Abstract:
The context of this research is the Shigalo Tabernacle Worship Centre, where the
researcher is currently ministering. The faith community is within Shigalo Village in
the town of Malamulele in the Vhembe District, which has been plagued by
numerous forms of violence, inflicting emotional, physical and psycho-spiritual pain
on the community. Yet it has been the observation of the researcher that very few
members of the community, particularly members who are also members of the faith
community, seek professional help – help that is freely offered to the community by
medical and other professionals, psychologists, social workers as well as pastors. The narrative that the researcher has identified in his involvement with this faith
community was that some members of the faith community choose to rather suffer,
by keeping all their physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual problems
to themselves than to seek professional help. In the community there are various
possibilities of seeking professional help – from doctors to psychologists, social
workers as well as pastors. The research journey explores and describes how families of Shigalo Tabernacle
Worship Centre perceive (view) professional help (counselling). The research sought
to understand this perception within the context of their faith and their culture, trying
to determine what narratives informed this perception. The objective of the research was first to understand this practice and second to
seek ways in which these attitudes and perceptions can be overcome. To do this
research, a sample of members was chosen, together with various professional
caregivers: Two nurses, two social workers, two educators, two pastoral counsellors,
one Medical doctor and a psychologist, who have been in the field of their
specializations for more than five years and who are from the Malamulele area within
the Thulamela Municipality of Vhembe district. The research was mainly to listen to
the stories of the members and complementing these stories with the stories of the
professional caregivers, trying to understand how these families constructed their
view of faith and how it relates to seeking professional help.
