Medew Nefer is a Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian) concept that encompasses the meaning of beautiful speech. It was chosen as a name to refer to this website for two key reasons. For one, I want to acknowledge and ground my work (healing, writing, facilitation) in the ancient wisdoms of the advanced Black African civilization known as Kmt. Secondly, the concept of medew nefer reminds me of my commitment to aspire to be the very best of who i am, which includes speaking and writing with truth (as i understand it), integrity, humility, sincerity and love. I am committed to honoring these traditions and principles in my writing and in the course of offering services for facilitation, spiritual development, and more. Welcome to this site.
Ife Afriye Kilimanjaro’s experiences as a grandmother, director, author, connector, researcher, administrator, teacher, activist, Okomfo, and traditional healer both inform and are informed by a deep commitment to justice and a better world.
As a writer, Ife co-authored several self-published books whose shared aim has been to contribute to growing the corpus of scholarship by and for Black people on key themes, such as education, research methods, history and ethics. They include Maat: Guiding Principles of Moral Living, African Time (Universe to 1896), Bak, African K-12: Building Applied Science and Culture Schools and Seba: A Researchers First Handbook. For her work with Maat, Ife was nominated in 2016 for an award at the 1st annual Black Power Awards.
In 2021, Ife’s essay “My Thirteen Year Old View,” was featured in Sky Island Journal’s 15th Issue. Editors deemed the essay “stellar creative nonfiction,” an example of “the truth, told well.” Ife regularly contributes short essays and poems to Medew Nefer, a website that features original essays, poems, and resources dedicated to healing, wellness, and spirituality.
As an Okomfo (spiritual healer) and activist, Ife seeks deep understanding of our inner worlds (mind, body, and spirit) and offers strategies and insights to encourage healthy, whole relationships. Ife co-founded The Wind & The Warrior to support social movement leaders and activists in developing skills and creating tools for spiritual grounding and connection, healing and balance in their efforts to transform society.
In 1997, Ife began her journey as an Okomfoa (priest in training) in the spiritual tradition of Akom. Twenty years later, she completed the first leg of that journey by earning the title of Okomfo, under the leadership and with the blessing of Nana Ankobianene Oparebea Bekoe of the Circle of Light Society. In 2002, Ife earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Howard University, with a concentration in race, class, and gender relations and a minor in philosophy. And in 2015, she was initiated into the sacred system of Ifa by Iya’falola Omobola (Ile Ominra Olu) and as a Reiki Master in the Usui healing tradition.
In 2021 Ife began serving as Co-Executive Director of Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous farm community dedicated to uprooting racism in the food system. She recently transitioned from working with this incredible group of people and body of work, to the US Climate Action Network to serve as Executive Director. In this role, Ife will continue to evolve her sacred relationship with the earth and honor her commitment to justice and creating a better world for generations.
Ife currently lives in central Virginia with her partner, dog, chickens, and tree relatives.
