Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sau Paulo (Fides Service) - In Latin America the diffusion of religous sects and increasing explotation of girls is ever more concerning. This is seen from a touching testimony offered by Edinalva, who now lives at the “Casa Santa Bernardette” in Sau Paulo. “I have never known who my father was”, Edinalva told Fides
“I lived only for a short time with my mother then I was sent to live with my gradnmother. My grandmother’s religion was Candonblè and she took me with her when I was little and when I was older. (...) We had to make donations to the ‘Father of the Holy One’. He would beat us if we did not do what he said…clean the house, sing…he was possessed by a spirit called ‘the devil of seven knives. (...) The scars on her body? Signs of Candonblè rites. They are meant to protect the body from evil. They took me to a room and while music played they cut me. The blood must come out of the body!... They call on devils to harm their enemies. People pay the Father of Holy One to make the devil hurt their enemies”.
Edinalva concludes her tragic story: “Actually all these signs only make me more of a slave ... today I believe in God... and I would like to remove all these scars from my body... I try to hide them but they are there …But today I am happy I know what it means to be happy here in this community of Saint Bernadette. I was never loved by my mother...I have never known the love of a mother! Today I am a mother and I want my son to love me as I love him … the love I never knew and to which I could not respond”.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/7/2004 lines 38 words 284)
