Euphrasia Nyaki, SEP (Efu)

Dr. Levine is delighted to announce our first SEP Highlight, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Sister Euphrasia Nyaki, warmly known as Efu.

Efu was selected because of her unique and inspiring life story, her dedication to healing, and her powerful spirit that captivates the heart. We are pleased to share her story with you.

Sister Efu grew up in the village of Nganjoni - Marangu, in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Currently living in Brazil, she is an SE™ Faculty member for the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute and a valued member of Dr. Levine's SE Legacy Faculty with the Ergos Institute of Somatic Education, as well as co-creator of AFYA, a Holistic Healing Center in João Pessoa, Brazil (more info on AFYA below).

In 2019 Efu became a member of Dr. Levine’s SE™ Legacy team to co-teach Master Classes that enhance SE practitioner skills for specialization in many areas of trauma including Memory, Developmental, Attachment, Sexual, Shame, Addiction, Medical, Surgical, Syndromes, as well as exploring Efu’s expertise in the intersection of Trauma and Spirituality and Generational Trauma (our ancestors). The Legacy Faculty was established to ensure that Dr. Levine’s unique Master Classes will continue to be taught worldwide after he retires from teaching. Efu’s contributions are expected to enhance these programs and be deeply enriching.

During the past fifteen years Efu has integrated the traditional medicine of her family clan (the Nyaki clan) with her SE trauma healing work. She specializes in shock trauma, natural disasters, trans-generational trauma, emotional, developmental, and social traumas. Her SE practice is based in north-eastern Brazil. She teaches SE throughout Brazil and has offered her SE skills in Haiti, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Egypt, India, South Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Spain.

Prior to becoming an SEP, Efu trained and worked as a Mathematics and Science teacher at Chanjale Junior Seminary in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 1990 she left teaching and joined the Maryknoll Sisters Religious Community. Her first Mission was assigned to Brazil in 1993. Seven years later she co-created Afya, which means healing in her native language of Swahili; a Women’s Holistic Healing Center and Non Government Organization (NGO), serving women in the poorest communities of the city of Joao Pessoa. Afya was so successful in its healing mission that it naturally expanded to include women and their entire family unit.

At Afya, Efu has taught families how to self heal the mind, body, and soul using accessible healing methods. Families have learned how to use herbal medicines grown in their own back yards and how to prepare balanced natural diets. Efu offers Somatic Experiencing and Family Constellation work to heal personal and family trauma. She also offers therapeutic massage, reflexology, reiki, and mud therapy.

Afya Holistic Healing Centre is now celebrating twenty years of successful community healing and transformation.

Please celebrate Efu’s accomplishments with us and enjoy reading her personal journey below and watching the two videos that she created with us here at Ergos. Thank you.

Learn More & Donate to the Holistic Healing Center in João Pessoa, Brazil that Efu co-created: AFYA (site in Portuguese).

I am the Dream of my Ancestors
Story by Efu

My name is Euphrasia Nyaki popularly known as Efu. While I was growing up in the village of Nganjoni - Marangu, in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, I heard of many stories of healing from my grandfather. Some of the stories sounded very mysterious to me. One of the stories that my grandfather told us was about a special snail that resided behind the house of the chief of the Nyaki clan (our family clan). This special snail was sent to the Nyaki clan from the ancestors in order to protect them. 

The main purpose of the snail was to heal the wounded people that went to war to defend their people. My grandfather told us that when an injured person was brought back home, he was laid down next to the snail and the snail would move slowly closer to the injured person and would go directly to their wound and lick it while leaving behind its slimy secretion on the wound, which would then heal instantaneously. In this way, the injured person was able to get up, go back to war and defend our clan. 

As a little child, between the ages of five and six years old, I can remember being fascinated by this story and feeling so proud and happy to belong to the Nyaki clan, while imagining the power of healing that was granted to us from this special snail. I recall that as a little girl I did not think much about the war and its consequences, but I recall my grandfather's emphasis on the presence of the snail that healed the clan and as a result, the war had ended and the clan continued to grow bigger and stronger.

This particular story laid a foundation for my work of healing trauma that I do now using the Somatic Experiencing for trauma resolution which I have learned from Dr. Peter Levine’s wisdom of focusing on the resources, or something that has helped one survive,  rather than focusing on the destruction and pain of the traumatic event.      

Likewise, from my mother's ancestry, she told us that her paternal grandmother was well known in the village as a herbalist. Many people used to go to her for healing different illnesses. As I was growing up, whenever we children had some upset stomach, headache or small injuries my mother used to show us a plant that was supposed to be good for each illness. We always followed my mother's instructions using the right plants in the right amounts, and sure enough, the healing would happen.    

