Why have @Africaindiaspo kids turned away from Christianity? - Part 1

Growing up in the motherland I observed how religion underpinned much of life, from praying before meals, praying before/after travelling to praying and singing at weddings, funerals and of course religious gatherings. Christianity was and still is the widely-held belief in Zimbabwe and the religion I have been exposed to, thus it makes sense for it to be the only one I comment on.

 

As a youngster church attendance was not optional, no. In fact even as a young adult staying at home (here in the diaspora) with my parents it remained a compulsory family ritual to the extent that I felt really bad if I ever missed a Sunday service. One could say I was deeply religious at the time and when people at school asked me what my beliefs were I would often respond, ‘Pentecostal Christian’ without any hesitation at all although my ‘lifestyle’ reflected no semblance of my professed faith. It was only when I got a little older and started to develop my own understanding of life, holding what the bible says against church practices, that I realised not only how hypocritical I was but also how overwhelmingly hypocritical the majority of @Africanindiaspo Christians and churches were. I realised then why Christianity did not appeal to me and many of the @Africanindiaspos who were my age at the time.

 

You see children in Africa, just like African adults interact with national politicians; do not ask any questions that challenge the status quo as such insubordination can lead to serious disciplinary action. Consequentially, African children (and in some instances adults) typically do not appear to have minds of their own, that is how a grown man’s parents can influence him to leave his spouse for another more suitable/subservient woman – a woman they prefer really. Am I lying? Au contraire (on the contrary), western and @Africanindiaspo children raised in the diaspora are taught to question everything that they are taught by their parents, although they never seem to question the evolutionary theories and propagandised fallacies drummed into their heads from a young age. I personally feel a balance is critical but where is Kermit when you need him?

 

Nonetheless this critical mind-set of @Africanindiaspo children is something that many parents have not made adjustments to accommodate. Whilst many of us who grew up as Christians in the Motherland found it easy to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin mother, was the Son of God and that He resurrected from the dead, these are facts that your typical @Africanindiaspo descendant just cannot understand (How I could just kill a man, lol). The lack of empirical evidence combined with the fact that it just doesn’t sound plausible makes the bible/anything written in it sound like folklore. I suppose faith is difficult to possess when you have never needed to trust God for your next meal or the healing of a loved one, only the national health system and evolutionary theories (not facts) from a man just like you and I.

 

Whilst the factors mentioned above are worthy of consideration, I believe hypocrisy is really the stroke that breaks the camel’s backs for most children and for the purpose of this post I will stick to hypocrisy in the home. I have found Christianity amongst @Africanindiaspos and even amongst our brothers and sisters in the Motherland to be centred primarily on church and/or bible study attendance and long prayers which are preferably made in incomprehensible tongues. Insofar as these conditions are met one is considered a bona fide believer worthy of much commendation in the church. Oh silly me I forgot to mention that they must give their tithe faithfully, of course, lest they attract a curse from God then they are a bona fide, hell-raising Christian. Of course it does not matter how this believer conducts him/herself in their home and this is when the stumbling block for children is mounted in my opinion.

 

Many faithless @Africanindiaspos youths struggle to reconcile bible verses of how men should love their wives and be patient with them when their church-esteemed fathers are drunkards, overbearing, money-hungry, short-tempered and even at times physically abusive to their mothers. Even worse some struggle to understand how their fathers can be observed as elders/deacons in the church when they are players, yes some of these men even engage in adulterous affairs, despite public knowledge of their deeds. In other instances some youths also fail to reconcile their mothers’ inabilities to submit to their fathers or their strong-willed behaviour against them with the verses in the bible about how women should respect and submit to their husbands and should love and raise their children. This is especially true as many of these children often feel neglected by the very same church uniform-wearing mothers who possess very little dignity and are serious gossips and slanderers, etc.

 

My dear reader, if you have been around @Africanindiaspo families, have you seen parents treating their children with the love, gentleness and kindness (that the bible they believe teaches)? In my experience, I have not seen this; instead I have seen parents relentlessly shaming their children and stripping them of all dignity - even in front of people. This does not win souls, it destroys and hardens hearts. According to the bible that I grew up being taught to believe the family (children) is the second, most important institution for mankind after marriage. Therefore, before @Africanindiaspos who believe in Jesus tout their religion to their ‘lost’ Western friends, how about they take the bible seriously and authenticate its message by actually living out what they believe and raise children who are convinced of their fruit. How about they teach their children the word and pray with them every day rather than leaving that responsibility to the Sunday school teachers. I think that only after doing that can any good news they have make sense to anyone else.

 

Hopefully in Part 2 of this post I will focus on the hypocrisy of the church, which according to the bible is the 3^rd most important institution for mankind, and how the hypocrisy that exists in it contributes to these ‘wayward’ children that many @Africanindiaspo parents are ashamed of.

