Yo vengo con mi marimba, vengo con mi bombo
Acompañan a mi voz y representan mi territorio
 
I come with my marimba, I come with my drum
They accompany my voice and represent my territory

Check out ILÉ de Sanación's official video

Drumming has long played an integral role in Colombia’s history. In the early 1600s, when enslaved people from Africa escaped and formed various towns around Colombia, they played drum rhythms to secretly transmit information between distant towns, using music to protect one another.
 
These towns, called palenques, thread their long history of resistance, liberation, and cultural preservation all the way to today. Home to many Afro-descendant communities, palenques and Afro-Colombian Community Councils serve as social and political organizing centers. At a national level, our tactical partner Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN) connects with and supports people from across these Afro-Colombian Community Councils and other Afro-descendant groups to advance their vision for self-determination, self-governance, and thriving livelihoods.
 
A collective of over 140 grassroots organizations and thousands of individuals, PCN engages in a wide breadth of work: defending human rights, protecting and gaining control of ancestral territories, combating racism and forced displacement, and celebrating the history and culture of Afro-descendant communities across Colombia.
 
PCN believes that the crucial work of fighting racism, protecting territories, and stopping persecution of human rights defenders must be done alongside love, care, and healing. For this reason, PCN developed the Sistema de Seguridad, Protección y Cuidado de la Vida (SIPVIDA). SIPVIDA is a women-led and run initiative aimed at ensuring security, protection, and care for Afro-descendant communities, organizations, and individuals—especially women.

Ingrained in SIPVIDA’s approach is its culture of care, as evidenced by one of its programs called ILÉ de Sanación, loosely translated to “spiritual home of healing.” Formed in 2022, ILÉ de Sanación is specifically dedicated to providing physical, psychological, and spiritual support to Afro-descendant women surviving violence and forced displacement as a result of their community activism. Thus far, the program has already worked with 172 people, where 95% of the people receiving care are women.
 
Danelly Estupiñán Valencia, the General Coordinator at SIPVIDA, tells us about the origins of the program:
 
“Since its creation, [ILÉ de Sanación]’s strategy contributes to the sustainability and continuity of the defense of collective ethnic rights carried out by PCN, providing individual and group attention in care and self-care of the body, mind and spirit to leaders, families and communities of different regional dynamics of the PCN.”
 
In celebration of ILÉ de Sanación’s reach and success, PCN released a new song by the same name. The song sings to ILÉ, a spiritual home, paying respect to its power to embrace, protect, and heal. ILÉ, embodied in the wisdom of elder women, is called upon by the percussive rhythms of the marimba and drum. Community members sing and dance, gathering one another to take refuge in ILÉ.

The song’s release is also intentionally timed with PCN’s Encuentro Nacional de Autocuidado, a national gathering of self-care titled “Con tu Abrazo Me Sano,” which translates to “With Your Embrace, I am Healed.” The gathering took place in March 2024.
 
Danelly reminds us that, “self-care from an integral point of view is a fundamental political action for the defense, protection and promotion of human rights, since the very action of defense is carried out by people who need to be healthy or at least physically and mentally stable to carry out this work.”

Spanish lyrics
ILÉ DE SANACIÓN
 
Yo vengo con mi marimba, vengo con mi bombo
yo vengo con mi marimba, vengo con mi bombo
Acompañan a mi voz y representan mi territorio
Acompañan a mi voz y representan mi territorio.
 
Al son de este currulao (ILÉ)
Yo te vengo a contar
ILÉ acoge a mi gente, la acoge para sanar
 
Tenemos a las mayoras, que con su sabiduría
Nos permiten devolverle a este cuerpo la armonía
AhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiÍ
 
Atendemos a mujeres (ILÉ)
Hombres y niñez también (ILÉ)
En sentido emocional, en la salud y en lo espiritual
 
Cuidado y autocuidado, protección y sanación
La acogida es temporal, individual y también grupal
 
[Coro] Yo vengo con mi marimba, vengo con mi bombo
Acompañan a mi voz y representa mi territorio
Ahiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiií
 
Con tu abrazo yo me sano, (ILÉ) los miedos son liberados (ILÉ)
Rompiendo ya las cadenas reconociendo mi liderazgo
 
Se respetan las creencias y también las religiones
Respeto a las diferencias, no más discriminaciones
 
Caminito, ¿a dónde vamos? Vamo a casa de ILÉ
Ca-mi-nito, ¿a dónde vamos? Vamo a casa de ILÉ
Que allá nos abren la puerta y acogen a nuestro ser
 
[Coro] Yo vengo con mi marimba, vengo con mi bombo
Acompañan a mi voz y representan mi territorio
AhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiÍ
 
Caminito, camina, que ILÉ sanará
La Juntanza, el cuidado, protección, sanación
IILEEE, IILEEE, IILEEE, IILEEE.

English lyrics
ILÉ OF HEALING
 
I come with my marimba, I come with my drum
I come with my marimba, I come with my drum
They accompany my voice and represent my territory
They accompany my voice and represent my territory
 
To the sound of this Currulao (ILÉ)
I come to tell you
ILÉ embraces my people, embraces them for healing
 
We have the elder women, that with their wisdom
Allow us to restore harmony to this body
AhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiÍ
 
We attend to women (ILÉ)
Men and children too (ILÉ)
Emotionally, in health and in spirituality
 
Care and self-care, protection and healing
The embrace is temporary, individual and also collective
 
I come with my marimba, I come with my drum
They accompany my voice and represent my territory
Ahiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
 
With your embrace I heal myself, (ILÉ) fears are released (ILÉ)
Breaking already the chains, recognizing my leadership
 
Beliefs are respected as well as religions
Respect for differences, no more discrimination
 
Oh, path, where shall we go? Let’s go to ILÉ’s house
Oh, path, where shall we go? Let’s go to ILÉ’s house
They open the door and embrace us
 
I come with my marimba, I come with my drum
They accompany my voice and represent my territory
AhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiÍ
 
We walk our path, and ILÉ will heal
Gathering, care, protection, healing
ILÉ, ILÉ, ILÉ, ILÉ, ILÉ

Photos courtesy of Proceso de Comunidades Negras