauseit's spelled like major poor,
but it's Majapo and it's, and itmeans mother of children,
mother of agriculture and motherof reconciliation.
And peace.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Wow, that is beautiful and I actually would.
I think it's great if peoplehear the story of how you got
there.
But first, the first question Iwant to ask you is can you
share I mean today's about yourjourney, right, like the journey
of how you got here and how yougot your name, or anything else
(06:25):
you want to share?
But let's start the journey alittle bit about how you grew up
and where you grew up, just tobe able to give a context of
where you grew up and how yougrew up.
And then, you know, take thisjourney of where we are now.
So we'd love to hear a littlebit about you know you and how
(06:45):
you grew up in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I was born and raised so I'd love to say all
over Chicago, because I didspend a lot of time all over
Chicago, but my journey began inIda B Wells Projects.
My grandmother had atwo-bedroom apartment and I know
that two of her children, mymother and my aunt, were living
(07:09):
there with her, and I am thefirst born of my mother, so it
was the two of them.
I believe my cousin Anita mighthave been living there too, and
then myself, and then my mommoved out and got her own
apartment.
But I think even before wemoved back into Ida B Wells she
had to move out and move to likethe Robert Taylor homes for a
(07:29):
little while and somewhere else,and then she came back.
So then I was in Ida B Wellsuntil eighth grade pretty much.
I mean, we moved out once to goto Pill Hill, came back because
of an incident, and then weleft Ida B Wells.
When I was in eighth, when I wasgraduating from eighth grade,
we lived in the Gresham area,auburn, gresham, for two years
(07:58):
one year, something like that,two years I think and then we
moved to Rogers Park because mybrother was getting to be of the
age where gangs would beinterested in him and my mother
didn't want that.
So we moved there and then wereally stayed on the north side
until I don't know.
(08:19):
Once I finished college I movedover to South Shore for a
little while, went back to theNorth Side, lived over I don't
know what the area is called, Ican't think of it right now just
east of South Shore and thenback to the North Side and then
to Bronzeville and now in SouthShore.
(08:41):
So I've lived almost alwayseast but all up and down.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Chicago's lakefront.
And how did that that movingaround?
Like, how was your childhoodthere?
What do you think that has todo with your healing journey?
Like, how was it growing up foryou in all those transitions?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You know, I've always been a heavily spiritual child.
My mother did not turn that off.
She did not.
She was not somebody whoignored that.
So if so, she didn't ignore it.
But we didn't have to have awhole lot of conversations about
it either, and I learned veryquickly that I had my own
personal.
You know and this is a reallyfunny story my mother, you know,
(09:27):
I went to school one day and myteacher said we're going to
have a party and everybodyshould sign up to bring
something.
And I have no idea what made mesay I can bring pizzas.
Now we're living in the projectsand we've never had pizza
delivered to my house everbefore.
And so I come up with this ideathat I'm going to bring pizzas.
And you know, the teacher islike are you sure you know?
(09:47):
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'mgoing to bring them.
And so I don't tell my motherabout it until the night before
we're supposed to go.
And she was like I don't knowwhy you told that lie.
You know, like I'm not orderingpizzas for a whole classroom.
And I was devastated and I wascrying and I was saying to
Spirit you know, you know, now Iunderstand it's just me and you
(10:07):
, not me and mom.
You know, it's just me and you.
You know, and that relationshipbetween me and Spirit grew from
that.
From that moment it literallygrew between me and spirit grew
from that.
From that moment it literallygrew.
And so if I would lose my keys,I would literally lay down in a
field of grass anywhere, becauseI knew if I was laid in the
grass, like on the earth, and Icould look up at the sky, I
(10:29):
could just have a conversationand spirit would bring them back
to me.
And so I would lay down in thegrass and just say, look, you
know she's going to kill me.
I need those keys.
You're going to have to show mewhere they are and spirit would
lead me right to them.
I'd stand up, go where I wasbeing led and find them in the
middle of anything.
It didn't matter where.
(10:50):
They could be in the middle ofa playground, they could be in
the middle of a field of grass,they could be in the middle of a
garden of flowers, it did notmatter, I would find them.
So I've always had the gift ofbeing able generally to find
things or to request things toreturn.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So and that happened since you were from an early age
.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That was at a very early age.
At an early age, my friendslearned that I spoke to spirit
and they would ask me to tellthem, like you know, this is
happening.
What you know, what do youthink is going to happen next?
Like I mean, I would havedreams about things you know.
Um, so yeah, I just I've alwayshad a really strong
relationship with spirit, withthe spirit world.
(11:30):
When people die, I generallyhear from people sometimes I
hear from people as they arepreparing to pass yeah, just
different things.
So anyway, that's what mybackground was.
And so, moving all around, Ican only say my spirituality was
(11:57):
very stable.
That all felt good.
You, you know I knew to count onthat voice, but also I was just
taking a look at thedifferences and things from one
area to another right.
So when we were growing up inIda B Wells, you did not walk
around in a swimming suit, welived right over by the lake.
You didn't walk around in aswimming suit, you covered
everything.
And so then when we would govisit my aunt in Evanston and
(12:20):
drive up you know, lakeshoreDrive to Sheridan Road and the
white people would be crossingthe street, you know, bikini
clad, I was like what the hellmakes this okay?
And it wasn't like judgment, itliterally was why, you know,
like why is this okay?
And we could never do that,like you know, um.
(12:42):
And sometimes the adults wouldtalk about you know, they just
walk across the street like blah, blah, blah, you know, um.
So I just began to notice lotsof differences.
I noticed, you know, how theydressed in the winter versus how
we dress outside for winter.
I noticed just, it was just avery odd feeling of openness and
(13:09):
freedom, so like expansiveness,that's it.
The energy felt expansive.
I don't know if I don't know ifpeople can understand what I'm
saying by that, but it felt likewhen you, when you were, when
you came off Lakeshore Drive, itjust felt like the world was
open to you, versus when youwere on the South side, it felt
(13:31):
very narrow.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You mean on the North side.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The North side felt very expansive, the South side
felt very narrow, and anotherodd thing that used to happen to
me was I felt like the sunshined so much brighter on the
north side than it did on thesouth side.
I know, right, I thought thatwas the oddest thing.
And so even when we moved upthere Rogers Park, as you know,
(13:56):
is like filled with everything.
So there were already Africansup there, jewish people, I mean,
you name it.
Like you know, it feels likethat's where all of the
immigrants were settling at thattime, and so we were.
(14:18):
There were other black familiesup there, but there weren't
that many African-Americanfamilies up there yet as far as
we could tell.
And I could be whoever I wantedto be, because we did not have
they didn't have anypreconceptions.
Maybe they had preconceptionsof who boys were, black boys
(14:40):
were, but I don't feel like theyhad really any preconceptions
of who Black girls were.
So the ways in which maybe Iwas an outcast on the South Side
, I was able to be that on theNorth Side and be invisible, and
whereas today we don't want tobe invisible, I was very
comfortable being invisiblebecause I was on the South side
a little odd.
So those, those are the thingsI think that were going on in my
(15:04):
background.
Yeah, that's that's about andit's it's funny.
I'm saying that I was odd.
I was, but I was still, youknow, at Lindblom High School,
in a, you know, in a huge girlsclub, social club, you know.
So I was part of Jontel Farm,which was GF at, you know,
(15:26):
lindblom, and so you would notthink that I was odd because
that was a very popular girlsgroup, but I was still even in
that group.
I was very odd.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
So you know you talk a little bit about feeling that
freedom on the north side andthen also not talking a lot
about, or be known for yourconnection to spirit.
So for me, when I met you, youseem very connected to spirit
(15:58):
and you share that openly.
