Book Review: Ubizo – A Story of Coming Home
By Christa Gumede Buthelezi
There are journeys that take us across continents, and there are journeys that take us inward. In Ubizo: A Story of Coming Home, Christa Gumede Buthelezi invites readers into the latter — a deeply personal reckoning with ancestry, identity, and the quiet insistence of spiritual calling.
The Call That Cannot Be Ignored
“Ubizo,” meaning “the calling,” is more than a title; it is the pulse of this memoir. Buthelezi writes of an internal stirring — persistent, unsettling, and impossible to dismiss. What unfolds is not a dramatic spectacle of spiritual awakening, but something more intimate and resonant: the gradual recognition of heritage as both inheritance and responsibility.
Her narrative navigates the delicate intersection of contemporary professional life and ancestral obligation. The tension is palpable yet measured. Rather than positioning tradition in opposition to modernity, she explores the complexity of holding both — of living in the present while answering the echoes of the past.
Coming Home to Self
At its core, Ubizo is about belonging. The memoir considers what it means to feel spiritually displaced, and the courage required to return — not simply to cultural practice, but to authenticity. Buthelezi’s honesty gives the story weight. Moments of doubt, resistance, and vulnerability are not edited out; they are integral to the transformation.
In a literary landscape increasingly attentive to African narratives of reclamation and identity, Ubizo contributes a voice that is contemplative rather than declarative. It does not instruct; it reflects. It does not attempt to universalise the experience; instead, it trusts that readers will recognise elements of their own search within its pages.
Style and Substance
The prose is measured and accessible, favouring clarity over ornamentation. There is a conversational intimacy to the writing, as though the author is guiding the reader through a lived memory rather than constructing a thesis. The pacing allows space for pause — this is a memoir that rewards attentive reading.
Ultimately, Ubizo reminds us that coming home is rarely geographical. It is a return to alignment — with lineage, with belief, and with self.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christa Gumede Buthelezi is a South African writer whose work engages questions of spirituality, identity, and cultural belonging. Through Ubizo: A Story of Coming Home, she offers a narrative that reflects both personal experience and a broader contemporary dialogue around ancestral awareness.