When I was thirteen years old, my clan gathered together to do a special ritual for my initiation into adulthood. I remembered seeing my aunt collecting special leaves from a plant known as Isale (normally used for reconciliation and offerings). On this specific day, they used Isale leaves to anoint the goat that was going to be sacrificed for my initiation ritual. In this ritual, the leaves of Isale were being used to ask the ancestors to kindly receive the sacrifice that was about to happen.

The ceremony was readily prepared, and I was given a special place to observe everything that happened in the ritual. Many wonderful things happened in this ritual. However, one of the most important things on this special occasion that I remember until today, are the words that my father said to me through my uncle.

This is what I was told; "My daughter, you are now growing up into adulthood. Know that you will bring with you the strength of all of our ancestors. They will always be with you to protect you. Go out into the world with special blessings from our ancestors. Wherever you go, know that you will be received and blessed."     

I always remember listening to those words being uttered to me from behind while being gently pushed to move forward. I felt tall and strong, confident and with a firm sense of belonging to my family, the Nyaki clan. I felt connected to all of the ancestors who came long before me, and who, at the same time, were also present in my own strong body.  

About a week after this ritual was done, I left my home village, where I had been born and lived until I was thirteen years old. I had to go to a boarding school where I lived collectively with other students receiving secondary and higher levels of formal education. Every six months I went back home to the village where I would spend a month with my family. During this month in my home village, I was able to dive back into to the traditional life using herbal medicines and other customs that we weren't able to practice in the modern life of the secondary school environment.

During my secondary school and university studies, I joined an organization called Young Christian Students (YCS) whose main purpose was to help young people reflect on who they ought to become as adults. This organization's main objective was to help young people to discover their talents which would guide them to discern their vocation or life mission. Apart from my studies, I dedicated most of my time to this organization.

Due to my dedication to the YCS organization, I was elected as a coordinator/president of the YCS at the local level. As I moved on to higher levels of my studies, I was elected as a regional leader and in the University, I was elected as the president of YCS at the national level. I am very grateful that I had an opportunity to be part of YCS organization because as a young person I learned early on to reflect before acting.

In YCS's regulations, there was a guideline that we had to follow in all of our actions that is; SEE (observe), JUDGE (reflect), ACT (necessary action) and REFLECT (evaluate). Since I was always a leader, I had to make sure that we followed this main guideline of our organization. This total way of life contributed in my vocation/mission work which leads to me making the right choices for my own life.       

Eventually, I chose my profession as a teacher, and I began teaching in a junior Seminary where I taught Mathematics and Science subjects. During my weekend days, I used to go to the villages to organize groups of women to talk about the rights of formal education for all and a place for women in society. As I shared my teaching and solidarity with the women in the neighborhood of my workplace, I also learned from these women about their wisdom in the prevention of illness and the art of healing.

Even though my main work was a teacher in a seminary, in the evenings and during the weekends, I visited the nearby communities where I worked as a volunteer with the women, empowering them to care for themselves and finding their place in the patriarch society. I also learned more about many herbal medicines from these women who are from another tribe that is located in the southern part of Mount Kilimanjaro. After three years of teaching Mathematics and Science in Chanjale Junior Seminary, in the southern part of Kilimanjaro, I met a friend at the marketplace, Azucena (Ceny) San Pedro, originally from the Philippines, but who had been living in Tanzania. We quickly became friends. I later learned that she was a Maryknoll missionary, a religious woman who dedicated her life to helping other people who needed love, compassion and support for their survival.

I shared with Sr. Ceny my desire to help others heal and create a better space in the world for themselves. Without hesitation, Sr. Ceny invited me to join her congregation of Maryknoll Sisters of St Dominic that had been serving in more than 28 countries throughout the world. Upon accepting this invitation, I had to quit my teaching job in the seminary and begin the process of applying to join the congregation of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic.

My First Overseas Experience

While I was going through the orientation to the Maryknoll Sisters religious community, I also had the opportunity to do volunteer work in New York, USA. In 1990 through mid-1992 I lived with a community of nine sisters from seven different Nationalities, and all of us did a volunteer work in the small town of Newburgh, located about two hours from New York City by train. Newburgh had a majority population of African American and Hispanic peoples. Most of the buildings were quite run down with a lot of garbage and broken furniture on the street. Walking down the streets of Newburgh, I encountered many homeless people, of whom the majority, went to a drop-in centre that provided food, and shelter and this is where we did most of our volunteer work.

This was my first foreign experience, and it was quite a difficult one since I didn't expect to see such a situation in a so-called "first world country." However, the encountered situations gave me the motivation to continue strengthening my desire and urge for the healing of our broken world. For the two years that I lived in Newburgh, I accompanied many homeless people, listening to their stories, validating their presence, and accepting them just the way they were. 

I remember one woman sharing with me on how much she felt loved and valued by me sitting among them just listening to them telling stories, telling jokes, or just laughing and crying together. She also told me that I didn't have to do anything, my presence in itself was healing for her. This kind of feedback served to validate my desire for moving forward in the area of healing.           

