‘BLINDED
BY THE LIGHT’What makes people pray?
It could be about acknowledgement of your god’s presence in your body, in order to be associated with your god or to seek perhaps help from your god. Prayer is an earnest request we make to our god, and when we pray we are ever-confident that the almighty God will answer our request. Prayer helps human beings to feel we are one. A person like me has come to learn and accept how powerful prayer or beliefs and principles are in life, particularly to people living with HIV/Aids like us.
But beware, because these same beliefs can both be useful or detrimental to our wellbeing. For those of us who believe in God, if you accept God as part of you, you may well accept many other aspects of life on earth. Then surely, you must accept that God works through doctors and scientists to improve people’s lives. But it’s sad when you hear pastors asking people to throw away their medications, and instead be cured with prayer. Or when people who are not on treatment are told by religious leaders to sit back and relax as everything is in God’s hands. This usually leads to individuals completely stopping their monitoring appointments in their clinics.
Some of the pastors and faith groups completely refuse to acknowledge the word ‘condom’ but prefer to say ‘prevention tools’. They say the word ‘condom’ implies promiscuity. I do not agree. I personally had an encounter with a god-fearing woman when I produced a condom. She didn’t want to use a condom and spoke in the vernacular to emphasise her point by saying ‘twaleli’ or ‘take there your earthly shield, the lord is my shield’. I couldn’t believe what I had heard, but remembered what people used to go through and still do.
In the early days, when someone got diagnosed HIV positive and was advised to start treatment, a religious person would often only start swallowing pills after the pastor had prayed for the combination.
Indeed, I was shocked one night when I witnessed this first-hand. I met a woman carrying a black holdall bag. I thought she was selling traditional African foods like dry fish or pumpkin leaves, only to discover it was something else. We actually met near a big church as I waited for a bus to go home after a day’s long work. She confessed that she was unable to meet her pastor as he was away and that meant she had to wait another two weeks before starting her treatment. I asked to see her combination drugs; to my amazement she had even included Motilium, anti-sickness pills in the bag because the pastor asked for all the medication. Her pastor assured her that once he had prayed and touched the medication, the woman would be fine. This illustrates what people encounter. For this woman she was lucky that her pastor could tolerate treatment; others don’t.
The above examples clearly show how beliefs can some times be misleading and wreak havoc in our lives.
We
are all responsible for our lives and we need to be careful about what we choose
to do as our actions and beliefs have implications later.
Pastors and faith groups can have overriding influence in our lives. but at the end of the day it’s we who must make our own decisions. It’s good to acknowledge that there are fantastic pastors out there who understand that the problem is real and needs action. There must always be a balance between the two in order to have sustainable peace.
We hear our political leaders talk of ‘weapons of mass destruction’, but for me I say condoms are ‘weapons of personal protection’.
As I sign-off, I am getting ready to pray and thank my god for perfect health, peace of mind and prosperity. May God abundantly bless you all...Amen.