 

Until then, let us share let us grow!

 

‘Children are the mirrors of the homes, communities and societies they are nurtured or abandoned in’ - @Africanindiaspo

Zimbabwean child swears at his mother, is he to blame?

Recently there has been a viral video (link to video: http://nehandatv.com/2015/06/07/spoilt-rotten-zimbo-kid-cursing-at-parent) making the circles of social media of a young black boy with a Zimbabwean mother it seems, and he was going off at her as well as his aunt for calling him into the house when he still wanted to be out playing with his friends late into the night. I understand that I am a little late to the ‘trending’ party but I feel as though I should express my opinion about this video as it is closer to home (being that I am Zimbabwean myself). I believe it is an incident many of us can take lessons from as it could easily become a recurrent theme amongst the @Africanindiaspo communities though I feel it is already more common than people care to believe.

 

Off the bat I must ask the questions, who recorded that video and why? How did it go from the device it was recorded on to being viral? There were two adult women who were present in that predicament and one of them recorded the debased ordeal. I find that disgusting and that should be more shocking to everyone who watches the video than any behaviour that the child displayed.

 

I believe that a child’s behaviour is mostly reflective of the upbringing and instruction he/she has had. Of course children are innately mischievous and that cannot be helped but not to the extent displayed by that little boy. Did anyone notice that as he was cursing out (and having his little tantrum) he was actually playing on an iPhone? I have found this to be a common trend amongst both African and British parents here in the UK - that is to give their children unfettered access to the internet. The diaspora-born child of your typical @Africanindiaspo is bombarded with sexual images from birth on TV and hears all sorts of explicit words in public, to give them unrestricted access to the internet at a tender age is to pour fuel to the fire. That means pornography and even more debased language is a click of a button away and many parents are making this mistake. I do not believe it is intentional but it is being made all the same. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many @Africanindiaspo parents do not sit down with their kids to find out what is going on in their minds so they can deconstruct any build-up of western beliefs or ideas. Your typical @Africanindiaspo actually raises their child as though they were in Africa where there is very little swearing and sexualisation of men and women in the mainstream media and society. It is no wonder that even our religious beliefs are no longer palatable to children being born and raised in the diaspora, we are not taking the time to find out where they are at.

 

Another weird but prevalent phenomenon common amongst many of the @Africanindiaspo is this deep-seeded inferiority complex whereby many African parents are really proud to have their kids as removed from African culture as possible. Many love the fact that their child cannot speak their native language (which they never bothered to teach the child) and are even more elated to say things like ‘my child is the only black child at his/her school’. No word of a lie. It is no wonder then that children such as that young boy end up saying they have no affiliations with the motherland as they identify it as archaic and disease-ridden - just as the propagandised images show Africa to be.

 

There are serious conflicting thoughts going on in the minds of descendants of any @Africanindiaspo. At one juncture they are exposed to African values and culture with relatives and within religious communities which their parents do not teach them to value on a daily basis, at another juncture they are exposed to extreme Western ideologies and behaviours on a more consistent basis (i.e. in school and with friends) which their parents do not want them to fully adapt once more. It seems the Western ways typically prevail as these kids end up being more extreme than their Western counterparts due to their desperate need to receive approval within at least one group of people. @Africanindiaspo parents end up extremely disillusioned as their children become rebellious and they genuinely wonder why.

 

I must express this to my beloved @Africanindiaspo brothers and sisters living in the UK - if it possible for you to pay a little more in rental premiums or spend more on a mortgage to live in a safer neighbourhood then please do so if you have children. Whilst high-density urban areas in Africa are populated with well-mannered and responsible people, in the UK areas with cheaper accommodation are often populated with rough and substance-abusing individuals who often raise poor-mannered children which will inevitably school with your children and possibly be their friends.

 

Now this is where I turn into a chauvinist I suppose by asking where is the father of this boy? Where are the fathers of many of the children of @Africanindiaspo mothers? It seems many of my beloved sisters have traded the truth that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ for the lie that ‘girls run the world’. Sisters you cannot raise children, especially sons, without the presence of a male authoritarian figure. As a child growing up whenever I misbehaved my mother would say ‘I am going to tell your father’, and that would calm me right down. In the absence of a father, sisters please have brothers in your lives to have that influence over your sons and daughters. It will do more good than harm.

 

Finally, to the woman who called the ordeal with that child nonsense, you are the problem with children growing up in the diaspora. You did not diffuse the situation, you worsened it and you are the reason many children are embittered with their parents.

 

Until next time beloved, let us share, let us grow.

 

‘Children’s behaviours and attitudes are like mirrors that reflect the investment or lack thereof made into their lives by those charged with their guardianship’ - @Africanindiaspo