My Second Overseas Experience

In 1993, after I finished my orientation experience at Maryknoll New York, I was assigned to Brazil In my studies, I learned that Brazil received about three-quarters of all of the African people who were taken from their homeland and brought to the Americas for slavery. So, here, I was excited about meeting people of African continent in the Americas. Another big reason for me choosing Brazil as my mission placement was learning about Paulo Freire, the famous Brazilian educator with his most notable work, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I first learned about Paulo Freire when I was studying for my degree in Education in Tanzania. I was fascinated by his theory of the pedagogy of the oppressed and how people from the grass roots transform society. Also, the first Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere, had been a very good friend of Paulo Freire and he implemented the theory of Paulo Freire in Tanzania’s system of education.

On my arrival to Brazil, I was immediately introduced to my fourth language, Portuguese. After three months of language study, I began to slowly work with the Brazilian people, especially with women on the periphery of the north-eastern city of João Pessoa in the Brazilian state of Paraíba.

Eventually, working in collaboration with other Maryknoll missionaries and with the local Brazilian people, I developed work with women who were living on the periphery and who needed support for their mental health and trauma healing from domestic and urban violence. As I engaged in this work, I also felt a necessity for creating a space where the women could go for a deeper healing, and especially for those who suffered from severe symptoms like depression, panic attacks, chronic pain, repetitive rage, and explosive behaviors. 

Together with my fellow Maryknoll Sister, Connie Pospisil, and other Brazilian colleagues, I co-created a Holistic Healing Organization for Women in 1998. This organization was formally recognized by the local government as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) on International Women's Day, March 8 of the year 2000. We named this organization “Afya – Women’s Holistic Healing Center”.

Assuming a leadership position in this organization, I helped to develop a variety of therapies and activities for women to find support and healing for themselves. We began using organic gardening and developed protocols for using herbal medicines for healing. We taught the women from the community different kinds of massage therapy, reflexology, reiki, ear coning (waxing) and mud therapy. We also gave orientation on how to plan a healthy diet which contributes a great deal to their health. For those who suffered with emotional problems, I had to search for other means of healing.

Somatic Experiencing (SE): An Answer to my Search for Trauma Healing

Afya Holistic Healing Centre

A number of women who were traumatized by domestic and urban violence kept coming back to Afya Healing Centre, with deeper crises of trauma symptoms. I looked for funding grants to pay for a psychologist to help the women who suffered severe symptoms of trauma from violence. However, many of them told me that they didn’t feel safe (comfortable) enough to talk to the psychologist. Then I began to search for ways that I could help them to find resolutions for their trauma symptoms that kept them from living a fuller life. Fortunately, a friend of mine who was one of the psychologists that worked at Afya, told me about an SE training that was happening in another city of Brazil. When I read the brochure, I was compelled to go for the training.

After my first training of the beginning level, I came back to my city, experiencing intense joy, wellbeing in my body, and enthusiasm to do everything as I never did before. I felt like I was even more in touch with myself, affirming of the project of healing that I have been doing. I went back to Afya – Holistic healing centre, and I began to attend to the women from the community daily using SE. I attended up to 15 women per week, and all of them had positive results. These women went back to their community and brought back to Afya Healing centre their children who were on drugs, and their husbands who were constantly drunk and violent. Even though the centre was meant for women, we had to say Yes to their family members because when their family members were well the women were also well.

In this year of 2020, "Afya - Holistic Healing Centre," that I consider as my life project, is celebrating twenty years of existence. SE is one of the main therapies that is used for trauma resolution in both individual sessions and trainings. The entire team of women working at Afya know SE and use it in their daily life as well as integrating it with other therapies that are given at Afya

We have 23 women who have been trained in a variety of holistic therapies including SE and FCST As we routinely receive people from the local community and other places in Brazil and around the world, this extraordinary team of women are always available for using their skills in attending those who are drawn to Afya in search of healing.        

Multiple International Experiences with Trauma healing

Over the past fifteen years, my work in traumas healing, such as; shock trauma, trans-generational trauma, emotional, developmental and social traumas has extended from north-eastern Brazil to other regions of Brazil as well as to other countries, like Haiti, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Egypt, India, South Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Spain. 

A Near Future Project

Many of my clients and students have been asking me if I have any book or materials written for their reference to help them continue their own healing process as well as helping others in their process of healing, using SE and FCST for trauma healing. Motivated by the request from my students and clients, I made a decision to write a book titled Healing Beyond a Cure: Integrating Somatic Experiencing® and Systemic Family Constellations Therapy to Improve Outcomes in Trauma Resolution. I wish to share my healing knowledge with more people from around the globe through the information shared in this book. You will be able to find out more here from the Ergos Institute once my book is published.

Thank you for sharing your time with me,

Efu Nyaki, July 2020

Thank you for your continued support of SE. - Peter