I'm curious about you know,when was the moment or what was
it about the work that you weredoing then and that you're doing
now that makes you comfortableor calls you to declare your
(16:21):
openness to spirit, Like, how isthat connection and your
openness about your healingjourney?
How did that come about for you?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So as connected as I had been.
So this is the thing.
So children are very connected.
They all are right, they arevery connected.
So if you're out there andyou've got small children and
they say they see, they say theysee things or they hear things
they do, right, but we talk themout of that.
We say to them you don't,you're not hearing that that's
(16:53):
not true.
We do all the things and no oneknows how far to go with kids.
Right, because they also havethe best imaginations.
Right.
But when we hit somewherearound the age of 13, 14, our
lens changes If we haven'treally conditioned ourselves to
pay attention to it, right, sothat by the time we hit 13 or 14
(17:15):
, the world tells us it's allimaginary, has been telling us
it's all imaginary, and now thelens changes and we believe it
was all imaginary and we let itgo.
I did not have that experience.
My mother studied the SilvaMethod and then came home and
gave me everything she had andshe said you need to study this
too, and so that was another wayof holding on to it.
(17:36):
But when I got married, myhusband was raised Jehovah's
Witness and at some point hemade a statement to me that
other people had made to mebefore and I didn't really care
about.
But this was my husband and thestatement was how do you know
that that's God driven?
Because that that sounds likethat, you know, could possibly
(18:00):
be satanic.
Yeah, and so, because we hadchildren, I was like, ok, I'm in
this for a while, right, I'm inthis, maybe we can work this
out because he wasn't apracticing Jehovah's Witness,
(18:22):
but I was in my marriage with mesort of stuffing my
spirituality, you know, under abed basically you know what I'm
saying In a closet, like closingit up for 20 years, up for 20
(18:43):
years.
And if you are anything like me, it was literally like trying
to burst out of everything, like, you know, just trying to come
out of everywhere.
And I decided, I decided at onepoint I know I need to be done
with this marriage.
I feel suffocated, like Iliterally was constantly feeling
suffocated and I was like, butI have to separate my energy
from his first.
I've got to find a way toseparate my energy so that I can
(19:04):
, um, right, in order to takethat step out of the marriage.
And so I took the kids and wetook a road trip.
On that road trip.
We stopped in North Carolinaand it was middle of the night
and I called a friend who hadgone to high school with me and
I was like, girl, tell me whereI can find a hotel here, because
it's the middle of the night,can you help us this down?
(19:26):
And she was like, you got toget over here to this house.
So me and the kids went to staywith her and she said well,
what's going on?
Why would you be out here withyou and the kids and with you
and the kids?
And we talked a little bit andshe said, girl, please.
She was like anybody that knowsyou knows that you cannot hide
your spirituality.
What were you thinking, youknow?
And so she became a mirror.
Yes, exactly, she was like inhigh school.
(19:48):
We were asking you for advice.
What are we talking about rightnow, you know?
And so that blew the lid offthings that I knew I had to get
out so that I could get back towhere I needed to be.
And one of the things Spiritasked of me was was I ready, you
know, are you ready to fullygive yourself to the community?
And I thought no, because Ihave been saying that even when
(20:12):
I was younger.
I don't want to do that kind ofthing.
You know, give me another job,I don't want to do that job.
And I was like you know, youknow my friend said well, why,
why would you, why would you notwant to do that job?
And I said I don't want to feellike I'm leading people to
something and then I fall offand then they don't continue to
move toward what that is.
It took me a while to understandI'm not leading people to
anything.
(20:32):
I'm just doing what I do andallowing other people to
recognize they can do that thing.
That's inside of them too.
And so when I came to TRHC,just like my self-realization,
coaching and meditation work, Icould bring my full self, which
meant that spirituality, thatpart of me, to the work.
(20:55):
And then I mean, and it's it,if you've ever worked in spirit
and I'll say this to anybody, ifyou work in a zone, you know
what I'm talking about.
It just flows, right,everything just flows.
And I would start the nightbefore absolutely asking my
ancestors and the ancestors ofanyone showing up, um, to please
(21:18):
show up and meet and then to beready to help us create a
container in which everybody inthe space could get from that
space what they needed and youwould do this in preparation to
the circles every time yes,every time, and every time we
got back rave reviews.
(21:39):
People loved doing it.
People got so much out of itand we did too.
You know, there's somethingmagical in this world where you
have to say I'm not just giving,I'm also reciprocating.
I'm always receiving, and itnever failed in that space.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It never failed in that space.
Yeah, yeah, no.
I mean, I think that you know,bringing people together with
the right intention andincluding the ceremonial, yes,
and spiritual, the rituals,rituals, yes, that we were able
to do, I think, is what reallycreated this incredible space
(22:20):
container.
You know, circle Absolutely,where people felt like they were
connected to something elsebesides just having another
meeting, and we just pulled thechairs around.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, because when somebody speaks to that part of
you, that part of you thatyou've been hiding, something
resonates Right, and so I don'tknow how many, I don't know how
often people feel like they'rein that kind of space, but the
moment they would step in,they'd be all in Right and
they'd be like when do we do itagain?
And then you know what happensnext and you know that whole
(22:55):
thing.
So, yeah, what happens next andyou know that whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So yeah, yeah.
So so you brought up somethingthat sometimes we end up hiding
things, Sometimes it gets takenfrom us, sometimes it gets
distorted Sometimes.
So we're here in, you know, inSierra Leone, with a group that
(23:21):
is facilitating circles yeah, adifferent type of circle,
different type of circles butpart of the journey that we're
on is not only learning how theydo it, which has been
incredible, but I'm curious foryou to share how, coming here
(23:44):
and going to the village andgetting your name, where do you
see yourself in your journey bycoming here to Sierra Leone?
How does that affect yourspiritual journey?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So you know this story.
I was invited to come here Ifeel like it was probably in
January, I don't really knowexactly when it was but I was
invited very early on and Istarted looking for all the
reasons why not to come.
And, to be perfectly honestwith you, when my kids, you know
, grilled me to understand why Ididn't want to come, it was for
(24:22):
really silly things like oh,I'm not going to have any of my
creature comforts when I getthere.
You know, just making up stuffto be afraid of.
I don't want to be on a planefor that many hours.
You know, just really sillystuff.
But I did that for a littlewhile, with not only that
opportunity, but there were acouple of other opportunities
that were being offered to me,and this was you know, we all
(24:44):
know how spirit works I wasbeing offered elevation because
we had just left TRHT and spiritwas offering me elevation in
the work that I do, and I wasnot.
I knew that we needed to be ina new space doing new things.
I said that to you.
I was like, you know, whateverthings we have promised the
(25:05):
universe we would do, it's nowtime to do that, because that's
why we're removed from thatspace.
That's not the, that's not theway to do.
That's not going to be theplace to do it.
We have to do it over here.
And I was just really content.
People were calling me, hiringme for various things.
I was content doing that.
None of it was really.
(25:30):
A few of the opportunities werepulling me in spiritually, but
I was not having to step up andwork with spirit to learn more
you know and better conditionmyself.
Up and work with spirit tolearn more you know and better
condition myself.
And so, as I was in resistanceto this was the third offer I
had worked for all these peopleand they all decided they were
not going to pay me, for variousreasons, like you know.
(25:52):
Sometimes it was, oh, I'mwaiting on the check, and
sometimes it was I sent it toyou and it came back.
And one time somebody actuallywas just blowing smoke up our
asses and constantly trying notto pay people of color, right.
So so we, I just had all thesethings going on and I knew I was
(26:14):
like I've never not been in myflow with my income.
That's just never been a thing.
Money has always been there.
So I'm in this strangesituation.
All the bills are being paid.
I know I got money sitting outthere, but all of a sudden it's
not coming into my bank account.
So what's going on?
