The strong women in my bloodline, the ones I know about and who are often talked about, are my father’s paternal grandmother and my mother’s maternal grandparents. They all share one ethnicity that has always intrigued me: they are Ngoni, part of a group of people found in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The Ngoni are a breakaway part of the Zulu people of South Africa. They migrated with a clan that eventually split into the Ngoni people, whom my great-grandmothers and grandfathers are descended from. This connection made me seek out a Ngoni thanksgiving ceremony.

The Nc’wala (pronounced as Nchu-wala) is an annual celebration by the Ngoni people in eastern Zambia to give thanks for the first harvest. Held every last Saturday of February at Mtenguleni Village (the ancestral grounds), it is a major cultural event in Zambia that honours Ngoni ancestors, the paramount chief (currently Mpezeni the Fourth), and god.