A Religious People

This morning, while walking to work, I passed by an older woman who was standing in place, with her legs staggered one in front of the other, kind of rocking back and forth.  When I turned to look at her, I locked eyes with her and felt a chill run down my spine.  I don’t think I’ve ever looked into eyes like that.  They were huge and round, and I could see the entire iris, as well as the whites of her eyes circling her iris.  And the only way I know how to put it is she looked possessed; her eyes were like vacant.  It was so creepy, and I had Grace, Andrea, and Amanda with me so I just hurried them along because they were trying not to stare, but they were disturbed as well.  Later on I felt terrible.  I should’ve done something, but I don’t know what.

Here, witchcrafts and such things are very real.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition because you have such a strong Christian following here, but the traditional culture is still such a prevalent part of the religious scene.  I was talking to some friends yesterday who were asking about the LDS church (they had heard some pretty strange things about us) and telling me about churches here.  It‘s interesting because they said that lots of people want to work as pastors and such because there‘s so much money there.  They said a pastor can sell a bag of plain water as “holy water” for like $10 (when they’re normally sold for like 10 cents), and people will actually buy it.  And people (especially women, they said) will pay tons of money just to have a pastor pray for them.  They said that people look at life as so difficult, and full of so much suffering, that they will buy anything that promises relief.  So terrible!…taking advantage of people who are so trusting and desperate for help.

I also find it interesting that nursing mothers here are expected to eat a lot of palm nut soup and mashed kenkey, because they provide milk.  I had never heard women at home talking about foods that help give them breast milk, so was curious about this.  I asked Mandy why those specific foods provided breast milk, and she said that it’s because they’re liquid…and that basically any type of liquid works, even water.  As I thought about it, I realized that since drinking water is not easily accessible, they have to be sure to eat foods that will provide liquid so that they get enough.