By ATHI NONDZABA
Third-year Rhodes student Simphiwe Magolego co-hosts and produces a podcast she founded a year ago using her favourite medium. “Audio is like speaking to the soul,” she says, “because there is so much intimacy. It is not like writing where you are giving a person a written voice or a video where you assign a voice to a face.” She believes audio soul-talk allows her to explore depth in her storytelling and creativity with a podcast that focuses on spirituality.
The Sacred Tapes serves as a medium for discussions about the spiritual side of our human experiences. Magolego wanted to start her podcast because she was at a point in her spiritual journey where she realised there were questions and conversations that people were not having. She began to wonder how many people have spiritual struggles, questions, and experiences that they do not share because they do not feel like they have anyone else to relate to.
“Sacred Tapes are a conversation between everyone based on their spiritual experiences,” she says. The podcast’s goal is not to educate people about spirituality but to provide a platform for people to share their own experiences and thoughts on spirituality in all its complexities.
Magolego and co-host Sanele Phillip, also a third-year journalism student, believe they are not at a point where they can pass off their own spirituality or spiritual experiences as education or guidance because each person has a unique spiritual journey. “There is so much outside spirituality than just what is formalised and what is known in our society. I think that Sacred Tapes can bring those experiences and voices to the platform and shine a light on them,” Magolego says. It is for people who believe there is a higher connection or power.
She continues: “Starting the podcast within a university is important. Spirituality is fluid, and that’s not what society holds for the spiritual community. Hosting in a university where there are not only young students but a diverse array of students means a lot to me because it shows that this big concept can be explained and felt and resonate with anyone. It doesn’t have to go on age, wisdom, race, or hierarchy. It just goes with a person’s soul.”
