Kaffir Boy Tradition and Customs Quotes

Then suddenly I remembered snatches of long dreary conversations between my mother and father, in which my mother told my father that because of the hard times we had been experiences continuously over the years, despite repeated sacrifices to tribal gods, it was high time we looked for new ways of dealing with our poverty and suffering, and that maybe Christianity might be one such way. (9.16)

The evangelist, by denouncing tribal religions, had entered the forbidden zone upon which my father stood guard. No one dared do that with impunity. And my father had support. A group of tribal men nearby heaved their massive chests in anger and clenched their fists.

[…]

Seemingly unaware of the mounting opposition to this sermon, the cross-eyed evangelist said, in an even louder voice, "Believe in ancestral spirits is sheer nonsense and hogwash. Those dead people you revere and worship are impotent and wouldn't harm a fly. I repeat: Christ is the only true God. So let all those with pagan hearts accept Him tonight and be saved."

At that, my father and several of the men from the tribal reserve leaped up and shook threatening fists at the evangelists…(9.37, 39-40)

Though my parents differed on many things, including the usefulness of Christianity to black people, they agreed on one thing: the power of witchcraft. Both believed that many, if not all, of our household problems were somehow the result of bad voodoo inflicted upon us by evil-minded and jealous neighbours, and that a powerful witch doctor was needed to remedy things. There was no room for bad luck or chance in their lives. My mother thought that her inability to find jobs in the white world was not only due to her papers not being in order, but also because some neighbour out there simply did not want her to better her lot. We children were led to believe that the world was steeped in voodoo, witchcraft and sorcery. (11.1)