Day 200, Religion, it’s a funny thing, it has the power to bring communities together and tear them apart. As I have alluded to previously it plays a big role here and guides people’s lives in a manner in which I have not experienced in my professional life.
Though it is almost completely Christian this does not mean that they are homogenous in their beliefs. Many of the local population are Zionists, one can see them on Sundays in their brilliant white garb on the roads en route to the outdoor churches. Others in our community belong to various denominations including Anglicans, Catholics and those that follow the Afrikaans Church.
As in many countries, particularly those with an impoverished population religion and religious practices are central to society. Much social interaction will revolve around the church and here most occasions begin with a prayer. Faith seeps into the very fibre of everyday life here.
I wake up to the sound of African gospel music from my flatmate’s television through the walls. At the hospital the nursing staff will gather to sing a choral prayer in the morning whilst the doctors will also start the workday with a reading from the Bible and a prayer. Hospital committee meetings and theatre procedures will similarly be preceded by a prayer, usually in Zulu. Recently in theatre, whilst assisting with a caesarean, I got my first taste of listening to the mother sing whilst baby is being delivered, true to form this had a biblical theme as well.
At times it can feel somewhat overawing. On my Sunday morning call I was on the paediatric ward trying to review the severely malnourished HIV kids and an evangelist on the ward television was preaching about the ills of society and Judgement Day, perhaps not the most inspiring of topics given the setting. The thought of a benevolent force is often difficult to imagine in the presence of the many horrors we see every day, but on the contrary people here draw strength from it, a reassurance that in the end things will be alright.
It seems to me that all religions are a way of explaining the world around us and believing in a higher purpose is a way of making sense of the chaos that is living. When things seem out of control, which it often does in our setting people find religion a way of taking back that control. As a concept it works in many ways but fails when people start to argue about the differences and interpretations. And all too often that’s when we fail to realise that just as one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, so is one man’s devotee another’s non believer.
I like your sign off! I wish I came up with that one. There's more to you than being a Yido
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