Today I met Sheila Levinson, a truly magnificent soul and I am left spellbound by her divine spirit and captivating energy. I can justly say that I have met my inspiration. She is a woman of true integrity, kindness, selflessness, beauty and, above all, love.
Meeting Sheila Levinson
When I first meet Sheila I am immediately engulfed by a magnificent energy that radiates from within her. It is a gentle energy, one that warmly embraces me and I feel completely safe in her charismatic presence. She is a beautiful woman, everything about her is beautiful, from her short white hair to her perfectly sculptured face down to the beautiful red beads that are draped around her neck. She is a breathtaking being.
I first heard about Sheila through a close family member, my aunt, who recently tragically lost a child. You see, Sheila is a counsellor for Compassionate Friends, an organisation that helps parents deal with the grief of the loss of a child. Sheila too, has lost a child and her strength to go out there and help others who are in the same heart wrenching situation is utterly awe inspiring.
She greets me with a warm hug and leads me to her patio where we sit and chat. I can’t stop staring at the beauty that surrounds me. Her patio is decorated with magnificent sculptures created by her wonderful and loving husband of 30 years. This is a house filled with art, passion, love and inspiration. I want to live here.
Sheila’s Story: Second Innings
The first thing Sheila says to me is that her inspiration has been her journey. I await her story with anticipation and am completely devoted to everything that this wonderful and incredibly artistic woman has to say.
Seven years ago she began volunteering at a programme called Second Innings. This is an organisation that gives back to the children of Mzansi. She is an artist and shares her passion with the youth of our generation.
When she began working with these children (nine year old kids, to be specific) Sheila realised that through the social structure of our school system and the assimilation of the youth today that the children had lost all touch with their roots. They had lost the joy of extended families and had become completely unaware of their history, their rich cultural stories and, particularly, their ancestors. She took it upon herself to give them back what is rightfully theirs.
Gogo, God is Ubuntu!
The class that Sheila teaches these children is known as Ubuntu. To these children Sheila is their very own gogo (grandmother) and this role is taken very seriously by Sheila and by the children. They even got permission from their parents and grandparents to have a second gogo.
When Sheila speaks of these children, she speaks of them with an excited animation, her face lights up and eyes sparkle with absolute joy and pride. She sits with these kids and teaches them about their heritage, sings songs with them, paints with them and shares in their joy and lives.
She grows more animated and excited and shares a moving story with me about her ubuntu class. She was doing a project with the kids where they had to draw God and write about what they believed God to be. That’s when a little girl in her class said, ‘Gogo, God is ubuntu!’
She had been teaching with Second Innings for two years when tragedy struck. Her son, Dan, passed away and she was left with a grief that cannot be explained through my mere words. Sheila, the greatest lover of the world’s children, had lost her own child.
Coping with Grief
Instead of suppressing her pain and devastating loss, Sheila knew that for her own sanity she had to confront her loss head on. For two years she let herself feel the agony and never touched any medication. She needed to feel it with her entire being… and she did just that.
Immediately after the funeral Sheila went back to the one place where she was constantly surrounded by innocence and undying love – she went right back to Second Innings. There she was greeted with big bouquets of flowers and little hand written notes from her devoted ‘grandchildren’.
It was at that moment that she realised that this was her ‘core offering back to life and love’. She describes knowing these children as ‘a privilege beyond words’.
Linked through Love
She recalls one of the little notes that had been given to her upon her return: ‘Gogo, don’t worry that you lost a son. I’ll grow up and look after you.’
I sit there and smile at the love resonating from this woman’s voice at the recollection of this treasured memory. Then I think back to something she said to me earlier in passing, ‘the world is linked through love.’
These children teach her that every day. And one little boy’s heartfelt words will forever be engraved into her memory, and they will constantly be linked with love.
Breaking Down and Rising Up
After two years of letting herself feel the most intense anguish any parent can feel, Sheila broke down. It all became too much. She was put on medication and slowly began to see light again. A fantastic artist, who paints under the name Sheila Jarzin, she took to painting her and her son’s soul journey.
She began painting Dan’s journey through a series of magnificent oil on canvases that reflect true love, loss, sadness, hope and acceptance. I saw a few of these artworks and as my eyes gazed upon their different tones, colours and brush strokes I felt as if I was watching her walk her journey to self. For some of us writing is healing, and for others there is healing in music, but for Sheila it was through colour, brushstroke and art that she found peace for herself and for her son.
It is incredibly moving to be able to see someone’s raw emotions laid bare on canvas. Each seems to detail a specific period of grief, loss and love. I stood in awe, staring at painting after painting, each emoting a different feeling within me. As someone who has experienced loss, I felt something so deep within her painted realms that I physically fought to hold back the tears. I witnessed beauty on a scale I had never seen before. I saw the beauty of the soul on canvas.
Compassionate Friends
As well as working for Second Innings, Sheila also volunteers as a counsellor for Compassionate Friends.
‘We are The Compassionate Friends. We reach out to each other with love, with understanding and with hope. Our children have died at all ages and from many different causes, but our love for our children unites us.’
This is the description Compassionate Friends gives itself. And once more I think back to what Sheila said to me: ‘Love links us all.’
I think of this woman who has given of herself to others, shared her pain, her love, her memories and her heart with so many. A woman who has shared in other people’s pain and suffering and taken their hands and held them tight while they went on their very own journey.
A Living Work of Art
To the families and children who Sheila councils I can’t help but think of her as their very own brushstroke. For her, painting became a therapy, and to these helpless, hurting people, in Sheila, they find their very own therapy.
Sheila is a living work of art, a living inspiration and a living muse to all. A true compassionate friend.