And I was like, oh, spirit'sbeen trying to get your
attention, but you've beentaking all these odd jobs making
(26:36):
money instead of listening.
Stop and let.
But you've been taking allthese odd jobs making money
instead of listening, stopping,let's listen.
And I got on a call with MonicaHaslip and she said you know
what's, what's, what's at yourcore?
You know like who are you atthe core?
What is the thing that must bepresent for you to be your best
at work?
And I said, oh, she was likemine is art, what's yours?
I was like spirituality.
She was like all right then, ifspirituality is not in the room
(26:59):
, if it's not a part of the deal, that's not the thing you're
doing.
And if it is a part of the deal, why are you trying to walk
away from it?
Wow, and so I went out for awalk that day after I got off
that call with her and I saidall right, spirit, you know I
was walking the dog.
All right, spirit, I'm listening, let's, let's talk about this.
And I had a six blockconversation with spirit walking
(27:23):
the dog.
I can't tell you what the dogwas doing.
I know I cleaned up behind itbut I have no idea.
And all of a sudden the dog wasbarking at me and I snapped out
of it and looked down and wewere standing where they had,
they had dug up the sidewalk andthere was like a ditch, like
you were going to fall down in aditch.
And I was like, okay, let me,you know, figure out how we're
going to cross the street.
And the dog was kind of likeGod, you're stupid, let's cross
(27:45):
over this way.
And we walked into a funnel ofdragonflies and I was like this
is really interesting.
And we walked all these blocksand there've been no dragonflies
, and now we're surrounded bythem on one block in South Shore
.
And then they disappeared andright in front of me was a red
bat on a tree, a red, what A redbat Bat On a tree.
I did not know red bats were inChicago, let alone in South
(28:07):
Shore, and I wouldn't have knownthat it was a red bat because
it blended into the tree so well, but it had one wing spread out
because it was a windy day.
So it was holding on to thetree.
So that's how I saw it, verysmall red bat, and I said, okay,
I guess you want me to say yesto Africa Only because I looked
(28:32):
them up, both the dragonfly andthe bats on a spiritual level,
both the dragonfly and the batson a spiritual level.
Their beneficial spiritualmeaning is to disrobe your fear,
step on the other side of yourfear, to step out and do
something that is not your norm.
Let go of your fears and walkinto the unknown, because this
is the opportunity you've beenwaiting for.
(28:54):
So I said, all right, we'regoing to go to Africa.
Once I made that decision, allthe money started pouring in.
You know all the things.
And then think about when wewent to Freetown.
We had a swarm of dragonfliesthat's right and a tree where
the bats used to live.
Oh, wow, yes.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So they'll say I mean , it was the same situation as
from South Shore.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
All the way to Freetown, where the cotton tree
is when the cotton tree is.
Yes, that's right, all the waythere.
And another thing that happenedwas right after Jesse got us
all the money.
I kept having this thing withmoths, like I'd go out to the
car and the moth would be rightover my door Just sitting there,
wings flapping, and then I'dopen the door, the car door, and
(29:39):
it would still be sitting atthe top of the door, you know,
wings flapping, and it was like,okay, fine, or I'd be walking
the dog, you know.
And this happened for like onewhole day and I looked up moths.
I don't remember today whatthat means, but when we first
got to Sierra Leone in theairport, I'm sitting there
waiting on my bags and as my bagcomes through the thing as my
bag was the last one to comethrough this huge moth comes in
(30:04):
and it lands, and then my bagwent around the thing.
You picked it up before it cameback around, and so I had to
come find you and when I gotover there, the moth was sitting
on my bag.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And then later it was sitting on me Right, and then
it went all the way over to thevan.
So, like all these things,these signs that you know spirit
sends us to say, yeah, I'mstill with you, I'm still
showing up.
Was that the question you askedme?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
No, but I'm going to ask you again that story needed
to be told, right?
That story about you knowspirit showing up and revealing
itself to you in South shore andthen revealing it to all of us
in Freetown.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yes, and, moreover, we didn't have to even work to
get here.
Remember all of that either.
I I said to spirit well, if youwant me to go, I had a lot of
nerve, right.
Well, if you want me to go,then you need to make it happen,
and you did.
You did a little more work thanI did, but we got here for full
(31:12):
ride, free, like everythingright, it all just fell into
place and here we are.
So we were meant to be here.
We were absolutely meant to behere.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, and part of the reason I know we were meant
to be here was because you gotyour name.
Yes and just.
You know we loved for thepeople to know.
What did that mean to you?
This happened yesterday, it wasyesterday, this happened
(31:45):
yesterday.
Yeah, since that experiencethat you described earlier, like
what have you been reflectingon?
What does that mean in yourhealing journey?
What does?
And having a village now whereyou've been baptized and reborn,
what does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I don't know yet.
What I will say is when theynamed me.
God, this whole experience,these people here are so much
like my folks in South Carolina,and one of the things we
learned is that Sierra Leone isthe port by which most of us
(32:26):
left this land, and where mostof them landed is.
Well, they did Virginia and allthose things, but South
Carolina, and my family is inSouth Carolina and I think my
kids and I, three years ago,decided to go where the port was
(32:46):
in South Carolina.
We decided to go check it outfor the first time because my
family lives inland in SouthCarolina, but we went to check
out the port there and when Iwent to check out the port there
, I could see the spirits risingup out of the water.
It was a very an incredibleexperience and I felt like, yes,
(33:08):
a direct journey from there toAfrica, but I did not know where
, and then, being here, it has avery.
There's a story that has beentold about the fact that the
people left from here to there,but for me, you can feel, yes,
(33:31):
it makes perfect sense that wewent from here to there and the
people speak very similar to theway my family spoke.
We have since all decided tospeak clearer, but we still even
say you know, well, you knowshe over there speaking.
You know, you know GullahGeechee over there.
(33:53):
You know, because there'sGeechee language and my family's
name is Guillebeauabo, sothat's why we'll say she over
there speaking gulligichu, youknow um.
So when they're talking um,they speak creole, and creole is
is is.
You know?
It's really kind of a brokenenglish almost, and so I can,
(34:14):
but I can still hear theremnants of that here for the
people here.
Yeah, they speak creole exactly,yeah and then um their actions,
the way they um, the way theydo a lot of things feel very
similar.
The time that I spent with theum, the time I spent with the
deputy minister here, was verymuch like being with my uncle,
(34:37):
alex.
You know, in south carolinathere's a lot of similarities
between the people.
They live in a small town thatcould be considered a village in
and of itself, because thereare only three families that
have, you know, that were everreally living in that town, and
so there are a lot ofsimilarities.
But there's also the sense of Inever knew what to call home.
(34:57):
I never knew what to call homeas a black woman.
I know there are lots of blackpeople that don't have that same
feeling that I have, but I'vealso talked to lots of black
people that do.
In America, you know indigenouspeople.
We all know that that land wasunceded territory, so that's not
our land.
You know we were snatched fromthis land and for many years,
(35:24):
centuries, decades.
You know we were not being toldthat we could come back to the
motherland, that this was ourhome, yeah, and and even if you
did tell us that we didn't knowwhere we came from you know
where it was right to get my dnadone, to go to the port on that
side and then to come here anddiscover that this was the port
(35:44):
on this side and then to meetthe people and be given a name
that actually fits me.
You know, I mean me and children, right, and me, the fact that
since the pandemic, I have beengrowing my own food and learning
more about agriculture.
Um, and the work that we do,reconciliation work that we do
(36:07):
um, I'm still sewing, processingand sewing all the pieces
together, but I feel like I'vestepped into something that I
could never have imagined.
Like, if this is, this is notspirit-led I don't know what is,
because I don't know what to dowith it yet, but I'm so wide
open right now that whatever itis spirit is trying to get me to
do.
