This is a journey through the reality of Sierra Leone, a country in which the Augustinian Recollects have left their mark. The author, with his soul in pain but in love with Sierra Leone after a year in the country, tells us the story sometimes in the first person, other times from the point of view of the objective observer, with traces of humor and dreams for the future of this country.
Sierra Leone is on the geographical limit which divides Africa from the majority of overwhelming Muslims, in many cases with fundamentalist views, from all of Central and South Africa which is an amalgam mix of religions.
One of the surprises tends to be the cordiality and interreligious mixing. From time to time one sees Pakistani groups, principally, that preach the Shari and the political empire of the religion. Some places like Lunsar (situated about 100 kilometres from Kamabai) already have mosques run by these groups. But in Biriwa there is no sign of religious fundamentalism.
There are various explications, fundamentally, the influence of tribal beliefs and traditions, preeminent in front of any kind of consolidated monotheism. People believe in Jesus Christ or Allah, but also in witches, supernatural beings and secret societies. A real headache for theologians. Here it is compatible and logical to say that Jesus saves and that the witch flies and has power with her spells.
It is also compatible to go to Church on Sundays and afterwards, at the end of the day, decide with which one of your women you are going to sleep with. It is amusing and extravagant the case of one of the Catholic leaders, lacking in charm, who truly concerned himself for the members of the Church and acted like a true father. Also that of his three wives in three different “baffas” (or huts). When he returns home he quickly decides with whom he will spend the night. All three are expectant, to see if they are lucky and it will be their turn, without any sign of jealousy.
Any attempt to make of faith a traditional monotheism, principally in the Muslim majority, as the only social norm for life falls flat when faced with the reality of customs and traditions.
There are also a huge mass of people who don´t go to any Church or Mosque, although they consider themselves to be active members. The levels of attendance at Mosque are not much different from that of Spanish Catholic Parishes, for example.
Another explication is that we find ourselves in one of the countries of the world with the most open sense of morality. Put another way, no-one is scandalized. The behaviours of people are never socially judged, and this includes thorny questions in other societies like that of fidelity, treatment of women, living with minors, robbery or not paying back, the return of borrowed goods, institutional corruption or that of power, abuse…In everything it as if it were something good. Nothing matters. No-one judges. Nothing deserves recrimination or change.
The traditional moralities of the great religions are accepted in theory. Everyone will say that it is not good to steal, for example, or mistreat children in schools, or keep the money for the registration of the children and spend it on oneself. But when someone does it nobody says that it is a bad thing.
In this sense, evangelization has huge challenges, for personal convictions almost never bring with them a moral component, a change of attitude, a desire to be better. Thinking and acting don´t go together, but without this creating any sense of personal or social tension. It is a world where everything is possible.
There are no reliable statistics in the Kamabai region on religious matters. But one thing is certain: 99% of the population blindly believe in all of the traditions and live in a permanent fear imposed by secret societies, supernatural beings and witch doctors. The great majority are Muslim, an estimated 80%. The other 20% is shared between Wesleyan Christians (this Protestant Church born of the Methodists was the first to being the name of Christ to these lands about 150 years ago), Baptists and Catholics (who have only been here in the zone for 60 years).
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