My Africa, My Africa: A Spiritual Journey and Cultural Exploration

From Africa to tea with the Queen

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To allow the stories of people and communities to be fully told, the researcher that works from a narrative perspective is in a 'not-knowing position'. The 'not-knowing position' allows the researcher to ask questions to research participants which are not informed by method and scientific answers Human For this research project, I positioned myself as a postfoundationalist practical theologian. Practical theology is an in-between discipline between various theological disciplines. It is also multilingual in the sense that it speaks the language of the humanities, social sciences and theology at the same time.

In this in-between land, the practical theologian is confronted with and exposed to multiple realities and a variety of narratives. Here the voices of the marginalised and powerless people can be heard and new stories can be imagined. In this in-between land, the practical theologian will also become vulnerable and fragile. The practical theologian can never be in a neutral space. Our own stories become part of the research story.

Because Africa is the continent where the research takes place, my practical theology is influenced by ideas of liberation theology, black women's theology and feminist theology. In doing this type of research, focus must be on a specific and concrete 'moment of praxis' that is always local, embodied and situated. Practical theological knowledge is local knowledge, dealing with specific persons in their particular contexts.

Postfoundational practical theology is an effort to move beyond the modernistic boundaries of practical theology. It is also an effort to avoid the relativism of anti-foundational theories.

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Its initial perspectives are highly contextual and its performances transcend the local and the concrete and ultimately facilitate interdisciplinarity. A theology of embodiment. Doing research about and with children asks for an exploration of body theology. Body theology is tangent with postfoundational practical theology. My body became an instrument in doing the research and building trustworthy relationships. I carried the infants, hugged the children and played with them. As they got used to me and started to trust me, relationships were built.

A baby of 11 months old was at first cautious when I picked her up and did not show any emotion. After a while, she started to smile when she saw me and held out her little arms to be picked up. Body theology is a feminist liberation theology that deliberately engages with questions of the body and holistic approaches to 'enfleshed' thinking about humans and about God. Body theologians reject dualistic thinking that would have us place the spirit above the body and deny the body; instead, they focus on the unity of body, mind and spirit Isherwood Sex, sexuality, sexual abuse and any other physical, sensory experiences cannot be seen as separate events that can be removed from spirituality.

According to Fowler , Tisdale We are our bodies. With embodiment comes a set of more or less integrated systems and functions that, largely without any conscious effort on our parts, constitute the remarkable concatenation of energy and animation that we call life or living. Embodiment brings with it certain ground rhythms. It brings a range of energy levels, an ease or difficulty of coordination, a bone structure and musculature with their indications of physical strength and endurance, a facial mask with its particular range of expressive features.

With embodiment, there also comes another of the primary elements of selfhood: According to Sheppard We need to have the experience of the body speaking meaning to us, and [ we need ] to contribute to the many voices that are laying claim to the right and responsibility of making meaning of experiences of embodiment. We need to consider 'the body' in the context of a society where certain bodies are exploited to create a desire for commodities regardless of the need or the ability to afford them, where the color of our skin continues to so greatly influence our quality of life, our experiences in society and our economic location, where poor women and children coexist alongside great abundance.

How do actual physical bodies shape religious and theological knowledge? For her, embodiment theology gives meaning to the way practical theologians work on the ground Doehring A theology of presence and touch is part of embodiment theology. It is in the everyday tasks, like getting up, bathing, grooming, eating, going to work or going to look for work. For him, kindness is love in action like doing little things for people. There is a relationship between theology and touch.

Acts of kindness can only be accomplished by touching people. Because most children prefer to interact in a playful way, I used a playful and imaginative approach in my research with the children Friedrich Serious discussions and methodological problem-solving may inhibit children's communication, shutting out their voices and inhibiting their special abilities, knowledge and creative resources.

Engaging with each other in a narrative and playful way can make it possible to create an equal and balanced landscape between the researcher and research participants bibliotherapy. The 'play' with each other in laughter and suffering makes it possible to place the researcher and the research participant's imaginings in the present time and space Kearney When doing research with children, the position of the researcher is crucial.