(36:27):
I'm hook, line and sinker rightnow, like I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Good.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, no, and you did a great summary of like putting
all the pieces together and youknow, again, I mean this just
happened yesterday, right?
So this is not like yesterday.
Some people take years toprocess and come to stuff.
So one of the last things youjust said that I want to follow
(36:58):
up on is you know?
So part of what I hope peopleget from listening to your story
is that if you are open tobeing spirit led, that things
will happen with very littleeffort.
So we'll love to hear from you.
(37:21):
Part of the Hope Dealer podcastis to be able to provide people
with examples of how peoplepractice hope.
So if you were to share what isa practice that you engage in
(37:57):
that allows you to be open tothat, maybe other people could
learn from, or maybe people willwant to.
You know, yeah, want topractice themselves.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I would say meditation.
You can look up the SilvaMethod and learn from that, or
just try other versions ofmeditation.
Just try other versions ofmeditation.
I find that when I am inmeditative space, if I allow
myself to go deeper and deeper,and deeper and deeper, and then
(38:33):
I just let myself goweightlessly, I get a lot of
information.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
That's when you get really in-depth information, and
you do that every day.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I do not do it every day, I don't.
I would love to be able to tellpeople that I do it every day
because it's really powerful andwhen you do it consistently,
like there have been times in mylife when I've done it every
day and I mean you never stopgetting messages.
They're always coming in.
But right now I'm not doing itevery day and I mean you never
stop getting messages.
They're always coming in um,but right now I'm not doing it
every day and probably because Iwant to be distracted a little
(39:06):
bit because of so muchinformation coming in um and I'm
serious when I say a lot ofinformation coming in.
I remember um being younger, inmy 20s, and and understanding
why there were homeless people,because I have always been one
(39:27):
who will talk to homeless people.
Just you know, like, how's yourday going?
What's going on?
Let's have a cup of coffeetogether.
I had a boyfriend who showed methat and I was like all right,
let's try this.
And they love that.
Somebody sees them has enough,you know, space and respect for
them to give them their dignity,to sit and have a conversation
with them.
(39:47):
But they will.
They will share a lot of thingswith you, and sometimes it's too
much information, coming in tothe point where you are like, oh
my God, I did not need to knowall the things that I know right
now that have me paranoid.
I do not need to be under thewatchful eye of big brother, I
do not need to know, be need tobe a part of this particular
(40:08):
system, all of these things.
And so sometimes you don't wantto know as much as you know.
Um, and sometimes you have tosay you know, I want to know
things, I want to do what youwant me to do, but can you not
show me those things, becausethose things aren't necessarily
important to the Southern workthat you want me to do.
So right now, I don't do itevery day, but that is the best
(40:31):
way for people to get back intune with hearing, and what I
always suggest is, before you goto bed, meditate and then ask
spirit to open you up and helpyou to hear or see or whatever
it is, and ask yourself toowhich of your senses are
(40:52):
strongest.
Do you hear things better?
Do you sense something?
It's sort of a a, a, a, justknowing.
That's the sensing.
I think it's sort of justknowing.
That's the sensing.
Do you smell?
Some people have an amazingsense of smell, and that's when
they know someone else is in thespace with them, and then they
(41:12):
can begin to communicate thatway Just various things.
Some people learn betterthrough dreams, and dreams work
really well if you're scared ofanything in the space with you.
So you can always say I wouldlike to know, but I would also
like for you to show me in thedream, because I don't think I
can handle it in, you know thereal world.
So those are ways that I wouldsuggest that people make an
(41:39):
effort to, and then, of course,you know, we'll talk about how
people can reach me, becausethat's something I should be
doing is helping people tostrengthen that muscle, because
we all have it.
We just have learned to.
Many of us have learned toignore it.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, no, and I mean I think you know the being still
and meditating and asking thequestion, right?
I think that's it's a veryimportant practice in all types
of faiths, yep, and I found thatit's actually a good way to
have your subconscious tell youwhat you already know, but you
(42:20):
don't get a chance to listen toit, so there's our egos in the
way of trying to you know takeover conditioning or our
conditioning.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
But so this is the time, ivani, to be able to tell
people, I mean, this is.
I want to be able to end it twoways None, thank you.
Thank you first for thank youfirst for to allowing the
spirits to guide you and guideus for us to be able to be here
(42:54):
in Sierra Leone.
So I'm really grateful for that, Really appreciate it for that,
not just for our trip, but forus being in partnership in this.
Together it's been beautiful,yeah.
And then to also for you to beable to share.
How do you, you know, how canpeople get a hold of you, learn
(43:17):
more of these lessons and, youknow, connect with you around
your practice or any of thethings that you work people with
?
Speaker 2 (43:28):
So I am co-founder of Reconnector,
r-e-k-i-n-n-e-c-t-a-r.
So R-E is re.
You know, that's again being ordoing something, again
returning to something, kinbeing things that are similar or
(43:51):
, like you know, family thingsof that sort.
What are your, what's yourkinship?
To right your core and thennectar being the nectar, like in
flowers, that sweetness thatdraws things together, draws
things to you.
Um, and so this is us working tohelp people find that very core
(44:14):
value of spirituality,reconnecting themselves to that,
to, to the earth, to theecosystem, to whomever their
family and communities.
And so I should be saying toyou you can reach me at Yvonne's
at Reconnector but today Icannot say that because I have
not set up our emails.
But you can right now reach.
(44:36):
Right now reach out to me atYvonne's Y-V-O-N-N-I-E-S at
gmailcom, or Yvonne's atYvonneDubosecom, and that's
Y-V-O-N-N-I-E-D-U-B-O-S-E.
Gmail is going to be so mucheasier for you right now.
(44:57):
So that's the best way to reachout to me if you're interested
in knowing more aboutReconnector, or if you're
interested in knowing when Iwill be offering the next
meditation sessions, or if youjust want to do a one-on-one or
any of those things.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Great, great.
So thanks, yvonne, you'rewelcome.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you, yeah, no.
Thank you, yeah, no.
Thank you for everything, andwe need to thank the table next
door Right.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
That is having the most amazing birthday party For
having the most amazing birthdayparty.
Right here on the beach.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
On the beach.
Yes, I want to thank them too.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Thank you all, thank you.
Buenas familia, soy Jose Rico, or Rico, if you know
me from the hood.
Thank you so much for yourattention today.
It means everything to me, andI want to welcome you to Hope
Dealer, which is a podcast aboutour journey towards hope,
resilience and joy through thestories that we carry about our
(00:25):
return home, and my intentionfor our time together is to
remind us that we carry powerfulmedicine within us that is our
guide to our transformation.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
I am so grateful to be able tointroduce you to incredible
(00:46):
people, incredible spirits thatwill share their journeys with
us.
Buenas familia como estan?
(01:18):
How the body?
That's how you say it.
A greeting here in Sierra Leone.
Welcome to Hope Dealer, apodcast about our journey
towards hope, resilience, joythrough our stories of returning
home, and today you're going tohear an incredible story of
(01:42):
someone's rebirth and her returnhome, and so I'm positive that
the time that we're going to bespending together is going to
not only lift up your spiritsbut hopefully connect you to
those spirits.
This is Jose Rico, and areminder that this podcast and
(02:04):
these stories are a way formyself and for us to remember
that we are the medicine that wehave with each other.
Today I am coming to you fromthe waterfront, from the coast
of Sierra Leone.
We're at the beach right now,so you might hear the ocean, you
might hear families playing,and one of the reasons that I am
(02:29):
here Is because I have anincredible honor and pleasure Of
being here with my mana, mysister, who was named Ivani
DuBose and now she's going totell you what her new name is.
And Ivani is a racial healerand equity practitioner.
