Before I am allowed to take a seat in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Pella, I have to confess my sins to Father Angus Osborne. As a journalist, I often have to confess: I am here with a camera and a notebook. The priest seems sceptical and severe behind the mask that protects him from both me and Covid-19. I am, however, permitted behind the light-blue altar. “But please,” he requests, “no photos while I am offering the Holy Communion to the children.”
This morning, a group of children will receive their First Holy Communion and thus become full members of the Pella congregation.
The solemn Roman Catholic traditions seem almost foreign here in the semi-desert north-west of Pofadder. This is Bushmanland, somewhere no pope will ever visit.
The singing, accompanied by keyboard and tambourine, is just as beautiful and strange as the people and the quiver trees that survive in the stark foothills of Pella Mountains: “You are victorious when you follow the Lord.
