Summary

In Chapter 11, Shiri admits that she does not have answers for Zenzele on religious matters. Instead, she tells the story of the time when an eight-year-old Zenzele dragged her into one of the town’s chapels. Together, they marveled at the paintings of black angels and of an African John the Baptist and Jesus. Pacing around the chapel, Shiri reflected: “Who had deprived me of this vision? This God knew me. His cross was my cross; His people were my people, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Mark, and John—all black like me!” (182). For Shiri, who hs never seen an icon that looked like herself, the experience brings her literally to her knees. Her head begins “exploding with new images and new faith” (183). She realized that she had deprived herself and her daughter of the experience of Christianity, and she then began attending a nearby Orthodox...