(02:50):
She is the co-founder ofReconnectar, which she will talk
a little bit about, somebodywho is Chicagoan, who's been
doing incredible work bothlocally and nationally, and so I
(03:23):
just want to be able and wanther to just introduce herself,
and we really want to ask herright now how's the body to you?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
We are in Sierra Leone and I think this is how
many days have we been here now.
We've been here about five sixdays.
I am Yvonne DeVos.
I have in the last five years,done my somewhere within the
last five years, done my DNAwith AfricanAncestrycom if
(03:57):
you've never heard of them, notAncestrycom, not 23andMe, not
any of those other ones, not23andMe, not any of those other
ones, but actuallyAfricanAncestrycom that has a
larger pool of DNA from themotherland and it showed that I
(04:22):
am.
I think it's 23% from the Mendetribe of Sierra Leone and so,
and then I think it's somethinglike 24% or something very
similar.
I can't remember the tribe, butthey are in Guinea-Bissau.
I want to say they're likeBende or something, bantu or
something I can't remember, butanyway.
So I'm right here in the regionof them both, but right on the
(04:43):
land of Sierra Leone, and I wentto the Mende tribe, a Mende
tribe village, because the Mendetribe is the most dominant
tribe here in Sierra Leone.
It's the largest tribe stillhere in Sierra Leone.
They're on the east, north andsouthern parts of Sierra Leone
(05:06):
and I got an opportunity to goto one.
The chief actually said we knowthat the ancestors led you here
because you could have gone tomany Mende villages and you came
to this one.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, and we can talk about how succinct that truly
is spiritually about me beinghere, um.
But they renamed me in a um ina rebirthing ceremony and my new
name, while in sierra leone, ismajapo, so ma jo po they don't
(05:43):
pronounce r's clearly becauseit's spelled like major poor,
but it's Majapo and it's, and itmeans mother of children,
mother of agriculture and motherof reconciliation.
And peace.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Wow, that is beautiful and I actually would.
I think it's great if peoplehear the story of how you got
there.
But first, the first question Iwant to ask you is can you
share I mean today's about yourjourney, right, like the journey
of how you got here and how yougot your name, or anything else
(06:25):
you want to share?
But let's start the journey alittle bit about how you grew up
and where you grew up, just tobe able to give a context of
where you grew up and how yougrew up.
And then, you know, take thisjourney of where we are now.
So we'd love to hear a littlebit about you know you and how
(06:45):
you grew up in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I was born and raised so I'd love to say all
over Chicago, because I didspend a lot of time all over
Chicago, but my journey began inIda B Wells Projects.
My grandmother had atwo-bedroom apartment and I know
that two of her children, mymother and my aunt, were living
(07:09):
there with her, and I am thefirst born of my mother, so it
was the two of them.
I believe my cousin Anita mighthave been living there too, and
then myself, and then my mommoved out and got her own
apartment.
But I think even before wemoved back into Ida B Wells she
had to move out and move to likethe Robert Taylor homes for a
(07:29):
little while and somewhere else,and then she came back.
So then I was in Ida B Wellsuntil eighth grade pretty much.
I mean, we moved out once to goto Pill Hill, came back because
of an incident, and then weleft Ida B Wells.
When I was in eighth, when I wasgraduating from eighth grade,
we lived in the Gresham area,auburn, gresham, for two years
(07:58):
one year, something like that,two years I think and then we
moved to Rogers Park because mybrother was getting to be of the
age where gangs would beinterested in him and my mother
didn't want that.
So we moved there and then wereally stayed on the north side
until I don't know.
(08:19):
Once I finished college I movedover to South Shore for a
little while, went back to theNorth Side, lived over I don't
know what the area is called, Ican't think of it right now just
east of South Shore and thenback to the North Side and then
to Bronzeville and now in SouthShore.
(08:41):
So I've lived almost alwayseast but all up and down.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Chicago's lakefront.
And how did that that movingaround?
Like, how was your childhoodthere?
What do you think that has todo with your healing journey?
Like, how was it growing up foryou in all those transitions?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You know, I've always been a heavily spiritual child.
My mother did not turn that off.
She did not.
She was not somebody whoignored that.
So if so, she didn't ignore it.
But we didn't have to have awhole lot of conversations about
it either, and I learned veryquickly that I had my own
personal.
You know and this is a reallyfunny story my mother, you know,
(09:27):
I went to school one day and myteacher said we're going to
have a party and everybodyshould sign up to bring
something.
And I have no idea what made mesay I can bring pizzas.
Now we're living in the projectsand we've never had pizza
delivered to my house everbefore.
And so I come up with this ideathat I'm going to bring pizzas.
And you know, the teacher islike are you sure you know?
(09:47):
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'mgoing to bring them.
And so I don't tell my motherabout it until the night before
we're supposed to go.
And she was like I don't knowwhy you told that lie.
You know, like I'm not orderingpizzas for a whole classroom.
And I was devastated and I wascrying and I was saying to
Spirit you know, you know, now Iunderstand it's just me and you
(10:07):
, not me and mom.
You know, it's just me and you.
You know, and that relationshipbetween me and Spirit grew from
that.
From that moment it literallygrew between me and spirit grew
from that.
From that moment it literallygrew.
And so if I would lose my keys,I would literally lay down in a
field of grass anywhere, becauseI knew if I was laid in the
grass, like on the earth, and Icould look up at the sky, I
(10:29):
could just have a conversationand spirit would bring them back
to me.
And so I would lay down in thegrass and just say, look, you
know she's going to kill me.
I need those keys.
You're going to have to show mewhere they are and spirit would
lead me right to them.
I'd stand up, go where I wasbeing led and find them in the
middle of anything.
It didn't matter where.
(10:50):
They could be in the middle ofa playground, they could be in
the middle of a field of grass,they could be in the middle of a
garden of flowers, it did notmatter, I would find them.
So I've always had the gift ofbeing able generally to find
things or to request things toreturn.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So and that happened since you were from an early age
.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That was at a very early age.
At an early age, my friendslearned that I spoke to spirit
and they would ask me to tellthem, like you know, this is
happening.
What you know, what do youthink is going to happen next?
Like I mean, I would havedreams about things you know.
Um, so yeah, I just I've alwayshad a really strong
relationship with spirit, withthe spirit world.
(11:30):
When people die, I generallyhear from people sometimes I
hear from people as they arepreparing to pass yeah, just
different things.
So anyway, that's what mybackground was.
And so, moving all around, Ican only say my spirituality was
(11:57):
very stable.
That all felt good.
You, you know I knew to count onthat voice, but also I was just
taking a look at thedifferences and things from one
area to another right.
So when we were growing up inIda B Wells, you did not walk
around in a swimming suit, welived right over by the lake.
You didn't walk around in aswimming suit, you covered
everything.
And so then when we would govisit my aunt in Evanston and
(12:20):
drive up you know, lakeshoreDrive to Sheridan Road and the
white people would be crossingthe street, you know, bikini
clad, I was like what the hellmakes this okay?
And it wasn't like judgment, itliterally was why, you know,
like why is this okay?
And we could never do that,like you know, um.
(12:42):
And sometimes the adults wouldtalk about you know, they just
walk across the street like blah, blah, blah, you know, um.
So I just began to notice lotsof differences.
I noticed, you know, how theydressed in the winter versus how
we dress outside for winter.
I noticed just, it was just avery odd feeling of openness and
(13:09):
freedom, so like expansiveness,that's it.
The energy felt expansive.
I don't know if I don't know ifpeople can understand what I'm
saying by that, but it felt likewhen you, when you were, when
you came off Lakeshore Drive, itjust felt like the world was
open to you, versus when youwere on the South side, it felt
(13:31):
very narrow.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You mean on the North side.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The North side felt very expansive, the South side
felt very narrow, and anotherodd thing that used to happen to
me was I felt like the sunshined so much brighter on the
north side than it did on thesouth side.
