They Came From The Water While The World Watched

When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible. - Jomo Kenyatta

When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible. - Jomo Kenyatta

Through this work I have been exploring indigenous South African Ancestral belief and Christianity, in relation to 19th century missionary activity and the colonisation of the country. It discusses the attempted dismantling of Ancestral religion and its replacement with Christianity, the sanctity of keeping traditional beliefs alive and the adaptation to the world we know today. The title ‘They Came From The Water While The World Watched’ is a reference to the initial European migration and colonisation of South Africa and the Western world’s indifference to the perpetration of this act.