The researcher must be mindful of the differences in power between themselves and the children they are meeting. In research with children, the invitation for adults to reproduce dominant cultural practices of marginalisation is ever-present. I was aware and sensitive to the fact that I was a white middle class woman trying to do research with vulnerable, impoverished children in an informal settlement.

These factors automatically put me in a power position. When I arrived at the nursery school and the children saw me, they would start shouting 'Umlungu, Umlungu'! The term 'white person' is already political loaded, because it refers to white people being rich and privileged. Generally, the term 'ubuntu' originates from Nguni languages.

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The noun-stem of the Nguni term encapsulates the essence or quality of being human. This 'essence' or 'quality' is autochthonous to the practices of what makes one human in these societies. It is for this reason that persons outside the linguistic-geopolitical unit in these societies are not necessarily accorded the same degree of essence or quality. People who are non-blacks, especially white people, are not 'precisely fully human', as evident in the language game of these societies. In these Nguni languages, a white person is 'Umlungu', which means 'white people', with a benign emphasis on difference.

In Tsonga, it means that a white person has no relatives, money is his or her relative. The term gives the impression that the quality of being human is exclusively for blacks, excluding persons of other races. This act reflected the growth and sensitivity that were present between the local people and strangers in Zama Zama. The stories of children living in Zama Zama. Doing research in an informal settlement with young children and their parents was challenging.

As researcher, I was challenged to work creatively with what was available, because resources were reduced to the bare minimum. His encounters with children in Africa confirmed my experiences. According to him, half the population of Africa is less than 15 years of age. Hunger for these children is something permanent, a way of life, second nature. And yet they do not ask for bread or fruit, or even money. Many children in Africa grow up in difficult circumstances because of the combination of factors governing their socio-economic, cultural and developmental circumstances.

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It is recognised that for optimal development, a child requires particular care with regard to physical and mental health, moral and social development, and the experience of happiness, love and understanding. Children living in squatter camps are vulnerable on many levels, as in the case of the children that lived in Zama Zama during the time of my research. Pseudonyms are used to protect the children's identities. From my encounters with the children, interviews with their parents, as well as conversations with the principal of the creche, the following discourses were a reality for children of Zama Zama.

Zama Zama is an informal settlement in Pretoria West, which is a poverty-stricken area. Poverty affects white people, as well as black people living in the area.

Zama Zama is one of four informal settlements in the area. Most of the people living in Zama Zama are migrants from African countries. At first, the squatter camp was located up the hill, but a few years ago, all the people were moved downhill, opposite SA Bricks on Hornsnek Road in Pretoria West. The community favoured this new location, as the stands were larger Kruidenier In Zama Zama, the dwellings that the people lived in were shacks made of corrugated iron, and in most cases, consisted of only one room.

They lived in these 'houses' with their children and often shared it with other families to keep costs as low as possible. They lived in very poor conditions with only the basic amenities to try to make a living. These individuals were responsible for the household activities, queued to get some water and look after their children.

Most of them were single mothers or their partners and husbands worked in other cities or on the mines. The women and their children were also often the victims of violence, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and robbery, which were all part of their daily lives.

As an example, a few years ago, a 4-year-old girl was raped. Most of the people were either unemployed or work once or twice a week. This showed the grim reality of these children's lives and demonstrated the poverty-ridden plight of so many women and their children Kruidenier These research findings are confirmed by research done by Stats SA The number of people in South Africa living below the bread line increased to The proportion of the population lived below the upper-bound poverty line has decreased substantially from to In , more than half The levels of poverty among males and females have seen similar reductions from to The experience of poverty was more intense for females, as shown by the poverty gap - this measure was There were significant differences in poverty levels between the population groups in South Africa; in terms of poverty distribution, more than 9 out of 10 According to Stats SA it is very clear that the highest levels of poverty were among the younger sections of the population.

In , more than two-thirds The relationship between education and poverty appeared strong - as the poverty measures reflected, the lower the level of education attained, the more likely adults were to be poor and experienced more intense levels of poverty. Many of the children in Zama Zama did not eat enough during the day and got to bed hungry, because of the lack of food at home.