I know, right, I thought thatwas the oddest thing.
And so even when we moved upthere Rogers Park, as you know,
(13:56):
is like filled with everything.
So there were already Africansup there, jewish people, I mean,
you name it.
Like you know, it feels likethat's where all of the
immigrants were settling at thattime, and so we were.
(14:18):
There were other black familiesup there, but there weren't
that many African-Americanfamilies up there yet as far as
we could tell.
And I could be whoever I wantedto be, because we did not have
they didn't have anypreconceptions.
Maybe they had preconceptionsof who boys were, black boys
(14:40):
were, but I don't feel like theyhad really any preconceptions
of who Black girls were.
So the ways in which maybe Iwas an outcast on the South Side
, I was able to be that on theNorth Side and be invisible, and
whereas today we don't want tobe invisible, I was very
comfortable being invisiblebecause I was on the South side
a little odd.
So those, those are the thingsI think that were going on in my
(15:04):
background.
Yeah, that's that's about andit's it's funny.
I'm saying that I was odd.
I was, but I was still, youknow, at Lindblom High School,
in a, you know, in a huge girlsclub, social club, you know.
So I was part of Jontel Farm,which was GF at, you know,
(15:26):
lindblom, and so you would notthink that I was odd because
that was a very popular girlsgroup, but I was still even in
that group.
I was very odd.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
So you know you talk a little bit about feeling that
freedom on the north side andthen also not talking a lot
about, or be known for yourconnection to spirit.
So for me, when I met you, youseem very connected to spirit
(15:58):
and you share that openly.
I'm curious about you know,when was the moment or what was
it about the work that you weredoing then and that you're doing
now that makes you comfortableor calls you to declare your
(16:21):
openness to spirit, Like, how isthat connection and your
openness about your healingjourney?
How did that come about for you?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So as connected as I had been.
So this is the thing.
So children are very connected.
They all are right, they arevery connected.
So if you're out there andyou've got small children and
they say they see, they say theysee things or they hear things
they do, right, but we talk themout of that.
We say to them you don't,you're not hearing that that's
(16:53):
not true.
We do all the things and no oneknows how far to go with kids.
Right, because they also havethe best imaginations.
Right.
But when we hit somewherearound the age of 13, 14, our
lens changes If we haven'treally conditioned ourselves to
pay attention to it, right, sothat by the time we hit 13 or 14
(17:15):
, the world tells us it's allimaginary, has been telling us
it's all imaginary, and now thelens changes and we believe it
was all imaginary and we let itgo.
I did not have that experience.
My mother studied the SilvaMethod and then came home and
gave me everything she had andshe said you need to study this
too, and so that was another wayof holding on to it.
(17:36):
But when I got married, myhusband was raised Jehovah's
Witness and at some point hemade a statement to me that
other people had made to mebefore and I didn't really care
about.
But this was my husband and thestatement was how do you know
that that's God driven?
Because that that sounds likethat, you know, could possibly
(18:00):
be satanic.
Yeah, and so, because we hadchildren, I was like, ok, I'm in
this for a while, right, I'm inthis, maybe we can work this
out because he wasn't apracticing Jehovah's Witness,
(18:22):
but I was in my marriage with mesort of stuffing my
spirituality, you know, under abed basically you know what I'm
saying In a closet, like closingit up for 20 years, up for 20
(18:43):
years.
And if you are anything like me, it was literally like trying
to burst out of everything, like, you know, just trying to come
out of everywhere.
And I decided, I decided at onepoint I know I need to be done
with this marriage.
I feel suffocated, like Iliterally was constantly feeling
suffocated and I was like, butI have to separate my energy
from his first.
I've got to find a way toseparate my energy so that I can
(19:04):
, um, right, in order to takethat step out of the marriage.
And so I took the kids and wetook a road trip.
On that road trip.
We stopped in North Carolinaand it was middle of the night
and I called a friend who hadgone to high school with me and
I was like, girl, tell me whereI can find a hotel here, because
it's the middle of the night,can you help us this down?
(19:26):
And she was like, you got toget over here to this house.
So me and the kids went to staywith her and she said well,
what's going on?
Why would you be out here withyou and the kids and with you
and the kids?
And we talked a little bit andshe said, girl, please.
She was like anybody that knowsyou knows that you cannot hide
your spirituality.
What were you thinking, youknow?
And so she became a mirror.
Yes, exactly, she was like inhigh school.
(19:48):
We were asking you for advice.
What are we talking about rightnow, you know?
And so that blew the lid offthings that I knew I had to get
out so that I could get back towhere I needed to be.
And one of the things Spiritasked of me was was I ready, you
know, are you ready to fullygive yourself to the community?
And I thought no, because Ihave been saying that even when
(20:12):
I was younger.
I don't want to do that kind ofthing.
You know, give me another job,I don't want to do that job.
And I was like you know, youknow my friend said well, why,
why would you, why would you notwant to do that job?
And I said I don't want to feellike I'm leading people to
something and then I fall offand then they don't continue to
move toward what that is.
It took me a while to understandI'm not leading people to
anything.
(20:32):
I'm just doing what I do andallowing other people to
recognize they can do that thing.
That's inside of them too.
And so when I came to TRHC,just like my self-realization,
coaching and meditation work, Icould bring my full self, which
meant that spirituality, thatpart of me, to the work.
(20:55):
And then I mean, and it's it,if you've ever worked in spirit
and I'll say this to anybody, ifyou work in a zone, you know
what I'm talking about.
It just flows, right,everything just flows.
And I would start the nightbefore absolutely asking my
ancestors and the ancestors ofanyone showing up, um, to please
(21:18):
show up and meet and then to beready to help us create a
container in which everybody inthe space could get from that
space what they needed and youwould do this in preparation to
the circles every time yes,every time, and every time we
got back rave reviews.
(21:39):
People loved doing it.
People got so much out of itand we did too.
You know, there's somethingmagical in this world where you
have to say I'm not just giving,I'm also reciprocating.
I'm always receiving, and itnever failed in that space.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It never failed in that space.
Yeah, yeah, no.
I mean, I think that you know,bringing people together with
the right intention andincluding the ceremonial, yes,
and spiritual, the rituals,rituals, yes, that we were able
to do, I think, is what reallycreated this incredible space
(22:20):
container.
You know, circle Absolutely,where people felt like they were
connected to something elsebesides just having another
meeting, and we just pulled thechairs around.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, because when somebody speaks to that part of
you, that part of you thatyou've been hiding, something
resonates Right, and so I don'tknow how many, I don't know how
often people feel like they'rein that kind of space, but the
moment they would step in,they'd be all in Right and
they'd be like when do we do itagain?
And then you know what happensnext and you know that whole
(22:55):
thing.
So, yeah, what happens next andyou know that whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So yeah, yeah.
So so you brought up somethingthat sometimes we end up hiding
things, Sometimes it gets takenfrom us, sometimes it gets
distorted Sometimes.
So we're here in, you know, inSierra Leone, with a group that
(23:21):
is facilitating circles yeah, adifferent type of circle,
different type of circles butpart of the journey that we're
on is not only learning how theydo it, which has been
incredible, but I'm curious foryou to share how, coming here
(23:44):
and going to the village andgetting your name, where do you
see yourself in your journey bycoming here to Sierra Leone?
How does that affect yourspiritual journey?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So you know this story.
I was invited to come here Ifeel like it was probably in
January, I don't really knowexactly when it was but I was
invited very early on and Istarted looking for all the
reasons why not to come.
And, to be perfectly honestwith you, when my kids, you know
, grilled me to understand why Ididn't want to come, it was for
(24:22):
really silly things like oh,I'm not going to have any of my
creature comforts when I getthere.
You know, just making up stuffto be afraid of.
I don't want to be on a planefor that many hours.
