Ever since I arrived in the area last month, people everywhere have been talking about a little girl in a village who has been healing people. The village is located right in the middle of the area which saw a lot of conflict in recent years.
It all started in January this year. The little girl’s mother was sick, some say with cancer. One version of the story is that a man in white appeared to the girl one day on her way home from school and told her how to heal her mother. She went home and did it and then began to heal others too. Word soon got out and people began arriving from all over the island and from other parts of the country. Some are said to have come from as far away as Singapore.
The little village has been flooded with people, most of whom camp in the village square. There’s a short video being passed around that someone filmed in March, interviewing some folk who said they had been healed. Several were young people reported to have been deaf and dumb, some from birth. They say that stacks of crutches and wheelchairs are now piling up from people who were healed. Although the girl is Christian and says that the healings are by the power of Jesus, people say that far more Muslims are being healed than Christians.
There is no charge for the healings. But not everyone is healed. It has been reported that some people are told to go and make restitution, or they are told that because of some certain sin they can’t be healed. Others seem to have partial healing. Some say it is a process and that depending on your faith it will become more complete later. Some say that if you start disbelieving the healing is reversed. (The one person I personally know who went and got healed, died three weeks later.) Although a large number of those who go are elderly, it has also been reported that some are told they should not expect healing because they are already old and everyone has to die. But other elderly come back able to walk a little after years of using canes or wheelchairs.
The healings are now “organized” so that Friday is the day. People travel up on Thursday and spend all day Friday hoping to get healed. One eyewitness I talked to had gone and taken her grandmother. She said that the person is asked three times (by the girl’s mother or a preacher) if they believe Jesus heals. You are supposed to answer yes. Then you are told to sing “God is powerful”, a song that is sung over and over and over by everybody up there. Then you are told to walk or talk or whatever, depending on your ailment. People are encouraged to pray according to their own practices, (ie Christian or Muslim) and to believe.
The “power” seems to have moved from the little girl now to her mother. She was reported to be worried that her daughter can’t lead a normal life what with people starting to follow her around and touch her all the time. So somehow the mother took over, it is said.
It is quite controversial, many people pro, many others think it is a fraud. One thing for sure, it is providing hours of conversation…
No comments:
Post a Comment