Member-only story
Growing Up In A Third World Country
Trying To Believe In God’s Goodness
Searching for an answer justifying poverty and suffering
I could not help but see the poverty and misery surrounding me and failed as a child to understand why I was so privileged and other children not so. Though very young, and from the comfort of a car, I observed, compared, reflected on and even questioned the disparity between my own privileged life and the lives of other children.
I watched abject poverty and smiling faces with runny noses waving for my attention, and cringed into my seat. This was the seeding of my empathy and sensitivity to injustice.
My siblings and I were brought up Catholic and underwent hours of religious ceremony every Sunday morning. Mass in Nigeria was, and surely still is, a colourful family affair full of traditional song and cheer.
As was expected of me, I did my holy communion and then my confirmation. The latter in Ireland. I listened to the priests’ sermons at mass and religion lessons from the nuns in school. Always confident that God was a loving and just being.
