The play that gave me passion for life

The curtain came down on life as a Muslim for a teenager at a Passion play where “something in me broke”.

Aziza Green was 16 when she was invited to the performance at a church in New Zealand, little knowing it was about to change her troubled life.

She grew up in Durban, South Africa, in a Muslim family and went to an Islamic preschool, wearing a hijab and studying the Quran.

Behind the religious facade of the family, though, there were problems.

Aziza told Eternity News: “There was a court case. An uncle was found guilty of sexually abusing me.”

Her alcoholic father added to Aziza’s troubles.

“I loved my dad and I was loved, but he couldn’t pull himself together enough to be the father I needed. He worked as a panel beater, drank heavily every night and picked fights outside the pub.”

When her mum remarried and converted to Catholicism, Aziza had her first taste of Christianity.

“I learned the prayers and clung to religious artefacts with awe and desperation, but I couldn’t find a way to explore a deeper relationship with a present and loving God.

“I am grateful for my Catholic experience, but my childhood fears and very real pain caused fractures to my faith rather than drawing me closer to the compassion and mercy of God. Slowly the mystique and the ritual dulled as fear, shame and turmoil swelled inside of me.”

…story continues