You know, just really sillystuff.
But I did that for a littlewhile, with not only that
opportunity, but there were acouple of other opportunities
that were being offered to me,and this was you know, we all
(24:44):
know how spirit works I wasbeing offered elevation because
we had just left TRHT and spiritwas offering me elevation in
the work that I do, and I wasnot.
I knew that we needed to be ina new space doing new things.
I said that to you.
I was like, you know, whateverthings we have promised the
(25:05):
universe we would do, it's nowtime to do that, because that's
why we're removed from thatspace.
That's not the, that's not theway to do.
That's not going to be theplace to do it.
We have to do it over here.
And I was just really content.
People were calling me, hiringme for various things.
I was content doing that.
None of it was really.
(25:30):
A few of the opportunities werepulling me in spiritually, but
I was not having to step up andwork with spirit to learn more
you know and better conditionmyself.
Up and work with spirit tolearn more you know and better
condition myself.
And so, as I was in resistanceto this was the third offer I
had worked for all these peopleand they all decided they were
not going to pay me, for variousreasons, like you know.
(25:52):
Sometimes it was, oh, I'mwaiting on the check, and
sometimes it was I sent it toyou and it came back.
And one time somebody actuallywas just blowing smoke up our
asses and constantly trying notto pay people of color, right.
So so we, I just had all thesethings going on and I knew I was
(26:14):
like I've never not been in myflow with my income.
That's just never been a thing.
Money has always been there.
So I'm in this strangesituation.
All the bills are being paid.
I know I got money sitting outthere, but all of a sudden it's
not coming into my bank account.
So what's going on?
And I was like, oh, spirit'sbeen trying to get your
attention, but you've beentaking all these odd jobs making
(26:36):
money instead of listening.
Stop and let.
But you've been taking allthese odd jobs making money
instead of listening, stopping,let's listen.
And I got on a call with MonicaHaslip and she said you know
what's, what's, what's at yourcore?
You know like who are you atthe core?
What is the thing that must bepresent for you to be your best
at work?
And I said, oh, she was likemine is art, what's yours?
I was like spirituality.
She was like all right then, ifspirituality is not in the room
(26:59):
, if it's not a part of the deal, that's not the thing you're
doing.
And if it is a part of the deal, why are you trying to walk
away from it?
Wow, and so I went out for awalk that day after I got off
that call with her and I saidall right, spirit, you know I
was walking the dog.
All right, spirit, I'm listening, let's, let's talk about this.
And I had a six blockconversation with spirit walking
(27:23):
the dog.
I can't tell you what the dogwas doing.
I know I cleaned up behind itbut I have no idea.
And all of a sudden the dog wasbarking at me and I snapped out
of it and looked down and wewere standing where they had,
they had dug up the sidewalk andthere was like a ditch, like
you were going to fall down in aditch.
And I was like, okay, let me,you know, figure out how we're
going to cross the street.
And the dog was kind of likeGod, you're stupid, let's cross
(27:45):
over this way.
And we walked into a funnel ofdragonflies and I was like this
is really interesting.
And we walked all these blocksand there've been no dragonflies
, and now we're surrounded bythem on one block in South Shore
.
And then they disappeared andright in front of me was a red
bat on a tree, a red, what A redbat Bat On a tree.
I did not know red bats were inChicago, let alone in South
(28:07):
Shore, and I wouldn't have knownthat it was a red bat because
it blended into the tree so well, but it had one wing spread out
because it was a windy day.
So it was holding on to thetree.
So that's how I saw it, verysmall red bat, and I said, okay,
I guess you want me to say yesto Africa Only because I looked
(28:32):
them up, both the dragonfly andthe bats on a spiritual level,
both the dragonfly and the batson a spiritual level.
Their beneficial spiritualmeaning is to disrobe your fear,
step on the other side of yourfear, to step out and do
something that is not your norm.
Let go of your fears and walkinto the unknown, because this
is the opportunity you've beenwaiting for.
(28:54):
So I said, all right, we'regoing to go to Africa.
Once I made that decision, allthe money started pouring in.
You know all the things.
And then think about when wewent to Freetown.
We had a swarm of dragonfliesthat's right and a tree where
the bats used to live.
Oh, wow, yes.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So they'll say I mean , it was the same situation as
from South Shore.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
All the way to Freetown, where the cotton tree
is when the cotton tree is.
Yes, that's right, all the waythere.
And another thing that happenedwas right after Jesse got us
all the money.
I kept having this thing withmoths, like I'd go out to the
car and the moth would be rightover my door Just sitting there,
wings flapping, and then I'dopen the door, the car door, and
(29:39):
it would still be sitting atthe top of the door, you know,
wings flapping, and it was like,okay, fine, or I'd be walking
the dog, you know.
And this happened for like onewhole day and I looked up moths.
I don't remember today whatthat means, but when we first
got to Sierra Leone in theairport, I'm sitting there
waiting on my bags and as my bagcomes through the thing as my
bag was the last one to comethrough this huge moth comes in
(30:04):
and it lands, and then my bagwent around the thing.
You picked it up before it cameback around, and so I had to
come find you and when I gotover there, the moth was sitting
on my bag.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And then later it was sitting on me Right, and then
it went all the way over to thevan.
So, like all these things,these signs that you know spirit
sends us to say, yeah, I'mstill with you, I'm still
showing up.
Was that the question you askedme?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
No, but I'm going to ask you again that story needed
to be told, right?
That story about you knowspirit showing up and revealing
itself to you in South shore andthen revealing it to all of us
in Freetown.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yes, and, moreover, we didn't have to even work to
get here.
Remember all of that either.
I I said to spirit well, if youwant me to go, I had a lot of
nerve, right.
Well, if you want me to go,then you need to make it happen,
and you did.
You did a little more work thanI did, but we got here for full
(31:12):
ride, free, like everythingright, it all just fell into
place and here we are.
So we were meant to be here.
We were absolutely meant to behere.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, and part of the reason I know we were meant
to be here was because you gotyour name.
Yes and just.
You know we loved for thepeople to know.
What did that mean to you?
This happened yesterday, it wasyesterday, this happened
(31:45):
yesterday.
Yeah, since that experiencethat you described earlier, like
what have you been reflectingon?
What does that mean in yourhealing journey?
What does?
And having a village now whereyou've been baptized and reborn,
what does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I don't know yet.
What I will say is when theynamed me.
God, this whole experience,these people here are so much
like my folks in South Carolina,and one of the things we
learned is that Sierra Leone isthe port by which most of us
(32:26):
left this land, and where mostof them landed is.
Well, they did Virginia and allthose things, but South
Carolina, and my family is inSouth Carolina and I think my
kids and I, three years ago,decided to go where the port was
(32:46):
in South Carolina.
We decided to go check it outfor the first time because my
family lives inland in SouthCarolina, but we went to check
out the port there and when Iwent to check out the port there
, I could see the spirits risingup out of the water.
It was a very an incredibleexperience and I felt like, yes,
(33:08):
a direct journey from there toAfrica, but I did not know where
, and then, being here, it has avery.
There's a story that has beentold about the fact that the
people left from here to there,but for me, you can feel, yes,
(33:31):
it makes perfect sense that wewent from here to there and the
people speak very similar to theway my family spoke.
We have since all decided tospeak clearer, but we still even
say you know, well, you knowshe over there speaking.
You know, you know GullahGeechee over there.
(33:53):
You know, because there'sGeechee language and my family's
name is Guillebeauabo, sothat's why we'll say she over
there speaking gulligichu, youknow um.
So when they're talking um,they speak creole, and creole is
is is.
You know?
It's really kind of a brokenenglish almost, and so I can,
(34:14):
but I can still hear theremnants of that here for the
people here.
Yeah, they speak creole exactly,yeah and then um their actions,
the way they um, the way theydo a lot of things feel very
similar.
