Religion

So religion here is kind of a big thing. People are much more Christian than most people I meet back home, granted I haven't spent a ton of time in the "Bible" belt or Southern states. I sometimes open a business meeting listen to a prayer and people bless me all the time or pray that the devil doesn't betray me. It doesn't bother me, it's actually quite interesting and if anything, I wonder how society here has become like this, especially how people interact on a daily basis. Folks will ask quite out right if you are Christian and if you believe in God. When I explain to people that I am Jewish most people are surprised and excited. They haven't met many Jews before but they have respect, because we are "people of the book" and they've heard about us.The important thing here really is that you believe in God, in some way, shape, or form and they assume Jews do. This can be difficult for me as I classify myself as agnostic but I don't want to get in arguments with people so sometimes I'll just say I have "faith" to not arouse suspicion.

More recently I decided to go to a Church with my born again friend. There are lots of born agains here, it's really not that uncommon and I don't know how everyone has become born again but at least the small circle of people I know are very religious and believe in the Holy Ghost and prayer -and above all else Jesus. This is sort of a foreign concept for me but I decided to keep an open mind and I knew I would learn something cultural if I attended church with my friend Olive who urged me come one evening last week. More than anything else perhaps, it was the Congo guest speaker who was a former sorcerer/witch doctor of the famous Mobutu Sese Seko who was speaking at the church that convinced me. See pic below:

By this point the witch doctor had renounced his ways and become Christian, born again style. As he lead people through prayer, and the ways that the devil deceives us, people got more and more worked up. Eventually, people were in such a frenzy that they were yelling and gesticulating wildly and as the former witch doctor came around yelling "pow'" and blowing wind like sounds people were literally falling over and flailing their arms screaming. It was crazy, I've almost never seen anything like it, people were really going crazy and losing themselves, yelling things, speaking in toungs, needing to be escorted away by the ushers. At times I thought people were going to hit me and it was even a bit frightening. 

Because I've seen some hypnosis shows in the past this didn't totally surprise me or seem all that different. Many of the tactics actually seemed similar, and yet it was also frightening to see people lose control and have the "holy ghost inhabit them" as they describe it. I don't think anybody was "faking" it and in the end, I was glad I went. It really was eye opening. I still don't buy it though-they don't really get to the root of anything and my mind is much to scientifically based to accept simple answers.

The craziest thing that contradicts traditional religion Christian views I've noticed in both Uganda and Rwanda is somehow it's ok to have multiple partners -not when you are married but when you have a girlfriend. People are always surprised that even though I have a girlfriend back in the States I don't also have a girlfriend in Uganda or Rwanda. I was even told by one colleague that I was "really missing out" and asked "how can you be having an office and not expand?" I don't think the woman here would agree with this but it's a prevailing attitude among men and woman at least I think tolerate it in many cases. Basically, what they they were saying is that I was missing out by just having one partner - this seems incredible considering how many people are Christian and devout here, but some things just don't match up culturally and maybe it will take me longer to understand.