The Medical Faculty of the University of Pretoria's dietetic and medical students have started an evaluation of the nutritional status of children at Zama Zama. Of the 42 children that had been evaluated, 10 had malnutrition mild to moderate and 6 or 7 children needed more serious intervention. Malnutrition is a serious medical condition marked by a lack of energy and a deficiency in essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in a diet.

Over 10 million children aged less than 5 years die annually from preventable and treatable illnesses - almost all these deaths occur in poor countries. Malnutrition contributes to more than one-third of all deaths of children under five. Malnutrition is the most recognisable and perhaps most untoward consequence of poverty in children. Children aged months are considered to be particularly susceptible to acute nutritional stress Olack et al. Intervention had already been started in Zama Zama. The children who suffered from malnutrition were receiving balanced food parcels from the Dietetics Department of the University of Pretoria.

Parents were educated in preparing balanced meals for their families. A few of the children went to school, because there was no transport available to nearby schools. In addition, children were often left alone for days as the mothers went in search for jobs. Precious and Beauty were 9 year old twin sisters who lived in Zama Zama, with their mother, older brother and younger sister. Their mother was expecting a new baby.

They were from Mozambique and came to live in Zama Zama 4 years ago.

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The twin's mother had no job and had no man to support her. All of her children had different fathers. Sometimes she bought fish and then sold the grilled fish to the community in Zama Zama. She was Shangaan speaking and couldn't understand English. This made it difficult to communicate with her. The twins were in the nearby school 2 years ago. The previous year she got the news that the school couldn't accommodate the twins any longer.

This caused stress for her, because she wanted them to have an education. She did not have money for transport for the twins to go to other schools. The principal's comment was: They want to be in a primary school where they can learn with other 9 year olds'. The lack of emotional support and the provision of love and care. Children in Zama Zama lacked emotional support and loving care.

Some of the parents had to work long hours, and when they came home at night there was no time to give emotional support to their children. Children as young as 4 years old were expected to look after their siblings; their younger siblings therefore became their responsibility. In some cases, children were left alone in the streets. Temba was 7 years old and mentally disabled. His parents worked during the day and at first left him alone all day by himself. He wandered in the streets, but when the other children saw him they ran away, because of his disability.

They were scared of him and in return, when they came near him, he started beating them. She was patient with him and kept on hugging and loving him. After a while his behaviour changed and he hugged back and started to play with the other children. The principal also taught the other children to love him, although he was different from them. During the time I spent in Zama Zama, I became curious about the faith development of the children and I explored the factors that could possibly contribute to the children's faith development.

A brief overview on faith development is therefore necessary. Faith seems to have a broadly recognisable pattern of development. This unfolding pattern can be characterised in terms of developing emotional, cognitive, and moral interpretations and responses. Our ways of imagining and committing in faith correlate with our ways of knowing and valuing more generally.

Faith may be characterised as an integral, centreing process, underlying the formation of the beliefs, values and meanings that give coherence and direction to persons' lives. Faith development must be looked at in a lifespan perspective. It involves an ongoing process of forming and reforming our ways of being and seeing the world Fowler Jean Piaget developed a model of general intellectual development Fowler Piaget's studies of children's thinking on a variety of matters map the psychological landmarks that distinguish the intellectual style of the infant, the pre-schooler and the school-age child, until the emergence of a recognisably adult style in adolescence.

Piaget's pioneering theory of infancy, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages contributed to the framing of the faith development theory Fowler Erikson categorises the lifespan in terms of the social conditions people typically face at different stages of their lives. He has woven together attention to biological development, ego development and correlated socio-cultural supporting matrices for development Fowler This stresses the fact that religious development is more often stimulated by features of our personal context, rather than the entreaties of a church-led agenda.

He observes important changes in our social context at various stages of the life cycle. As infants, we are vulnerable and dependant on other people. After that, we pass through periods of tentative self-control and independence in childhood. Erikson's main message concerns the sequence of emotional conflicts that are primed at each social period.