The time that I spent with theum, the time I spent with the
deputy minister here, was verymuch like being with my uncle,
(34:37):
alex.
You know, in south carolinathere's a lot of similarities
between the people.
They live in a small town thatcould be considered a village in
and of itself, because thereare only three families that
have, you know, that were everreally living in that town, and
so there are a lot ofsimilarities.
But there's also the sense of Inever knew what to call home.
(34:57):
I never knew what to call homeas a black woman.
I know there are lots of blackpeople that don't have that same
feeling that I have, but I'vealso talked to lots of black
people that do.
In America, you know indigenouspeople.
We all know that that land wasunceded territory, so that's not
our land.
You know we were snatched fromthis land and for many years,
(35:24):
centuries, decades.
You know we were not being toldthat we could come back to the
motherland, that this was ourhome, yeah, and and even if you
did tell us that we didn't knowwhere we came from you know
where it was right to get my dnadone, to go to the port on that
side and then to come here anddiscover that this was the port
(35:44):
on this side and then to meetthe people and be given a name
that actually fits me.
You know, I mean me and children, right, and me, the fact that
since the pandemic, I have beengrowing my own food and learning
more about agriculture.
Um, and the work that we do,reconciliation work that we do
(36:07):
um, I'm still sewing, processingand sewing all the pieces
together, but I feel like I'vestepped into something that I
could never have imagined.
Like, if this is, this is notspirit-led I don't know what is,
because I don't know what to dowith it yet, but I'm so wide
open right now that whatever itis spirit is trying to get me to
do.
(36:27):
I'm hook, line and sinker rightnow, like I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Good.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, no, and you did a great summary of like putting
all the pieces together and youknow, again, I mean this just
happened yesterday, right?
So this is not like yesterday.
Some people take years toprocess and come to stuff.
So one of the last things youjust said that I want to follow
(36:58):
up on is you know?
So part of what I hope peopleget from listening to your story
is that if you are open tobeing spirit led, that things
will happen with very littleeffort.
So we'll love to hear from you.
(37:21):
Part of the Hope Dealer podcastis to be able to provide people
with examples of how peoplepractice hope.
So if you were to share what isa practice that you engage in
(37:57):
that allows you to be open tothat, maybe other people could
learn from, or maybe people willwant to.
You know, yeah, want topractice themselves.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I would say meditation.
You can look up the SilvaMethod and learn from that, or
just try other versions ofmeditation.
Just try other versions ofmeditation.
I find that when I am inmeditative space, if I allow
myself to go deeper and deeper,and deeper and deeper, and then
(38:33):
I just let myself goweightlessly, I get a lot of
information.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
That's when you get really in-depth information, and
you do that every day.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I do not do it every day, I don't.
I would love to be able to tellpeople that I do it every day
because it's really powerful andwhen you do it consistently,
like there have been times in mylife when I've done it every
day and I mean you never stopgetting messages.
They're always coming in.
But right now I'm not doing itevery day and I mean you never
stop getting messages.
They're always coming in um,but right now I'm not doing it
every day and probably because Iwant to be distracted a little
(39:06):
bit because of so muchinformation coming in um and I'm
serious when I say a lot ofinformation coming in.
I remember um being younger, inmy 20s, and and understanding
why there were homeless people,because I have always been one
(39:27):
who will talk to homeless people.
Just you know, like, how's yourday going?
What's going on?
Let's have a cup of coffeetogether.
I had a boyfriend who showed methat and I was like all right,
let's try this.
And they love that.
Somebody sees them has enough,you know, space and respect for
them to give them their dignity,to sit and have a conversation
with them.
(39:47):
But they will.
They will share a lot of thingswith you, and sometimes it's too
much information, coming in tothe point where you are like, oh
my God, I did not need to knowall the things that I know right
now that have me paranoid.
I do not need to be under thewatchful eye of big brother, I
do not need to know, be need tobe a part of this particular
(40:08):
system, all of these things.
And so sometimes you don't wantto know as much as you know.
Um, and sometimes you have tosay you know, I want to know
things, I want to do what youwant me to do, but can you not
show me those things, becausethose things aren't necessarily
important to the Southern workthat you want me to do.
So right now, I don't do itevery day, but that is the best
(40:31):
way for people to get back intune with hearing, and what I
always suggest is, before you goto bed, meditate and then ask
spirit to open you up and helpyou to hear or see or whatever
it is, and ask yourself toowhich of your senses are
(40:52):
strongest.
Do you hear things better?
Do you sense something?
It's sort of a a, a, a, justknowing.
That's the sensing.
I think it's sort of justknowing.
That's the sensing.
Do you smell?
Some people have an amazingsense of smell, and that's when
they know someone else is in thespace with them, and then they
(41:12):
can begin to communicate thatway Just various things.
Some people learn betterthrough dreams, and dreams work
really well if you're scared ofanything in the space with you.
So you can always say I wouldlike to know, but I would also
like for you to show me in thedream, because I don't think I
can handle it in, you know thereal world.
So those are ways that I wouldsuggest that people make an
(41:39):
effort to, and then, of course,you know, we'll talk about how
people can reach me, becausethat's something I should be
doing is helping people tostrengthen that muscle, because
we all have it.
We just have learned to.
Many of us have learned toignore it.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, no, and I mean I think you know the being still
and meditating and asking thequestion, right?
I think that's it's a veryimportant practice in all types
of faiths, yep, and I found thatit's actually a good way to
have your subconscious tell youwhat you already know, but you
(42:20):
don't get a chance to listen toit, so there's our egos in the
way of trying to you know takeover conditioning or our
conditioning.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
But so this is the time, ivani, to be able to tell
people, I mean, this is.
I want to be able to end it twoways None, thank you.
Thank you first for thank youfirst for to allowing the
spirits to guide you and guideus for us to be able to be here
(42:54):
in Sierra Leone.
So I'm really grateful for that, Really appreciate it for that,
not just for our trip, but forus being in partnership in this.
Together it's been beautiful,yeah.
And then to also for you to beable to share.
How do you, you know, how canpeople get a hold of you, learn
(43:17):
more of these lessons and, youknow, connect with you around
your practice or any of thethings that you work people with
?
Speaker 2 (43:28):
So I am co-founder of Reconnector,
r-e-k-i-n-n-e-c-t-a-r.
So R-E is re.
You know, that's again being ordoing something, again
returning to something, kinbeing things that are similar or
(43:51):
, like you know, family thingsof that sort.
What are your, what's yourkinship?
To right your core and thennectar being the nectar, like in
flowers, that sweetness thatdraws things together, draws
things to you.
Um, and so this is us working tohelp people find that very core
(44:14):
value of spirituality,reconnecting themselves to that,
to, to the earth, to theecosystem, to whomever their
family and communities.
And so I should be saying toyou you can reach me at Yvonne's
at Reconnector but today Icannot say that because I have
not set up our emails.
But you can right now reach.
(44:36):
Right now reach out to me atYvonne's Y-V-O-N-N-I-E-S at
gmailcom, or Yvonne's atYvonneDubosecom, and that's
Y-V-O-N-N-I-E-D-U-B-O-S-E.
Gmail is going to be so mucheasier for you right now.
(44:57):
So that's the best way to reachout to me if you're interested
in knowing more aboutReconnector, or if you're
interested in knowing when Iwill be offering the next
meditation sessions, or if youjust want to do a one-on-one or
any of those things.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Great, great.
So thanks, yvonne, you'rewelcome.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you, yeah, no.
Thank you, yeah, no.
Thank you for everything, andwe need to thank the table next
door Right.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
That is having the most amazing birthday party For
having the most amazing birthdayparty.
Right here on the beach.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
On the beach.
Yes, I want to thank them too.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Thank you all, thank you.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com