Not my usual kind of spirits.

Church in Ingwavuma is a big part of people's lives. Many people came here as they felt that God had called them and the day at hospital starts with prayers, which are sung. It is not uncommon for hospital meetings to start and end with a prayer. Sadly I seem to have been out when He called and he didn't leave me a voicemail, but that aside I thought it would be good to go along to church to see what it was all about.
The church most people go to is one set up about 4 years ago by one of the doctors. It is a Christian church and the service runs in English and Zulu. As it is still relatively new, they hold it in one of the school classrooms (where it was fun to see how similar it is to my old classrooms, with the kids divided in to groups named after fruits (apples, oranges, bananas) and a set of class rules that included 1. We must come to school every day and 4. No sleeping in class).
It started with walking in to beautiful harmonious singing from the congregation that seemed to be spontaneous, with one person starting and everyone joining in. Then a welcome by the preacher, and some worship songs. But just as I was getting in to it ('hey, church is a bit like a party'), one of the women was overcome by spirits and had a hysterical fit, crying and falling around and had to be taken outside. Everyone else seemed to take this in their stride and assured me that it was not uncommon for God's presence to draw out evil ancestory spirits. But I felt uncomfortable with it. I also felt uncomfortable watching the poverty stricken local black community singing their hearts out about how God is just and fair. How they can look around them and think that, I am less sure. And I was taken aback to notice that, as in the hospital where the majoirty of doctors are white, and the school where the teachers I have met are white, in the church, the preacher and the leader of the Sunday school are both white. In a predominantly black community, it still seems that many of the positions of responsibility are held by whites, even in the church.
Those doubts aside it was a very positive and happy atmosphere and it was wonderful to feel so welcomed into a community that I only joined 8 weeks ago. I'm not about to become a regular at church, but it's nice to know that if I find myself at a loose end in Ingwa on a Sunday morning, I'd be very welcome.