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Our development depends on how these conflicts are resolved - positively or negatively. Positive resolution strengthens the personality for the ongoing journey through life, since the outcome furnishes the personality with a new virtue at each stage Fowler James Fowler claims that faith 'develops' in the sense that aspects of faith changes over time.

He makes the claim that six stages of faith may be discerned, revealing a sequence of stages through which people move. A faith stage is a 'structural whole' in which there is a measure of equilibrium between the processes of the different aspects of faith. This method attempts to focus on the underlying structures and operations of human thought and belief. It tries to understand and define the laws or patterns the mind employs in constructing the ideas, concepts and beliefs that constitute the contents of thinking and valuing.

According to Fowler and Dell Faith taken in this broad sense is a common feature of human beings.

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Faith begins with basic trust, as the child forms bonds with the mother and other intimate caregivers. Let me also add that there are similarities between African spirituality and other religions, for example, in how taboos are prominent. Furthermore, as someone who always chooses a scientific approach where one is available, I also take a critical outlook on elements of African spiritual life as I do of all other forms of religion. The spiritual world is, however, not a world to be read altogether scientifically, that precisely is its beauty, although the forgoing of a scientific approach should be a conscious choice to revel in myth and soul.

Last but not least, because of the orality of its history, there is a malleability to African mythology. It would be nice if you posted books we could read to further our knowledge about the subject of African spirituality. All religions speak of the same thing but people interpret them wrong. Great read fantastic writing never knew so much spirituality existed in Africa For Indian spiritual experiences please read my blog amrittejas blogspot.

Great write up keep up the nice work Please read my true spiritual experiences in my blog amrittejas. Kemetic Yoga , speaking what we want […]. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. That it is feminist. In almost all African creation myths, the female and male elements are equal.

There is no overarching Supreme Male God. In fact, if anything, there are traces of history that suggest that all Africans once worshipped a mother-goddess.

In the Yoruba spiritual system the creator of all, Olodumare, is sometimes said to be male, sometimes female. Furthermore, Olodumare is not almightily worshipped. Instead, Olodumare is said to have created deities whom people can worship and interact with. These deities are called Orishas and they too can be female and male. Which is not to say that there is always gender harmony among the pantheon of Yoruba deities. Yoruba spirituality is a reflection of reality and the Orisha, like the humans over whom they govern, get into all number of kerfuffles concerning gender.

But the mythology surrounding them is feminist because it unfailingly portends a crisis if harmony is not sought. Although there is a tendency nowadays for women to associate with female Orisha such as Oshun and Yemoja while men associate with the male Orisha like Shango and Ogun, this is a western-influenced binary gendering of the spiritual system, and in my view a great loss.

Women can especially find value from the energy of the male Orisha and men can benefit greatly from associations with the female Orisha. That it is nature- and species egalitarian. The Orisha, like many of their counterparts in other African spiritual systems the earth goddess Asase Yaa in Ghana, Dzivaguru in Zimbabwe, Mamlambo in South Africa , are anthropomorphistical of nature elements.

To give some examples, Yemoja is the spirit of the ocean personified, Oya is the energy of the winds personified and Shango, the force of thunder. Once a person is inculcated in the system of Orisha veneration, they would therefore treat nature with compassion. Similarly, animals are not viewed as inferior to humans because we all depend on nature in equal manner. By contrast, animals are often seen as companions who in African myths even can occasionally marry humans and produce children who are both human and animal. Animals are also seen as teachers, who each have a specific lesson to teach.

The tortoise, for example, teaches how to watch out for sly and mischievous behaviour by itself being guilty of that.

Anansi the Spider in the Ghanaian tale, similarly teaches about mischief if more positively. That it encourages happiness. Unlike organised religion, which dogmatically reinforces ideas of sinfulness and shame, African spirituality is not dogmatic, it does not have one single messiah who dictates exactly how spirituality must be expressed. Instead rituals and customs can be practiced in correspondence with all the characteristics of human behaviour.

Therefore rather than punish practitioners for destructive emotions, it warns them against the impediments to joy that are caused by things such as dishonesty and greed. Nor is the body and the physical sensations it produces seen as shameful. This is also why it encourages happiness.

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